I'm pretty new to coaching, just started out at the start of the season and I'm working on an U8s side with a slightly more experienced coach. I feel like we're working well together, our team does some nice stuff with the ball, we do pretty well when it comes down to matchday and above all, the kids are enjoying themselves.

One thing that does keep cropping up as an issue that holds the team back from time to time though, is the positioning and marking. Now obviously, you don't expect 2011 Barcelona with this sort of thing and I don't want us to drill them too something that isn't the easiest part of football to get the hang of, but it's something I would like to ease them into, a bit of ground level learning. They don't all bunch together the way other teams can do at this level but I always think there's that extra step where if they can take it and it clicks, they'll flourish and continue to fall in love with playing the game.

I tried introducing a drill last night where we had 8 players. I marked out three boxed zones in front of the goal with cones, each box would contain a bibbed defender and a non bibbed attacker. Of the other two players, one went in goal and the other drifted in front of the box zones to start the drill and exchange passes with the attackers where necessary. The three attackers and three defenders had to remain in their respective boxes. The attacking three plus the playmaker had to work together to try and score. The idea was to challenge the attackers' use of limited space and to get the defenders used to defending a set space and the concept of marking a player.

I think the players got the hang of the teamwork aspect and we eventually saw some decent movement off the ball, as well as some good marking from the defenders, there was a fairly even split between moves that led to goals and moves that were defended and cleared.

What I'm looking to get out of this thread is just a little feedback. I'm aware this drill could be a little complex as it took a fair few attempts to grasp at first, it's just one I had a go at creating from scratch. Is this drill any good? Is there anything that can make it any more effective? Has anyone had any other ideas/concepts that are useful for this sort of thing?

Again, I'm trying not to overload them or anything like that, the idea is just to give them something new to think about and get stuck into. Would love to hear your ideas on this, cheers.