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| Rio Ferdinand: Defense guide. |
According to Rio Ferdinand, Being calm and assured helps you and indirectly helps your team-mates too! "I played in midfield as a kid so going back into defense, I was always relaxed on the ball. If you show panic when the ball comes to you, that panic your team-mates too!" Says Rio, "It's good to stay as calm as you can and just pass the ball to a player on your team. Body language goes a long way. If you can make people feel you around more confident and relaxed, then your team has a better chance of winning"
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| Remember: Confidence breeds confidence. |
2. Get your head up
The ball comes to you and your head goes down - that's an indication to attacker to put pressure on you! Get your head up and know your surrounding, know where the people are moving, look for gaps. Rio said, " By the time the ball gets to me I know whether I have time to take a touch or whether I have to release it first time. The picture gets changed when you've got your head back up and you've got to be adaptable to the picture"
3. Dictate the play
"If you're playing against a really quick, skillful player, make sure you're within touching distance on his first touch. If you let him get into his stride and start running at you", says Rio Ferdinand, " you're in trouble with someone like that. On the other hand, you get a physical striker who loves contact. People that are big and physical are not as good if they haven't got contact with you - if they can't back into you they don't know where you are. Try to keep them guessing."
4. All eyes on the enemy
When there's a ball over the top and you're chasing it down facing your own goal, you've got to work out where their player who is applying the pressure is. If he's goalkeeper-side, sometimes I feint to play it to the keeper and he'll take a step or two towards the keeper, which give me another yard when I come back the other way. Then I've got an extra second on the ball to pick out a pass. The person who is chasing me makes my mind up as to where I'm going to play the ball.
See Also:
The ball comes to you and your head goes down - that's an indication to attacker to put pressure on you! Get your head up and know your surrounding, know where the people are moving, look for gaps. Rio said, " By the time the ball gets to me I know whether I have time to take a touch or whether I have to release it first time. The picture gets changed when you've got your head back up and you've got to be adaptable to the picture"
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| Never take your eye off the action. |
"If you're playing against a really quick, skillful player, make sure you're within touching distance on his first touch. If you let him get into his stride and start running at you", says Rio Ferdinand, " you're in trouble with someone like that. On the other hand, you get a physical striker who loves contact. People that are big and physical are not as good if they haven't got contact with you - if they can't back into you they don't know where you are. Try to keep them guessing."
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| Find your opponent's weakness - they will surely have one. |
When there's a ball over the top and you're chasing it down facing your own goal, you've got to work out where their player who is applying the pressure is. If he's goalkeeper-side, sometimes I feint to play it to the keeper and he'll take a step or two towards the keeper, which give me another yard when I come back the other way. Then I've got an extra second on the ball to pick out a pass. The person who is chasing me makes my mind up as to where I'm going to play the ball.
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| Anticipating their next step buys you time. |
Defending: Body Position
Even at top level, defenders get body position wrong. Use these drills to correct yours.
Posted by The Nike Academy on Tuesday, January 28, 2014
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