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Basic Defending Tips

Defenders should often be reminded that they should "do their work" during the flight of the ball. So this means defenders should close down the player as the ball is in flight. Tight pressure causes the attacker to look down, where lose pressure allows the attacker to lift their head and have a better vision of defenders, space and possibilities.

Another important aspect of defending is knowing when to tackle. The defender should be patient and look for the following cues to predict the right time to tackle.

• Tackle when the attacker has bad touch

• Tackle when the attacking team has made a mistake

• Tackle when the ball is the farthest from the attacker's foot

In addition, defenders should learn how to channel an attacker. This simply means to encourage the attacker to go a certain direction dictated by the defender. Typically channeling is done by bending the run on approaching the attacker to encourage attacker to move the ball away from the defender. Too much bend will allow the attacker to blow past defender, so the run must be bent just enough to make up the attackers mind for them. Typically we want to channel attackers for the following reasons:

• Move the attacker away from the goal

• Move the attacker towards the sideline

• Move the attacker to play to weak foot

• Move the attacker into a teammate (supporting defender)

• Move the attacker away from their support

To close this tip on defending, I want to reiterate a very important rule of defending, and that is proper defensive pressure will often cause the attacker to lose the ball.

Portions reprinted with permission from Bruce Brownlee Soccer Coaching Notes ®, copyright 1996-2008, Bruce Brownlee Company LLC. All rights reserved. Visit http://learnhub.com/redirect?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.soccercoachingnotes.com.