North West London Jets Football Terms

North West London Jets understands that effective communication is essential to ensure players and teams progress year on year. At North West London Jets, we understand that barriers to communication can sometimes occur by managers / coaches using terms which are unfamiliar to their players thereby causing some confusion. Hopefully the articles below will go someway towards improved understanding.

Defending Goalside:
Goalside means that the defending player should stand between the attacker and his goal. 

The image on the right shows the player in white staying in between the attacker in blue & yellow and the goal, hence he is goalside of the attacker. 

Marking from a Corner:
When marking from a corner, it is important that the players from the defending team face the opposing players they are marking. This enables them to know and track the attackers movement as well as watch the flight of the ball. 

The image on the right illustrates marking from a corner by each player in red watching one player in white, tracking their attacking movement to goal, in order to prevent them from scoring from a corner. 

There should also always be one player positioned on the inside of the front and back post 

Marking Players Off the Ball
When defending, it is important that the defensive team do not only focus on where the ball is but are able to track the runs/movement of attacking players off the ball. This requires defenders who are not marking the opposing player with the ball to be in a position where they can see opposing players moving into areas of attacking support. 

The images on the right are from Manchester United vs Swansea City from 2012/2013 season. Notice Valencia is making a run in behind Davies from Swansea. Davies is too busy focusing on the ball on the far side, leaving Valencia with a free run in at the back post to attack the incoming cross. Similarly, Williams should be facing Robin Van Persie (in the centre of the image) so that he can track Van Persie's movement. However, he is too focused on the ball thereby, enabling Van Persie to drift in behind him to score. 

Notice, Danny Welbeck is making a run into the penalty area unmarked. Two Swansea players have been highlighted by white circles, indicating that they should be tracking and marking Welbeck's run and not just watching the ball.