Attacking a Defender
FineSoccer Kids Newsletter - Attacking a Defender
Today's subject deals with attacking the defender as opposed to trying to go around them. Too often when a player has the ball and has a defender in front of them the attacker tries to go around the defender as opposed to going right at the defender and putting pressure on the defender.
To give an example let's assume there is an attacker with the ball, a defender and a goal. If the attacker tries to go around the defender by going to the side of the defender it allows the defender to force the ball away from the goal and takes away a lot of options. See diagrams below.
If, instead of trying to dribble around the defender, the attacker dribbles directly at the defender it will force the defender to retreat some which allows the dribbler to get closer to the goal and then can, with the help of a move, beat the defender in either direction.
The key is to attack directly at the defender to keep your options open and to do it at speed, which will put additional pressure on the defender and get you closer to goal.