As I mentioned, dribbling is also a weakness of mine in football. When I am in possession of the ball, I often rely on passing to a teammate in order to move the ball forward rather than trying to take them on, which is not always the best thing to do. One example would be if I was one on one with the keeper. Instead of dribbling past him, and slotting the ball into an empty net, I usually try to pass as I know I will lose the ball if I try to dribble past him. This isn’t very useful especially if you are on your own, and there are not teammates around. As well as this, when trying to beat a player I usually lose possession which leads to attacks breaking down. Not only this, sometimes the opposition may counter from my lack of dribbling ability, as if I give away possession when least expected, it puts my team in danger of conceding a goal.
I believe crossing is also one of my weaknesses. By using match analysis, I can see only around 2 out of 10 of my crosses actually reach a teammate as they are inaccurate. Crossing is an important skill as it creates chances for your team to score goals, however my lack of ability means I don’t create as much as I could. This often leads to my team’s lack of chances in games, and this could be amended if my crossing was better as more opportunities to score would arise for my teammates which may lead to my team winning more games. By being better at crossing it would tactically allow me to play more positions in midfield, i.e. left or right, as crossing is a big part of a wide midfield player’s game.
The fitness components that are my weaknesses are: balance, flexibility, muscular endurance and reaction time.
I believe balance is a weakness because, in games I often loose my balance giving the ball away to the opposition. This occurs more regularly when I am sprinting as it is easier to lose your balance when running quickly. This often gives an advantage to the opposition player and when I get off balance, I loose the ball. This also happens when I am stretching for the ball. If I stretch too far, I loose my footing so even if I do intercept the ball, I give it away again as I fall over leaving the ball to run loosely giving the perfect opportunity for the opposing to take possession and create a chance. My balance problem also affects my shooting. Because this is my weakness, I sometimes miss hit shots therefore I don’t get it on target and score. As well as the effects on my performance, I also know my balance isn’t good due to my poor mark on the stork stand test I previously did. My results were 12 seconds on my right foot and 7 on my left which are both below average. The stork and stand test is when you lift one leg and place the toes of that foot against the knee of the other leg. You then repeat this with your other foot.
I know flexibility is another weakness of mine because my performance decreases as a result of it and my mark on the sit and reach test shows this is a problem as well. My result for this was 15 cm which is poor for males according to average results. Due to my poor flexibility, I am less able to get a ball under control especially if it is coming at an awkward angle. This means I loose possession as I am not able to get my foot to the position needed. This is also a problem in shooting. Sometimes if I need to hit a high volley, I am not able to connect properly as my foot can’t reach over the ball meaning my volleys are sometimes sliced and inaccurate. This means my volleys are usually off target and I don’t score as a result. On top of this, my poor flexibility also means I get injured more easily. If I land in an awkward position, my small range in movement at my joints means my body is not able to adapt to the fall consequently leading to more and more injuries. This keeps me out of important games where I could otherwise play and make a difference to my team.
My muscular endurance is not too good either. This means when I play football I am only able to perform 10 sprints instead of 15 as my muscles begin to tire earlier when they repeatedly contract. This means I am not able to get to the ball before an opposition so the result of this is that they tackle me and the attack breaks down, this also means the other team regain possession an can create an opportunity to score. If I am played through on goal near the end of a match, I struggle to reach it. If I had better muscular endurance maybe I would be able to sprint those extra 5 times and get to the ball even late on in games and create more chances for myself.
Finally, my reaction time is another of my weaknesses and it lets me down sometimes. Because of this, I cannot reach the ball before an opponent and maybe score as my reaction time is slow, meaning I have fewer opportunities to score in games and this has a negative affect on my performance. This also lets me down if the ball takes a deflection or a funny bounce. Sometimes in matches, if the ball bounces awkwardly, I am slow to react to it giving the opposition more time to get to it before me. This leads to me giving away possession and the opposition may score as a result.
