Should you teach skills or tactics to young players?

In my experience, there is little advantage in teaching players under10 too much about tactics and formations.

I would recommend that coaching players under 10 years of age should concentrate on technical skills, and primarily dribbling and feeling comfortable with the ball

Players older than 10 do have a better feel for team work and strategies, but I would try and keep the strategies simple, like:

• move the ball forward whenever possible
  
• pass the ball into space for the forwards to run on to etc.
• kick the ball wide when coming out from defense etc
• make sure that the nearest defender "closes down" (put pressure on) the attacker with the ball
  

I have used the Ball Mastery techniques from Coerver with great success, as once the players have good technical skills and ball control, it is far easier to progress to more tactical training
drills and sessions.

See my review of the Coerver Coaching System by Clicking Here