Can you recall when you used a soccer field diagram to make your team understand soccer formations? If you said “never” or “long time back”, it’s clear that your team is not completely aware of what formations and positions are.

A majority of coaches believe that by just giving oral instructions to the kids, they’ll know everything and this is where they go wrong. Since formations are an important topic, you must always chat about it with the players before the match.

These are tactical choices usually made in the form of numbers and which describe the soccer positions of the players in each area from the defensive line. The formations should never be inflexible and so the coach must continue to exchange players in every game. Something very important which should be kept in mind is that formations must be decided after taking into consideration each player’s strong and weak points.

Given below are certain formations that are frequently used in soccer:

4-4-2: This is one of the most commonly used formations. This formation has four defenders, four players on midfield, and two attackers, not including the goalie and this is why it’s called a 4-4-2.

In this formation, midfielders play the most important role in form of supporting the forwarders through defense. In the incident of an attack, they must help the defenders by moving towards the goal line.

4-5-1: Having five mid-fielders and one forward, this is better known as a defensive formation. The best thing that it does is that it disallows the opponent players to attack because the midfielders are all stacked up in the center.

And because there is only 1 forward, it allows the midfielders to move forward thereby leaving the opposition high and dry.

3-5-2: In this, there are three defenders, five midfielders, and two forwards. This formation has the attacking as well as defending advantage since 2 wingmen get to attack and the center midfielder disallows counter attacking.

3-4-3: The most forceful form of formation on the soccer field diagram that is brought into play when the opposition is defensive. With three defenders, four midfielders and three forwards, the strategy is to mainly attack using the forwards and use the defenders in case the opponents break the defensive line.

There is no specific plan that will help throughout the match. It must be flexible enough to change with the situation in the game. So a coach should employ the strategy of rotating the players as and when required. However, any formation can either be offensive or defensive.

Superior soccer tactics in formations play a deciding role in a team’s victory or defeat. As the game improves and becomes more dynamic, there will surely be more changes in the soccer formation strategies.

Now go ahead and use the soccer field diagram to teach the players. In case you are interested in more such tips, our youth soccer coaching community is the perfect resource for it.

Andre Botelho is known online as The \”Expert Youth Soccer Coach\” and he\’s a worldwide recognized authority in youth soccer coaching. His free youth soccer coaching reports and ebooks have been downloaded more than 100,000 times. Andre Botelho influences well over 35,000 youth soccer coaches worldwide each year with his unique coaching style. Learn how to explode your players\’ skills and make training more fun. Download your free youth soccer coaching guide at http://www.soccerdrillstips.com