Rock solid defending in 5 weeks: WEEK 2 Individual

If you want to win matches, you need smart defenders. A great deal of the time they will have to play their part in defending as a team, but there will also be other times when they will have to defend as individuals.

Most coaches think of defending in terms of getting the players organised and in the right places and they fail to recognise the importance of the individual in their system.

But the technical and tactical defensive capabilities of each individual are vital to stopping attackers. Players need to be able to delay opponents, turning them away from danger and preventing them getting behind the defence into the penalty area.

Decision-making

Decision-making can be one of the most important skills a defender has when faced with a 1v1 situation – should the defender jump in too soon it gives the attacker space behind to knock the ball past and run onto it. When the opportunity comes to intercept or block, will your defender be ready to take the chance to tackle? Will they know the right move for the right time, so they don’t, for instance, try a slide tackle when it isn’t really on, leaving them on the ground and the attacker free to exploit their unfortunate position?

If a defender can keep an attacker’s back to goal by preventing him from turning his view, the attacker’s options will be limited because he will struggle to see his team-mates and spot where the space opens up in the defensive formation. In this way it will force the attacker to use a skill to try to lose the defender, but often this will induce a mistake and the defender will be able to come away with the ball.