Essex Professional Coaching – Skill Tutorial Part One
Author: Essex Professional Coaching
10 Skills To Beat Players
Using skills and tricks to beat players is so important in the modern-day game. The worlds best players such as Neymar, Messi, Ronaldo to name a few all have a variety of skill moves in their locker to help them take on opponents or find a way out of tight situations. Whatever position you play in, this blog has a 1v1 move for you to add to your game.
Each of the skill moves detailed below can be mastered with your strong or weak foot with enough practice, we strongly encourage multiple repetitions to perfect the skills in order to add these to your game against real-life opposition. Adding variety and creativity to your game through skills and tricks will allow you to become unpredictable in your playmaking you very difficult to defend against.
1 – Ronaldo Chop
This skill move was quickly associated with Cristiano Ronaldo arguably the greatest footballer to ever grace a football pitch when he burst onto the scene at Manchester United as a speedy winger with electric feet. Often Ronaldo would look to cut the ball back behind his standing leg when dribbling at speed to shift direction this would unbalance the opposing player allowing him space to attack.
In order to perfect the skill, players should first look to cut the ball with the inside of your foot across the body but back behind your standing leg and accelerate away, the sharp cut back behind your standing leg can be as firm or as soft as you like, remember it must be reasonably firm to escape the defenders reach before accelerating away in the opposite direction.
2 – Outside Step Over
This skill move is slightly more complex than the Ronaldo chop and is often performed whilst moving at a slower speed. The outside stepover can be performed by stepping over the top of the ball in an anti-clockwise motion and then, taking the ball away to the opposite side using the outside of your foot to complete the skill move.
It’s important, as it is with any skill, to understand the movements and rhythm within the move and how it will create space for you. In this case, the outside step over help move the defender to one side as your body movement to step over the ball shifts this way, before sharply taking the ball in the opposite direction using the outside of the foot, this allows you to take the ball in your stride and accelerate into space. Such as the beauty of this skill it can be used to open space to the outside of a defender for a shooting opportunity to follow.
3 – Roulette
Next up we are looking at the roulette, no we are not talking about selecting your favourite numbers in a gambling format but instead, the most common skill move used on FIFA, with one simple 360-degree rotation of the analogue stick this move is performed… if only it was that simple in real life. I’m sure it can be with enough practise to perfect the rhythm of the movement.
To start the move players should step onto the top of the ball with one foot, twist your body and put your other foot on top of the ball before dragging away in the opposite direction to complete a full-body rotation.
4 – Flip Flap
The flip-flap, the elastico, the Ronaldinho. All refer to the same piece of brilliance that was first associated with Ronaldinho, the Brazilian oozed class and flair every time he stepped out onto the pitch and this skill move was just one of many that he utilised brilliantly to outplay his opponent.
The skills are quick and explosive using two sharp touches linked together, the first with the outside of the foot to push the ball in one direction and then the inside of the foot to snap the ball across the defender sharply before accelerating away. The foot used to perform this move should never lose contact with the ball as it guides it from one direction to the other. Again when we look at how the skill is used to outplay the defender the initial direction the ball is headed in tells the defender you’re headed in that direction, the quick snapback across the defending player helps to unbalance them giving you the advantage in attack.
5 – Neymar Roll Over Stepover
Next up we look at the roll overstep over, the skill move that we have linked with Neymar, arguably the most skilful 1v1 player in the world. Neymar, as I’m sure you would all agree, has bundles of skill moves in his locker making him completely unpredictable in the attack, not only does he have a variety of skill moves but also creative adaptations of the roll overstep over skill move.
The roll over step over can be broken down by firstly using the sole of your foot to roll the ball to one side, secondly, step over the ball in a clockwise motion with the other foot and take the ball away with the outside of your foot. With this skill, there isn’t a lot of movement with the ball after your initial contact so the key to mastering the skill is in the movement of the body to feint and trick the defender into believing you’re moving in the opposite direction to the initial roll of the ball with the sole, as with the majority of the skills in this blog the change of speed to accelerate away from pressure after the skill is complete is ever so important.
6 – The V
Skill 6 is the V manoeuvre, this skill can be performed stationary in order to consolidate the technique and rhythm of the trick before progressing to performing the move whilst dribbling.
Breaking down the V… Firstly, push the ball diagonally away from your body to one side and then pull it back towards your body and push it out to the opposite side (creating a V) once again the change of speed to get away from the opposing player is crucial, the V manoeuvre will create the space by moving the defending player to the side the ball is first moved to, so it’s key that the second part of the skill is quick and explosive in order to move into the space created.
7 – Body Feint
Next up we have the body feint, one of the most underrated skill moves that can be performed with so many different variations all through good body movement. Alexis Sanchez and Eden Hazard stand out as two players who have excellent agility and use of body feints to unbalance and outplay opponents 1v1. Unlike other skill moves the art to master body feints isn’t necessarily lots of movement or manipulation of the ball, but more importantly, how well you can change the direction of your body at speed – this is the key to unbalancing defenders when performing body feints, once again creating space to attack.
Breaking down the skill is simple, players should look to drop the shoulder and move the body to feint in one direction before accelerating away in the opposite direction, how well this skill is performed depends on the agility and speed in the movement of the body.
8 – Inside Step Over
Skill move number 8 is none other than the Daniel Sturridge special, Sturridge in the best spell of his career at Liverpool FC often used the inside step over from a stationary position and then used his explosive acceleration to get away from the opposing player.
The inside step over is performed in two parts and can be used from a stationary position or whilst dribbling with devastating effect. Breaking down the skill… Firstly players should look to step over the top of the ball with a clockwise motion whilst momentarily shifting your body to that side to unbalance the opposing player, The second part is the manipulation of the ball to take it away to the opposite side using the outside of your other foot.
9 – Roll to Heel
Skill number nine is considered one of the most difficult featured in this blog, more complex than many of the other skills in terms of manipulation, timing and execution. The roll to heel requires creativity and awareness throughout the manoeuvre to execute it to perfection.
We have broken the skill down into three parts due to complexity, the first part is to pull the ball back towards your body to begin the skill when within proximity of the defending player. For the second part use your heel on the opposite foot to flick the ball forward into space down the side of your opponent, and lastly to complete the move accelerate away from the opponent around the opposite side to where the ball was played.
10 – Fake Shot
To conclude our skill moves blog we look at the fake shot. Highly effective and simple to add to your game. In order to execute this skill move effectively, you must put a huge emphasis on exaggerating the shooting movement initially. Philippe Coutinho stands out as a world-class player who executes this move effectively through great deception, agility and balance.
Breaking down the skill, firstly players should look to shift the ball to one side of the body to open up a realistic shooting opportunity, It’s important to exaggerate the fake shot to fool the defending player into believing you’re about to shoot at this moment. To complete the skill players should quickly cut the ball back to the opposite side of your body across the opposing player.
Thank you so much to E.P.C for supplying us with the first of tutorial series. To check out what they do, visit their The Coaches Link club page by clicking here. There you will be able to find information about their organisation, links to their website and course, and also the job opportunities they have available.
Categories
