 In today's video, I'm actually going to speak over the clips and I'm just going to show you some defensive plays from the most recent footsault game that I uploaded. Okay, so I'm going to go through each play and talk about why I'm illustrating this and I just want you to think about how you can start applying these ideas when you're playing because defense is so important. All of us want to attack. We want to score goals, but not many of us want to defend and win possession. Unfortunately, if you're not playing defense, you're only playing half the game. You're only half the player that you could be. So if you want to be a more complete player, you want to make a bigger impact on the field, you want to take your game to the next level. I want you to focus on becoming a better defender. Now defending is about being focused. It's about working hard. It's about being in the right place at the right time. Okay, so look at these clips and try to take this advice and add it to your own game. Let's get into this. Here I could have stayed off the defender, let him turn, but instead I got really close, anticipated his first touch and ended up nicking the ball. Luckily, my teammate picked up the ball and instead of waiting for him to make a decision, I joined in the attack right away and converted defense into attack. But none of this would have happened if I sat off the defender, sat off the player on the ball. Instead, I got really tight, especially when his back was turned to my goal and I forced him to make a mistake. I just want to illustrate the importance of not turning your back when shots are taken. Okay, so when I was standing in the wall, I really made sure that even though the natural tendency is to turn your back, I really tried to face the ball and get a good block on it. Okay, if I turn my back to the ball and close my eyes, I'm not going to be able to make that block. So when you're blocking shots or you're standing in the wall, make sure you stand up straight, face the ball, and don't turn your back. This situation, the keeper was throwing the ball out to one of his players. Now, I anticipated the pass, looked at where it was going to be, and instead of waiting for it or letting their player get the ball, I came to the ball, attacked the ball, got in front of the player in one possession and obviously right away turned defending into attack. Okay, I didn't stop. I took my first touch towards goal and started attacking right away. But none of this would have happened if I waited for that defender, waited for that attacker to receive the ball. Here, I want you to see how quickly I closed down the player's first touch. Now, I want you to start anticipating when the player is going to have a heavy first touch. Okay, first of all, get there right away. Don't give him time to breathe. Now, most players in this position, they would have sat back, defended, and let that player turn and start running at them. Instead, I anticipated that the pass was rolling to him. He was going to have a heavy first touch, and I wanted to get there right away. Okay, if he did have a good first touch, I would have been a little more cautious, but because his first touch was so heavy, I got there right away and dove in to steal the ball. Now, luckily, my teammate was there. He helped me win that tackle, win possession of the ball. Okay, but I want you to think about closing down quicker, anticipating a heavy first touch, and going in hard for the tackle. In this clip, I'm actually in possession of the ball, playing a couple passes, and what I want to illustrate here is just the importance of getting back. So it doesn't matter if you made a good play in an attacking sense. What do you do when the ball is lost, when your team loses possession of the ball? Okay, so especially if you're playing as a defender, but all positions on the field, it's okay to go forward, but when there's attack, make sure that you get back and cover the space. Now, here I didn't even win possession of the ball, or I didn't even make a defensive play, but I made sure that I was back. I wasn't just going to go forward and not get back, okay? It's okay to go forward as long as you get back and do your job defensively. Here, I just want to show you the importance of coming to the ball. Okay, so again, get close to your marker, anticipate the pass. Watch, I'm not just looking at the defender or looking at the ball, okay? I'm anticipating the pass is going to come to him. He's on his heels, I'm on my toes. I go to the ball, win possession of the ball, and then again, join in the attack right away. I was unlucky to not score a goal there. The goalkeeper made a good save, okay? But all this started because I came to the ball. Don't wait for that ball to come to you, come to it. Now, there will be times where you can't lunge in like that because the striker's going to turn you, okay? But you have to determine, okay, I can get here before him because he's on his heels, he's not reacting quickly, he's not looking at the ball, okay? So when you have the chance like that, get there close, sneak in front, and win possession of that ball. Another example of defending here. I got really close to the defender, and again, just stayed on my feet, okay? I ended up making the tackle, and for some reason I got called on a foul here, but I stayed on my feet, and then I went in for the lunge. I went in for that tackle when I thought I could get the ball, okay? But I stayed on my feet, tried to get really low to the ground. Defending is about staying on your feet in front of the defender, okay? This next clip here is another great example. He was coming at me with speed, I get low to the ground, this is where I want you to jockey, this is where I want you to stay on your feet and not commit yourself, and wait for the exact right time when you feel that you can win the ball. When you feel you can win the ball, go in hard, don't go in soft. If you don't win possession of the ball, at least take the man. Now I'm not saying to foul the player, but there are times when you do need to make a professional foul, okay? I'm sure you would rather have a foul than him go pass you and score. Now, saying that, I just wanna remind you the importance of staying on your feet. So yes, there are times when you need to jockey, but there's times when you need to get in. When the guy's back is turned to you, go in and then win that ball, get really touch tight, force him to make a mistake, okay? When he's coming at you with speed, that's when I want you to jockey, stay light on your feet and make the right tackle at the right time. Just another example of coming to the ball, okay? Don't wait for that ball to come to you, go to it, meet it at its highest point. If you need to win it as a header or you can take it down on your chest or your foot, great. But go to that ball, especially if the striker's gonna wait for it, okay? Be strong enough to get into that space, but go to the ball. I picked out this clip because again, I wanted to really illustrate the importance of not letting your marker turn, especially when he has his back to you, okay? Be relentless, be a pass, be very annoying. I always say this, but especially when he has his back turned to you, force him backwards, don't give him time to breathe. And in this situation, this player took too many touches on the ball. He deserved to be tackled, but I wouldn't have won possession if I let him play. If I gave him time and I allowed him to go backwards, okay? I knew his back was turned. He either had to play back or he was gonna turn into me and I was gonna win possession, okay? But I was on his heels, I was kicking at him, I was doing everything I could to win possession or at least force him backwards. Here again, it's just about being quick on your feet, moving quick side to side. Now, he even beat me a little bit, could have probably got a crossing in the box, but I didn't give up. I kept moving my feet, made sure he didn't get that crossing, okay? And again, when the inbound is played, get there quickly, close the space. Defending is about closing space. It's about being focused and using your fitness, okay? So you're always on your toes, you're closing the space between you and the defender as quickly as possible without lunging in without getting beat, okay? So close that space, stay light on your feet, move quickly from side to side, and do not let your opponents get shots or put crosses or make passes, okay? It's your job to cover those down by moving your feet quickly, staying in front of the defender. It's about footwork, it's about hard work, and it's about focus. Here, I just wanna talk about transition from defense to offense. So I saw that I was gonna get to the ball first. I knew that he was coming at speed in one direction. If I go with speed in the other direction, it's gonna be impossible for him to stay with me. Now, most players in this position, they may have touched the ball to the side and then they would have simply turned and made a pass, okay? There was space there to attack, so I didn't hesitate. I just started sprinting with the ball at the defenders. As they closed me down, then I made my pass, okay? So think about, if you have one possession, can you turn it to offense quickly by sprinting at the other team with the ball, sprinting into open space with the ball or making a direct pass with pace and starting the attack right away? Last clip I wanted to show you, and this is, look, just how tight I am to that player, okay? When he's about to receive the ball, give him a little nudge in the back. Make sure he knows you're there. And then as he receives that ball, I'm right on his touch, okay? Right on his touch, don't let him play. Force him backwards, win possession of the ball. If you're right on him, he feels you there, he's gonna hesitate, he's gonna panic, okay? But if you are five, six steps away from him, you're giving him time to turn in place. So close that distance, be touch tight, but also be quick enough to react if he does turn, you can stay on your feet and stay with him. Okay, but I want you to get it closer when you're marking, be annoying, be all over them, make them nervous, make them panic when they have their first touch. If you get close, you're gonna win possession of the ball more often, you're gonna force that player to make more mistakes.