Neil Winskill was an apprentice at Newcastle United during the Kevin Keegan era of the 1990s, but after being released at 18 he moved on to pursue a career in education and coaching. He eventually returned to the club in that capacity, and is now the lead coach for the Under-18 team.

In this session filmed exclusively for CV Academy, he takes his players through a series of four practices aimed at developing the team’s management of shape and space when losing possession during the build-up.

The first practice is a possession/transition practice conditioned to emphasise the defensive transition. The second practice is a two-half possession game, in which teams must build play and compete for aerial balls. The third practice is a two-half phase-of-play practice that allows work on a number of phases of the game, before a final 10v10 game in which the coach focuses on the organisation of the respective defensive units.

Please click the Resources tab to access a downloadable PDF of the full session.