Skills, techniques and tactics by Jayden froggatt

Tiki Taka

40098001_1 — 2025-09-11 08:45:06 UTC

Tiki Taka is a possession style of football which attempts to tire out the opposition with short, quick passes. It includes passing and moving to find gaps in the other team to work your way up the pitch. The concept comes from Johan Cruyff who popularised ‘total football’ which is mostly used by Ajax. Pep Guardiola used tiki taka at Barcelona, Bayern Munich and now Manchester City . It is effective because the build up is patient aiming to manipulate the opponent and create pockets of space by dragging out defenders.

Discrete

40098001_1 — 2025-09-11 08:48:01 UTC

Discrete skills have a definite beginning and end. In order for it to be repeated it must start again. For example a penalty in football.

Serial

40098001_1 — 2025-09-11 08:49:56 UTC

Serial skills are when a number of discrete skills are put together to form a whole action. These skills usually have a set order for example triple jump.

Continuous

40098001_1 — 2025-09-11 08:52:56 UTC

These skills do not have a clear start and end, the end of one cycle is the beginning of the next. The movement has to be repeated several times for it to be meaningful such as swimming. An example in football would be constantly running.

40098001_1 — 2025-09-11 09:05:07 UTC

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40098001_1 — 2025-09-11 09:09:24 UTC

Volley

40098001_1 — 2025-09-11 09:18:09 UTC

When performing a volley, timing is vital. You need to constantly keep your eye on the ball to connect with the ball at the right time. Strike the ball with power with your laces and follow through with your foot to guide the ball to its target. If you want to control the volley, use your instep to sacrifice power for accuracy. The inside of your foot allows you to guide the ball a lot easier which may lead to the ball going in the corner rather than ending up in 'row Z'

40098001_1 — 2025-09-11 10:01:11 UTC

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Heading

40098001_1 — 2025-09-14 14:11:13 UTC

Counter Attack

40098001_1 — 2025-09-14 14:38:09 UTC

Another effective style of play is a counter attack.This is where a team is extremely strong defensively and difficult to break down. They sit behind the ball patiently and wait until they a nick it back. When they do, they rely on pacy forwards to break on the counter to force the defenders to chase. This is effective because the opposition will have players forward meaning space can be attacked by fast wide men. An example of a team that set counter attacking effectively was Manchester United in the first season under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer. They were difficult to break down and when they won it they would use the likes of Rashford and Martial to drive forward. They also had Bruno Fernandes as a playmaker to play the ball in behind. An example of when this worked was when Manchester United quickly swept forward against Everton allowing Cavani to be played in and slot the ball past Pickford. It isn't the prettiest way to play, but it is deadly when it is used well.

40098001_1 — 2025-09-15 10:19:47 UTC