Soccer Coaching: Coaching Your Fullbacks to Attack

Although your two fullbacks may be solid and reliable defenders, improving their ability to attack from their position will develop their game and provide your team with an extra option when attacking.

The key to improving your fullbacks attacking prowess is ball control as they will need to be able to keep the ball under control in three different phases whilst they are attacking. Firstly, they need to be able to receive the ball and take it under control, and then they must carry it forward and finally be able to deliver the ball across into the box. Young players can vastly improve their game and add new soccer skills to their game by learning to attack from fullback.

Soccer Drills

The first aspect your players must grasp is receiving the ball and this is a skill important to all your players, regardless of position. Teaching players to be able to receive a pass is an essential part of coaching soccer. Most of the time, an attacking opportunity for a fullback will start with your defense winning the ball back from the opposition, therefore your fullback will want to move forward up the touchline into space where they will receive the ball from a teammate. Not being able to receive the ball well and having a poor first touch will break down the attack for your team. In order to develop this skill amongst your fullbacks, have them practice with a teammate where they run down the sideline and receive the ball whilst on the run.

Soccer Coaching: Coaching Your Fullbacks to Attack

Once they have received the pass, they will need to bring the ball forward. Teach your players the key things to remember when carrying the ball such as keeping the ball within a comfortable distance, maintaining balance so they move off either foot to avoid challenges and not to concentrate purely on the ball. In order to carry the ball forward effectively, players must learn to be able to control the ball whilst hardly looking at. Otherwise they will be staring at the ball and have no idea what is going on around them, miss passes to teammates and be easily dispossessed by the opposition.

To develop your player's control when carrying the ball forward, first get them to practice dribbling a ball in a confined space to get used to the ball at their feet. Then tell them to do the same using only their left foot and then only their right foot. Ultimately bring more players into the area, each with a ball and get them all to dribble in the small space. It will then become clear to your players that they need to be able to move with the ball whilst keeping their head up to see what's around them or they are going to bump into players and lose control of the ball.

Finally, the fullbacks need to learn how to cross the ball well enough to give teammates the best chance of getting on the end of it. One drill you can use to develop the crossing abilities of your fullbacks is to begin with your right back and left back standing on their respective wings at the halfway line. Have your goalkeeper in the goal your fullbacks will be attacking and get the rest of your team to line up on the halfway line, all with a ball each.

One of the players with a ball moves off and after running with it for a few yards, passes it out to one of the fullbacks. The fullback will then have to receive the ball and carry it forward as fast as they can whilst keeping their head up and keeping control of the ball. Once they almost reach the goal-line they must look up and cross the ball into the box for the teammate who passed it to them as they make a run into the box.

The cross from the fullback must be put into an area where the attacking player can attack the ball and get an attempt on goal. When the fullback makes a break from the back on his own, they will need to be able to hold up the ball until they can get support from a teammate. With practice, your fullbacks will become confident enough to hold onto the ball for longer in order to wait for some support and adding this attacking intent into your fullback's game will improve their soccer skills for the better. However, don't get carried away with your fullbacks attacking as their primary job is still to defend and to only attack when they know they will have cover behind them in defense.

Soccer Coaching: Coaching Your Fullbacks to Attack