“I’m struggling to score after joining a team at a higher level. What can I do to ensure this doesn’t affect my confidence long term?”
Frank Jenkins, via email
Steve Morison says:
“You can’t let it affect your game as being a striker is all about self-confidence and belief. If you’ve scored goals in the past you will always score goals and so the best thing to do is not to try too hard.
Don’t try to score from angles you are not going to score from, or start snatching at shots. Just relax, and the goals will come.
Try to concentrate on the other sides of your game – making runs, closing down defenders, holding the ball up – and forget about goals. One will then probably hit you on the leg, off the keeper and go in. That’s how it works for strikers.
Forwards are normally confident people so find the belief within yourself. Talking to family and friends is good as they will only tell you good things, and continue to work on your shooting drills.
You can practise shooting from different angles and hitting moving balls, all the normal drills, although nothing will boost you more than sticking the ball in the back of the net on a Saturday.”
For more football tips see:
Carl Jenkinson: Dealing with a step up in class
Tony Carr: Dealing with a step up in class
Jonjo Shelvey: Making a step up in class
Oxlade-Chamberlain: Making a step up in class
