Help Me Improve at Football/Soccer

[Crow]

I recently joined a soccer league, but have never played a game of it in my life. The league is big, but rather informal, so our team doesn't really have practices or anything. Everybody just shows up at the appointed time and plays. My position is Right-Back/Center-Back.

What are the main responsibilities of my position, and what can I do to improve at those responsibilities? I basically just try to stop the other team from scoring and get the ball away, but I can't help but feel there is more technique to the position than that.

Also, what do I do when our defense is overmatched? Oftentimes we end up in 3 on 2 and 4 on 2 situations (not counting the goalkeeper). I am fast and athletic, but I feel that I am working much harder than most other people just because I have to scramble around so much. Some of my teammates seem to take their time coming back to our side of the field, so this doesn't help either.

How long does it usually take to recover from an average match? I am a very athletic guy, and it takes me 3 to 4 days on average to recover from 1 match. I don't think I have ever been so sore in my life, which is ridiculous considering many of the things I have done. Am I trying too hard?

Any other general tips and advice pertaining to the game would be much appreciated.

[Rykaj]

Welcome to football, the greatest sport on earth (but please, let's not go into that discussion!) :smallbiggrin:

First off! Don't take my word on anything that has to do with defense. I am a right forward and I am absolutely horrible at defense.

Second, your role in depends heavily on your formation. Do you build up along the axis of the field, do you attack on the flank? Do you play 4-4-2 or 4-3-3 or something a little more rare even?

Furthermore, there's a big difference between wing back and center back. But depending on your team's style of attack they can be similar. On offense, you're mainly just filling holes left behind by midfield. But it also depends on the other team's offensive style. Say they're playing a 4-4-2 with one true striker and one hanging a little back. When you attack you want the whole defense to move up to the halfway line. Now they're probably falling well back, and you have your center backs to cover their striker. Keep an eye out on their other striker, to see if he can't slip past you on a quick counter were they to recover the ball suddenly. But normally your midfield will be pushing up and you want at least one defender to cover the empty field in between. If you attack through the center normally a center back will push up a little. I personally prefer a good flank attack and there you can really fill in as a wing back. Especially if you play 4-4-2 you can really help out there. Basically you just want to run after your right midfielder and stay available in case he can't find anywhere else to pass to. But you might also find an opening somewhere on the flank and run past quickly. Be sure to coach the other player and tell him you're open and be ready to receive the ball and cross it. In a 4-3-3 your role is less clear because there's a bigger synergy between the right midfield and right forward. But you should be ready to fill in should either of them be displaced.

Never ever leave defense without making sure your other defenders know what you're doing though! Don't leave the flank open for anyone to run past meaning the center backs have to leave their position to clean up your mistakes. Also obviously, don't leave defense when you're outmanned, there's an imminent counter or when they just have really fast flankers.

Otherwise on real defense I don't have to many pieces of advice apart from the standard:
-Defend between the player and the goal
-When on offense, push up to the halfway line
-Always keep pushing forward, don't be the last man. Work on creating that offside
-Always coach eachother. This just might be the most important piece of advice in football in general
-Always stay on your man, frustrate him to death by constantly keeping him unavailable

On the endurance part. Yeah it's tough. Duels are intense and can sap alot of energy from you. At the start of the season it can take me up 2-3 days to recover from a match. Towards the end I'll be extremely fit and I'll be fine within 24 hours. 3 to 4 days is a little long (how do you go from a training session to a match that way?). You're probably used to other forms of physical exercise probably and it just takes some getting used to.

Remember you're never trying too hard, you should always give it your all. It could be that you're a little too tense maybe. Try to relax on the pitch and play the game. There's a LOT to think about but that mostly makes your game suffer. Master it through practice and draw your own conclusions. Also try watching some professional matches and how they handle their position play, you can learn a lot from them.

Good luck on the pitch, and frustrate their strikers! Though if you'd do that to me I'd do it right back :smallbiggrin:


(Oh, and ask some actual defenders to clear up this jumbly story for you)

[Gaelbert]

I play high school soccer as a defender, but I do not claim to be amazing at soccer at all. In fact, most of what I say could be flat out wrong.
First off, like Rykaj asked, the defense setup is important to know. Do you have a sweeper or stopper?
Second, soccer is a contact sport, or at least at my level. Don't be afraid to use your body, use your shoulder. Don't lower your shoulder when you go in and make sure you're going for the ball, but don't shy away either.
Third, does your league call off sides often? If so, then you might want to run an off sides trap, standing in front of your man if the other defenders are doing it as well might end up getting you a penalty shot.
There's some other things too, but it's the off season for me and I can't quite remember everything.
Oh yeah, have fun.:smallsmile:

[Robberbaron]

My first suggestion to all new players is to read the rules, you'd be surprised at how few people do, relying on their coaches to tell them what they need to know, when a good number of coaches don't know themselves.

Beyond that, the above advice about figuring out your defensive setup is good, it's important to know what your role is in the scheme of things. If your description is what I think it is, you play a line of 4 as your defense, or you rotate between defense on inside and outside. Outside D tend to try and prevent offensive wings from crossing the ball in and trying to keep them from crashing when the ball is being crossed from other side. Inside D try to prevent shots from being taken, by blocking them or forcing the ball to be moved outside, when the ball is coming from the outside in, you're trying to prevent the forwards from getting a head, foot, knee or whatever on the ball

For 3 on 2 and 4 on 2 breaks, cover the passing lanes, try and force the ball holder outside and away from the goal. Them having to cross the ball into the goal area instead of driving on the goal makes it harder to score.

As for what shape you're in most high school teams play twice a week, occasionally more depending on scheduling, youth teams generally play one to two times a weekend during league season, or three to four times during tournaments. The local men's league plays once a week, full sided, maybe more with short sided matches.

Remember to drink plenty of water before the game, not just during, also bananas are a good source of potassium which will help avoid cramps. If you prefer sports drinks like Gatorade, don't drink it exclusively, drink at least as much water as Gatorade. If I remember correctly due to the high content of electrolytes and what not in most sports drinks, you can actually dehydrate if you drink too much of just them. Make sure you stretch well before and after the match also, just like any exercise.

[Crow]

Thanks you guys for all the great info...here is a short update.

My soreness after the games was not just soreness afterall, but the result of muscle pulls and not warming up adequetly before the game. I have remedied the situation and am now enjoying pain-free post-games.

I am not sure what system we run, but we commonly have only two defenders in our last row. Moving in and controlling the center has resulted in offenses trying to loop around our flanks. This lets us press them into the corners while our other players come back and cover the center as opoosing players move forward to support the flankers. Our opponents have been forced to make more crossing shots on goal, and goals against our team are down slightly.

[Dallas-Dakota]

If you are both a stopper and a sweeper, stay between the ball and that enemy player that sweeps past you. It prevents you from running back and covering but also from him taking the ball. So thats less effort, But be sure to be there, otherwise you're screwed,..

[Felixaar]

woo! Soccer!

Back is the best area of positions to play, and though I cant really give a lot of tips (I was a terrible soccer player, my favourite position was Bench), best advice I can offer is to work on the long kick. if you can kick the ball with some real drive, then you can get it away from your goals pretty easily, so long as you remember to kick in the right direction. Dont be afraid to get dirty, dont be afraid to kick the ball out (it's better than them scoring a goal), wear good shoes, shinpads, and always sheild your crotch.