How To Make Runs And Avoid Being Offside

A member inside our training app recently asked us:

"How do you manage to turn when a defender is man marking you as a striker, and how do you know when you should be making runs? I constantly fear being offside so I'm always conscious of it and don't make runs."

Let's break down the responses from our professional coaches.

Jack Downer AKA "Street Panna", Street Football Pioneer and Elite Skills Coach, gave 4 important points:

Definitely make runs in behind, you can curve these to stay inside. If you don’t, the defender will be able to stay close to you (without fear of you getting behind). This will make it harder to receive the ball.

Be in a strong position before receiving, weak side arm out behind to shield from defender, braced, no gap between your legs for the defender to easily get in between.

Our training app features online courses showing you exactly how to beat the defender

Pre empt your passes. Bringing other players into play is one role of the striker. Can you get it to your wingers or your midfield, and then spin off? You want to have an idea of your potential players before you are on the field. First time passes to these players will help mitigate a defender who is close, and will cause them to lose faith if they don’t get success.

You don’t necessarily want to drop deep as a striker to receive the ball (think Harry Kane for England), as this can take out the target man and make the pitch smaller for your team, but you can move laterally to lose them.

Apple Westcott, one of our Street to Stadium coaches, has taught elite youth players from top academies like Arsenal and Watford

Apple Westcott, Professional Youth Coach, added his own insight:

It’s so easy for us to over think things when we’re playing. I was a striker too so I can relate to everything you’re experiencing.

Ok so least start with staying onside… any runs made in your own half can’t be offside, but the trick to staying onside when you’re in the opposition half is to always be facing the goal you want to attack and make sure you can see both the player who is going to pass you the ball and the defender you want to run past.

Try to pick a space you want the ball played into rather than wanting the ball into your feet. Once you know the space you want the balled played into, do not make that run until your player has actually made contact with the ball. Try to keep the defender just in front of while you wait for the pass to be played.

And how to turn with the ball as a striker while a defender is marking you? Sometimes you just can’t turn because the defender is just too tight or too close to you, so now you need to think about how you can create a space for you to turn.

I’ve taught so many strikers how to ‘separate’ by trapping or controlling the ball rather than trying to turn immediately, then you protect the ball by using your arms to create a barrier between you and him. Then you need to roll the ball away from where you are so you can pivot on top of the ball and ‘face him up’. You don’t have to pivot on the ball to face him, you can use any turn you want however the pivot on the ball is the most efficient and keeps the ball close to you so you can change direction if he tries to come at you again. You can practice this by yourself with a ball and a wall (we cover this in our Prodigy Plan online course).