One Step, Then the 3v1

Starting position

A drill that stacks two skills with no breather between them. Along a line of cones, three chains of three players take turns, each with a ball. The instruction has two parts and neither is negotiable: the pass goes BEFORE the cone, never level with it and never after, and it goes off one step — not three little steps to feel safe, one step and the ball is already with the next man. That is where the rest is decided, because at the end of the line the three who come out go straight into a 3v1 against the red defender. And the 3v1 tells the truth: if the hands were slow before the cones, the wave arrives ragged and the defender takes all three. If they were clean and off one step, the overlap is won before they even get there. High reps, and a tempo that never drops.