Defender Soccer Tips You Need To Know

Defender Soccer Tips – Beating defenders is a skill in soccer that requires consistent training. Players often focus all their attention on passing and possession but forget the importance of training their ability to dribble past defenders. These tips will help you improve your ability to beat defenders so you can create more opportunities for your team to score.

So, let’s discuss 3 ways in which you can improve as a soccer defender and lead your teams to victory, not just once or twice, but consistently.

Top 5 Defender Soccer Tips

1. The Straight Clearance Kick

One of the first defender soccer tips is the straight clearance kick. It’s really tempting, especially when you haven’t been playing for all that long, to replicate your favorite player’s kicking style.

Perhaps you saw them approach a free-kick from an angle, and the ball swings this way and then that, seemingly defying the laws of physics before sneaking its way into the top corner.

It makes sense too. An angled approach can help you get a significant amount of weight behind the ball, but as a defender, you need to master another technique as well… straight clearance.

I can’t stress enough the importance of being able to clear the ball as a defender. It’s not always the right thing to do, but when necessary, there’s no substitute for a giant hoof downfield.

The key to nailing this kind of kick is to maintain a straight approach, keep your knee over the ball, and get your foot under it. It’s sort of a hybrid between a big angled strike, and a delicate chip.

The idea is that the ball has a similar trajectory as the chip, but the force of the big strike.

I’m not going to lie, it will feel incredibly awkward at first.

You’ll hit off-center and slice it, you’ll feel like you aren’t generating enough power or that you don’t get the desired lift, but once you get the hang of it, that ball will be sailing through the air straight as an arrow.

The reason the straight clearance is essential is that it gives your teammates further up the field a greater chance of keeping possession. It’s direct and highly effective.

2. Only Clear the Ball When You Absolutely Have To

One of the next defender soccer tips is clearing the ball when you really have it in hand. While clearing the ball is an indispensable skill to master, you should only ever use it if you have to, or perhaps if you see a promising opening downfield and you have the skill to drop the ball right in the path of your attacking players.

So, why shouldn’t you give the ball an almighty boot every time it comes near your penalty box?

Well, first of all, soccer is no fun if it’s as one-dimensional as that.

Secondly, it’s a surefire way to give away possession of the ball to your opponents.

Thirdly, the most promising offensives build up from precise short passes that bloom into a network of passes that tie your opponents in knots.

Think about it. When you clear the ball, the whole midfield or defense of the opposing team is following it.

When you make the ball do the work and play the passing game, you’re drawing opposing players in and creating gaps in their formation to take advantage of as the ball makes its way up the field.

3. There’s no Shame in Kicking the Ball to Touch if You Have To

Clearing the ball isn’t the only way you can get out of a sticky situation.

If you can’t even find the time and space to slot the ball downfield, and the pressure’s building around you, as a last resort, you can kick the ball to touch.

It does give your opponents a free throw-in, but it also diffuses the dangerous situation at hand and gives your team a chance to regroup.

If you find yourself in this sort of situation, try and kick the ball out to touch as far up the field as possible. Any ground you make is valuable.

4. Pivoting

You’re not always going to be able to make the tackle, and that’s fine, you’re going to come up against some incredibly talented strikers as you grow as a player.

The best possible defense when you don’t make the tackle is a lightning-fast pivot motion.

Your stance should keep you loaded like a coil ready to explode into action in the opposite direction as the striker or midfielder chooses their direction of attack.

The fundamental principle of this technique is to stay on your toes and never turn backward. When you turn backward, it’s more of a drawn-out motion, and for a split second, you don’t have eyes on the play.

5. Directing the Forward

The last trick on the defender soccer tips list is directing the forward. Just as you should compose your stance to give you the fastest response times, you can also use it to shepherd the player into a direction of your choice.

Conclusion – Defender Soccer Tips

That’s about the top defender soccer tips. Looking to improve your football skill? Join us at Football Terms to learn more!