Rayan Cherki is extremely annoying.
Quick feet and trickery aside, he knows exactly how to unbalance and frustrate players who put him under pressure.
He consistently targets the inside shoulder/upper-chest area with his arms, disrupting an incoming defender’s momentum, keeping them upright (which stops taller players from leaning through him), and killing their ability to extend a leg.
He even pushes or even elbows that area (it goes unnoticed by refs due to how subtle it is) which is extremely infuriating to deal with from a defensive POV.
@ChrisFergy Take sting out of the game. Play slow.
Everything Wirtz does is quick and rushed.
Watch how Cherki or Messi stop on the ball and play like they have all of the time in the world on it. Also Hazard.
Foden also too rushed.
@cdtRoberts Study the basics, so you won’t have to take anyone’s word for it.
Read the first few chapters of “The Beginning of Infinity” as many times as it takes until you have a clear understanding of how knowledge works.
Test against nature and free markets, as they can’t be fooled.
Apart from the burst in their stride, powerful ball carriers across open-field ball (⚽️ 🏀 🏈 🏉) sports have another trait in common:
➡️ The stiff arm.
Expand your circle. Upset your opponent’s balance. Own the space. Drive.
Iniesta & Xavi; masters of the craft, constantly gifting space & time to others by manipulating the direction & speed of the movements of opponents.
they achieved this using;
- ball-carrying.
- torso-deception.
- directional touches.
- ball-manipulation.
- pausa.
The key to this is the use of body orientation[directing the torso & planted foot away from direction of the intended target/action] & body posture[assuming a posture for a different action] to deceive opponents.
Within zone 14 | 'wall pass' & misdirection 🪄
The first pass momentarily pulls the defender’s attention, taking their gaze away from the attacker. It offers the latter time & space to operate upon the immediate return. Misdirection is an intrinsic component of the 'wall pass'.