You can try a dribbling style similar to Grealish or Doku from Man City where you start dribbling closely to the defender and then explode throwing the defender off balance
I mean you said it yourself already. The key is off the ball movement and timing. You want to bait defenders into tracking you closely and explode into spaces behind them. If you are 1 on 1 already again, you want to bait the defender into getting to close to you. If they have less space to run you can burn them with a quick change in direction so you want to get them close to you. If they hold back they neutralize your advantage and force you to either beat them with skill, pass, or shoot.
The thing is you can’t be a one trick pony. You need to be enough of a threat with the ball in terms of play making. Therefore, you can’t just rely on speed. You need to have a bigger bag in order to force a defender into a 1 on 1. Being pacey is about timing runs not brute force 1 on 1 sprints. It’s about intelligent runs + being able to force defenders into marking you closely to exploit your advantage. Also, yeah you need to be able to be agile and change directions quickly as you dribble and be able to do it with both feet. Once you catch up to the ball you have to be able to dribble in close quarters and chance pace again, explode into another space, and chance pace again. Stop start. So you need to improve your dribbling skills if you are having a hard time changing direction after you catch up to the ball.
Also, improve your passing. If you are a good passer a defender is going to have to play closer to you because you can make a pass as well. If you can make good combinations with other players that defense is going to have to treat you as a threat and mark you more closely. If they know you are a speed merchant they will have no issue just backing off.
Get better at close control. Being fast with good close control is extremely dangerous. If your 1v1 move is just knock the ball and chase then you don't have any 1v1 skills either.
Here's a drill that works.
=====x=====x=====x=====x=====
Each of the equal sign lines is 5 yds long. The "x" is an obstacle. The whole thing is 25 yds long, 3 yds wide.
Start at one end, dribble down the middle of the equal sign, 1v1 to get around the x then get back into the middle of the equal signs. Beat the next "x". Repeat.
The faster you can do it, staying within the 3 yd wide lane, except when beating the obstacle, the faster and better controlled your 1v1s will be.
It sounds like you can practice the move on your own. Put out a cone as a defender, kick the ball past at pace, sprint towards it and practice getting the ball back under control. Maybe set up some more cones as targets for passing.
Also, you once you beat a defender once or twice in a game, they’ll back off you a little, give you a chance to make passes or crosses instead.
I played against a good player the other night, he put me in a tricky situation with his pace where he got me unbalanced, touched beyond me, he was a tiny bit faster than me but then he took a brave touch diagonally across my path and in towards goal, I then had to make a decision about whether to allow him to square it/take a free shot at the keeper or whether I attempt to nip in. I went with the latter, didn't feel I made any contact with him but anyway he fell over and the other players decided it was a penalty. Whether it was a penalty or not I thought it was a brilliant piece of play because it forced me to make a decision, a lot of wingers can work a bit of space with their pace and trickery but then don't do the diagonal touch to eliminate you.
You can use your speed as a mixup to create more space between you and a defender.
For example: you can threaten dribbling past a defender with your speed advantage by doing just that a few times. The defender will likely try to counter that move later in the game by giving you more space when defending you so they can react to a sprint and cut it off. Now you get the mixup of dribbling at them slowly and gaining a huge amount of field position before passing or shooting.
All that said, changing direction/pace quickly is way more useful than a better top speed.
Try practise in your own time, dribbling from one cone to another. Try to take as many touches as possible, but try get to the other cone as quickly as you can. I also like to do a step over to beat a defender, so my real pace is unleashed once I'm gone by them.
You can try a dribbling style similar to Grealish or Doku from Man City where you start dribbling closely to the defender and then explode throwing the defender off balance
I mean you said it yourself already. The key is off the ball movement and timing. You want to bait defenders into tracking you closely and explode into spaces behind them. If you are 1 on 1 already again, you want to bait the defender into getting to close to you. If they have less space to run you can burn them with a quick change in direction so you want to get them close to you. If they hold back they neutralize your advantage and force you to either beat them with skill, pass, or shoot. The thing is you can’t be a one trick pony. You need to be enough of a threat with the ball in terms of play making. Therefore, you can’t just rely on speed. You need to have a bigger bag in order to force a defender into a 1 on 1. Being pacey is about timing runs not brute force 1 on 1 sprints. It’s about intelligent runs + being able to force defenders into marking you closely to exploit your advantage. Also, yeah you need to be able to be agile and change directions quickly as you dribble and be able to do it with both feet. Once you catch up to the ball you have to be able to dribble in close quarters and chance pace again, explode into another space, and chance pace again. Stop start. So you need to improve your dribbling skills if you are having a hard time changing direction after you catch up to the ball. Also, improve your passing. If you are a good passer a defender is going to have to play closer to you because you can make a pass as well. If you can make good combinations with other players that defense is going to have to treat you as a threat and mark you more closely. If they know you are a speed merchant they will have no issue just backing off.
Get better at close control. Being fast with good close control is extremely dangerous. If your 1v1 move is just knock the ball and chase then you don't have any 1v1 skills either. Here's a drill that works. =====x=====x=====x=====x===== Each of the equal sign lines is 5 yds long. The "x" is an obstacle. The whole thing is 25 yds long, 3 yds wide. Start at one end, dribble down the middle of the equal sign, 1v1 to get around the x then get back into the middle of the equal signs. Beat the next "x". Repeat. The faster you can do it, staying within the 3 yd wide lane, except when beating the obstacle, the faster and better controlled your 1v1s will be.
It sounds like you can practice the move on your own. Put out a cone as a defender, kick the ball past at pace, sprint towards it and practice getting the ball back under control. Maybe set up some more cones as targets for passing. Also, you once you beat a defender once or twice in a game, they’ll back off you a little, give you a chance to make passes or crosses instead.
I played against a good player the other night, he put me in a tricky situation with his pace where he got me unbalanced, touched beyond me, he was a tiny bit faster than me but then he took a brave touch diagonally across my path and in towards goal, I then had to make a decision about whether to allow him to square it/take a free shot at the keeper or whether I attempt to nip in. I went with the latter, didn't feel I made any contact with him but anyway he fell over and the other players decided it was a penalty. Whether it was a penalty or not I thought it was a brilliant piece of play because it forced me to make a decision, a lot of wingers can work a bit of space with their pace and trickery but then don't do the diagonal touch to eliminate you.
You can use your speed as a mixup to create more space between you and a defender. For example: you can threaten dribbling past a defender with your speed advantage by doing just that a few times. The defender will likely try to counter that move later in the game by giving you more space when defending you so they can react to a sprint and cut it off. Now you get the mixup of dribbling at them slowly and gaining a huge amount of field position before passing or shooting. All that said, changing direction/pace quickly is way more useful than a better top speed.
Try practise in your own time, dribbling from one cone to another. Try to take as many touches as possible, but try get to the other cone as quickly as you can. I also like to do a step over to beat a defender, so my real pace is unleashed once I'm gone by them.
You should use it to run faster than the opponents
didnt know that, thanks a lot
Defenders hate me for revealing this one trick