The secrets of shooting
Is there a better feeling than putting the ball in the top corner of the net?
Scoring goals feels good, which is why shooting is often at the top of the list for players wanting to develop their footballing ability. At Strive, our one-to-one elite coaching sessions can be tailored to focus on shooting techniques that will help you hone your attempts on goals, so please don’t hesitate to get in touch if this is something that you’d like my help with.
The two things that we are looking for from every shot is power and accuracy. If you can put the ball exactly where we want it, with maximum amount of power - chances are you’ll score. Now we’ll break that down further and look at each aspect of shooting.
Preparing for a shot
When preparing for a shot, there are different ways to use your foot to give you the power or accuracy that you are after. I’ll look at how using the side of your foot, the laces or a hybrid of the two can impact your shot.
Side foot. The side of your foot is not only the largest surface area of your foot but is also the flattest, so use this if accuracy and precision are the priority. Look how Messi uses the inside of the foot to perfectly place this freekick into the corner of the goal with plenty of curl - watch here.
Laces. Your laces (I still call it using your laces even if your boots are laceless!) are narrow and rounded so it’s harder to maintain accuracy but you can put a lot more weight through the ball, so laces are perfect if you’re wanting to prioritise power. Watch how Ronaldo perfectly uses his laces here to put the ball in the top corner - watch here.
Hybrid of the two. If you’re looking for the best of both worlds then the hybrid is perfect (the best way to find this is the bony part of the knuckle on your big toe).
Approaching the shot
The touch before you shoot, also known as the approach, is just as important as the shot itself. There are two variables with this touch: the angle and the length. For me - around 4 steps away is perfect, it allows me enough space to run on to it to get enough power behind the ball without it being so far away that it turns into a 100m sprint.
The angle of the shot
The angle of the touch is where it gets a little more complicated, because shooting in a straight line is very hard (fig.1). Without getting too scientific, our leg wants to swing across our body (for right footers: right to left, for left footers: left to right). Therefore as a right footer, your touch should always towards the right in relation to the goal, like fig. 2.
The angle will often determine which part of the foot you should use. If the ball is now on a 90 degree angle to the goal (fig. 2), using your laces to get the ball where you want it to go will be very difficult.
Therefore, using the inside of your foot or the “hybrid technique” will be best. By approaching the ball on this angle, you can now shoot in both sides of the goal compared to only one side of the goal in fig.1. Effectively, for a right footer, the ball can only go to the left of where you approach - shown by fig. 3 and fig. 4.
Practicing shooting
With everything in football - practice is key. My personal preference is to always have a larger angle to the goal (similar to fig.2).
For me it is all about options - having a larger angle to the goal allows you to shoot into both sides and use two shooting techniques. With a larger angle you can also start to add in some disguise to the shot.
Advanced shooting skills
Once you are confident and competent with various shooting techniques, can you keep your hips open to the far post to make it look like you will shoot there but cut it back into the near post? Mbappe and Messi are two players that do this incredibly well. Watch in this video how Mbappe opens up his body and hips to make it look like he is going to shoot into the far corner before firing into the near post.
Teaching shooting techniques and the subtleties of how to add disguise are something I put a lot of focus on during my one to one sessions with players who want to improve shooting. Book a session now if you want to improve your shooting!