Attacking Soccer: Tactics and Drills for High-Scoring Offense
by Joe A. Luxbacher
1999

Level: High School/Advanced

Pros: This book offers a plethora of activities geared towards all aspects of attacking play. Both tactical and technical elements are covered, broken out by chapter. Organization is decent and some information is provided as introduction to each set of activities.

Cons: While each chapter focuses on a different aspect of attacking play, there is little or no organization within the chapters. If you’re not an experienced coach who knows how to put these activities together, you’re better off looking for another book. A lot of the activities seem to focus on a very English style of play. If you don’t know what this means or don’t know how to adapt these activities to fir your team’s style, you’re again better off with another product.

Attacking Soccer is really a collection of activities/drills that focus on several different aspects of attacking play. The book does feature a bit of explanation with regards to each aspect covered, but don’t expect things to be covered in depth. That being said, the start of each chapter does provide a bit of interesting insight to the topic, albeit a less than deep discussion. Nearly every aspect of attacking soccer is covered and the book needs to be credited for the breadth of its coverage. For years I didn’t like this book as I was looking for more in depth information about each aspect covered in this book. It wasn’t until I set down to read this book with the intention of reviewing it that I began to appreciate it for its strengths. There is some very good information and activities contained within, but this is not the one book you need to remedy your team’s attacking woes. Nor will reading this book imbue you with the knowledge to transform your U-12s into the Brazilian national team. But if you want to add some variety to your attacking play-related sessions or want some ideas for teaching a specific aspect of attacking play, you can use this book.

The real strength of this book, as has been mentioned, is that it provides numerous activities for all aspects of attacking play. There are activities related to maintaining possession, switching the point of attack; there are throw-in routines, corner kick routines, several free kick routines, as well as sections focusing on developing the individual attacking skills like passing, dribbling, etc. Credit has to go to Joe Luxbacher, and it should be mentioned that each chapter is written by a different coach. There are several Division I college coaches as well as professional coaches and federation (USSF) staff coaches who contribute. But despite the variety of coverage provided within this book, it’s not necessarily one of my favorites. I’ve mentioned elsewhere on The Upper Ninety the fact that I’m biased against what I consider to be a more English or Northern European style of play where wide flank play and long direct balls into attacking spaces are prevalent. Thus I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention the fact that I believe almost all of these activities are geared towards that style of play. It’s somewhat ironic that the second activity in the entire book is based upon playing to a midfielder’s feet out of the back, but this is quickly corrected by the next activity, which is playing balls from the backs the length of the field in the direction of the strikers. The last activity in Chapter 1 also features balls from the back four to space for the strikers to run onto. I believe this succinctly sums up the entire book.

However, there is some style-neutral stuff in here that’s pretty solid. We have a former Pittsburgh Riverhounds coach writing a chapter on playing through the middle which features some good activities for circulating the ball as opposed to whacking it long. But within this chapter is my main reason for saying this book is not for a beginner audience. Some of the activities (this happens throughout the book) seem to take a step backwards. While one might include each team playing in a specific direction, the following activity is a directionless game. In my mind, this is a step backwards. The game with each team playing to a direction is more game like and should necessarily follow a directionless activity. I’m sure there are some more specific high level applications of the reverse, but for most practical purposes I find this to be one of the book’s major faults. It’s really not a huge deal as a knowledgeable coach can easily recognize the issue and plan accordingly. But for me it seems like lazy editing or arrangement and is a reason why this book isn’t for beginner coaches. Lastly, the free kick routines and patterns of play are kind of weak. I think it’s kind of hard to really develop original routines for dead ball situations and partly due to this I believe the simpler the better. How many times do you see professional teams use all sorts of misdirection runs with balls played into player X running this way to play back to player Y who plays it out wide to player Z…you get the point. I think a couple of players around the ball and some intelligent runs are all that are necessary. A few wrinkles are useful, but I’m not a fan of the complicated or seemingly useless routines found in the book. Likewise I think the patterned plays are a little too simplistic. Some are somewhat useful but I’m not crazy about them. They’re mostly two passes and look for a cross where only two or three players are involved. I mentioned before that I prefer ball circulation styled attacking and these don’t quite fit the bill. It all falls into the rather direct style of play that has clearly influenced this book.

I recommend this book for high school or advanced coaches who want some activities for developing attacking play. If you prefer a counter attacking style or a more direct style of play a la the lower to middle Premiership teams, I think this book will be helpful. If you prefer attacks that circulate the ball more and are more akin to a South American style or Continental style, then I don’t think this book will be your best purchase. In contrast, I really like The Principles of Brazilian Soccer by Thadeu Goncalves which I was reading last night. There are much better ideas for pattern play that differ based upon what part of the field in which the ball is won. Goncalves goes into detail as to where certain positions should move in relation to the attack, what to do if the attack breaks down, etc. Much more detail than in Attacking Soccer. Overall this is a decent book, a good one if you’re influenced by the Northern Europeans, but I just don’t think this book offers enough that isn’t basically common knowledge/experience to really warrant a purchase. Maybe check it out from a library (especially if your club has one) or borrow it from a friend. Some good ideas, just nothing incredible.

…since I last posted. I’ve been busy with a couple things that have prevented me from being around the computer as much as I’d like to be. Consequently I haven’t been posting any new stuff. Firstly, we started our spring non-traditional season with the mens’ college team. Being Division III we have all sorts of constraints concerning practice time and the like. So for now we’re practicing about two hours per day, four days a week for roughly three weeks. As a player, the extra conditioning work inherent to the spring season always made it seem a little longer (along with a full course load and ‘extracurricular activities’), but from the coach’s perspective, it’s way too short.

But it’s mostly good news on that front: while the head coach and I are unhappy with the number of players who didn’t seem to stick too closely to the workout packet provided for winter conditioning work, it does appear that the three rising seniors who will be captains next year are totally on board with our philosophy. I should mention that the program has been very unsuccessful for the past several years and doesn’t have much in the way of success throughout their history (certainly in the past 15-20 years at least). Thusly, a less than ideal mentality had spread throughout the team. I actually played at this school my freshman year of college when I was recruited by a coach who intended to turn the program around. He had a successful year which enticed several recruits like myself, but he unfortunately took a different job that prevented him from coaching the college team. I played one year under the previous regime, so I can speak first hand for team mentality and environment, which was not conducive to winning more than a beer pong tournament. But the three seniors-to-be have followed the workouts and look sharp in training. One of them has visibly trimmed down and just looks more serious. Overall they try to push their teammates and are accepting their responsibilities well. This will be crucial for success next year. With the captains setting the right tone, it will be much easier to get the younger guys to follow suit. When we started last week, I was expecting to be disappointed by the quality of play as players who didn’t push themselves in the off season would take a while to work the rust off. However, everyone looked pretty sharp. I dare say they look at least as good as they did at the end of the fall season and some are probably looking a bit better. One freshman striker in particular has impressed me with his technical sharpness and appears more confident in his play. While he still has a lot to work on tactically, I think he’ll get a couple next season and could be a pretty good player in our conference junior and senior years.

We’ve also had a couple of players cut themselves, which makes our job for the fall that much easier. One was a headcase who just wasn’t capable of playing at the college level. I believe nearly anyone can play at the college level if they work hard enough, but it’s much better if that hard work is invested when the player is in his teens than when he’s almost twenty or so. I don’t think this player had the mentality to make the necessary improvements that would have yielded playing time. Another player came out for the first day and didn’t come back. Unfortunately we haven’t seen one of our goalkeepers, who is very talented and performed well in the few games he played last year. He struggled with injuries and mentality. I don’t know that he is serious enough to prepare himself the way a college athlete must prepare himself both physically and mentally. It’s a shame as he’s stronger than the goalkeeper who saw the most time last year, but I always have more time for a player who is dedicated and desires to improve himself. In that case, I’d much prefer the goalkeeper we have, even if his natural abilities aren’t as great as the other guy.

I’m interested in seeing how the recruiting class ends up. I’m afraid we’re going to be a bit thin at some key positions. We have a good target man striker coming in, who impressed me when I saw him play with this high school. I think with some good players around him he’ll be able to link up well and get in the box to finish crosses. He’s deadly with his head and I think he’ll add a different dimension to our attack. Most of our other strikers try to get face up to go at defenders, but all of them lack breakaway speed and the tactical knowledge to make the correct runs. I’m trying to figure out how to coach them better as I was a striker throughout my career. I had the last gear to separate from defenders, particularly if I could run onto the ball, and I think I made pretty good runs for the most part. All of our attacking players get caught from behind when they get the opening to go forward. It’s frustrating because it kills off many attacks when we have to pull the ball back and try to build up closer to their goal when everything is congested. We mostly lack the players who can break down defenders in tight space like that and I dare say the average Division III team lacks the quality to break a defense open through team movements. I’m trying to work with our strikers to be able to shoot after getting just a bit of space. It’s more likely that they’ll be able to unbalance a defender from a simple movement and open a tiny window than completely get past a defender 1v1. It’s tough to teach the strikers which runs to make because the situations change so frequently. They really have to have an idea of what to do at all times and too often I see them make poor decisions. The one I’ve worked with the most has gotten better (he’s the most complete package we have at the position), but still isn’t scoring the number of goals that will make him a dominating player in our conference…and he’ll be a senior next year. Maybe I was bit more natural at it than I realized, but I refuse to accept that. If I’m going to be serious about coaching at the next level I need to figure out how to improve the play at the striker position. I think I’ll try to talk to the head coach about taking them aside next year during practice and trying to work very intensely on some specific work like I mentioned above. I think the way I learned was mostly from my dad correcting my mistakes time and time again until my instincts were more correct.

Part of it is mentality as well. I think my instincts are very predatory and I always had the knack for finishing from any way possible. One of my favorite goals was from when I was a youth player (about fourteen) and playing against one of the top 4 teams in the state (Julian Valentine of Wake Forest, US U-20, and LA Galaxy fame was one of their defenders). After some bum officiating throughout the game, I was knocked down inside the box while the ball got played out wide. I was frustrated and slow in getting up off the ground while I protested the call. There were some bodies in the box as my team tried to force a goal. All of a sudden a cross came in from the wide left (I was sitting about the left edge of the six) when I saw the ball falling in the gap between a defender and the goalkeeper. It came over the defender’s head and the goalkeeper was running out from the goal line to catch the ball. As he came out to grab it, I, while sitting on the ground, lifted my right foot up to meet the ball and popped it over the keeper’s head. Goal. But enough of my own self celebration. You have to score them any way possible and ALWAYS want to score above all else. I think the players with that mentality are the natural strikers. Maybe others become strikers because of their speed or technical skills when they are younger and just grow up playing the position. But it takes that mentality and the clinical edge (ice running through your veins) to be good at the position. I see so many players skying the ball over the goal. But you have to be singularly focused until the goal comes. You can’t think about the defenders or anything except the way you’re going to strike the ball and where you’re going to put it. I never hear or see almost anything else when I’m thinking of scoring. I make the decision to attempt the goal and instinctually calculate where to put it, how to strike it, and when to pull the trigger. And my mind is calm and focused until it’s in the net. It’s like being a goalkeeper. It’s a different mentality. I could never be a goalkeeper because I don’t have that mentality, but I have a striker’s mentality. Why do strikers sometimes work better when they’re all alone up top? Why do some seem so distant or self centered when compared to their teammates? The job requires a different mentality where you have to be wholly confident in yourself and your ability no matter how many opportunities you spurn, no matter how many times teammates yell at you that they were open, because you have to know that you’re the one most qualified to take the chance.

Well that rambled on longer than I thought it would. Besides the college team I accepted a position coaching a U-13 girls team which will provide some much needed revenue. There’s also the possibility of coaching a U-10 team at another club which I hope comes through. I should know in the next month or two whether that will happen. I never hold out hope in this business though. It’s tough to break into and really, like most things, is all about who you know. Who I know helped to get me the college job, but more experience will unlock more doors. I’ve also been training a U-10 girls rec team as a favor to someone I know who also has a busy schedule and is trying to do a good job with the girls. I think doing volunteer work puts some things in perspective and it helps me appreciate the time that volunteers invest to provide children with the opportunity to experience and enjoy this game. I’m thinking about contacting the club and trying to drum up some personal coaching business. I talked with them about it two years ago or so and things were about to go through but I had my first of two knee injuries which put the kibosh on that. I think I’d be more prepared to do it now anyway with more coaching experience under my belt. On top of the coaching stuff I’ve been rehabilitating my second knee injury (ACL reconstructed) which is about three times a week (two if I’m lazy) and chasing paper four days of the week at a restaurant. Hopefully that job will fall by the wayside within the year (the sooner the better).

Last thoughts: my beloved DC United fell to Pachuca earlier 3-2 on aggregate. Two solid goals after the 85th minute gave me some hope, but it was too little too late. MLS squads are still not deep enough to compete over a sustained period against Mexican teams, but the quality is improving, mostly due to the foreign imports. Tom Soehn had very little he could bring off the bench. Loanee Franco Niell was about it and he actually contributed a goal, although I don’t expect much from him this year. Luciano Emilio is also one of the most frustrating players I’ve ever had to watch. He needs so many opportunities to score that it’s embarrassing. He had converted one of his THREE (3) clear cut opportunities, DC might be in the CONCACAF Champions’ Cup Final. His second, where he took too many touches inside the box, after collecting a great Moreno pass with the WRONG foot was the worst. I love him when he scores, but I really don’t care for him all that much when I’m not reveling in post goal celebration. I wish DC would find a more consistent performer. Emilio is too streaky. Were he consistent he might actually be too good for MLS, but then I see his poor touches, inconsistent passing, and inability to do anything except come back to the ball and take multiple touches and I’m brought back down to earth. At least Quaranta is clearly going to do some damage this year. I always liked him and am glad to hear his story. He’s got his head on straight now and I hope to see good things from him. DC’s backline will be very hard to contend with this year. Martinez and Peralta are sick nasty although Wells isn’t any upgrade from Perkins. He’s pretty much equal, give or take a little bit. I was never super psyched about Perkins by the way. But I think Soehn actually did some good coaching this series against Pachuca. I think the pre season form and insane altitude at Pachuca’s stadium cost DC the first game, but he made some intelligent comments pre game about pressuring Pachuca’s back line and the like. It clearly paid off in the first half. They gave up one good opportunity which Wells did very well (no pun intended) to save and created three for the ever wasteful Emilio. Gallardo almost scored a sick half volley as well, but put it just over. The goal they gave up was merely a result of pushing up in search of two goals as time was running out. I had Soehn marked as a motivator type, a la Bruce Arena, who never seemed to vary his tactics much. But some good signs from Soehn. He may yet make a contender of some sort out of DC. Superliga maybe? I think Superliga victory and MLS Cup or Supporter’s Shield would be worthy goals for this DC team. Good to see MLS continuing to improve across the board though. But jeeeeeez, can Houston find a worst backup goalkeeper? I watched their Texas derby against Dallas this weekend and he sucked. Then I saw him play against Saprissa tonight. First and third goals. Seriously? Were I Dominic Kinnear I might send some of their scouts out to look for the fountain of youth so Onstad can play a few more years. This Caig dude should return to whatever local pub league he came from. I hope to have some more book/DVD reviews up shortly. I enjoy doing them, but take into account the fact that I have to read a whole book to do the review. It takes longer than I thought it would to do a good job. The DVDs are better, but I don’t have as many coaching related ones. We’ll see what I can come up with in the next week or so though.