In this coaching course filmed exclusively for CV Academy, Middlesbrough Under-18 lead coach Mark Tinkler takes a group of professional development phase players through a series of practices designed to develop their attacking play in the final third.

The session, which Tinkler takes alongside Under-18 assistant coach James Marwood, starts with an unopposed pattern-of-play practice, in which the players repeat a series of attacking patterns in which they combine to create goalscoring opportunities. This progresses into a positional small-sided game conditioned to encourage wide players to make penetrating runs in behind the opposition defence. The final practice is an attack-against-defence phase of play in which the attacking team is encouraged to work on the principles introduced in the first two practices to use fast attacking combinations in creating chances.

The session offers a great insight into the way the Middlesbrough Academy structures its coaching for the professional development age group. It is the third of three full sessions filmed for CV Academy; the full foundation and youth development phase sessions are also available to watch.

We hope you enjoy it! Please also click below to download the accompanying session plan in PDF form.