Ability to resist pressure

For a midfielder, especially a player in central midfield, this is a mandatory personal skill. If you want to become team's main midfielder, you must be able to calmly control ball under pressure or pass it to teammates in breakaway as quickly as possible. This gives team control of ball.

Crus often manages to outwit opponents by quickly changing direction when opponent presses.

Clearly assess intentions of two opposing players prior to receiving ball and can change direction of dribbling immediately after receiving ball to successfully break opposing pressure between them.

The enemy immediately changes direction and leaves after reaching a certain distance.

This change of direction must be neither too early nor too late.

Look how he does it! When opponent pushes up, he quickly completes change of direction.

Has an appropriate change of pace to make opponent think that if he is more persistent, he will have a chance to take ball. A slight change of direction before opponent charges can throw opponent far away.

Let's look at changing output.

It looks so simple, but success rate is surprisingly high.

The key is to assess speed and position of opponent, as well as strength of change in direction of ball.

None of above points can be mastered after reading article, and they all require thousands of times of tempering in order to master them.

In addition to his own dribbling and movement, Kroos also overcomes opposition pressure by passing quickly and receiving along with his teammates.

Relieve your opponent's pressure with quick passes from wall to wall.

Before you catch ball, you already know that there is space for ball in a certain direction and a teammate is in that space to respond, it is usually best to pass ball directly to him without stopping ball Handling ball method.

Straight pass

In addition to a quick short pass, Kroos also has a very strong long pass ability. This long pass ability can not only perform an accurate and wide pass, but can also be used as a means of direct attack. while attacking, he directly found Real's front trident.

Keep ball in weak side of opponent's defense.

Pass ball right behind opposition defense to help a teammate.

Accurate long-range passing is main element of this skill, but if you want to always find ball accurately, you need to have a good sense of space and position in addition to passing ball accurately. edge of crowd so that he can receive and receive comfortably is not only a pass that can be made accurately.

It is necessary to predict run of teammates.

You must anticipate your opponent's movements.

An understanding of opponents' catching habits is required.

Requires understanding of teammates' movement speed.

An understanding of enemy movement speed is required.

Only by understanding these situations can you significantly increase your pass success rate.

Go from defense to offense

Cruz can use his speed and agility to help teams recover dangerous tackles and switch quickly from defense to attack.

Win ball for your team through speed.

Watch your opponent's passing time, and when an opponent passes ball to an opponent near you, quickly insert and break ball.

Half of possession is due to speed if ball is tackled.

After stealing ball, attack on spot and look for teammates in attack.

Perform a standard strike

Because of his good vision and accurate long-range passing, Kroos is also team's best mid- to long-range free-kick taker.

An indirect free kick helps a team-mate score a goal.

Go ahead with ball

As a player who bridges team's offense and defence, Kroos needs ability to quickly move forward with ball in a large gap in front of him without a good chance of winning back ball.

After dribbling ball to right place and getting best exit point, quickly pass ball to teammates.

Selection and interception

In addition to his contribution on offense, Kroos also made a big contribution to team on defense with his timely tackles and interceptions.

The defensive midfielder should be in a good defensive position more often, and only when he is completely sure that opponent will be dealing with a relatively disadvantageous position, he can take initiative to intercept ball at opponent's feet.

Otherwise, it's best to stay in a defensive stance for as long as possible to provide a backline barrier effect.

The threat of an attack on third zone

Kroos' marksmanship is also very good, making him very dangerous when standing outside of last third.

You can take a look at following examples of Kroos entering backline near penalty area and then receiving a cross pass from a teammate and directly pushing net.

One kick from inside right goal post.

Second kick from inside right goal post.

Three hits inside right goal post.

Four shots on goal from inside of right goal post.

Four shots and four goals can score by banging against inside of post on one side. With such accuracy of impact, goalkeeper of which team is not afraid.

Your attention is biggest motivation for Xiaobei!

May 15, 2023