Filed under: Dave Clarke, Soccer Coaching, Soccer Fitness, Soccer News, Soccer Refereeing, Soccer Skills, Soccer Team Management, Soccer Training | Tags: goal miss, manchester city, miss, sunderland, Tevez
When Yaya Toure sprinted half the length of the pitch for Manchester City, 15 minutes into their English Premier League match at Sunderland, few expected what would happen next.
Toure’s outstanding pass presented Carlos Tevez with a goal as wide as the mouth of the river Tyne. Tevez scooped it over.
Okay so every week we all see players miss, even those as good as Tevez. The amazing thing about it, though, was the time and space Tevez gave himself.
In youth games we have all witnessed the miscued shot that goes out for a throw in or an airkick as the player takes their eye off with the defender bearing down on them. But Tevez had all the time in the world to score and it was probably that miss which put the team off and left them 1-0 down at the end.
So next time your young striker is in tears at missing a chance tell him the tale of Carlos Tevez and the amazing miss at Sunderland.
Filed under: Dave Clarke, Soccer Coaching, Soccer Fitness, Soccer News, Soccer Refereeing, Soccer Skills, Soccer Team Management, Soccer Training | Tags: cannavaro, centre-backs, five best defenders, lucio, piquet, puyol, Thomas Vermaelen, vidic
How many professional teams won at the weekend due to a centre-back scoring from a corner? They do it so often because they are the players who practice outjumping their opponents when they are defending – hence they can do it when they are attacking.
A lot of youth teams keep their centre-backs covering on the half way line, rather than see them get up into the penalty area for a corner in case the defending team wins the ball and makes a quick break. But you don’t have to be so cautious, other players can cover, it doesn’t always have to be your centre-back.
When you are coaching attacking situations make sure you use your centre-backs to attack the ball as well as your strikers. They can learn a lot from positional play when they are attacking so they can understand how to defend the same situation.
My five top centre-backs to use as an example to your players are:
- Gerard Piquet, Barcelona
- Nemanja Vidic, Manchester United
- Carles Puyol, Barcelona
- Lucio, Inter Milan
- Thomas Vermaelen, Arsenal
Watch the clip below of Gerard Piquet scoring for Barcelona:
