Learning to defend against a more skilled or quicker soccer player is almost always more mental than physical. You have to play smart, then use your physical skills to help stop your opponent.
If you are not as quick as the attackers you are playing against, you need to be faster mentally and read the game quicker.
Control What You Can
To defend against a faster player, you need to focus on the area of the game that you can control. What can you control? You can control your movements. You can control your effort, your energy, and your determination.
Read the Game
Be aware of how many players are at your side and how many players are moving toward you. Watch your teammates move, check your shoulders, and know where there are open spaces. Think of all the possible plays the opponent may try and be ready for them.
Increase your ability to read someone’s body language. Have an idea of where they may pass the ball. Sometimes you can pick up on this while in the game. Does the person you are defending favor one side of the field from the other? What is their stronger foot?
There are times you can tell if a player has the guts to dribble past you or if they are smart enough to pass the ball. Soccer is based on skill and the ability to outsmart your opponent. It does not rely on just strength and speed.
Because soccer requires the ability to outsmart others, it can make it very challenging to read players. You can pretty much know they won’t try and run through you, so if you can read their body, you can guess if they are going to go around you or pass to another player.
Don’t Commit
If you charge in to try and win the ball, it can make it easier for the attacker to get past you. Be patient. Hold your position. Match their body language. If the attacker makes an error, you will be in a position to make the tackle.
Physical Ability
Smaller players tend to be quicker and more skillful. This helps to compensate for pace and agility. You can exploit a larger player’s weakness when you know this. Be tough in the challenge – but fair! – make your opponent know you won’t back down just because they are bigger. Use your speed and skill to get the ball back or to stop the attacker’s run.
Be aggressive when going against a bigger and faster player. But don’t play dirty. That will only lead to you potentially getting a yellow card or worse, a red card. Your team will suffer working against a stronger attacker if they have to play one player down. So be smart!
Limit Their Space
Do not let the attacker have space to attack. Remember not to over commit or they will pass by you. Force the attacker to move to their weaker side or push them out wide where there is less support. This makes them hold onto the ball longer. When a player is out wide, it minimizes their ability to use open space.
Be Aware of What’s Happening on the Field
You need to be aware of where other attacking players are on the field when dealing with a faster attacking player. Pick your head up and check your shoulder. Know where the opponent is to help cut off the pass.
As a defender, you need to be always thinking of what will (or may) happen next.
Work With Your Team
Working with your team is going to be the best way to defend against a stronger attacker. Communicate with them. If there is a player giving you trouble, get a second or third player to join in, box him out, push him out of space, etc.
Focus on Your Position
If you allow attackers to position themselves correctly, and the defender is out of position, it allows for a dangerous attacking opportunity to arise.
If you are a fullback, it is critical you point the attacker toward the edge of the field. You will need to stand between the attacker and the goalkeeper. This leaves the outer line as their only option.
Never stand between the player and the ball.
When you stand in front of the player with possession, the referee will call a foul on you for hindering the other player.
It is your job to get the ball away from the player. But if the attacker pushes the ball forward and you step between the ball and the player, that attacker will run straight into you – and that is a foul.
But, if you take possession of the ball, you can move however you would like.
As a central defender, you want to push the fast attacker away from the goal. But, instead of toward the out line like the full back, you want to force the attacker toward the middle of the field.
This is easiest when you are in the correct position for your team. A fast attacker will become frustrated not being able to get past you if you are in the right position.
Slow Down the Attack
Being able to slow down the attack from the other team is also essential to stopping a faster player. The momentum a team has during an attack can leave defenders little time to organize and respond.
Anything you can do as a defender to slow down this momentum will help to increase the chances of your team preventing a goal.
Ways you can slow down the attack include:
- Standing in the way of the player with the ball to stop them from moving forward quickly.
- Intercepting the ball as it is passed between the opposing team.
- Tackling the player with the ball.
- Use your body position to direct the attacker away from the goal and towards the outside of the field.
Aggression is important when you come up against a fast attacker. You need to run and get the ball as quickly as you can and make the tackle (safely).
Don’t hesitate with tackling the ball. If you delay taking the ball, the attacker will most likely have the opportunity to pass the ball to their teammate and continue their attacking run.
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