Making mistakes is a part and parcel of any sport and soccer is no exception. It is a game after all and we are human beings so mistakes are inevitable. However, finding yourself making a mistake can still get very frustrating. These mistakes can range from weak communication between teammates to your individual fallouts.
The Top Three Mistakes
Avram Grant, the soccer expert notes that there are three mistakes in particular that you should avoid. Although there are more that will absolutely kill your performance but for now the focus is just on three. If you don’t get a hang of these three mistakes and if you don’t identify these weaknesses then you are at a serious disadvantage. If you’re doing the three mistakes that this article talks about then you’re in for some luck as you might just benefit from the knowledge. If you are making the mistakes you must work on correcting them and performing consistently.
Losing Concentration and Focus
It is not just soccer but for every game concentration and focus is the key to success. The moment your mind deviates and you lose focus, your game is in for a toss. A lot of players lose their concentration and focus in matches where they are thinking of something else. They are either overthinking or they are not really staying tuned into the match. When you are staying tuned in and you’re hooked in and you are in flow you will always perform better. As opposed to this if you are scatterbrained, or getting nervous and worried and thinking about other stuff then you have already lost your game. If you are switched off or going through the motions you’re not going to have good consistent performances and it will again kill your performances.
Even if you’re a really good technical player you are going to have spotty performances if you are not focused. Some players show what they can do in one match and you will notice that they are more tuned in during the match and more concentrated. However, the same players can completely inconsistent in another if they don’t have that focus and concentration. It really takes a really good level of concentration to play this game of soccer well especially as you get up higher and higher levels. It is something you should work on and Avram Grant highly recommends that you do improve your concentration to ace that game. In fact one should work on staying focused in their training and even in their matches. If you start doing this in your training you will bring those habits in your games as well.
Allowing Frustration to Takeover
A very common mistake you will realize players make is allowing your frustration to takeover their game. You may be noticed in yourself or at least in a teammate or someone you played with. There are some players that will get so frustrated because they make a mistake or because some things can go their way. Even something uncontrollable doesn’t go their way and they’ll take themselves out of the game. They’ll let their emotions get the best of them to the point where they’re just kind of giving up and just going around doing nothing. Letting your emotions take over affects your performance because you get overly emotional and you end up making a ton of mistakes.
This is something that you have to learn and cannot do without in a game of soccer. You need to learn to let go of the mistake in the moment. You can have a few moments to yourself like three seconds during the game but then just move one. We see players in the professional level throwing their hands up releasing the emotion but then they are back into it. The top players do this but then they hook back into the match. They get refocused, they stay calm after that and back in it with the same level of concentration and focus. These players don’t let a moment of weakness affect their performance in a negative way. When it really comes down to emotions you must realize that when you are calm you play better.
It is okay to get frustrated but aim to release it and analyze the mistakes you made after the game so that you can work on them. Don’t beat yourself up for them during the game. Stay calm and you will play better.
Doubting Yourself
According to Avram Grant another very common mistake that players often make is self-doubting themselves. A lot of these mistakes are tied together but when you doubt yourself you will not play well even if you are a good player. There are players who have had amazing performances in high school and would score like a hat-trick because they had so much confidence in their ability. This confidence allows players to show what they could do and do things in a flow-based way.
However, the same players also have games where they doubt their abilities and end up missing simple passes. Sometimes self-doubt has even resulted in the best players not taking a good first touch with a ball that wasn’t even coming at them that quickly. Self-doubt makes a big difference, when you doubt yourself you will make mistakes, it is inevitable. But when you believe in yourself and you’ve worked on your confidence you will get better every single time. It’s how you actually start getting better and start performing consistently. All you need to develop is a belief in yourself.
Confidence is a skill not only from doing the physical work, training with the ball and everything else but something you can build in a non-physical way as well. When you are working on this you get better at this, you start believing in yourself and end up performing better.
Conclusion
The upshot of the above is that the most important thing for players is to learn from their mistakes and avoid them the next time. This will help you gradually improve as a player since you will own up to your mistakes and try to correct them. Working on your mistakes is what sets the best player apart from the rest of the crowd.
