6 Simple Secrets to Be a Great Striker in Football
You want to learn some tricks to become a better football striker? Unfortunately, not everybody can make it as an elite striker making it in the Premier League, but there are some tips and tricks that can help you become more proficient in front of the goal. Let’s have a look at 6 simple secrets to become a skilled attacker.
Your touch
One of the most important parts of being a great striker is your touch, more concretely your first touch when receiving the ball. Even the best strikers in the world keep on working on their touch day in day out. In essence, to be able to have a great (first) touch you need to be able to control the ball swiftly. When you receive the ball from a teammate, you need to be able to manage to control the ball in a way the ball is ready for your next move. This could be shooting at goal, passing the ball or driving the ball forward to achieve a better position to eventually try your luck at netting the ball. There is no secret in improving your touch, the only way to achieve in this is practice.
Keeping your cool
The best strikers in the world are able to remain calm in front of the goal, even when under pressure. This is a something that is not easily learned though. It’s not simple to stay calm, even the very best players in the world can struggle to keep their emotions in check. You must be able to put things into perspective. Maybe today you’ll score a goal, but tomorrow you’ll miss. It happens. That’s football and only football.
One thing that can influence your ability to remain cool in front of the goal is your stamina, and that’s probably the only part you can work on. Often, tiredness can play a major part when in front of the goal. When you’re short of breath, it will affect your vision and you won’t be able to see the goal as well as when you’re fresh at the start of the game.
Dribbling
Not every striker needs to be a good dribbler, but it will help if you are one. Of course, a striker needs first to be a clinical finisher first, meaning that his or her score ratio to shots should be high. Having said that, having the ability to dribble past your opponents and penetrate the defense will help you create more goal scoring opportunities. The best way to dribble past a defender is by using small touches, gently touching the ball. In this way, you can keep the ball close to your feet, reducing the risk of getting tackled.
The best dribblers will make it look like the ball sticks to their feet as if the ball was covered in Velcro. If you can master dribbling, it will drive your opponent crazy and it will certainly help in winning the mental battle between you and the defender. The best players on the pitch are the ones with lots of technique, so if you are good at dribbling it will be clear to your opponent you are the better player between the two and this could mess with his or her mind during the game.
Shooting
Clearly, shooting is key in being a good striker. The most important task of an attacker is scoring goals and as the saying goes: if you don’t shoot you don’t score. Being able to deliver a fierce shot can make the difference between finding the net and finding the goalkeeper’s gloves. The harder your shot, the less time the goalkeeper has to react. Of course, the more power you put behind your shot, the lesser your precision might be. So, you might have to find a balance between power and accurateness.
Shooting is certainly something you can work on during training. World class striker Cristiano Ronaldo is known to be the last one leaving the training session, staying behind on the pitch trying out free kicks with one of the reserve goalkeepers or goalkeeper trainer. The more hours you put in, the better you will be.
Movement
As a striker, more than any other position on the pitch, you must have a good movement. By mixing up the way you move your body, you can leave the defenders guessing and make it difficult to defend against you. The way you move will depend a lot on the type of opponent you have in front of you. If you are physically superior to the defender, you might want to choose to stay close to him or her and fight out the battle. On the other hand, if your opponent is physically stronger than you, you might want to avoid direct confrontation.
Take in account, your opponent will think in the same terms, so if you’re up against a physical defender who wants to hold onto you, take him or her deep into areas he or she doesn’t want to go, leaving space behind for your team-mates to exploit. Do take in account that the way you move your body is important when you have the ball but also when you don’t. Always stay on the move so you can be in a position to receive the ball when there is an opening.
Finishing
Wait, didn’t we already address shooting? Well, finishing is a little different to shooting. All top-level strikers come alive inside the penalty area as if it was their natural habitat. Scoring a goal requires a lot of technique and composure. When finishing, aka shooting at the goal, it is important to have the will to score the goal. This might seem obvious, but it actually isn’t. If you have ever played a football game, you will know that sometimes when finishing you only attempt to score the goal and the attempt itself is good enough for you. With this kind of thinking, you will remain a mediocre striker forever. A real good striker doesn’t just attempt to score the goal, he or she will only be satisfied when the ball actually goes in. This is a totally different mindset and there are not many ways to practice this.