There is a lot of movement in this skill, but if done right it will buy time and space for the player.
Watch the video below and get your players to practise the skill using the activity below and go to the session VITAL SKILLS – THE DRAG SCISSORS by clicking the link.
DIFFICULTY RATING ★★★★★
Practice is vital before attackers use this skill in a match. Balance and quick feet are key, as is the angle of the body.
The skill
The drag scissors is a great skill for a winger who wants to make the defender think he is going outside down the line but instead drags the ball inside. A player using this skill can totally fool a defender.
Body shape and quick feet are vital to the success of the skill, which fools the defender into thinking the attacker is going to feint and go one way but quick feet take him in the other direction.
How to do it
STEP 1 When an attacker needs to create time and space they should dribble towards their opponent.
STEP 2 The attacker drags the ball as if to go to the defender’s right.
STEP 3 But they step around the ball, the scissors, looking like they are going to go left.
STEP 4 Then they push the ball to the defender’s right.
STEP 5 The anchor leg is used to push the player and help accelerate away with the ball.
Coaching tip
When watching the video listen out for the important steps used in this move: 1. Drag; 2. Scissors; 3. Push; and 4. Accelerate. Try to call out these steps as reminders when you are coaching your young players to do the drag scissors.
A SIMPLE PRACTICE
Use this simple practice to help your players master this difficult but useful skill, the drag scissors…
> Depending on how many balls you have, line players up opposite each other. If you have enough balls for one between two that is best.
> Get the groups to face each other 10 yards apart.
> Place a cone at the five yard mark.
> On your call the player with the ball runs at the cone does the drag scissors and then passes to his partner and runs to his partner’s end.
> The partner then does the same drill to the opposite end.
This week during lockdown we’ve set up a league at our club where boys in age groups challenge each other to beat the keepy uppy record – keeping the ball in the air with different parts of the body but mainly the foot. It helps to get them to try to do as many as possible because they want to win the league. MORE
One of the options your attacking players have when they approach the penalty area, be it a winger, wingback or number 10, is to go it alone into the box to get past the defenders. MORE
I was out walking on the local golf course where I live this week and in the distance I saw a child running from what seemed miles away at top speed. As the child got closer I realised that it was someone dribbling a ball. Of course on the fairways it was like being at Wembley on a well cared for football pitch! It was great to see a child enjoying dribbling a ball, chipping over the bunkers and swerving around the patches of heather that catch out an unwary golfer. MORE
Turning with the ball has always been a skill that draws names from the great players through the ages – think of the Cruff turn or Zidane spin turn. It used to make me wonder how players like Lionel Messi, Andrés Iniesta, Zinedine Zidane or Johan Cruyff could turn their opponents inside out, game after game – I now know it needs practice and from a young age. MORE
Use this game and it will develop the ability of your players to use dribbling skills to win one-on-one situations. Individual skills develop players so they can keep the ball when facing an opponent. MORE