Tottenham’s John Allpress: why using offside in your practice sessions will help develop player skill

Practice | Activities | John Allpress | 1.07.2021

Tottenham’s head of academy coach development, John Allpress, explains why using offside in practice sessions helps players develop their skill and game understanding.

Learning: 

• Designing game-realistic practices using offside

• How offside helps both attackers and defenders improve their skill

• Practice designs which include elements of offside

A player is in an offside position if they are in the opposing team’s half of the field and also nearer to the opponents’ goal-line than both the ball and the second last opponent. There are further caveats with provisos for throw-ins, goal-kicks and corners, but basically that’s it.

Just imagine eleven-a-side football on a full-sized pitch without offside. Its present tactics, strategies and teamwork would be largely obsolete. Its techniques and skills still valid, but open to modification because of the prevailing circumstances.

Any game is defined by its rules so learning how to cope with and take advantage of offside early in a player’s career is just common sense.