Coaching The Unorthodox - Part 1

Inspired by work by Paul McGuinness and Kevin Green surrounding ‘coaching goalscorers’, it’s interesting to look at the variety of goals scored in just the opening Premier League weekend alone, and observe for things that we rarely coach our strikers, yet happen all the time.

A breakdown of the goals:

Salah - Toepoke finish, particularly effective when running on a straight (non-angled) path to the ball. Gives goalkeeper less time to prepare + get down due to connecting with ball at earliest point possible. Meets ball on the bounce to keep it under the goalkeeper.

Saka + Kovacic - Disguised finish into near post with hips and chest open (to fake far corner shot), Saka has own reputation of far corner finish to add to disguise which affects goalkeeper positioning (moves slightly more to his right).

Duran - ‘Sweeping’ a bouncing ball low and hard. Uses knowledge of goalkeeper being in ‘rooted’ position to his advantage, anything across the ground can only be saved with feet if enough power is applied as both feet are planted and diving low becomes very difficult.

Haaland - Ball seemingly ‘stuck’ at his feet which invites goalkeeper to a low position to attempt to smother ball. Uses minimal back lift to disguise intentions, no follow through and ‘stabs’ at the bottom of the ball which creates a shot with instant loft to go over a close goalkeeper.

Zirkzee - Uses the spin and speed of the ball to redirect the path of the cross, minimal back lift and follow through to keep similar speed and direction. Speed of the ball/his own run dictates minimal swing.

Vardy - Header into the ground, ball has an extremely difficult flight path to predict for goalkeeper due to sudden change of direction in the ball.

Overall, there are so many technical cues that we need to observe within modern day strikers to give our players the best chance of replicating these situations within practice, so they can have an ‘arsenal of weapons’ within their finishing toolbox.