Screwing up with technique I stop practice and ask the player what he was doing wrong. It allows them to figure it out and say it out loud. Maybe then it will stick and if one player is making a mistake the probability is, most of them are making that mistake.

Two things that can change a team in MS (and even HS) soccer is disciplined defense and teaching possession.

If you can defend and posses you will win a lot of games. I ran a 4-2-3-1 (some would just say 4-5-1) but I had 4 back with 2 CDMs splitting the field out of possession and one would press in possession, while one would stay back leaving 5 to always defend. We are a small k-12 charter playing public schools with more freshmen than we have MS+HS. We didn’t have the man power to play a fast paced game. It was defense and counter when the other team would over press the field…usually due to frustration with their lack of scoring.

In the beginning practices were almost 100% rondos in varying sizes and skills. A simple 4 v 1 or 8 v 3 up to a 5 v 2 rondo at midfield. Once they get 6 touches in a row the 5 can advance to attempt to score on 3 awaiting defenders.

Players got bored in the beginning besauqe it was just a lot of small touches. Then games start and they see the value in it.

We won a lot of close matches and games we should have lost 7-0 were 0-1 losses or 1-1 ties.