 Video is for wingers, but it could also be for full backs, it could be for any player who might find themselves out on the wings. And in today's game, there is a lot of player rotation, or at least I believe there should be. Players should be interchanging positions, midfielder should come out on the wing, even striker might find himself on the wing, and that way it goes and plays striker. Okay, so this video really is for everybody, but it's going to help you be more effective in these positions that a winger may find himself in. Okay, so I have four points that I want to get to, and I'm going to start with number one, and that is be unpredictable. So what do I mean by that? I mean, be unpredictable with your on the ball and off the ball movement. Let's talk about off the ball first. Okay, so there's lots of different runs that you can make, especially as a winger. I don't want you to spend all your time out here on the wing. I want you to vary your runs, come inside, sometimes drop into the midfield, sometimes go for that long one, sometimes go across defenders. Okay, so let's look at a couple different runs that you can vary up to be unpredictable with your off the ball movement. Number one is get width, use width to your advantage. You've probably heard that before, get wide, and it is extremely valuable because most times we're here marked by the defender. If I just took a couple steps back and created the space before the ball came, look at all this space I have to work with. Now I'm in control. I can sprint at him and I can make a cut and go towards the goal. Okay, if I'm receiving the ball in this situation right here, look at all this space. He's already on top of me. I can't attack. Okay, so yes, when the ball is coming, especially if you know the ball is getting switched, say the ball is over here, we got closed down. They were defending very compact. They closed us down and we knew the ball was going to be switched. Okay, I want to get wide really early. Oh, that's not the ball. The ball is getting switched. I want to get wide really early. Okay, so that ball can be played into me, and now I have that space. If I just wait for that ball, say I'm waiting in here, waiting in here. This is fine too, but now I've created space for my full back, which is fine, and I can join in here. Okay, but if you want to go at defenders, you want to terrorize defenders, then you want to get some width. Okay, you want to get width and then you get the ball into feet. Now you have space to work with. You can use your skills. You can use your speed to your advantage. I'm assuming those are your skillsets if you're playing as a winger. Okay, but don't always stay wide. That's what I wanted to get at here. Don't be predictable and always stay here. Sometimes it's good to come inside, okay? So say our defensive midfielder is on the ball, our playmaker is on the ball. It's okay to come in here and show for the ball. Now you play as a target, maybe you lay the ball off, spin and get the ball back. Okay, vary your runs. Don't always stay out here or don't always stay out here. And what happens if you come inside trying to show for the ball, maybe you get it to feet? Look at all this space you created for your fullback. He's going to love that. He overlaps, you play the ball there, then you get to that back post or make a run to that front post, get in the box because he's going to deliver a good cross. Okay, so come inside looking for the ball. Also come inside over the top, okay? So maybe that ball gets played into here and instead of staying really wide this time, I decided to go for a forward run between the fullback or behind the fullback between the center back and get that ball played over the top. Okay? If you look at where you received the ball in an incredibly dangerous area that you never would have got if you stayed out here the whole game. Too many wingers stay out here because they say I'm a winger, I'm playing my position. Well, that's great you're playing your position, but you're not going to be very effective if this defender always knows where you are. Okay? So sometimes you want to come inside. Sometimes come in, show for the ball into feet. Sometimes go over the top, try to get a through ball or a ball over the top. Sometimes get really wide and use your width to your advantage. Okay? But what I'm getting out here is be unpredictable. Don't always make the same run. Don't always call for the ball in the same position. Yes, you may have one that you favor and it works well for you, but you need to vary up your runs because like I said, you're going to be unpredictable, it's going to be harder for him to mark you, but you're also going to be creating chances for your fullback. You're going to be creating chances for, say, you come inside and attacking midfielder can come outside and get on the ball. Okay? You're creating space for your teammates because your movement is unpredictable. Now, let's talk about on the ball. So let's say you're the winger here, you're getting on the ball. Okay? Be unpredictable with your movement. Don't always come to this byline and try to put it across because you're a left-footed player. Okay? And maybe you're a right-footed player playing on this side. Whatever. So you need to come inside and try to take a shot, but you need to be unpredictable and you need to have the ability to go both ways. If I'm going at this guy, I need to be able to go down and play across with my left foot. I need to be able to cut inside and whip a shot with my right foot, but be unpredictable. If you only have a left foot, he's going to know you're always going to go there. So he's going to force you to go inside where you're uncomfortable and now you're in trouble. Okay? You need to be unpredictable. So if you're not confident coming inside, taking a shot with your right foot, that's something you need to practice. If you're not confident getting to the line and playing across with your left foot, that's something you need to practice. Okay? But be unpredictable. Sometimes you can cut inside here. He thinks you're playing with your left foot, fake shot. Boom. You created space. You can whip that ball to the back post or even better, you fake shot and you can come inside to get a shot on net. Okay? Be unpredictable. Point number one, be unpredictable with your off the ball and on the ball movement. Number two is be direct. And what I'm really talking about here is don't hesitate. A lot of time, you'll get the ball as a swinger and you have the opportunity to go at him. But for some reason, you hesitate. You're slow with your movement. You're like, ah, I'm not too confident with this. And what happens? He closes you down. He gets covered. This guy comes. Suddenly you're in trouble and you took too many touches and everyone's yelling at you. You lost possession and you're a big loser. Okay? If you don't hesitate, you are in control. If you hesitate, it gives him time to close you down. He's in control. If you don't hesitate, you get that ball first touch, you go at him with speed, take a touch around him. Boom. Whip a shot, whip across to that back post. Don't hesitate. So before the ball is even coming to you, recognize you have space. How do you know? Little shoulder check. Make sure your body... If you like this content, check out the Soccer Success Planner. You can download it for free. There's a link in the description below. And for advanced training, check out the Online Soccer Academy. Your body's open to the field. You can see everything. You're not closed. You're not facing this way. Your body's open. You can see the whole field. Okay? You're looking over your shoulder. First touch into space. Go off with speed. Little step over or whatever, cut inside. Play a pass. Yes. It's good stuff. You didn't hesitate. Okay? Okay? He is panicked. He is worried. If you do hesitate, he loves it. He's going to close you down quickly. So do not hesitate. That's one of the best tips I can give you as an attacker. Even if you're not confident on the ball, just say, hey, I'm not going to hesitate. Even if I trip over this ball, I'm going to do it with speed. I'm going to do it without hesitation. Okay? Put yourself in control. First touch. Attack him. Cut inside. Or cut down the line. Do not hesitate. You know what you want to do? Then do it. Don't wait for anything. Okay? Force him. Put him under pressure. Go ahead with speed. You are in control. Do not hesitate. Tip number two. Tip number three is anytime this ball is getting out on the flanks here. Say our winger has it or full back overlapped and he's going to whip across, I want you getting to that back post. Let's look at Cristiano Ronaldo. Usually he plays winger. 50% of his goals are one touch tap-ins and everyone says, oh, he's not that good. All of his goals are tap-ins. Okay? How many other players get that many tap-ins? None. Because none of them are working hard enough to get to that back post. None of them wanted bad enough to get to that back post every opportunity. You may have to make that run five times before you get a good cross. But if you make sure you're there every time, you know that ball is getting played out. Overlap. You can see an opportunity is coming. Get to that back post. Leave this ball that's overplayed for your full back to come and clean up. I want you to get in the mix. I want you to get 10 tap-in goals this season. I want you to get a tap-in goal your next game because you got there. That's all it takes. You have to work harder than this guy, want it better than this guy to get in front of him and get there. Okay? But as a winger, anytime that ball is coming from the other side, I want you to think about, I'm getting to that back post. I'm getting that tap-in or I'm scoring that header. I'm getting to the back post. Okay? But you're never going to get there. If you don't want it bad enough, you're not focused. You're not concentrated on what's going on over here. You don't realize, anticipate that there could be an opportunity and work hard enough to get in the box. Okay? Get in that box. Get in that back post. Get your tap-in goal. Win the game for your team. So number three, get to that back post whenever there's a cross getting whipped in from the other side. And number four, the last thing I want to talk about is help out defensively. Okay? Don't leave your full back to do all the defending by himself. You guys will have a much better relationship if you're always getting back. Maybe not always getting back, but a majority of the time, get back, help out, double up on this guy, especially if you're a defender. Your full back does a good job and gets him turned. You should be here coming to close down any passes into the midfield or stopping him from getting out of this situation. Okay? He's done a good job. He's done his part. You're not doing your part if you're waiting way up here and saying, hey, buddy, you're the defender. You defend. No. Everyone on the team defends. So get back, help out. It's going to make you a more complete player. It's also going to get you more involved in play. It's going to get you on the ball more. Okay? Because you worked hard to come and close down, win that ball back, you're going to get on the ball more. You're going to win possession of the ball and now you guys can attack. You can counter-attack quickly, hurt the other team. Ball gets whipped over here. What are you going to do? You're going to get to that back post for your tap and put that ball in the net. Okay? Also, work harder defensively as far as pressing defenders. Okay? So if this guy's on the ball, say the ball's getting played around the back here. Ball gets played here. Right now you're getting compact. Okay? So saying that defensively as a winger, if the ball is on this side of the field, I should get across and cover any balls that may come into this area. Don't wait over here. You're not doing your team any good. Get into this area. But as that ball is being played, I'm anticipating it's going to come here. I want to get there. I want to pressure this guy right away to either force him to go backwards and then they boot the ball up and then we win it. Or even better, he panics or he tries to beat you and you win that ball in a good position. Okay? So press, press, press. Press defenders. You will force them to make mistakes. You will win ball and you will be a better player because of it. A more well-rounded player who's more involved in the play and more valuable to your team. Okay? So there's a lot of ideas there. I hope you got them all. Let's review quickly. Number one is you are going to be unpredictable with your off the ball and on the ball movement. Okay? When you're on the ball, you're going to have the ability to cut inside. You're going to have the ability to go down the line and play down crosses. Okay? When you're off the ball, you're not always just going to stay on here on the wing. Yes, sometimes you're going to get good width so you can attack with point number three without hesitation. But sometimes you're going to come inside. You're going to ask for the ball to feed and you're going to try to play combinations with your teammates. You might drift over here for a bit, have that other winger come out here. Be unpredictable. Sometimes you make those forward runs trying to get the ball over the top or trying to get through balls. Okay? But you're never going to get those great goal scoring opportunities if you're always waiting out here on the wing. Number three, I just touched on it is play without hesitation. Be direct. I have that ball. I know what I want to do before it even gets to me. First touch into space, attack with speed, get down a line, play your cross. Whatever you want to do, do it without hesitation. I would rather you do it without hesitation and trip on the ball because you're going so fast than be hesitant, be slow, not know what to do and get closed down, forced to go backwards or even worse get closed down, take too many touches and get tackled. Now I should point out on, I should elaborate on that point and that is players are always asking if I'm taking too many touches or where can I take touches. It's okay if you take 20 touches if they're done with purpose and there's not a better pass for you to play. Okay? What's wrong, what's bad is if you take 20 touches when there's players closing you down, when you're not going anywhere with the ball, when you're just slowing the play down and getting close, that's bad. You can take lots of touches if you're doing it with purpose. If I'm sprinting the full length of the field and beating a guy to get in the box, that's okay to take that many touches. It's okay to take lots of touches if you're doing it with purpose. If you're just sitting on the ball, you're getting closed down, your teammates are getting closed down, then that's a problem. Okay? You can take lots of touches if you're doing it with purpose without hesitation. Third point, what's that, the third point? Well, let's keep going. Third point is get to that back post, okay? Anytime that cross is being whipped in, I want you to get to that back post. Get your tap ins. Be proud of your tap in goals. How many tap in goals did you get last season? Zero? Well, you need to get at least a few this season by doing that. Every time that cross is getting whipped in, where are you? You're making a run to that back post, you're getting those scraps. Maybe the ball gets played in here and it misses out this guy and goes through three defenders' legs and there you are. Because you got there, you got the easiest goal of your life. You tapped it in the net, but you'll never get that opportunity if you're always waiting out here. Too tired, too lazy, don't want it bad enough, get your ass in the box, go and get yourself a tap in goal. And fourth final point was work harder defensively. Help out your full back, get back, help out, double up when he gets in turn. Double up, win that possession, now you're back on the ball. Press defenders, don't let them out easily. If he's trying to play that ball off the line, close that down. Pressure him, force him to go backwards, oh, our striker's there, thanks. We'll tap the ball in, okay? Pressure defenders, good things will happen for you and your team. If you like this content, check out the Soccer Success Planner, you can download it for free. There's a link in the description below. And for advanced training, check out the Online Soccer Academy.