A soccer player position is not something that cannot be changed during a game. It is not unusual to shift your position at least twice during a regular soccer match. You need to always be ready to play on every position, even if you don’t like it.

Now you may think that not playing on your regular positions is equal to decreased performance. Well, this may be truth, but in most cases, playing on different soccer positions will increase your overall soccer skills.

Interpreting and Reading The Game

There is one skill that you will improve while playing on different soccer positions and it is your ability to read the game. The great Pele said once that soccer is about 90 % thinking and 10 % about running.

With reading the game, I mean that you should be able to predict where the ball will land, if an opponent is offside or not, heading the ball back to your goalkeeper and many other game situations that are pretty hard to simulate on a regular soccer practice. The main difference between all soccer positions is the tactical play.

Each soccer position requires different tactical skills and this is what you will found most hard to learn when moving from offense do defense.

What to Do?

So what should you do if your coach moves you from forward to play center fullback for example? Well, the first thing you need to do is to ask your teammates how they expect you to react in defense.

As you probably know, a defense line needs to work as a unit. If you don’t follow your defense line directions, you will get big problems.

What I am trying to say here is that if you don’t know how your defense line works then you will not either perform any well playing there.

My Experience

I hated to play as right fullback (I actually play as defensive midfielder) because I never know when I should move up or when I was supposed to stay. My other teammates that were playing in the defensive line were often angry at me because of this 🙂

If you feel uncomfortable with playing in defense ask your teammates how they expect you to play. Believe me when I say that you will perform much better than just run your own style and pretend like you know everything.

People often ask me how to increase their soccer skills? Besides giving them advice to practice often I also tell them to try out different positions.

Summary

When playing soccer you should not limit yourself to one single position. If the coach tells you to play forward or midfielder then he or she has probably a good reason for that.