The Art of Passing

"Nothing destroys a team quite so quickly as inaccurate passing. Nothing builds a team's confidence more rapidly than accurate passing. Without good team-work accurate passing is impossible... The more successful passes a player makes the better he is likely to play and the more he is likely to want to play. The art of passing in Association Football is very largely the art of doing the simple things quickly and well."

-Charles Hughes

It takes two people to make a pass. One has to give the ball, the other has to get it.

The Receiver

Move to meet the pass. "A large number of passes are intercepted by defenders who take advantage of attackers who wait for the ball to reach them. Attackers should move to meet the pass." This is one of the big problems with front players in youth soccer. Top players are often waiting to receive a pass facing their own goal and wanting only to go in the opposite direction, towards the opponents goal. The idea of having to move towards their own goal before moving towards the opponents doesn't make sense. They'll just wait until the ball gets to them and then take off. On the other hand the defenders are watching the pass come towards them and can see the opponents goal at the same time. Their natural inclination is to attack the ball and they usually steal the first step on the attacker. This is not a matter of physical but mental speed. Johan Cruyff, "Speed is often confused with insight. When I start running before the rest, I appear faster."

Choose the correct moment to move. If the receiver moves to soon they will either have to stop and wait, killing the space and losing initiative, or they will have to keep moving past the space that they want to receive the ball in. If they move too late the defender can intercept the pass. This is where the I and C in TIC come into play. Receivers must be able to read what the player on the ball is capable of and needs. They must work together and their timing and ideas must match.Move into the line of the pass. A common coaching instruction is "move to get open." This is like driving without direction. Players run with no clear idea where they are going or why.

Create space before the pass by moving away from where you want to receive the ball. Even a few steps in the opposite direction can get defenders to move and buy the time needed to receive the ball.

The Passer

Calculate when to pass the ball forward, and when to pass the ball backwards. "If a player can pass the ball forward he should do so... If the player with the ball is pressurized and cannot pass the ball forward he needs support from behind, and he should pass the ball backwards to his supporting player. One of the reasons why teams are poor in supporting play is that players, who are in no position to pass the ball forward, refuse to pass the ball backwards... If this attitude prevails there is no point whatever, or any likelihood of employment, for the player who supports from behind the ball... The fact of the matter is that if a player cannot pass the ball forward, the quicker he realises this, and chages the point of attack by passing the ball to a player who is in a position to pass the ball forward, the better... The converse is also true. If a player is in a position to pass the ball forward and fails to do so he has played badly."

Passing do's: accurate, simple, quick, timed properly, disguised, risk to return, look deep first.
Accuarcy. Generally passes should be made to feet and on the ground. At higher levels they'll need to be made to a specific foot. Pass to the side away from defenders.

Simple. The vast majority of passes in a game are designed simply to keep possession. Ineffective players try to hit defense splitting passes far to often. They either overestimate their abilities or they become impatient. "Once a player becomes impatient he takes uncalculated risks, and thereby he takes the first step towards... reducing his part in the game to a lottery." Play simple is a useful phrase for coaches to repeat with players.

Quick. Players need to be two mental steps ahead of their first physical touch. In the old days players could play receive-decide-decide. With the speed of the modern game the equation is now decide-decide-receive. Poor control, passes in the air, poor timing and poor support can also slow down the passing game. If you don't have a pass in mind give the ball immediately to someone who might.

Timed properly. The communication between within the team and individuals must be good.
Disguised. When defenders can read attackers intentions they can get the jump on them. Look away from where you want to pass the ball.

Risk to return. There are times and places to try passing through small gaps and into small spaces. The attacking third of the field brings high returns and smaller risk. Conversley, a more conservative approach needs to be taken in the defensive third.

Look deep first. Players should look to play the deepest possible pass first, then work backwards. When they find the deepest pass that they can make they should make it.

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