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

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

Cam Jolley

Cam Jolley

Co-Founder & Academy Coach, Coach Central

The blind side is one of the simplest, highest-value ideas you can give an attacker — position where the defender can't see you and the ball at the same time, then move the instant they look away.

The concept

A defender can only see roughly half the field at once. The blind side is the rest. The article shows how attackers exploit it — receiving on a defender's blind shoulder, timing runs for the moment right after a defender scans, splitting two defenders' reference points with a one-two. It also flips defensively: pressing from a ball-carrier's blind side to rush their decision.

How I teach it

This is a timing and scanning skill, and it is coachable at any age. The cue I give is simple — watch the defender's head. The moment they turn to look at the ball, that is when you move, because for a second you have disappeared. I do not need a special drill for this. I put it inside a normal finishing or crossing game and coach the timing of the run relative to the defender's eyes. The players who get it start scoring goals that look easy, and they are easy, because they arrived unseen.

How I'd use it this week

In a crossing-and-finishing game, coach one thing: strikers start on the defender's blind shoulder and attack the ball the moment the defender's head turns. Count the 'easy' goals that follow.

Takeaways

  • Position where a defender can't see you and the ball at once — then move the instant they look away.
  • The cue is the defender's head: move when they scan the ball.
  • It's a timing/scanning skill, coachable at any age inside normal games.

Read the original

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