As a striker, you maybe get three chances a game on average, so it’s about making sure you’re as clinical as you can be. You create instinct by training, so the more you do it, the more it becomes a habit. Sometimes you can’t control things within a game, but you can control the work you put in. The more work you do, the more likely you are to make the most of your chances in the game.
You can never have too many ways of scoring goals. We work on so many different ways in training – finish off your left and right foot and your head because you never know where the ball is going to fall, who it’s going to bounce off and where it’s going to bounce in the box. You’ve got to do everything to beat the defender to the ball and put anything on it to get it in the back of the net.
You have more time than you think. Sometimes, in the heat of the moment, the game can feel really intense and 100 miles per hour, but you have at least a second to prep yourself and take the finish. A lot of the time, it’s just a pass into the back of the net. You don’t need to overcomplicate it; keep it simple and focus on your contact on the ball.
The modern No9 has changed. A lot of teams now play out from the back and they want the No9 to be a part of that. It’s part of the game I enjoy – dropping deep, getting the ball to feet, then finding space out wide to get your wingers on the ball and setting up an attack. Playing with your back to goal, it’s important to be strong, use your body to make contact with the defenders, and use it as a barrier. That’s something I work on a lot. Your first touch is really important, keeping it away from the defender, but also setting it up for where you want to play next.
As a striker, you maybe get three chances a game on average, so it’s about making sure you’re as clinical as you can be. You create instinct by training, so the more you do it, the more it becomes a habit. Sometimes you can’t control things within a game, but you can control the work you put in. The more work you do, the more likely you are to make the most of your chances in the game.
You can never have too many ways of scoring goals. We work on so many different ways in training – finish off your left and right foot and your head because you never know where the ball is going to fall, who it’s going to bounce off and where it’s going to bounce in the box. You’ve got to do everything to beat the defender to the ball and put anything on it to get it in the back of the net.
You have more time than you think. Sometimes, in the heat of the moment, the game can feel really intense and 100 miles per hour, but you have at least a second to prep yourself and take the finish. A lot of the time, it’s just a pass into the back of the net. You don’t need to overcomplicate it; keep it simple and focus on your contact on the ball.
The modern No9 has changed. A lot of teams now play out from the back and they want the No9 to be a part of that. It’s part of the game I enjoy – dropping deep, getting the ball to feet, then finding space out wide to get your wingers on the ball and setting up an attack. Playing with your back to goal, it’s important to be strong, use your body to make contact with the defenders, and use it as a barrier. That’s something I work on a lot. Your first touch is really important, keeping it away from the defender, but also setting it up for where you want to play next.
Something that’s underappreciated of strikers is using the No9 as an outlet. You can be a pressure relief if your team’s under a lot of stress defensively. Clearing out to the 9 is often a 50-50 ball, but as a 9, I know when I can control it, bring it down and either win a foul or bring someone else into the game and get on the attack again.
When it comes to staying high or dropping deep, it depends on where the space is. If there’s space in front of the back line, then maybe I’ll drop in to feet and try and pull the back line out a little bit and create spaces in behind. But it’s important to run the back line as well. It’s not always about moving to get on the ball, it’s about moving to create space for others. Often as the 9, you’re having to run to stretch the line and push them back to create space around the edge of the box for your No10 or your No8 to come in and finish. It’s about knowing where you can open up the defence but also trusting that a run you make for someone else is going to pay off; that you’ll have other players coming into the box and you’ve just created space for them to come and attack the ball.
In and around the box, it’s about relying on your instincts and, when things fall, being in the right place to put it back in towards goal or in the back of the net. The cues that you’re looking for are when your winger’s about to cross. You know what their natural crossing looks like and that is your trigger. As soon as they’re lifting their foot back to cross the ball in, you need to be ready to attack it. You’ve got to create space for yourself. So, whether it’s half a yard in front or behind a defender, you’ve got to make sure that your timing of that movement is perfect to get a contact on the ball to score.
Pressing is a massive part of the game. It’s about timing and angles. The No9 is in charge of setting the tone and setting the press. Triggers are distances – making sure you’ve got enough time to get there and influence the defender on the ball, making sure you don’t give them an easy angle to play back across. You set them up to play into an area where you and your team want to defend them. Setting the opposition into traps is really important because you’re in control of where you want them to play. Knowing that you’re all on the same page is really important.
My main advice to young strikers would be to always work hard on all aspects of your game. Don’t just focus on the finishing, although that is the fun stuff, but make sure that you have different elements to your game: you can turn, you can dribble, you can shoot from different areas. And make sure that you enjoy it. It’s the best part of the pitch to be in, in my opinion, up top attacking and creating and scoring goals.
As a striker, you maybe get three chances a game on average, so it’s about making sure you’re as clinical as you can be. You create instinct by training, so the more you do it, the more it becomes a habit. Sometimes you can’t control things within a game, but you can control the work you put in. The more work you do, the more likely you are to make the most of your chances in the game.
You can never have too many ways of scoring goals. We work on so many different ways in training – finish off your left and right foot and your head because you never know where the ball is going to fall, who it’s going to bounce off and where it’s going to bounce in the box. You’ve got to do everything to beat the defender to the ball and put anything on it to get it in the back of the net.
You have more time than you think. Sometimes, in the heat of the moment, the game can feel really intense and 100 miles per hour, but you have at least a second to prep yourself and take the finish. A lot of the time, it’s just a pass into the back of the net. You don’t need to overcomplicate it; keep it simple and focus on your contact on the ball.
The modern No9 has changed. A lot of teams now play out from the back and they want the No9 to be a part of that. It’s part of the game I enjoy – dropping deep, getting the ball to feet, then finding space out wide to get your wingers on the ball and setting up an attack. Playing with your back to goal, it’s important to be strong, use your body to make contact with the defenders, and use it as a barrier. That’s something I work on a lot. Your first touch is really important, keeping it away from the defender, but also setting it up for where you want to play next.
As a striker, you maybe get three chances a game on average, so it’s about making sure you’re as clinical as you can be. You create instinct by training, so the more you do it, the more it becomes a habit. Sometimes you can’t control things within a game, but you can control the work you put in. The more work you do, the more likely you are to make the most of your chances in the game.
You can never have too many ways of scoring goals. We work on so many different ways in training – finish off your left and right foot and your head because you never know where the ball is going to fall, who it’s going to bounce off and where it’s going to bounce in the box. You’ve got to do everything to beat the defender to the ball and put anything on it to get it in the back of the net.
You have more time than you think. Sometimes, in the heat of the moment, the game can feel really intense and 100 miles per hour, but you have at least a second to prep yourself and take the finish. A lot of the time, it’s just a pass into the back of the net. You don’t need to overcomplicate it; keep it simple and focus on your contact on the ball.
The modern No9 has changed. A lot of teams now play out from the back and they want the No9 to be a part of that. It’s part of the game I enjoy – dropping deep, getting the ball to feet, then finding space out wide to get your wingers on the ball and setting up an attack. Playing with your back to goal, it’s important to be strong, use your body to make contact with the defenders, and use it as a barrier. That’s something I work on a lot. Your first touch is really important, keeping it away from the defender, but also setting it up for where you want to play next.
As a striker, you maybe get three chances a game on average, so it’s about making sure you’re as clinical as you can be. You create instinct by training, so the more you do it, the more it becomes a habit. Sometimes you can’t control things within a game, but you can control the work you put in. The more work you do, the more likely you are to make the most of your chances in the game.
You can never have too many ways of scoring goals. We work on so many different ways in training – finish off your left and right foot and your head because you never know where the ball is going to fall, who it’s going to bounce off and where it’s going to bounce in the box. You’ve got to do everything to beat the defender to the ball and put anything on it to get it in the back of the net.
You have more time than you think. Sometimes, in the heat of the moment, the game can feel really intense and 100 miles per hour, but you have at least a second to prep yourself and take the finish. A lot of the time, it’s just a pass into the back of the net. You don’t need to overcomplicate it; keep it simple and focus on your contact on the ball.
The modern No9 has changed. A lot of teams now play out from the back and they want the No9 to be a part of that. It’s part of the game I enjoy – dropping deep, getting the ball to feet, then finding space out wide to get your wingers on the ball and setting up an attack. Playing with your back to goal, it’s important to be strong, use your body to make contact with the defenders, and use it as a barrier. That’s something I work on a lot. Your first touch is really important, keeping it away from the defender, but also setting it up for where you want to play next.
Something that’s underappreciated of strikers is using the No9 as an outlet. You can be a pressure relief if your team’s under a lot of stress defensively. Clearing out to the 9 is often a 50-50 ball, but as a 9, I know when I can control it, bring it down and either win a foul or bring someone else into the game and get on the attack again.
When it comes to staying high or dropping deep, it depends on where the space is. If there’s space in front of the back line, then maybe I’ll drop in to feet and try and pull the back line out a little bit and create spaces in behind. But it’s important to run the back line as well. It’s not always about moving to get on the ball, it’s about moving to create space for others. Often as the 9, you’re having to run to stretch the line and push them back to create space around the edge of the box for your No10 or your No8 to come in and finish. It’s about knowing where you can open up the defence but also trusting that a run you make for someone else is going to pay off; that you’ll have other players coming into the box and you’ve just created space for them to come and attack the ball.
In and around the box, it’s about relying on your instincts and, when things fall, being in the right place to put it back in towards goal or in the back of the net. The cues that you’re looking for are when your winger’s about to cross. You know what their natural crossing looks like and that is your trigger. As soon as they’re lifting their foot back to cross the ball in, you need to be ready to attack it. You’ve got to create space for yourself. So, whether it’s half a yard in front or behind a defender, you’ve got to make sure that your timing of that movement is perfect to get a contact on the ball to score.
Pressing is a massive part of the game. It’s about timing and angles. The No9 is in charge of setting the tone and setting the press. Triggers are distances – making sure you’ve got enough time to get there and influence the defender on the ball, making sure you don’t give them an easy angle to play back across. You set them up to play into an area where you and your team want to defend them. Setting the opposition into traps is really important because you’re in control of where you want them to play. Knowing that you’re all on the same page is really important.
My main advice to young strikers would be to always work hard on all aspects of your game. Don’t just focus on the finishing, although that is the fun stuff, but make sure that you have different elements to your game: you can turn, you can dribble, you can shoot from different areas. And make sure that you enjoy it. It’s the best part of the pitch to be in, in my opinion, up top attacking and creating and scoring goals.
As a striker, you maybe get three chances a game on average, so it’s about making sure you’re as clinical as you can be. You create instinct by training, so the more you do it, the more it becomes a habit. Sometimes you can’t control things within a game, but you can control the work you put in. The more work you do, the more likely you are to make the most of your chances in the game.
You can never have too many ways of scoring goals. We work on so many different ways in training – finish off your left and right foot and your head because you never know where the ball is going to fall, who it’s going to bounce off and where it’s going to bounce in the box. You’ve got to do everything to beat the defender to the ball and put anything on it to get it in the back of the net.
You have more time than you think. Sometimes, in the heat of the moment, the game can feel really intense and 100 miles per hour, but you have at least a second to prep yourself and take the finish. A lot of the time, it’s just a pass into the back of the net. You don’t need to overcomplicate it; keep it simple and focus on your contact on the ball.
The modern No9 has changed. A lot of teams now play out from the back and they want the No9 to be a part of that. It’s part of the game I enjoy – dropping deep, getting the ball to feet, then finding space out wide to get your wingers on the ball and setting up an attack. Playing with your back to goal, it’s important to be strong, use your body to make contact with the defenders, and use it as a barrier. That’s something I work on a lot. Your first touch is really important, keeping it away from the defender, but also setting it up for where you want to play next.
