Six Against Four

1. Mark a pitch 25 metres wide and 30 metres long with a goal and a keeper at each end. Two teams of five outfield players and a keeper.
2. Play in blocks of 4 minutes. In each block one team lends a player to the other, so it is six against four; in the next block the other team lends one. Lend a different player each time.
3. Play a normal game; each goal is a point. When the ball goes out at the side, pass or dribble it back in. When it goes over the end line, the keeper restarts.
4. Add nothing else: no touch limits, no special rules. The uneven numbers are the whole design.

Both sides face the same question, keep the ball or pass it, and get opposite answers. With six against four someone is always free, so the player on the ball looks past the nearest teammate for the free one further forward, and passes before the four can shift across. Dribbling into a crowd wastes the extra players. The four rarely have a pass on, so the player on the ball has to keep it alone: shield it, turn away from pressure, dribble into a gap and wait for a teammate to arrive, or drive at the space behind when the six have pushed up. Within a few blocks every player has played on both sides, so every player learns both answers.