It takes a village to raise a central defender

Football has presented my son with a most unexpected challenge for the upcoming high school season. He has played year round from the age of 4, and has just turned 15. He has always played out wide, either as a RB or an attacking mid. This year, his coach has decided he will be a centerback. Never saw this coming and CB is the position I know the least about. Hell, I think Baldwin should be starting and Willis should be on the bench! Any pointers about the position, especially basic fundamentals regarding positioning, footwork, etc. would be greatly, greatly appreciated. First match in a week or so.

 

Practice. All positions in football require practice of course but being able to read the game and predict where the opponents are going to try and break through next is most important as CB - more than anything else to be honest. As a RB he was probably relying more on physical abilities like speed and strength or technical abilities like good crossing or tackling.

CB wants to be a good header of the ball. Pace and tackling are handy but the people who play the position best only use them when they absolutely have to - reading the game and "running the first yard in your head" are what sets the better ones apart. Watch Juventus in the champions league, especially 17/18 season and you'll see it in spades.

 

Wow. Thank you.

 

Not ball watching is a big part of being a good CB. Obviously you have to keep an eye on where the ball is but it's a lot more important to be aware of where the attackers are and what runs they're making.

Easier said than done because you still see seasoned premier league defenders standing motionless with their mouths open watching a cross come in while a forward nips in front of them for a free header.

 

Timing. Time the challenge and you dont need to even tackle, time the jump and you can beat someone far bigger to the header.

On the ball, safety first, play it forwards, ideally to the wings, and always into space.

 

Communication with the other CB is huge as well, the lad needs to be a shouter. You will rarely see a good CB who isn’t pointing, directing and leading.

I’d say as well work on turning from a static start, the top CB’s have this down to a tee.

 

It seems CB's stay goalside when tracking runners, is that right, or should they try to maneuver ball side to intercept the incoming ball?

 

Willlis is good at that.

 

I know there is lots of holding going on during set pieces, I'm going to be paying much attention to that trying to figure out was is allowed and what isn't.

 

You should be goalside but anticipating the ball so you can step in front to intercept. If you ain’t goalside and the other CB isn’t in line you are ****ed.

 

They should be goalside as a rule although if they've got a read on a ball coming in they should be first to meet it.

Another thing is to stay on your feet, slide tackles should be a last resort. Stay on your feet, watch the ball and not whatever feints the attacker is doing, track them and only stick your foot in when you're confident the timing is right.

 

‘If you had to slide you were out of position’.

 

Bobby Moncur was one of the best readers of a game I have seen, and Wes Brown in a game or two for us looked psychic, shame he was on his last legs as he made JoS look good, nobody else quite managed that.

 

I was a striker back in the day and the best CBs used to be one step ahead all the time.

If he can learn to read the game and be one step ahead he wont need to be rapid quick as hell be there that split second beforehand.

Think Wes Brown when he played a bit for us. Well past it and his legs had gone but was still an asset in the PL for us.

 

Score a hat trick of headers from your corners, get forgiven If you’re not much cop at defending .

 

Just kick the fekkers aff the pitch!! lol


Bart

 

Best defender we've had in my lifetime was Woodgate - also an absolute crock. His reading of the game was just calm brilliance and he dragged the dimwitted Bramble along in his wake. A quality defender isn't one player, he's an entire defensive line.

Thing is, I don't think you can teach it. All defenders learn it through practice but a handful are almost telepathic, they see where a space is about to open up and just drift over into it, tidy everything up and then most fans haven't even noticed there was any drama as it was snuffed out before it developed. Alex Ferguson once commented about Maldini by saying his performance was perfect as he hadn't even had to make a single tackle.

 

Without injuries Woodgate would have been the best defender this country ever produced.

The lad was like a homing beacon in the air and never had to take more than half a step to intercept. Shame that when he stopped getting injured and played a few more games the natural physical decline had started.

He was stupidly, stupidly good. I remember you lot having a run of like 3 conceded in 14-15 games when he was fit. Says it all.

 

He's hugely under-rated even by Newcastle fans; we recently had a poll of who we thought our most important player of the Premiership era was and I picked him without hesitation. Shearer is the only other I'd say comes close.

If he didn't have injury issues we'd have never got him in fairness but when we finished 3rd under Bobby the stats for the season were along the lines of 15 clean sheets in the 20 games he played and none in the 18 he missed. We had bang average defenders (Bramble, Olivier Bernard, Griffin, Aaron Hughes, Andy O'Brien) and he made them into a fantastic unit.

In Woodgate, Ledley King, Wes Brown we lost a few of the better defenders England have had. It's only due to the likes of Sol Campbell, Terry, Ferdinand, etc that more wasn't made of it.

 

Woodgate was mint, Real Madrid quality. I feel sorry for any footballer blighted by injury because it's a short window to earn money in but it's particularly sad when it's someone with huge natural ability.