Are you a midfielder? You must have tons of questions regarding the skills and abilities required to reach the top levels. In this article, we will explore some useful pro tips that makes you a better midfielder.
The Ability to Use Your Weak Foot
Most of the time midfielders focus on developing their passing skills, creativity and vision, as these elements allow them to link up the game, to switch to the other sides for spaces, and to make key passes that may eventually turn into assists. But there is one aspect that they often overlook, that is the ability to use both strong and weak foot.
A two-footed player is an absolute nightmare for opposition defenders, because they have no clue about what the attacker will do next. Top midfielders like Kevin De Bruyne, Toni Kroos and Luka Modrić are capable of splitting a defense or scoring a goal with either foot.
When high-press is becoming a trend in modern football, the ability to play with your weak foot determines whether you can control the ball well and deliver key passes under high pressure. If you are still a one-footed midfielder, your non-dominant foot is very likely to be a target for defenders.
Here are some suggestions and tools that might be helpful to you.
1. Monitor Your Foot Usage
In a complex, high-pressure game situation, the choice of foot to handle the ball is many times subconscious. Monitoring your foot usage preference using football tracking devices and objective statistics allows you to get a clear picture of the aspects that you may need to work on.
INSAIT JOY Smart Shin Guards are designed with football trackers on both feet, thus enabling you to measure your left and right foot usage ratio throughout the game. Other than revealing your weakness for improvements, it also helps you to monitor your development overtime, in order to understand the effectiveness of your weak foot training and practices.
2. Weak-foot Specific Training
Try to intentionally use your non-dominant foot more often during training, for instance, only use your weaker foot throughout the whole training session. Use smart shin guards to track and monitor your training effectiveness and development over time.
3. Use Smart Football to Develop Footwork Accuracy of Your Weak Foot
INSAIT JOY Smart Football is a great tool to practice with your weak foot as well. Many of the drills in INSAIT JOY app are designed to improve footwork accuracy and ball handling techniques of your both
feet. For example:
- "Pull a Vee" develops the skills to dribble the ball from one foot to another in order to create spaces for a long-range shot or pass;
- "Inside Foot Push" and "Full Instep Push" require you to pull the ball with one foot then use another foot to push the ball forward again.
These drills are designed with gamified elements, so that you won't get bored while strengthening your weak foot abilities with repetitive exercises.
Other than improving your weak foot, there are a few other aspects that need to be addressed in order to become a better midfield player. Stay tuned and we will cover them in our next post.
Looking to level up your weak foot performance? Act now:
- Learn more about INSAIT JOY Smart Shin Guards and INSAIT JOY Smart Football;
- Download the app now: search "INSAIT JOY" in the App Store or Google Play; and
- Visit INSAIT JOY Store now.