Filed under: Dave Clarke, Soccer Coaching, Soccer Skills | Tags: Arsenal, coaching skills, Holland, Rafael van der Vaart, Robin van Persie, van Persie swivel
I wrote an article recently in an issue of Better Soccer Coaching about how Robin van Persie swivels and controls the ball with the instep of his foot to turn a defender. It looks great when he does it almost as though the ball is on the end of his toe and he is using it like a wheel.
While I was researching videos of him doing it – so I could work out how he does it! – I came across this clip of him playing for the Netherlands v Andorra in 2005.
It was such a good move I nearly included it with the van Persie swivel but would have to call it the reverse van Persie swivel. He does it backwards. I particularly like the commentator when van Persie swivels it to Rafael van der Vaart who exclaims “Woooh oh ho ho!” then in action replay shouts “Woopah!!”.
See for yourself:
Filed under: Dave Clarke, Soccer Coaching, Soccer News, Soccer Skills | Tags: Arsenal, how to coach throw ins, long throw in, Rory Delap, Stoke, surprise tactics, tactics, throw in skills
One of the great things about youth soccer is the way young players respond to being asked to try something different. In my teams I always have three or four things which we can try during a match that can catch the opposition unawares and create goal scoring chances.
And they are keen to do them. I have featured a lot of surprise tactics in my Soccer Coach Weekly publication, which I know my readers are very responsive to and the feedback I get is that these things actually work!
One of my favourite is at 7-a-side out of the blue I’d get my attacker with the hardest kick to run and shoot straight from kick off. It was a great tactic, one which was very successful on small pitches.
The surprise tactic that has got everyone standing up at the moment is the Rory Delap throw in. Wow that guy can throw over 35m into the penalty area causing chaos and creating goal scoring chances that recently have all been converted into goals. Free-kicks, corners… who needs them, if you’ve got a throw in taker like Delap you can attack from every position.
He has done it to great effect in the English Premiership – the latest victims being Arsenal who couldn’t defend against it.
My tip to any throw in taker is to drag the back foot because this stops you lifting it off the ground which is the hardest thing to control when your straining to get the ball thrown long. Line all your players up and have a competition to see who throws the farthest… you never know you may just have a Rory Delap hiding in the wings.
Here’s a clip of him throwing into those attacking areas.
