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GG posters who play or coach

spurspinter1

spurspinter1

Paul Stalteri
The actually playing football thread

Thought it made sense to have a thread like this here, put your experiences/questions/fitness advice/coaching tips/thoughts on whatever level of football you happen to play at, whether it's just mates from the pub or uni or for a team in local leagues.

I know the general rule is no football in off topic, but that's only no professional level football discussion, this is in the right place isn't it?



Anyway....After a fairly lengthy haitus in my footballing career due to the demolition of the bricky astros in a bricky part of Liverpool I use to play on with mates I've now started playing some proper football again.

Obviously fitness wise I'm not great, although I had been running and walking a fair amount to try and build some fitness up before starting it up again but you just can't get to the right level of fitness without playing football in my experience.

I'd consider myself a defensive player primarily, I'm happiest playing centre back or as someone playing in front of the centre backs in midfield. Don't really have the stamina to play box to box midfield and my height is wasted on the wing, therefore CB seems the best position to me.

I'm not sure whether it was a lack of match practice but it was annoying the amount of times players seemed to manage to drift by, just with a little drop of the shoulders or something, I think it may be my acceleration from stand still not being quick enough to counter moves, any drills or anything people have done that could help speed myself up a bit?
 
If you're playing full XI Sat/Sun league, then don't bother trying to hold a high line if you and the other CB are going to get skinned for pace time and again. Sit off and give yourself space. Most Sunday teams will just try to to bang it down the wings or long ball it anyway, it's not like you're conceeding midfield by dropping off.

At least do that until you find your feet. As for actually getting skinned, you're probably just not very good. :evil: Haha, kidding. You need to read the game better, it'll come back to you. You need to concentrate on the ball and not the players feet, get yourself into a better position so you haven't over committed and never open the door to their stronger side. As long as you are pushing them away from goal, let them run all day.

Easiest drill? One Vs One. One defends, the other tries to go past. No offence, but most Sunday leaguers aren't going to be shimmying like Azzah, you're just out of practice. Do that over and over and it'll start coming back.
 
I'd like to share the wisdom my old football coach used to tell me when I played left-back against some fairly tricky wingers....






"Don't let the **** get past you". (In a really scary Scottish accent).

You'll go far as a defender with that tip.
 
scaramanga said:
I'd like to share the wisdom my old football coach used to tell me when I played left-back against some fairly tricky wingers....





"Don't let the **** get past you". (In a really scary Scottish accent).

You'll go far as a defender with that tip.
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It took me a while to realise it's good to give a bit of slipper from time to time.
 
i played full back for a while - the ball went past me a lot. rarely got beaten by the man though.
doubt id last the full 90 anymore - even sunday lge where refs are quite card shy
 
i was a keeper up until the nipper was born, played down in wandsworth in the london AFC

play 5-a-side every week now with friends, can't say i miss the weekly brutality i used to get
 
WookieD said:
If you're playing full XI Sat/Sun league, then don't bother trying to hold a high line if you and the other CB are going to get skinned for pace time and again. Sit off and give yourself space. Most Sunday teams will just try to to bang it down the wings or long ball it anyway, it's not like you're conceeding midfield by dropping off.

At least do that until you find your feet. As for actually getting skinned, you're probably just not very good. :evil: Haha, kidding. You need to read the game better, it'll come back to you. You need to concentrate on the ball and not the players feet, get yourself into a better position so you haven't over committed and never open the door to their stronger side. As long as you are pushing them away from goal, let them run all day.

Easiest drill? One Vs One. One defends, the other tries to go past. No offence, but most Sunday leaguers aren't going to be shimmying like Azzah, you're just out of practice. Do that over and over and it'll start coming back.
Click to expand...

Cheers mate! Sounds like good advice! Had a bit of a kickabout today trying some one on one stuff, properly intense stuff to start with, knackers me right out. Playing again proper on Thursday, looking forward to it very much.

I wasn't sure southstand, but it seems wierd talking about ametuer (SP?!) football in Spurs news and views, it's not spurs news or spurs news...
 
Buy some Adidas Predators.
1994_predator-cup.jpg
 
If you're playing as a centre-back then you'll need to identify their forward's stronger foot quickly and use that to your advantage. As Wookie D said you don't need to operate a really high line, be quite conservative in what you do until you find your feet. If they're running at you then get your eyes on the ball and don't jump into the tackle too early. Try and stay on your feet as much as possible until you get back in the swing of things, nothing worse than a missed slide tackle and a striker rampaging through on goal on his own! You'll get back into it eventually.

Currently playing 6-a-side and 11-a-side with my mates from Uni, really enjoying it. We did 6-a-side last year but only started 11-a-side a few weeks ago. I usually play left-back but was at centre-half last weekend as we had a few players out. Did pretty well - the final score was 5-4 to us (two of which were when I was off the field - we had 12 men so had to rotate linesman). I won every ball in the air towards me and they didn't have much going through the middle which I was happy about. Not much support from midfield unfortunately, so had to use our wingers and exploit their over-committing defenders to get a few goals back. Set a goal up from a corner last week as I headed the ball across goal and my teammate knocked it in!

Looking forward to this weekend's game. I'll probably be full-back again, won't need to press forward too much as we'll have a stronger midfield again but will support when necessary.
 
Been playing for a club (amaterur level) for the last 10 odd years. Main position is usually upfront (often as the lone man) or occasionally out on the wings depending on team-mates 'availability'

The most difficult defenders I've come to face are the ones who always stand goal side of you, wait for you to receive the ball and then put pressure the very enext second. I'm a tall, quick fudger with good skills but once there is someone applying pressure from behind it becomes very difficult to turn and make a run towards their goal and often the attack needs to be slowed down. And you (the striker) are subsequently forced to run back towards the centre line, away from the goal or at tge very least sideways. That is way I much prefer through ball to run 'at' in the channels and hit first time instead of long balls which you need to bring down first and beat your man.

I would say - be firm, stand goal-side, and most importantly - watch the ball, not their feet for the tricky ones will turn you like a top. In a game you can always establish your presence with a few 'firm' challenges early on in the match. A mentally (and physically) weak player would think twice about taking you on afterwards. Don't break his legs, just be firm. And remember - don't dive - you are then as good as beaten. The best defender always read the game very well and anticipate the next 1-2 moves in a pattern although that comes with experience

A slower striker would look to beat you with skill so be wary of his body language

A quick striker would 8/10 times run you instead - do not commit early

Lastly - do you run? I'd recommend at least 2x 4km jogs a week to keep you at some kind of an acceptable level depending on your level.
 
I play 5-a-side twice a week. One in a mixed team which is just a bit of a giggle, and the other in a league. My fitness is absolutely shocking at the moment as it's taken me a while to get over hernia surgery, ankle ligament damage and a broken arm (no my nickname isn't 'Lucky').

I'm at the gym now twice a week, doing Spartacus workout (killer) as well as the footy and I can feel myself slowly improving (it takes a lot longer when you're 40!).
 
ArcspacE said:
Been playing for a club (amaterur level) for the last 10 odd years. Main position is usually upfront (often as the lone man) or occasionally out on the wings depending on team-mates 'availability'

The most difficult defenders I've come to face are the ones who always stand goal side of you, wait for you to receive the ball and then put pressure the very enext second. I'm a tall, quick fudger with good skills but once there is someone applying pressure from behind it becomes very difficult to turn and make a run towards their goal and often the attack needs to be slowed down. And you (the striker) are subsequently forced to run back towards the centre line, away from the goal or at tge very least sideways. That is way I much prefer through ball to run 'at' in the channels and hit first time instead of long balls which you need to bring down first and beat your man.

I would say - be firm, stand goal-side, and most importantly - watch the ball, not their feet for the tricky ones will turn you like a top. In a game you can always establish your presence with a few 'firm' challenges early on in the match. A mentally (and physically) weak player would think twice about taking you on afterwards. Don't break his legs, just be firm. And remember - don't dive - you are then as good as beaten. The best defender always read the game very well and anticipate the next 1-2 moves in a pattern although that comes with experience

A slower striker would look to beat you with skill so be wary of his body language

A quick striker would 8/10 times run you instead - do not commit early

Lastly - do you run? I'd recommend at least 2x 4km jogs a week to keep you at some kind of an acceptable level depending on your level.
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Pretty good advice ^^.

I started playing again 18 months ago after a 15-year hiatus. It really took about a full year of mid-week practice and playing every weekend before I really felt as though I was back to peak sharpness, both physically and mentally.

As with the above advice, I play CB for a pretty decent team and my general aim for each game is to make sure that nothing comes through the middle of the park. I generally have more success against larger strikers as I can get a lot more physical against them than I can a small, quick f***er. However, you have to be smart and use your head just as much as you do your physical attributes. I still go to ground but only when I know I have cover behind me. I'm 38 now but am probably playing the best football of my "career" as I play smarter rather than just running around looking for someone to clatter. I do still love a good 50-50 challenge though. Staying goal-side is a good starting point. Just look to play simple, and then let the rest of your game (slowly!) come back to you and go from there.
 
Played football all my life, was semi decent as kid (county level), broke my leg badly at 17 and now have a metal plate in it, which knocked me back a fair bit. I was playing Irish league football at the time which is probably about the standard of the conference in England, now I play amateur league.

Just got back playing after breaking my other leg at the end of last season. Enjoy playing but the last 3 years have been absolutely tortured with injuries, so far have torn ligaments in both ankles, torn a medial ligament in my knee, had about 6 different hamstring tears and a couple of thigh tears. I've questioned so many times if its worth it but keep going back.

Play centre half or right back normally but can do a job in centre mid too from time to time.
 
Thanks for all advice going my way guys! Just got back from a nice run down the docks, essentially to get my fitness up obviously but also to ensure I sleep well tonight as I'm playing tomorrow, need to earn my sleep otherwise it's a waste of time going to bed if you see what I mean.

Will be staying deep and advising others to do so tomorrow when I play. Only issue is it's quite likely I'm playing against a nippy little bastard of a striker, much stronger than he looks as well. As others have said, I've often found it easier against the bigger fellas.

Never good to hear about other folks injury woes, luckily I've not had too much bar a few sprained ankles and such but if your fitness stops you from playing football it really must be hard to take, makes me appreciate how frustrating it must be for lads like Dawson and Hudd who just want to play their football but can't due to injuries.


Almost a few serious injuries last week, about ten minutes after starting a guy rocks up in standard jogging trainers to play, proclaiming that he was tinkled off 7 pints, but he still felt he'd be able to play. Of course everyone should have told him to go home but it's a fairly easy going group of guys and I guess everyone's mind was already on the game. I didn't feel like I could say anything as it was my first time playing with these folks. Luckily he was on my team as all he did was yell cliches whilst contributing nothing other than near hospital challenges and wildy swinging and missing clearances, no one got properly hurt but many winced any time he tried to get the ball. Personally I wouldn't have a half if I knew I was going to be doing any kind of exercise other than the horizontal kind, who knows why this dingdonghead came in from a session to play....
 
I play Sunday footy for one of my local pubs with a group of mates. Was playing saturdays too, both teams were fairly good in comparrisson to the other teams in the town... But aint got time for saturdays no more so just sticking with sunday footy now. I think tho the award for most stylish kit in the league goes to us ;)

448_main.jpg


Pic doesn't do justice but I think it's a decent kit compared to the generic kits of typical sunday footy
 
I play 8 a side twice a week...upfront, always move ( amazing considering my keg! ) but always looking to work the space around defenders and always urging others around me to keep mobile/switch...when I drop back tomplay defense, I never ever push up as I will get done, but I make sure that spaces around me are covered and I try to hold up the man on the ball with low jockeying until men get back. If it's a ball coming up the middle, absolutely, right up there behind them and immediate toe-poke/whatever can be done...I'd practice backward running mate, as being able tr backup a speed is very helpful...also TALK a lot to defenders around you, let them know wha you need in terms of cover...
 
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