 Honestly every player should want to be a better defender because football is a two-way game. If you're only playing an attack, you're only playing half the game, you're only half the player that you should be. So this tutorial is for defenders specifically but every player should watch this because it's very important. So I just want to give you a couple ideas on improving defending and I want you to try these ideas in your training and in your games and see if they work for you. Okay the first idea I want you to think about is reading the game rather than anticipating. So let's say you're a defender okay we're focusing on these players here our back four. So let's say you're a defender okay what most players do is let's say that the ball is played to here okay what they do is they wash the ball when it gets there they react a good defender anticipates the play so they see this player with the ball they know he wants to play into here they start anticipating the play so when the pass is played they can intercept the ball. So I want you to start getting in the habit of trying to be ahead of the play. When this player has the ball or any player on the field has the ball where do they want to play the ball next okay where does he want to go if I know he wants to come outside here I'm going to anticipate that and try to cover my defender if I know that he wants to play the ball into here I'm not going to react I'm going to anticipate so when that pass comes in I can intercept or at least be really close when this player receives the ball okay so think about that anticipating rather than reacting okay next thing I want you to think about is being there early and what I mean by that I'm just going to move my team up the field here a bit okay what I mean by that is let's say that this midfielder has the ball and they want to play into their striker here okay again it's about anticipating but most players the ball is played in here and then they close okay if you watch good defenders every time this ball is played into the striker's feet they are there as it comes okay so that starts with anticipating but it starts with wanting to be there early okay so anticipate the play when he receives this ball I want you to be here on his ass okay if you're not here if you're too slow what that does is gives him time to turn and then we can start players can start making runs for maybe plays a ball into here okay and we're getting hurt so try to be there early or be there at the time that the ball rises if not before okay so when it's there you have to be there think about that and again it starts from anticipating the other thing I want you to think about is cutting off passing angles as you're closing a player down okay so let's look at the full back here let's say this player has the ball the full back's coming to close down okay so what I would do in this situation is instead of running here because if I run straight at him what's gonna happen here a quick one two and he's around me okay so what you want to think about without being too without cutting yourself off too much is cutting down passing angles as you close players down okay so instead of running straight at him like this I want to try to come out like this if you want 12 weeks of in-depth coaching covering every area of player development daily follow along training routines to improve your skills fitness and confidence 12 weeks of professional match analysis and access to every advanced course I've created in the past check out the link in the description below okay obviously I have to be light on my feet and ready to react because I'm showing him down the line so I want to be able to stay with him if he goes down the line but what I'm doing here is I'm cutting off this passing angle so really this is only giving him one one real option okay he's going to take it down the line so because I know that I'm going to have a better chance of tackling him or at least keeping him in front of me so I'm closing down the pass as I'm closing down the defender so let's say he does get there worst case scenario he goes down the line and I stay with him or he turns and plays back and hopefully my other teammates are coming across the field to close down the space okay let's look at it from the another defender's perspective from the center has perspective okay let's say that this player has the ball in here okay I want to close him down yes but am I cutting off passing angles now it's very hard to defend by yourself so hopefully your teammates are coming to help out but I want to think about cutting off this passing angle as I close down even more so let's say you're in a like a two on one like this really tough situation okay here now these guys should have the advantage because they can play a little one too especially if I'm running straight at him like this but what I want you to think about is okay he's coming at me can I cut off this angle at least a bit and then close him down so instead of running straight at him can I cut off this pass a little bit even if it's just a couple steps in this direction to make him hesitate and then I'm going to close down try to win that ball off him or at least force him to turn and play backwards okay the other thing last idea I want to think about and I always talk about this when I talk about defending is close down the players quickly okay so this ball let's say that there's a midfielder or there are midfielders on the ball he plays this ball out here this is the same thing as coming early with the center backs don't let him turn okay if when I can I want to close quickly but I want to stay on my feet okay if you're closing you're trying to tackle right away a lot of times all takes is a little touch inside and he's around you okay what you will find is if you stay on your feet I get there quick but I don't necessarily have to make the tackle I just have to stay in front of him okay instead of lunging for it and having him go past you make him beat you with good skill and if you stay on your feet you move laterally side to side quickly okay you just stay in front of him stay in front of him I get there quick and then I stay in front of him force him to beat me make him make a good move okay and then when he does show too much of the ball yes I'll come and win it and I'll keep possession for my team just like that okay so think about those four things practice reading the game rather than or anticipating rather than reacting think about being there early especially when the striker receives the ball I don't want to let him turn I want to be there right as he receives the ball if not or even if I can I want to sneak in and win possession of that ball I want to think about cutting off the passing angles as I'm closing down players okay so I'm not running straight at him I'm trying to cut off another passing angle at least a bit as I close him down to cut his options down and think about closing down quickly but staying on your feet forcing him to actually beat you rather than you lunging in and you beating yourself