Seasons
Announcement
GETTING BACK DEFENSIVELY
Posted by Jeff Stiffler on
Mar 19 2004
at
04:00PM PST
Getting back defensively
When a defender is marking a player with the ball
and that player passes the ball, there is a
tendency to do one of two things. Either the
defender decides to chase the ball to wherever it
was passed OR they stop playing and relaxes with
the idea that their job is done.
Generally speaking, both of the above decisions
are the wrong ones. The reason players shouldn’t
automatically chase after the ball is that the
ball can travel much faster than the player so it
turns into a useless chase PLUS it frequently
results in the defender getting caught so far out
of position that not only can’t they put pressure on
the player with the ball, but they also can’t help
mark the player they just left. There are a few
occasions when following the pass defensively is
the right decision and those are usually when the
pass is an EXTREMELY short one and there is
defensive support behind but this situation is
much less frequent than defenders think. The
problem with the defender relaxing after his
player passes the ball is that it allows the
player he is marking to make a run to get behind
him and at that point, he is beat (for example, a
wall pass will beat this type of defender every
time).
As a general rule, the proper thing to do when a
player you are marking passes the ball is to get
back quickly. By doing this, it eliminates the
chances for success of a wall pass plus allows the
defender to provide support by becoming the second
or third defender.
Getting back defensively after a pass is hit is an
easy thing to do IF you remember to do it! This
is where communication becomes vital since players
behind the defender (keeper, sweeper or other
defenders) should be directing the defender what
to do as much as possible.
.
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