One tip that comes to mind is practice shooting with both feet. As a defender myself I see to many strikers opt to get on to their favored side before taking a shot by which time the opportunity has passed and the defender has it covered. Hit it first time on whichever side your on at least you'll get a shot on goal rather than losing it all together.

The problems I see with one on one's is people wait too long and the keeper comes close enough to block off the angles and also people don't run straight towards goal, for some reason you see people deviate to the side as if they are getting away from the keeper. When the keeper is moving off their line is the time you should shoot , the keeper can no longer move to the side easily, and all you need is placement not power.
If your going to be cut off by a defender and the goal keeper stays back then thats the time you need to blast it.

Don't take shooting tips from any Sydney FC players.

We're not sure how to do it either :lol:

Edited by ton.of.bricks: 25/4/2011 01:51:12 AM

Some useful tips there, TOB.

Quite a number of headed goals are also scored in the top corners too.

This heading for strikers is dependent on having good crossers form both sides in a team. One must also practise this from both sides/wings.

Initially have a mate, hopefully who also needs to work on attacking heading around goal, throw the ball from left and right sides of the goal. Even at A League level we have few really consistent crossers in Australia. It is important to get a lot of easier heading contacts of the ball initially.

Then throw higher balls with a player running from deeper to get there.

TOB, you also mention defensive headers. These are usually so much easier than having to head balls at right angles when heading for goal. However, these are often heading the big punts from goalies. Not good for brain cell retention!!!

One note of interest. As I've got older many aspects of my technique have improved.

In heading, my head/ball co-ordination has deteriorated significantly and rapidly. I'm hopeless in the air now, whereas it was a real strength when I played. I am now 54.




Edited by Decentric: 23/4/2011 08:23:21 PM

Jet's fan, here are a few tips regarding strikers.

First of all, remember that regardless your age, you can always improve your technique with practice.

Are you good in the air or you only try to score goals with your feet?

Here just a couple of tips ragarding headers.

In heading, you must lock your neck muscles and by flexing and arching your back you strike the ball with your forehead, having your upper back, neck and head moving back and forth in one piece and with your head following right through the ball.

As an attacker you should practive jumping as high as you can to meet the oncoming ball and head it with a big follow-through downwards, towards your feet.

Always keep your mouth closed when you head the ball and ALWAYS keep your eyes open and actually try to see the ball make contact with your forehead.

In attacking headers we head the ball downwards, towards the ground in front of our feet, and in defending headers with the same technique we head the ball upwards as high and as long as we can. I know you already know all this stuff, but I thought I'll mention it for the benefit of whoever.

I'll give you some tips about striking and dribbling techniques with the feet some other time, but what you should start practicing immediately is learn to recognising where the goalposts are, not by lifting your head, but by just looking at the lines marked on the ground (the 20 and 6 yard lines).

You'll be amazed how many more goals you'll score if you can learn to squeeze the ball just inside either goalpost without having to lift your head to see where the goalposts are. The day you can hit the near or far post of the opposite goal from most parts of the penalty area without having to lift your head and by just looking at the marked lines on the ground, you'll be a very prolific striker, trust me. I bet your shooting ability is good enough for this already.

As simple as it sounds just as batfink says choose your spot and then keep your eye on the ball untill you have followed through. Its amazing that when you're going through a bad patch if you just focus on the basics you will get it ight and once you bag a couple it will once again become second nature.

I agreee its a lot to do with instinct but there are a few things that can definately be taught such as the runs you make etc.

finishing is just coolness and confidence.

You dont need to smack the leather off he ball either. Ill never understand why so many even professional players do it when they get space in the box in very good positions. Its all about coolness. You could easily pass the ball to a player 10 yars away no problems. Well the same applies to scoring goals really.It truly is that simple. Too many people get that mental image of the ultimate ripper goal as the ball is coming to them. I know many strikers that struggle with the 1v1s though as they have far too much time to think .Thinking is teh enemy of a good striker if you ask me. I always scored my best goals when i never had time to think and you can marvel to yourself how you did it for the rest of the week.

as someone else said alwyas run along the line to create space and any defender that wants to mark you tight will have to follow you out of position or pass you on. Its best they never know where youare going to pop up.and when setting off on your forward run, run diagonally. Step back from your closest marker and start the run from deeper. thats when you call for the pass because there will always be a lag between you knowing where you are running and your team mate seeing the run. never be afraid to pull yourself wide and as soon as you have given that pass back inside set off tfor the box again. Late runs are your friend as well when the posession is in the front third. different obviously then when hanging off shoulder of the last man.

Also at set pieces etc stand right up against your marker and just as the ball is about to be kicked give a quick elbow jab to the ribs. He will be taken aback and you will lose him instantly ahaa trust me it works. Sure you will get a redemption kick later but you will have already scored so who cares. team mate of mine told me to grab his nuts but i never went that far ;)

yeah it works, i learnt it about 30 years ago from a coach who was an ex-socceroo,so i have taught it to my son, with great success, its simple reflex reaction when you get it right and feel confident you have it mastered......

Its also the reason why many people hit telegraph poles/trees/other cars when they have an accident....WHY????? because they look at them...!!!! so when your shooting look at the target area,note the goalkeepers position with your fringe vision, and kapow....

you should also do exercises to test and improve you fringe vision......this helps with awareness of other players and positioning......

GOAL.....!!!!!!!!!









because they look at the pole and thats where they end up,

Last year the striker I was playing alongside had scored about 10 by the time I scored my first. I was given shit for it but then he got injured and I started being selfish cos I was playing alongside fill-in strikers who just really shouldn't have been playing there and I went on to be loading goalscorer. So I will hopefully be more selfish this year.

@Batfink, I actually got told that at the end of last season and it's helped a lot during training recently. I think I only missed 1 or 2 finishes in all of the drills we did :). Now I just gotta find out if I can replicate that in a game.

the problem you are having with the 1 on 1 shooting is due to looking at where the keeper is, at all costs when evaluating you option take a look but dont look at the keeper, rather look to where you want to place the ball, take a snpshot in your mind, head down,balanced and composed and strike the fucker home, and whatever you do dont look up until you see your foot go through the ball.............

its easy, you have to trust your snapshot evaluation and believe it will happen....and it will happen

Head over the ball.

Even top footballers lift their heads under pressure. The ball goes over the top of the goals in professional matches too often.

As long as you have a coach who appreciates the assists you are fine.

Strikers evoke a lot of criticism if they don't score , even if the team keeps winning. Remember Mark Viduka?

Cheers Decentric for all of that.

@Localstar, for some reason I get more joy out of assists than goals, bit of a problem for a striker :lol:.

And being greedy, selfish and supremely confident, even arrogant also helps make you a good striker.

But I don't think coaches really emphasize those qualities these days...!:lol:

Loyalist makes a good point earlier the thread.

Much of this stuff needs to be observed/demonstrated in person.

I have a plethora of dribbling skills/techniques for beating players one on one to demonstrate. In hindsight I've taught players too many flashy techniques, too early, the sort of stuff Christiano Ronaldo does so well. It looks spectacular. There are many inside and outside stepovers and sideways sole of the foot dribbling involved in his play. Because it impressed young players (and old), I kept demonstrating flashy techniques, but a lot can go wrong with them.

Most top players use simpler changes of pace, body swerves, inside and outside of the foot dribbling at 45 degree angles, sharp cuts and inside of the foot to foot (left/right) techniques for beating players. Less can go wrong with these tehniques.

The body swerve is particularly useful for wrongfooting players and little can go wrong.


In terms of shooting, place two markers about 50 cm just inside each goal post. Constantly aim for them.

I know the problem of shooting straight to the keeper. I've spent a ot of time as keeper with one player with a powerful shot, who kept blasting them at straight at me, and I'm a useless keeper!

I think a striker's position is the hardest on h the pitch. Unless you are scoring goals you are criticised. Certain teams/coaches don't know how to play with some types of strikers, particularly target players.

A striker also needs to practice a lot of hooked running and diagonal off the ball running. Running straight at the defence puts you in an offside position and players can't pass to you.

The diagonal runs can also drag defenders out of position. Only good coaches can see this. Inadequate coaches can't see the good work beig done by dummy runs. We even have women's premier league coaches in this state who can't see this!!!

At state youth sessions a retired specialist striker did a lot of work with players shooting first time from any angle. Half the time strikers are off balance when they shoot on goal, so practice helps.

Out of three state female forwards, one had a big shot from a stationary position, the other two could hit the ball well when running onto a moving ball after dribbling. But they were both weak at the other's strengths. There was great onus on striking a moving ball, because it is almost never stationary in a match when someone shoots for goal.

You need to practice vollying, with your body shaped like a roundhouse kick in karate.

Side of the foot shooting is often accurate. Instep shooting one needs to place the head over the ball (as has been previously suggested).

Turning techniques - where do I stop?

You need to work with a keeper and another player to cross, pass diagonal balls, provide limited/full pressure as a defender for one on one duels before you shoot.

Good luck!

Edited by Decentric: 16/3/2011 02:17:00 PM

I also try to pass it into the back of the net but it either ends up going straight into the keeper or wide. So frustrating. Hoping that will change this season, have started training with my team and my shooting seems to be a lot better. I think non-stop indoor since the outdoor season ended has helped a lot.

Edited by Jets_Fan: 4/3/2011 07:54:50 PM

Practicing is definitely helpful, but in the end you need to have the composure to tuck it away under pressure.

Be decisive. Pick a side and go with it. If you take too long you'll end up panicking and snatching at it.

Practice making sure your standing foot is close enough to the ball that you don't have to stretch with your shooting leg... also, analyse where on your foot you strike the ball. If you're inside the box and 1v1 you'll just need to open up your foot and pass it into the bottom corner. Don't try to put a hole in the net.

Keep your head down, and keep it low.

Not much else I can add :)

Put. The ball. Into. The goal.

I think top strikers are always always ALWAYS thinking about that one simple thing.

Others get distracted by the passion and flow of the game. But you don't get points for a nice turn. You don't get points for a brilliant cross. Just get the ball in the net. Simple, single-minded, focussed.

Look at Smeltz, drifting all over the place, looks like he's doing nothing half the time, then BANG. Like a shark circling in the deep, going slowly insane with the scent of blood in the water, waiting waiting waiting for the moment to strike.

It's in the 'ead, is wot I'm sayin'.

I played as a striker in the peak years of my playing career... and I honestly think being a good striker is something that comes with instinct, something you are born with, rather than anything to do with coaching.

As for one-on-ones with the keeper, the secret is timing- wait until the keeper is about to go down and smother the ball at your feet, then roll it gently past him. Any attempt to blast the ball hard usually ends in disaster!

When I was a kid, before I had even begun to play competitive football, I used to hone my shooting skills in my backyard by throwing a tennis ball at an unevenly shaped concrete drain. The ball would come back at all sorts of unexpected angles, and I had to volley or head it first time into a small wooden box at the other side of the yard!... I know it sounds a bit like Don Bradman, but it was good practice for when I started playing with a real ball.

Filmed myself taking a few shots today but didn't quite work out so I'm not going to bother posting the video in here. The coach of my old team that I'm going back to wants to have kick with me before the season starts so I guess I'll just get shooting tips off him.

I'll try and get a clip of myself shooting or something if that would help in you guys giving me tips and whatnot.

I spent last pre-season doing shooting all day and it's started to improve but I never really get to practice one one ones.

And yea I suppose a lot of the areas I'm trying to improve in can't be helped with just tips, just things I need to work out of my game. Like whenever we conceded a corner I would drop back into our box because I have a knack for defending corners but then we'd never have anyone up up front to attack on the break so we'd just turn the ball over. But that was pretty much the only way we attacked - me running onto through balls. It will most likely all change next year because I'm going back to my old team.

Re Bonkers, I was always good at getting my defender wound up but I never liked playing on the shoulder of defenders, I don't see the advantages of it and if I can't see the advantages of it I just won't do it, annoyed my coach a lot. I preferred to make runs from deep, either onto through balls or onto flick ons off the other striker. Problem was I never got to play alongside the same striker all year. One striker I played with was a poacher so I'd be more setting him up and then another striker was a big tall guy that could flick on headers for me and hold the ball up and another striker was just short and useless. So I hardly ever played on the shoulder of defenders unless I was being employed as a target man for some reason.

If power and accuracy is what you need to work on, go to your local gymnasium and get an indoor ball. If possible, have a goal-ish sized area at the end similar to this.

Hit it all day. On the bounce. On the turn. Straight shot. Distance. Practice almost every day, for hours at a time if possible. After a while, find spots to hit repeatedly. Practice and then practice some more. You will find that your power and accuracy will improve markedly, and your ability to turn/beat the man and shoot will be far better. Your placement will improve, in tunr helping your one-on-one placement.

The advantage of doing it indoors is that the ball always bounces back. As a result, it is far more unpredictable than booting it into a goal and starting from a predefined shot. Occasionally the rebound will force you wide. Shoot anyway, or cut in and shoot.

Repetition and practice is key.

run along the line.
Stick to the shoulder of teh last man.
drag the defender whos marking you out wide, opens up space in the middle.
be a twat and get your defender wound up.
shoot low, top corner looks nice but theres more room for error. keep it on the ground and you can only miss wide. keepers have to get down fast aswell to stop you.

Post some clips of yourself playing mate.

Mate a lot of what your asking needs to be shown rather than words on a forum. There are so many variables to what you are asking and without assesing your technique amongst other things theres really no one on here that can help you. Re we talking local league here? or higher?

I played as a Goalie for most of my "career" but would usually play a game on the field, usually on the wing but played just about every position during that time. I played for my club for about 5 seasons and then moved to a bigger club because I was sick of being forced to play goalkeeper full games.

The team I ended up getting stuck in was a very low grade but I ended up being a striker for the team. It took me a while to get the hang of things but when I did I ended up having a very successful season.

Anyway after meeting up with the coach of my old team at a funeral I've decided to go back to my old team because my coach really wants me back no matter what so he has no qualms with me being striker. Basically, the team I'm moving back to will be playing at a much higher level and I won't be getting as many chances to score as I did in the lower divisions. So I would appreciate some tips.

My main problem last season was 1 on 1 finishing. I would score about 1 out of 5 of my one on ones. I've got a fair bit of pace so I found myself in the situation a lot but would usually just kick it straight into the keeper.

My shooting has always been a weak point of my game but I've been training a lot to try and improve accuracy and power - any drills that would help with this would be great.

And I suppose any tips for making runs to get in behind defenses would be appreciated but I think I've gotten the hang of them, I did struggle a little bit against the better defenses though.

And anything else anyone could think of would also help.

Also if any other forumers are like me and need striking tips but having problems in other areas feel free to leave them here and hopefully me or someone else will be able to help :).

Thanks guys.