In this coaching clinic filmed exclusively for CV Academy, former Crewe Alexandra manager David Artell introduces a session he would deliver to develop his players’ understanding of how they can get in behind their man.

Using the famous Coaches’ Voice tactics board, Artell describes and explains the three practices that comprise his session. The first is a technical passing practice that trains both the player and ball movements he would expect when a team is combining to get in behind the opposition. That progresses into a conditioned 7v4 game that features a central box in which three midfielders from the attacking team are initially underloaded against a defending four – the possession team must work to bring the full-backs inside to create a central overload before playing forward. The final practice is an attack-versus-defence in which the attacking team should look to create and then exploit 3v3 situations in wide areas to get in behind.

It’s a clear and well explained session that links to Artell’s first clinic, which covers the key principles that a team set up in a 4-3-3 should look to employ when attempting to get in behind opposition units. We hope you find it useful!

Please also click below to access the accompanying session plan in PDF form.