Show onto weaker foot

[d2024p]

Just wanted to share a tip on something which I have stumbled upon and which has made a big difference to the way that my team has played in the couple of games I have tried it.

The disclaimer is just that - I have tried this with my mid-table West Ham side in two matches, home and away against similar standard of opposition with great effect so far, but it may of course just be a fluke. I will keep you posted with developments and it would be really interesting if any managers out there who are desperate to try anything to improve their results would try it and see if it has an effect.

Here’s the reasoning (as scientifically put as possible!)

Observation

I traditionally set up my teams to show any player who shows any preference towards a particular foot onto the weaker one. My reasoning was ‘why not’ – it’s an option that’s there to be used and if a player is marked/tackled in a uniform way then surely it could only be an advantage if his end product is limited by having to use his weaker foot to shoot, pass, cross etc. No matter how much I set up my teams however I struggle defensively, as my players seem to want to give the opposition forwards in particular time and space to bring the ball down and run at them. This seems to be the case regardless of my closing down instructions, defensive line, mentality and ‘robustness’ of tacking.

Hypothesis

Having run out of ideas I have started to ask what if ‘show onto weaker foot’ does not simply restrict the options available for the attacker’s final ball but actually governs the whole approach a defender takes when managing an attacker who is either on the ball or just about to take up possession. My idea was that ‘show onto weaker foot’ is the equivalent of a manager saying ‘let him take possession and move into space as long as you don’t give him a chance on his right foot, because he is so poor on his left that when he tries to do anything he will probably mess it up’.

Application

I decided to look at the opposition players and only apply ‘show onto weaker foot’ in really specific circumstances, like strongly left footed opposition wingers playing on the right with poor dribbling skills where showing them onto the wrong foot either leads them to the corner flag or forces them to attempt a poor wrong-footed cross. Everyone else is left on ‘no specific instructions’. The way I see this is a bit like a manager saying ‘assume that he’ll give you a hard time on either foot so get the block or tackle in or at least get goalside as quick as possible’.

Results

In the (only) two games I have tried this I have bossed possession and marked opposition forwards almost out of the game. I beat Bolton 3-0 away, but I’m even more impressed with a 1-1 thrashing ( I know – super keeper) of Stoke at home. In this game I had 65% of possession and limited Stoke to 3 shots whilst I enjoyed 22 myself, 11 on target. I don’t remember Kenwyne Jones getting on the ball once in a threatening position. I conceded from a goalmouth scramble following a corner. These things happen!

Conclusion

Try treating ‘show onto weaker foot’ less as an afterthought and more as a meaningful and powerful instruction to your players. Only use it when there is a clear tactical need or your players will become obsessed with the instruction and fail to take more obvious steps to break up an attack like getting an early tackle in.

Let me know how it goes!

[ham_aka_stam]

This is something I've never looked at, and like you I've assumed that the option's there for a reason, AND that the better assmen set it more often.

However, I'm going to give this a go next time I get a chance. Good post.

[d2024p]

Thanks for the reply ham_aka_stam. I'm just hoping it will solve the problem I so often have which is 'defender waits for attacker to run half the pitch, then takes up a position at a 45 degree angle to the line the attacker wants to take to goal to cover the right foot, leaving an easy pass square to a supporting player and any return pass'. The defender in this scenario has successfully prevented the original attacker using his right foot but at the cost of yards of space and possible a goal.

One thing that occurs to me is that show onto weaker foot may be more useful in lower leagues than in the Prem or equivalent because most top players have reasonable 'weak foot' skill, whereas there are players in the lower leagues who are hopelessly one-pegged.

[pigfacemonkeyman]

In reality, telling a defender to show someone onto his weaker foot is like telling them to defend, but this is a game and defenders appear not to be trained in this basic technique. Even if they are there is nothing wrong with a little reminder.

Opposition Instructions are one of the less 'sexy' features of the game and yet they are a way of fine tuning aspects of your tactic to suit each opposition, which I believe makes them an integral part of your tactics.

I have tried various ways of implementing OIs including the use of 'show onto weaker foot' in the way described in the OP. It worked fine, as did many carefully considered combinations, but the best approach I found is this: http://community.sigames.com/showthread.php/269484-Reactive-Positional-OIs-A-Guide

[furiousuk]

I'm also going to try this, it bugs me having to set it all the time anyway. I tended to use it rather liberally as well figuring that it can only be a good thing, I hadn't really considered that it might actually over-ride some fairly essential defensive behaviour.