Being a Defender is equally difficult

Defense is the most important part of a team; it’s pointless if you keep on scoring goals and conceding them at the same time. This is when a defender plays his role, not only he has to stop the attacker but he should be rock solid at the back.

So let’s see what all things make a complete defender:

Build a Body

A defender needs to understand the physical demands while playing in different defensive roles. A Centre backs needs to be physically strong and quick as they will be facing pacey and powerful players, whereas full-backs need to be fast and tricky as they will be running up and down the pitch a lot so they need to be fit at all times with super stamina.

Anticipate the Attacker

Being a defender is never easy, one mistake and you can cost a goal. A defender needs to anticipate the move of the player he has to anticipate the direction in which the player will be moving and he needs to intercept rather than tackling. He needs to understand that one wrong tackle will lead to free kicks or even penalties. It is also his duty to pass the ball back to the keeper and should know very well when to clear the ball. If a defender keeps the striker facing towards his goal then he has done his job. He needs to push the player on to his weaker foot which will eventually result in missing the shot. As a Full Back, the defender has to make the first move and stop the attacker breaking through; his job is to stop the crosses and the chances that are created from the wings.

Maintain the line

Many a times you might have seen that there is lack of communication between the full-back and the centre back which results in strikers breaking the defence and scoring. Hence, Centre backs need to maintain the line with full backs which will help in creating offside traps and making it difficult to break through, whereas as full-backs needs to understand that not only they are facing the wingers but also full-backs of the opposition and he really needs to focus, if he goes off the line from the wing, an attacker might break in easily and create a problem for the goalkeeper.

Understand your Attribute as a Defender

A defender needs to be quick, agile, aggressive and smart. A defender needs to understand his opponent and his next move; if a defender is beaten he will need to make a recovery run towards the near post to get the goal side of the attacker. Recovery run are very important for a defender as it might be his last chance to pull through his mistake

Tackling and Intercepting

This is the most important job of the defender, his tackling needs to be accurate and he should never lose the sight of the ball. A defender can only tackle when the attacker is within his range, unnecessary tackling and improper tackling might cost him a card and serious mistimed tackling can even result in a red card.

Intercepting is quite different from tackling. If interception is madethere are fewer chances of errors and a defender really needs to make this decision whether to tackle or intercept.

Heading Accuracy

In the modern game heading accuracy is very important and especially if you are a centre back then your heading accuracy needs to be perfect. The centre backs will be facing a lot of crosses and he needs to direct the ball away from the goal, apart from saving his goalkeeper from crosses a centre back even attacks during set-pieces and a defenders best chance to score is through his heading accuracy