If you are looking to improve and change your soccer game then you have come to the right place. Avram Grant shares some habits that changed his soccer drastically and made him and expert in the game. You never know the expert’s advice might come in handy to you and make a big and important change for you.
Three Little Changes
The soccer expert revealed that three little changes and habits in his life transformed the game for him completely. If you force yourself to learn and adapt to them then they can actually make a really big difference for you on the pitch. If you want to improve as a player these habits are something you should adapt to. If you actually go to the pitch and train all the advice given to you you might actually improve down the line. The three habits include staying vigilant and looking around, healthy eating and sleeping habits and showing higher willingness to run.
Looking Around You
According to Avram Grant you need to force yourself to learn to look more around when you don’t have the ball. The thing is that professional players do this all the time, they scan the pitch and their surroundings. They look at where the opponents and teammates are so they know exactly what to do if the ball comes to them right in this moment. The soccer expert explains that before he learnt this he is not sure what he was thinking when he was on the pitch.
In order to adapt to this habit you can force yourself to think about it and do it every time you attend a training session. What will happen is that the more you do it, the more naturally it actually comes and the less you will think about it. So you could say that over time it becomes a habit. You will actually feel the difference that it makes with you knowing what the options are around your before you get the ball.
Let’s say you have a teammate passing to you, just look around and now it means that you can focus on your first touch. This also means you can either make a pass to another teammate or simply beat the defender because you know what your surroundings are. That’s a lot better than if you have a teammate over there and all of a sudden the ball is coming to you and you’re unprepared. You get the ball and now you have to look up and decide what to do. It takes a little bit longer time and the defender might just be closing you down so force yourself to look up and look around you. Like this you’ve already made halfway at least a decision of what you can do when you receive the pass.
Healthy Habits
Now another habit that Avram Grant says will make a big change more or less immediately is to start taking match preparations seriously. Now that doesn’t mean that you should ditch all the good food, drinks and the fun stuff and restrict yourself because frankly that would suck. Soccer is not about sucking but is about fun and games. What this means is to follow a proper sleeping, stretching and eating regime before a match. You should get a good night’s sleep the day before the match, stretch well every morning or at least after every training session and eat well.
Getting healthy carbs into your body before a match will fuel it up well and make a huge difference. So you might have to sacrifice that big bowl of spaghetti or that delicious ice cream sundae. You might even have to give up on a night-out with friends before your match just so you’re ready in your head and your body. If you want to be the best version of yourself it takes sacrifice but if you take it seriously it definitely pays off.
Higher Willingness to Run
Another very important habit that might sound silly but is equally important is the willingness to develop the habit to run. It might sound unimportant because it is kind of like a basic experience for soccer players that they just run a lot and all the time. However, the thing is that many have a tendency to conserve their energy a little bit. This is especially true if they are tired they don’t want to make those extra deep runs. But you’ll realize that if you make the extra deep runs you just constantly make yourself available to get the ball in a better position. If nothing else it just opens up space behind you thereby causing chaos in the defense. If you do that you would be a better player because that would make you a bigger threat.
Of course tracking back to help out defending also makes a player more reliable. If you make that extra run even though it is not your responsibility you track back because the team needs it. It will give you the extra boost and also change the way your teammate see you. You are a soccer player, a match is only 90 minutes and you can chill out afterwards for almost a full week. So go out there and think about can I make this run can I make a difference making this run. Then after the match it is guaranteed that you will leave the pitch more satisfied. Everyone hates sitting on the couch thinking could have done more so do more.
Bottom Line
So there you have the three habits that you must learn and adapt so that you can actually become a better player. May be you already have this covered but in a way you can use this as an inspiration or a reminder to constantly reevaluate yourself. As a player there is always room for improvement and becoming better by the day. That’s what the best in the game had done and are doing even today.
