Off the Shoulder Movement and How to Combat It
The following is an excerpt from Soccer Awareness eBook 18: Identifying and Solving Common Game Situation Problems in the Training Environment.
This 38 page eBook shows a different way to look at the game, rather than highlighting what we need to do well, it shows what often goes wrong and how to fix it.
These are many very simple situations I have found that happen in many games.
How many of these problems do YOU experience with your team?
Off the Shoulder Movement and How to Combat It
(3) Watches the ball and allows the wide player (B) to get beyond him. A ball in behind always beats him.
Centrally the centre back (4) does the same, he watches the ball and the striker comes off his shoulder and he gets caught with the ball in behind him.
This will cost us in unless we work on it with the team.
Here striker (A) comes off the shoulder of (4) who stays central and the ball in played into the space beyond and behind him.
Likewise wide player (B) makes the same movement with the same end result.
This is the end product where we can get caught.
To counter this center back (4) or fullback (3) should drop off inside the space the ball is going to be played into.
Alternatively the whole back four can press up and leave them offside but this is risky if there is no pressure on the ball being delivered.
Get more like this in Soccer Awareness eBook 18: Identifying and Solving Common Game Situation Problems in the Training Environment.
This 38 page eBook shows a different way to look at the game, rather than highlighting what we need to do well, it shows what often goes wrong and how to fix it.