Soccer-What is a "natural defender"?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:a slower, bigger kid usually

DD is U11- the fastest girls on her team are the 2 and 3. The best all around player plays the 4

Is that 8 or 9 per side? Are the position numbers the same when you’re playing a 3-3-1?

[Anonymous]

A natural defender must have grit. It also depends though. In the modern game, a natural full/wingback needs to have the skillset of a winger in a lot of ways, whereas centerbacks need to have a skillset similar to a holding mid, to facilitate in the build up.

Whoever said you put the slowest players at the back, you don’t know what you’re talking about. If anything, I’d put a slower player in a central attacking position to hold up the ball, but there isn’t a “one size fits all” answer. It’s a fluid game...

[Anonymous]

Dennis Rodman as an analogy. Athletic, tenaciuos, quick to react, tough, with a bit of a nasty streak. Some of them also have skills. Like Ramos, Pulyos, Maldini.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Dennis Rodman as an analogy. Athletic, tenaciuos, quick to react, tough, with a bit of a nasty streak. Some of them also have skills. Like Ramos, Pulyos, Maldini.

Puyol?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yeah, there is physicality, height, endurance, etc. but for me the most important quality that the bets defenders have is the ability to read the game. They have soccer intelligence.

When they look up the field they can see the danger, not just the imminent danger, but the potential danger in the next two or three phases of the game. And then they get themselves and their team mates into the right position to deal with it. When you watch a defender at the top of their game they make it look effortless.

So a good defender needs to be intelligent. They also need to be an excellent communicator, as they need to organize the defense and midfield.

Often in the kids games defenders are looked down on as the kids who can’t score. Totally wrong. It is a tremendous position to play.

This is exactly what I think. They know where to be and when. They are two steps ahead of the play. It helps that they are bigger to both defend the space around the goal and to launch the ball down the field.

My dd often plays up a year and almost always put her on defense. She’s got a great read on the field and is much taller than kids in her age (and the year above her).

I will slightly disagree, simply because the OP asked about a “natural” defender. I do think that to become a “great” defender you need soccer intelligence. But a natural defender has more of the instinctive and athletic skills to begin with. In other words, add soccer intelligence to a natural defender and you get a great defender.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Dennis Rodman as an analogy. Athletic, tenaciuos, quick to react, tough, with a bit of a nasty streak. Some of them also have skills. Like Ramos, Pulyos, Maldini.

Puyol?

Yes. Spell check strikes again.

[Anonymous]

My son used to play defender. He is short but not slight (not fat but large broad chest, muscular legs). He has soccer intelligence and grit.

He was a left back, but has now moved to holding midfielder, which is an even better fit for him. He loves moving the ball forward to the forward players. Unfortunately, when our left and right backs are weak, he essentially fills in as a third.

[Anonymous]

For field players, Speed. Fearlessness. Resilience. For goalkeepers, I’d say Fearlessness, resilience, reaction time, and good hands.

A center back can’t be afraid to take on the breakaway and make the last tackle. Especially on the girls’ side, I see so many defenders running in parallel to the attacker instead of going in for the tackle, in part out of fear they’ll miss the ball. If a girl has the speed to catch the attacker and the confidence to make the tackle, that’s a natural defender.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:a slower, bigger kid usually

DD is U11- the fastest girls on her team are the 2 and 3. The best all around player plays the 4

Is that 8 or 9 per side? Are the position numbers the same when you’re playing a 3-3-1?

9 and a 3-4-1, the numbers stay the same as you add players

[Anonymous]

There's no such thing. When your team has the ball, you are an attacker. When your team doesn't have the ball, you are a defender.

From that point, the game is complex and good players make it simple by maximizing their ability as a player whether it be skill, IQ, athleticism, improvisation, a combination of these things, etc.

[Anonymous]

Intelligent, patient, decisive, organized, athletic, great assertive communicator, endurance, willing to initiate and take contact. Confident with the but risk-averse.

A great defender can’t make mistakes, can’t get caught out of position, can’t relax. When I see a natural defender it’s a kid that is focused and patient enough to keep his/her feet until the attacker makes a mistake and then makes the right decision to tackle, can get out of pressure with the ball but doesn’t take much risk with it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Intelligent, patient, decisive, organized, athletic, great assertive communicator, endurance, willing to initiate and take contact. Confident with the but risk-averse.

A great defender can’t make mistakes, can’t get caught out of position, can’t relax. When I see a natural defender it’s a kid that is focused and patient enough to keep his/her feet until the attacker makes a mistake and then makes the right decision to tackle, can get out of pressure with the ball but doesn’t take much risk with it.

“A great defender can’t make mistakes.” By definition then there are no great defenders. Everyone makes mistakes, even the best players.

[Anonymous]

RantingSoccerDad wrote:I think the correct answer to this question is "Becky Sauerbrunn."

She is really good.

[Anonymous]

What age does all of this start (boys specifically) ? Because when you look online at youth sites, they all say put your worse players in wing or defender, which gives the defender position a bad name, or seems to be looked down upon.

[Anonymous]

What age does all of this start (boys specifically) ? Because when you look online at youth sites, they all say put your worse players in wing or defender, which gives the defender position a bad name, or seems to be looked down upon.

Really? I have seen a lot of recommendations to play them at wing, but not defense. Defense may be an ok place to put a player who is flawed in terms of speed, but not a bad player.