1v1s 6/7: Take the 1v1 Outside the Box
I called this book 1v1's Outside the Box for a reason.
The box is the isolated 1v1. Blue player. Red player. Go. And as we talked about last post, that has real value — especially for touch repetitions, individual skill development, and building confidence in 1-on-1 situations. But it has limits too.
Because soccer isn't actually played in a box with one opponent. It's played with teammates. With movement off the ball. With second and third players making runs, providing cover, finding pockets of space. And the decisions a player makes in a real 1v1 are influenced by all of that context — by whether there's support on the left, by whether the pressure from behind means they need to lay it off rather than turn, by whether their winger has stayed wide or drifted central.
You can't replicate any of that in an isolated 1v1. But you can replicate all of it in a small-sided game.
Here's something that changed the way I think about this. Research by Critchell and colleagues looked at touch counts in small-sided games over a 10-minute period. In a 3v3, players averaged 79-100 touches. In a 5v5, it was 37-65. Compare that to 11v11, where players average 2-10 touches in a game. The more you expand the numbers, the fewer touches each individual player gets. And the more you condense it, the more each player is in the game — constantly in situations, constantly making decisions.
A 3v3 is intense. It's physically demanding. And it has every type of 1v1 in it. Face-up pressure, pressure from behind, pressure from the side, the low block — it's all there, in context, with teammates and opponents moving around it. Every second, the 1v1 landscape is shifting.
That's the game. That's what we're preparing them for.
So how do I use small-sided games in practice?
I build them around the same game model framework as the isolated work. If the focus of the week is breaking pressure from behind — your #9 and #10 dealing with tight central pressing — I set up a 3v3 that forces those positions into that exact situation. The red team is coached to replicate the type of pressure I want to work against. The scoring is set up to reward the right behavior: get the ball forward, connect with the target, break the line.
The key difference from an isolated 1v1 is that now the supporting players have skin in the game too. Your #8 isn't just watching. They're in it. They're learning why supporting the #9 matters — because they've just seen three times in a row what happens when there's no angle to play off. That understanding builds faster in a live game than from any coaching point you could deliver.
Here's a line that stuck with me from the research: "When I have the ball, my teammates are helping me with the current 1v1 situation I find myself in. When my teammate has the ball, I am working to help them."
That symbiosis — everyone working together on every 1v1 simultaneously — is the game. And small-sided games train it naturally.
A few things I pay attention to when setting up SSGs:
Match the formation to your model. If you play out of the back with a high fullback, your 4v4 should include those positional relationships. Positions by number. Players in their actual roles.
Set up the defending team with a purpose. Coach the opposition to play in a way that creates the specific problems you want your team to solve. They're not just "the other team" — they're the obstacle your game model needs to overcome.
Use goal types to shape behavior. End zones reward line-breaking and through balls. Target players reward direct play and combination work. Wide goals encourage switching and width. Real goals add realism and excitement. Each one changes how players attack and defend.
Let the game run. One of the biggest things I've learned is to intervene less and observe more. Set the environment up well, then watch what happens. When the moment is right, coach an individual in the flow rather than stopping the whole group. The game is the teacher. Let it teach.
Take the 1v1 outside the box. Put it in a small-sided game. Give it context. Give it teammates. Give it consequences.
Watch your players start to look like a team.
@LeeDunneSoccer