 we're going to practice closing because a skill of being a defender is the movement of being a defender it's closing players down so obviously you're going to get a bit of fitness out of this but what you really want to do here is practice the way you close down the attacker okay so first of all if i'm closing him down i'm not just going to jog towards him i want to close that space if he's receiving the ball let's give him a ball he's receiving the ball i want to be on him as he receives the ball okay so imagine that pass is coming first that pass is coming as that ball gets there boom you want to be here okay so focus on closing quickly is number one but this drill what you're gonna do is if you don't know about me i used to be a huge underachiever but through obsessive self-improvement i found my success earned a college scholarship played for my national futsal team a youtube channel with over 100 million views i've helped players worldwide and i'd love to help you improve faster and achieve more i'm going to close him down close him down and then practice kind of jockeying back into space go again close him down jockeying staying low jockeying back into space kind of trapping one way but a couple things to this drill okay so you're going to get fitness practice closing down quickly so one speed of the drill speed of the close at this point now i'm getting cautious now i'm not running in crazy he's in my defensive third i'm getting cautious so close down quickly next is the way i want him to go the shape of my run if i run directly at him set up like this two ways for him to go three ways for him to go what i want to do is think about trapping him pushing him one way let's say i want to take him to the sideline so i'm going to close quickly but i'm going to curve my run so i know where he's going i'm pushing him this way so practice curving your run then practice keeping him into that space good if i want to bring him this way curve my run and back okay obviously i look like an idiot running had a dummy with no one there but this is a very important skill of defending if you don't know first of all if you don't get there in time if you don't know how to close him if you're not trapping him you're making it very easy for him to attack you so practice this skill of closing down and jockeying yeah in this soccer drill for defenders we're using a wall unless you have a partner or two but the purpose of this drill is to replicate what happens a lot of times as a defender cycling the ball around the back four the back three so ball comes from one side let's say you're playing center back you want to receive that ball and you want to quickly play it to the other side when i say quickly i don't mean rush i don't mean panic but as a defender if your job is to switch the ball comes from one side you want to switch it to the other side you should be playing two three touch tops most of the time okay so if you are receiving the ball from that way and my body's not turned i'm taking one touch here maybe i'm taking another touch the set then i'm playing that pass with the wrong foot i'm getting myself into trouble or i'm playing here and i'm turning i'm not opening up i'm not keeping my body let's say the opposite net is over there so i play this ball i want to keep my body this way so i can play that pass and then go again obviously you don't have a teammate so just practice a fake pass change your direction go the other way play with the other foot opening up the body play it to the other side go again practice opening up the body when facing the field the fields this way now facing the field switch of play okay and you can let that ball roll across your body or hit it with a bit more pace now we're playing two touch and play okay switching feet 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 and play now first step of this drill is opening up the body seeing the field not closing yourself off when i know i want to go that way receiving in half turn so i can switch the ball quickly the other thing is the quality of your pass as a defender you need to be an expert passer you can't give the ball away best passing or best defenders at very high passing percentage completion okay so when you're playing that pass focus on the quality of the pass get over the ball open your foot strong contact aim for a spot on the wall hit that spot go again yes good play another important skill for midfielders is long passing and i'm actually going to show you some clips i did for a video on soccer drills for midfielders in this drill i'm going to do some long passing and if you only have one ball find a wall ping it against that wall let it bounce back to you go again but if you have a few balls and you want to try hitting into a net just get that ball out of your feet play a driven pass good technique into the net try to hit the back of the net without the ball bouncing okay so good technique driven pass focus on and if you can don't just have a dead ball go and hit it because in a match that's not realistic you're either coming off a turn or dribble getting your head up good technique driven pass let's do better than that and maybe you missed the net but you go again there you go driven pass okay after you play that you can run to the other side get your balls again so depending on the distance a little bit of fitness come get it out of your feet driven pass again and like always oh crossbar oh camera i'm always playing with both feet so as i said it's better for you to practice off a dribble it's more realistic get that ball down good technique playing with both feet there we go beautiful as a defender it's very important that you're capable and confident with your heading skills so practicing as a defender defender specific skills can be tricky but one thing you can do to practice your heading technique is use a wall okay so first just practice good contact off the forehead good contact off the forehead direct it where you want to go as a defender a lot of times maybe you're doing a defensive clearance okay so you can practice going up going high okay but this is a good way to get that technique can't be scared of the ball as a defender practice good contact off the forehead snapping with the body okay the more power you want the more you have to generate from the hips from the upper body from the neck but developing confidence 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