Regardless if you are a center half or a center forward, every player needs to feel comfortable in a variety of 1 v 1 situations. In this blog post we will discuss the 4 main 1 v 1 situations you will find yourself in regardless of position. Feeling comfortable in these 4 situations will take your game to the next level.
The first one is being able to beat a player who is directly In front of us. Whether we are a CB outplaying a ST, a ST Dribbling past a CB, or a winger going around an outside back. This is a situation we need to feel comfortable. The critical aspect of this situation is the usually we have the option to go past our defender on either side making it the easiest of the 4 1 v 1 situations.
2. The next one and probably the most difficult is a 1 v 1 with a player on our back. An essential skill for CM's and ST's but every position on the pitch will find themselves in this situation. Playing back to goal is generally uncomfortable for most footballers so this can be a difficult one to master.
3. The third one is a 1 v 1 with a player running along side us. Most commonly found on the wing but every position will face this situation numerous times. In this situation we have the advantage since we control the defenders movements with our movements. The only thing the typically makes this tricky is that we are being forced to one foot.
4. Lastly we need to be able to react to random 360 pressure. Regardless of where we are on the pitch we will find ourselves in a situation where a defender pressures us randomly and we need to be able to react quickly to that situation.
Now that we have a better understanding of the different types of 1 v 1 situations we can start to look into how we can master these 4 1 v 1's. In the next blog post we will break each of these down individually to help us get a better understanding of how to beat players in different situations.