Why Stepovers Don't Work

I saw a 4-picture spread of the step-over that the Brazilian Ronaldo pulled out to score his fifteenth world cup goal. It was magical; it was effective and pronounced him the top goal scorer of all time. Stepovers were a feast for those who love them when the Galacticos Zidane, Figo and Ronaldo played for the mighty Real Madrid. 

With time however, coaches and defenders have since learned to look at the ball, not the dancing feet. It's still a widely used skill, but it's just not as effective as it once was. Here's why it used to work and why it doesn't anymore. 

                                           

According to Hick's Law, the more stimulus-response alternatives there are, the slower the response time. Not that Cristiano Ronaldo is going over Hick's law in his mind when he pulls a few step overs out, but what he's really tried to do is give you some questions to think about. Am I going to the left? The right? Through your legs? Maybe I'll go left and then right, and leave you on your backside! The sheer number of possible options is enough to make a defender stop. Which do I pick? As far as executing a movement goes, once the message has been delivered from the brain to go left, the body has to finish going to the left before going to the right if that is where the ball eventually goes. Whether that means the left leg starts to move, or the body shifts just a fraction, it has to finish doing that before it can execute the next neural command. This is why the step overs and other feints work. 

Step overs don't work as well as they used to anymore because they have become pretty, a tool for humiliation. More often than not, the player executing them hasn't decided himself what he's going to do. You'll see five, six, seven of them. If you haven't sold the guy in two or at most three, you'd be lucky to escape without an injury. By then the defender knows that you DON'T have a plan. That's when they'll lunge in getting the ball, the man or sometimes both. 

                                   

Like I said earlier, the number of options presented by the dancing feet is overwhelming. To put an end to them, simply focus on the ball. The debate continues amongst coaches as to whether you should watch the trunk or the ball. Let it continue. I used the step over here because I an in complete awe of guys like onlinesoccercoaching.com and topsoccerdrills.com. They have taken our lesson plans, converting our the X's and O's into something concievable for every players. 

Let me insert here something I learned from three coaching movies I thoroughly enjoy. Denzel Washington, in the movie Remember The Titans declares that he has only 7 plays. The team ran those plays over and over again until they were...."PERFECTION!" I can still here him saying it. No trick plays. The basics made perfect. You will find the same ideas in Coach Carter. What I find thoroughly inspiring, as a coach, a player and a fan of common sense is the "Power I" play that Matthew McConaughey brings to his new job in We Are Marshall. After a few tries, he boldly declared, "I'm a fan of it; I love it but it's not working." Dramatically and effectively, he tosses it in the trash. 

If you haven't accessed the two resources I mentioned above, I may go so far as to call you negligent as a coach. Get on it! But once you are there, remember the step over. Used with a plan, it's extremely effective because of the many questions it give the defender to think about, buying you time. Drills are much the same, whether offensive or defensive. Giving your team too many drills to work on is using step overs on your own team. They will be slow to react and you will miss chances and concede goals. Not every drill works for every team, that's why the guys are giving us so many options. If it's not working, throw it out. Go for something simpler. Too many players involved in a drill present too many variables for you to manage even in a controlled environment. Considering that the opposition on game day aren't in the positions you used during practice you team will run into problems all the time. Do you mark the space or the man? What if you choose to mark the man and, like Rooney, he goes deep to get on the ball? What about the increasingly popular false nine- how do you mark that? Or Frank Ribery, who keeps popping up on the right when he is playing on the left? 

Whatever your tactics; whatever drills you choose, simplify as much as possible. Hick's Law applies every time. Respect it. Better yet, use it to your advantage.