Dribbling football drills

Reversing direction is faster than going around. Drag it back under the sole as he commits, push it off to the side and go.

Cone drills end at the last cone and the game does not. Adding a finish forces the head up at the exact moment it usually stays down.

The only move on this list that protects the ball for its whole duration. Built for pressure arriving from behind, where you cannot see it.

The only move where the ball stays still during the fake. Drop the shoulder, lean hard, then push it the other way and go.

Read the feet and go only when the gap is there. The nutmeg works because a defender square to the ball leaves a passing lane through him.

Two gates mean the defender cannot cover both. The attacker stops rehearsing a move and starts reading which way he is being shown.

The pair passes, then one of them carries through a gate and a new partner takes over. The work moves along the line, so nobody queues and everybody does both.

Receive with your back to pressure, sell the fake, drag the ball behind the standing leg and spin away. The classic escape turn, drilled.

Solo ball work is worth what its volume is worth. Two hundred touches in nine minutes is the only argument for doing it alone.

Dribbling is taught as a way to beat someone. Here it is a way to make a pass exist that did not exist a second earlier.

Running with the ball and dribbling are different skills. One keeps it within a stride, the other pushes it ten yards and chases.

Push the ball out with the outside of the foot and snap it back inside in one motion. Close to a defender it freezes him going the wrong way.

Two lanes, two players, one heat. Racing somebody makes a player carry the ball faster than they would choose to, which is when close control actually gets tested.

No feint, no direction change, nothing to read. Take the pace off until he settles, then go. The hardest move to defend.

Young players panic and pass back the moment a defender touches them. This practice teaches the alternative: get side on, protect it, and spin out.

One move plus a change of speed beats a defender. The move alone does not, which is why the acceleration is the half players skip.

Whoever reaches the ball first sets the terms of the duel, which means the race decides more of these repetitions than the dribbling does.

This one works on good defenders precisely because they are good. Threaten the shot, wait for the block, then go past the other side.