Of all the roles on a football team, the attacking midfielder needs, perhaps, the greatest variety of skills in order to perform. It is typically an all round playing position. Playing as the lynchpin between the midfield and the strikers, attacking midfielders need impeccable ball handling skills, a strong grasp of how their team operates, and a good knowledge of what is expected of them. The players will often take part in a number of different training drills in order to ensure that they have the variety of skills needed to play in this position. Here is a quick rundown of what to work on in order to excel in the midfield attack playing the position.
Know your role
As stated, the midfield attacker is the link between the strikers and the players further back on the field, and should, therefore, focus on creating and exploiting opportunities for the strikers, not pushing for personal glory. The first focus should be on helping your team maintain possession, and then on placing yourself and the ball in the correct position to create a mismatch in your team’s favor, and set up the strikers for a goal with accurate passes. You can set up training drills with players dressed in different Discount Football Kits available from stockists such as kitking.co.uk where they can learn to attack and defend against each other.
Excel at ball handling on all sides
While most players can afford to have a primary foot and really stick with that, an attacking midfielder needs to be able to play the ball confidently on any side. Opportunities do not always present themselves on your strong side, so you need to be confident to play with either foot and competent to take the ball in the air. Regardless of where the ball comes from, if you want to take advantage, your first touch has to be solid, so work with both of your feet and your head until you’re confident to take the ball regardless of the direction it comes from.
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Exploit opportunities
The attacking midfield players you see in the top team football kits are those who have learned to identify and exploit any opportunities that come up. Mostly, that means learning to read the flow of the game more quickly than it happens so you can accurately predict where you, and the ball, need to be to create goal scoring opportunities for your team. In order to be able to do this, the players are very good an interpreting the gameplay and predicting where the ball is going to go next.
Keep it simple
Lastly, keep it simple. The attacking midfield position requires a lot of strategic thinking and managing the other players on your team, and in that sort of position, it is easy to overthink things. 99 times in 100, though, a quick short pass to an open striker is the best option.
