The importance of the back foot

If you’ve ever watched one of our sessions you’ll have heard calls of ‘back foot, back foot!’

We constantly say it to our players because it’s one the most important things for a young footballer to learn.

Last week it took Phil Foden 80 seconds to assist the goal that would eventually send Man City through to the semi-finals of the Champions League.

How did he do it?

He took the ball in a tight space with his back foot on the half-turn and slotted the ball to Kevin De Bruyne to score.

It was what it took to unlock a very well organised defence.

The next time you watch a match on TV count how many times you see a player take the ball with their back foot (the foot furthest away from the passer).

It’s A LOT.

So that’s why it needs to be taught!

Instead, you see a lot of coaches doing it the old way with kids lined up in neat lines learning basic skills in isolation.

It’s not the best way!

Make it game-related.

Show them the things they actually need in the heat of the moment.

Show them the things that make the difference and help them stand out.

Things like this and the other fundamentals that you don’t get taught on coaching courses are exactly what our players learn from day 1

If you’d like an activity for your players to work on back-foot receiving, scroll back through our page for our April monthly theme or drop us a message and we’ll be glad to help you out