No Quick Fix
There is no magical fix when it comes to improving your touch. I cant tell you that by changing the angle or place on the foot where you receive the ball will have an instant improvement of being able to keep the ball under better control. The answer is the same as most things in life, increasing the amount of time where you have the ball at your feet is the best way to improve your first touch.
Practice whatever situation it is where you feel you’re first touch is letting you down. Are you miscontrolling it when you receive it on your weaker foot? Then practice controlling it with your weaker foot. Missing the ball when its played across field in the air? Grab a mate and practice that situation. The people we look up to on the field only got there from the approach of working on parts of their game that were letting them down up until that moment.
Stand Apart From The Competition
Over the years I’ve heard many coaches argue that a first touch is the most important skill a football has to possess. I’ve heard professional coaches say that the first thing they look for in a footballer is the way that they control the ball. It makes sense, if you aren’t able to control the ball the way that you would like, then you’re straight away vulnerable to losing it from whichever opposition player is close to you.
So the goal then has to be about having a first touch where you can control it in a direction, speed and distance of your liking. From there the next goal will be can I perform this skill to the same level when under intense pressure? Can i be consistent enough to be able to repeat it again and again in these situations? To get to this level of mastery you’ll need to spend hours practicing these situations.
Struggling to come up with drills or ways to improve your first touch? Come do a private soccer training session with myself and we can work on improving your touch under pressure situations.
