Coach Central

Library / Coach's Library

Coach's Library · Attacking

Getting Free: The Many Ways to Lose Your Marker

Spielverlagerung catalogs how players get free — proof it's a skill, not a gift.

Cam Jolley

Cam Jolley

Co-Founder & Academy Coach, Coach Central

What I love about this piece is that it treats getting free from a marker as a set of teachable methods, not a talent some players are just born with — which is exactly how I want to treat almost everything with my group.

The menu

It splits into individual dismarking — double movements, dropping a shoulder, feinting one way and going the other, vacating a space to drag a marker, late runs with momentum — and group dismarking, mostly the third-man idea where a player uses a teammate to get behind a defender's cover shadow. Reading it, you realize how many tools a good mover actually has. Most kids use one.

Why this matters to me

I believe players are far more capable than we give them credit for, and this is a perfect example. The player who 'can't get free' usually just has not been taught the moves and given reps to try them without fear of getting it wrong. That is a coaching gap, not a ceiling on the kid. Give them the double movement, let them fail with it a bunch of times in a game, and watch it become theirs.

How I'd use it this week

Pick one dismarking method — say, the drop-and-spin or the late run. Design a small game where receiving cleanly basically requires it, and let players fail at it repeatedly before you refine it.

Takeaways

  • Getting free from a marker is a teachable set of methods, not an innate gift.
  • Most players default to one move — expanding the menu is a coaching opportunity, not a talent ceiling.
  • Players need reps to try the moves and get them wrong before they own them.

Read the original

Coach Central is an independent educational resource. Linked works belong to their respective authors and publishers; we cite and recommend them, and the commentary here is our own.

More in Attacking

Overloads: Creating the Extra Player Where It Hurts

Spielverlagerung on deliberate numerical advantages — and why the point is the decision, not the shape.

Diagonality: Why the Best Pass Is Usually the Angled One

Spielverlagerung on the diagonal — progression and safety in the same action.

The Blind Side: Living Where Defenders Can't See You

Spielverlagerung on the space outside a defender's vision — the striker's home.

Building Out Is a Means, Not an Identity

Breaking The Lines' build-up principles — with the reminder that you only progress when you've earned it.

Where a Turnover Actually Hurts: The Risk-Reward of Line-Breaking Passes

Analytics FC quantifies the brave pass — and hands you an argument for psychological safety.

Funino: The Best Argument Against Standing in Lines

FIFA's guide to the 3v3, four-goal game that makes kids scan and decide constantly.

The Assist Before the Assist: Off-Ball Playmaking

Tactical Rant on the players who create chances without touching the ball.

Rethinking the Number 9: Don't Pigeonhole the Kid Up Top

Jack McCormack on the evolving striker — and why youth is the wrong place to specialize.

Transitions Decide Games — Even for the Team With the Ball

ESPN on why City and Madrid win the chaotic moments, not just the possession battle.

Ball, Opposition, Teammates, Space: The Four Things a Player Reads

TheMastermindSite's BOTS framework — a shared language for scanning and decisions.

Messi and Alba: Why Relationships Beat Rotations

It's Just a Sport on Seirul·lo's socio-affective superiority — the case for training partnerships.

The Underlap: The Run Inside That Unlocks a Set Defense

The Athletic on why the inside run has overtaken the overlap — a decision, not a default.

The Third-Man Run: The Combination Defenders Can't Track

The Athletic on the third-man concept — a group solution to a pressing problem.

Check Your Shoulder: The Cheapest Habit That Separates Players

A film study of Ødegaard's scanning — a habit you can coach into any player, at any age.

← All library resourcesLibrary