The offside trap

If you love football as much as I do, you probably know that one of the hardest things to do when it comes to it is to be confined to either the bench or the stand. Goodness me, I'm not saying that reserves, supporters or coaches don't have their role in the beautiful game, I was merely trying to state that from there you can feel so hopeless in helping your team, especially when they need it the most. I bet you know what I'm talking about, even the best teams go a goal behind some of the time and in those situations, as a reserve you need to be ready to jump in and help, as a supporter you need to cheer louder and as a coach, you need to understand best of all why things have not gone according to plan and what it is that needs to be done about it. Preferably, you got everything covered and the players do their part to the letter in order for everybody supporting your team to go happy. But when that doesn't happen you need to deal with the situation in the best possible manner. Mainly because it is your job, that of the coach, the clear mind, the proverbial captain of the ship, even though you're only shouting out orders. And because the preparation is the key to maintaining concentration, we'll run over what you need to do, defensively, in order for your team to not go behind and enjoy some smooth sailing through the match.

Offside Trap

Some may say that the best defense is offense. I'm not one to argue but the truth of the matter is that sometimes you have to defend and when you do, one of the best ways to achieve that is to play the offside trap. In the following I will elaborate on what is important in order for your team to do exactly that. First, your players need to be able to communicate to each other, namely speak the same language or if they don't, they need to elaborate a system in which every single one of them knows how to react in a certain situation. Secondly, you need to instill in them the concept of playing in a line, you know a team is as weak as its weakest link and that generally is the easiest to spot in defense, thus they need to synchronize themselves, at a moment's notice, especially when the ball is not in your team's possession. The keeper has an important role to play in this because sometimes he sees the game better than any player. If he shouts something, the defensive line needs to respond quickly and in accordance. It is best for the defense to be coordinated by a single player, namely the one with most influence and game knowledge but if the situation arises, each and every one of them need to be able to make good judgments on their own.