 So what I wanna talk about in this video are nine soccer skills you actually need to have before you start looking at all that fancy stuff that doesn't really matter that much. So, number one, dribbling with your head up. And if you can do all these nine skills with both feet, you can do them in match situations under pressure, then I'll let you look at the other stuff. Number one is dribbling with the head up, keeping control of the ball with your head up. So when you do have the ball, you can actually make decisions at the right time. If I'm always dribbling here, and I always have to look at the ball like this, I don't know where the defenders are. Defenders are, I'm gonna get tackled. I don't know where my teammates are. I can't play my pass if they're open possession. I'm not gonna create chances. So number one, dribbling with the head up. Number two is turning sharply. If you want skills to beat defenders, that's fantastic. But the best skill to get away from someone is actually being able to turn efficiently. I can lose defenders just by being able to change direction and protect the ball with my body movement. So number two, I would actually focus on turning and changing direction with the ball. So when I'm turning, the technique of the cut, really over-emphasizing the hip, the foot technique, getting the foot around the ball, hard cut. If I wanna go that way, I don't wanna touch here and then here and then here to re-correct. I wanna go there in one touch, if I can. But that requires body movement as well as the technique of the touch. Okay, so practicing turning efficiently when dribbling with the ball. Next is the ability to beat a defender. And from my personal experience, and you may have experienced this as well, when I get in these situations with a defender and I pause and I think about all the cool tricks that I'm gonna do, I'm easier to defend. When I just simplify it and my trick is a touch past him or it's a change of speed, suddenly I'm beating way more players with way less effort. So please do not fall in the trap, I did this. That's why I'm allowed to say it. You receive the ball and because you're a skillful player, you take all these touches and you think you look really good, but all you do is slow it down the game and waste time, get tackled. You don't create anything with your skills. So the next skill you need to focus on, the real soccer skill, is beating players with simple effective moves. Okay, so as far as dribbling with the head up, learning to actually change direction, turn quickly, effectively, low to the ground, sharp changes of direction, and then dribbling and beating players with simple effective skills, being direct, not hesitating, not standing on the spot, doing nothing, one touch, one move, getting past them. The next soccer skills, football skills, are all about passing and receiving. In my opinion, those are the most important skills in the game. A lot of players, they wanna learn how to do a triple knee touch, aca, 3000 ultra deluxe combo move when you can't even go a whole game without giving the ball away. So focus on what really matters, and passing, first touch, taking care of the ball is so important. So number one, can you actually hit your target inside of the foot with both feet under pressure and not just to stand still in practice? Can you do it off the turn after a bit of skill? Can you have quality when you get tired during the game? Can you take care of your passes? So passing, focus on that skill is so important. Next, let's talk about first touch. When that ball comes to you, can you do what you want with it? Because a lot of us are receiving the ball, it's getting caught in here, I'm having a bad first touch, it's slowing down my speed of play, it's slowing down my decision making. I need to be able to go wherever I want with that first touch. Left, right, up, down, over, anywhere. This touch, and not that one, I'm trying to be too fancy. This first touch is the most important touch, it dictates everything. If I have a bad first touch, I'm usually gonna give away possession or I'm gonna have slow speed of play. So focusing, when that ball is coming you actually focusing on the quality of that first touch. So many of us were receiving that ball, and my head's already up here, thinking about getting tackled or thinking about the next thing that's happening, before I even have a quality first touch. So really overemphasize where you want it to go with your technique and your body movement. Even if I have a bad first touch, with my movement, I'm on top of it, I'm gonna be able to play quicker. So focus on the quality of first touch. Next skill I want you to think about is playing on the half turn. When I receive that ball, whenever I can, can I receive it facing the net? If I'm always receiving the ball from the back line or side, and I have to take one touch to set, one to turn, now I'm facing the goal, I'm too slow. So the next skill I want you to focus on is playing on the half turn. Can I receive it into space or even let it come across me? So my first touch, my first movement is towards the goal. So as far as passing and receiving, I want you to think about quality in your passes. With both feet, take pride in your passing, do not give the ball away. That first touch, don't get past it, don't already be over there when you haven't focused on here. This first touch, speed of play. And then finally, playing on the half turn whenever possible. Whenever I can, I want to be receiving the ball this way so I can attack the ball quickly. Next set of soccer skills that I want to focus on are what I like to call ball striking. So number one, the ability to play a long pass, a ping, a driven pass. Can be any type of technique, but the ability to play the ball 40, 50, 60, 70, 80 yards across the field, down the pitch, put the ball where you want it, hit a teammate, put it on his foot from distance, the ability to play that pass with both feet. Again, under pressure. It's one thing to be by yourself in the park and hit a ping pass without any pressure on you. It's another thing to be in the heat of a game, tired, someone on your back, get a bit of space and still have the quality to hit that pass. So the next skill I want you to really focus on developing is the ball striking, it's the ability to play those long driven passes with quality, hit your target every time. Good technique on both feet. The last soccer skill that we need to focus on, if you want to be the type of footballer who actually makes a difference in a game, is shooting, finishing, scoring goals. If right now you take more pride in how many nutmegs you have per game or how many guys you beat, as opposed to how many goals you scored, how many assists you made, how many tackles you made, how big of an impact you made on the game. If that's your priority right now, you're playing the wrong sport, go be a freestyler. Go play street football. But if you want to play the real sport of soccer, the real sport of football, you need to focus on actually making an impact on the game. What's the point of having a good bit of skill? It's to create space. So I can put the ball in the net and score my goal. It's to create space so you can have a shot. How many times have you seen someone? They look really fancy, really good skill. They get that space and then it's time to shoot. And they can't come up with a final product. If you want to be a great footballer, it's all about that final product. Everything leading up to the end is fantastic. But if you can't compose yourself to get that shot on net or to make that final pass to produce the end product, then you're never going to be at the level that you want to be. So the last skill that I want to focus on is shooting. So number one, can you strike the ball with your laces? Good technique, both feet. A lot of players are good with one foot, but when they get on the other, do they have the ability to strike a good, strong shot, good contact with the laces. Okay, so flex foot, technique. The second I think about smashing it as hard as I can, my technique disappears. I say this all the time, power comes from technique. Build a foundation of good shooting technique and then the power will come. Natural technique, foot is locked, toes down. Flex foot, strong foot, strong legs, strong calf. Upper body is controlled. I'm not leaning one way or the other. I'm over the ball, I'm not back here. When I make contact, I'm keeping strong contact through the ball, following through towards the target. My legs not going across my body or leaning one way or the other. I'm following through everything towards the target. Last skill I wanna focus on is shooting with placement. Do you have the ability to pick a corner, to actually put the ball where you want it to go? Because a lot of us will get in these situations, maybe one on one with the keeper. We're trying to bend it there, but what do we do? Curl it right into his hands. He just says thank you, throws it the other way. Give you a few tips for placement shots. When I'm trying to curl it, I'm really trying to hit off the inside of the big toe. If I hit it in here, and not because I'm trying to, if I just lose my concentration, and I hit it right in the middle, rather than off this spot right here, that's when I produce those shots that I hate, where you're trying to curl it, but you just end up bending it right down the middle. So really focus on opening up the foot, curling off more of that big bone right there. I need to focus on the ball until I've actually completed my shot, which sounds ridiculous, but how many times are you going to shoot? And now that I say this, you'll be aware, you take your shot, but before you even make contact, you're already looking up at the net. If you want to be extremely accurate, I really need to focus on the ball so I can be precise and actually hit that spot on the ball. So actually watching the ball with my foot until I've actually made contact.