Robbie says: "If you want to bring a high ball down onto your chest,
you have to lean back and cushion the ball on your chest so that if falls
in front of you and you can move off with it at your feet. If a defender
is coming at you from the left, you have to cushion the ball and lean to
your right, to keep it away from the defender. The main thing is to be
relaxed, lean back with your knees bent and cushion the ball nicely."
THE DRAG-BACK
Robbie says: "This is a great trick for losing a defender, especially
when you want to change direction. If you are heading to the right and a
defender comes right across you trying to get the ball, fake to pass or
shoot with your right foot, flick the ball back between your legs with
the inside of your foot. The ball should come inside your standing leg so
you can move off to the left with it. If you do it right then you will
lose them, nine times out of ten!"
THE STEP-OVER
Robbie says: "The step-over is useful when you're running at a
couple of defenders and want to confuse them. I use it quite a lot when
I'm running with the ball. If you want to go left then you can step over
the ball with your right foot to fool the defenders into thinking you're
going to go right. Pretend you're going to take the ball to your right
with the outside of your right foot but step over the ball instead. The
defenders will go to your right and you can move off to the left.
Sometimes you can lo se defenders doing it without even touching the ball,
just letting it run straight ahead of you. If it doesn't work the first
time, then you can just do two step-overs - one to the right and one to
the left - to confuse them a bit more!"
