 So as I said, we'll focus on the attacking midfielder today. So let's just look at different situations when different players on your team have the ball. Which space should you go into to be a good option to get involved in the play? The great thing about the attacking midfielder role is you do have a bunch of freedom, especially when you are in possession of the ball. So sometimes you can drop short, sometimes you can go deep. I want you to feel that you can kind of go everywhere. As long as when we lose the ball, you're getting back into defensive shape. However, your coach or your team wants you to defend. But when you're in possession, feel free to pick up different, pick up the ball in different areas. Sometimes you go short, sometimes you can go long, you can vary your runs. And in those ways, you'll be very unpredictable, saying that I want you to think about getting the ball in attacking areas. Because if you're the attacking player and you're always going deep, they're not going to have anyone in this area unless your other defensive midfielder is getting forward. But that's not his job. Your job is to get the ball in these dangerous areas here. So you can get turned and then play the balls into the strikers or dribble and force players to close you down and get your other attacking players involved in the play. So saying that I want you to be free, sometimes go short, sometimes go long, but realize you are the attacking playmaker, you want to receive the ball in the attacking third so you can make things happen for your team. But let's take a step back and look at different players on your team. When they have the ball, what should you do? So let's say the fullback has the ball here. Where should you go to provide an option? Well, as I said, you can either go short and show for the ball. There's probably going to be a holding midfielder coming in here to show for the ball like that. Just always think about giving angles. If you can come in here and try to receive the ball in between defenders and get turned, then we can play forward. So always think about showing angles. Sometimes you want to go short and show for that angle. If that's not on, say for example, I go into this space and the passes are blocked or we're getting shut down, then try to spin because this ball is probably coming over the top and he's probably going to try to hit a winger in space or hit the striker here. So if you know that ball is coming forward from the fullback, a lot of times the fullback will get his head out, get that ball out of his feet and play a more direct ball either in behind here or into the striker. If you know that ball is coming over the top, so let's say you went to show short and the pass didn't come, don't stay there and just watch what happens. Realize that ball's coming over the top, spin right away and say for example, it goes into the striker. Now you're here as an option. He can lay that off and he can spin and we can attack and maybe you can play him in or you can attack that space right there. Another example, say you went short again, you didn't get that ball. If you do get it short here, just make sure that you're not turning into trouble, just have your head over your shoulder. Okay, so if you do go short there and you get that ball, it might just be a simple layoff like this. And then again, we're spinning, we're moving forward, play that pass, move forward, play that pass, move forward, get forward because we want to receive the ball in these areas rather than in these areas. Yes, sometimes we need to go back and get that ball just to keep things moving, but you want to receive the ball in these areas, get turned so you can get your teammates involved in the play. You can create goalscoring chances, you can get goals for yourself. So coming back to that more direct ball from the fullback, again, let's say you went short, he didn't play it to you, that's fine, ball gets played over the top and it's played to the striker. Okay, you can anticipate that maybe it's going to be a little flick off his head, maybe he can't bring it down, it's a little flick. You can get these runs going past that striker. Yeah, especially as the attacking midfielder, it's a very dangerous run if you can start moving past the striker. A lot of midfielder's are attacking midfielder's we spend our whole time behind the striker. Okay, if you want to be more attacking, you want to create more chances, you want to get more goals, get in the habit of making this run getting past him, especially when the like I said, the balls played over the top, anticipate that he's going to win that. Don't react, see that he has won it and then go, you want to anticipate that he's going to win that flick. So he's either knocking it down to you, if you see that it's just going to be over the top of his head, anticipate that he's going to get up and he's going to win that and you're already in behind. So that's when there's a more direct ball out of the back, that goes for the center backs as well. If you see that they're getting their head up and they're going to play a direct ball into a winger or a fullback, just anticipate, go there, get there for the short one, if they bring it down, ask for a defeat and then they spin and we go forward, you can either play back into them, as I said, or dribble in space, get other people involved. Or if it's over hit, anticipate that it's going to be over hit, anticipate he's going up for the header, he's going to win it and you're already in behind for the flick and look, you're in on a breakaway, something like that. Okay, so that biggest thing I want you to take away from that little point right there is anticipate, do not react because if you're reacting, that ball is played over the top and it's in to him and then he wins it and then you're kind of trying to chase it down, you're reacting, you're never going to get there, you're too slow. Don't go where the ball is. 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. Where the ball is, go where the ball is going to be. Okay, so learn to anticipate rather than react. Gamble, especially in this attacking role. Gamble, if you don't get it, that's alright, get back into shape, maybe you'll get the next one. So let's move into the center back. Let's say the center back has the ball here and if you saw my defensive midfielder tutorial, I always want this guy coming and showing for the ball, trying to get it into feet. So if you know he's going for the ball in here, trying to get it to feet, he's going to draw defenders towards him. Usually when center back has the ball in his feet like this, I try to get it in positions like this. So I know the play is getting sucked to this side, I know I've got players here, I've got probably two holy midfielderers giving short options. I want to give a longer option, but one into feet. So if that ball, like I said, this guy is getting closed down, I'm over here, I'm showing as an option. Yes, that ball is played into me, now I have space to attack on the other side of the field. So think about where is the trouble, where is everything getting congested? I don't want to go in here if I don't have to. If I can see there's space over here and I already know that the other midfielders are forcing players to close them down in this space, I don't want to be in this space here. I want to be in this space here. So think about balancing the field. If I have both my midfielders, for example, let's say like both my midfielders are somewhere here, I don't want to be here as well because we have no one else in the midfielders here. I want to be over here, which gives this player another option. Yes, he can play into here, but if he's a good player, he's getting his head up, he's looking at options, he's realizing their midfield is getting sucked towards the ball. Sometimes the best option to get the ball is not actually going close to the ball, it's going away from the ball, but still wanting the ball, still demanding the ball. So when your center backs have the ball, again, sometimes they may play it over the top as we talked about, but try to get it to feet. I'm sure you would rather have the ball to feet rather than going up and battling for headers. Obviously you're going to have to learn to do the two, but when you can, if this midfielder is going for the ball and he has the ball at his feet, try to get width, but also showing in the midfield so you can get it, you can get turned, now we can play forward. Makes sense. When your other midfielder has the ball, you want to be showing as well. You want to think about, again, finding space either on the opposite side of the field. So let's say we hit the, we split the field in half. If he receives the ball here, again, I don't want to be somewhere like here. I want to be somewhere like here. So either receiving the ball on the other half or receiving between the lines, you may have heard that term before. And what that means is getting space in between the midfielders and the defenders. Hey, you don't want to receive the ball here. And I don't necessarily want to receive the ball here. I want to receive the ball here. Why? Because it's awkward. It's awkward for these defenders. They have to think, okay, do I go to him or do I drop off and give him space because I don't want to let this guy go. So when you can start to think about receiving the ball between the lines or on the other side of the field between the lines, you're making it very awkward for these defenders. Because look, if you come into this space, let's say you find in here, you receive it in here, between the lines get turned, they're in a very difficult position. If they come to close you, well, you just play that ball and then we go forward. If he drops off, well, then I can just start dribbling and force them to backtrack and make difficult defensive decisions. Excuse me. So let's move forward, talking about when the wingers have the ball. So let's say you receive the ball again, between the lines from your midfielder and the winger have the ball. Where do you want to go? Well, you want to start getting forward. You want to get in the box. Everyone is going to come forward. This defensive midfielder is probably going to give a shorter option. You want to think about, can we combine with this player? So either they're making a forward run to get that ball into space or just getting in a forward position where here we're in little situations like this. He might play a ball into you and it's a little one, two around the defender. Okay, but just think about it as soon as you're attacking players, get the ball, we want to get forward. This striker is going to be making runs into the box. You want to be making runs in the box as well. You want to almost become a second striker. And I feel this player is such a dangerous player, but especially at the amateur or youth levels, this player isn't as big of a goal scorer as they should be. They're content with being a playmaker and making the passes. Yes, you need to be a playmaker. You need to make assists, but you also need to be hungry to get in here, become that second striker. Let's say he's going to that back post, we'll come and make a dart for that front post. They'd be that second striker. Get yourself in the box, get around the top of the box, get involved, get in dangerous areas. So when that ball is played in, you're there, maybe it gets cleared poorly and it drops to you and you just tap it in, but you would never get that goal if you weren't making that run because you were saying, hey, I'm a midfielder. I'm going to play in the midfield. No, you're an attacker. You're a second striker. Yes, you're a midfielder when we need you to be, but when we need to score goals, we need you to get in here as well. Okay, so when you receive the ball in these areas, again, a couple of options, you can take that space. If no one's closing you down, take that space, but just be aware. You do not want to lose a ball in a situation like this because they're coming forward and we've committed players like this. So yes, it's okay to dribble in these areas. Just realize the importance of distributing at the right time. So for example, let's say you have space to dribble in here. When these guys start to close you down, realize it's creating space for your winger. It's creating space for your striker. So you can play a little ball through here. You can play into feet here. And then after that, as I said, you're not done there. Don't admire your pass. Get forward, get in the box, provide an option, get yourself a goal. So dribble forward when you get to close down. That's the time to make the pass. If you receive that ball in this situation, and you see that someone is already in a better position than you, get them that ball right away. Don't take touches just because you're the playmaker. You're the most skillful player on the team. Okay, realize when to take touches. Okay, there's no options. I'm just going to dribble because there's no passing options. I'm going to dribble. I'm going to force them to close me down and create space for my teammates. Then I can play that pass. But if you receive that ball and there's already someone in a better position, get them that ball right away and then get forward in the box. You can also combine with your center forward is a great thing to do or combine with your wingers. Say for example, you receive that ball in here. Let's say the center back had it. This guy went to show he didn't get it. You went and got it here. Okay, you get turned. Now what do you do? These guys have players on them. That's not necessarily a bad thing. You can play this little ball into here and go for the give and go like this. Okay, around the defender play around here and around the other side, something like that. So think about playing little one twos off your striker, especially if you have a nice center forward who's really good at protecting the ball. You want to get that ball you want to play to him on one side, go around the other side of the defender, get it back and he can play these little one twos around the box, get your shots, get your chances, get your goals because you deserve them. Just realize that in all these tutorials, especially the attacking midfielder, your movement is even more important than your skills. It doesn't matter how good your skills are, if your movement isn't active, if you're not always showing for the ball, always making forward runs. Yes, sometimes you're not always going to get it, but you have to keep making those runs in order to keep getting on the ball. It's so important that you are involved in the play. And a lot of players will say, Oh, my teammates never passed me the ball. It's not your teammates fault. Okay, maybe they could have done a better job of giving you the ball and you made certain runs, but you're not going to get the ball by complaining about it. You need to be active with your movement, always showing, remember trying to get in between the lines between the defenders and the midfielder is making it awkward for them, but just always being active. Don't be standing still and letting players mark you out of the game. Okay, show here. If you don't get it, that's fine because you're creating space for someone else. So just really think about the importance of movement over skills. Yes, your skills are extremely important, but if you do not have good movement, you will never be involved, especially as a central midfielder. 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.