Scanning in football

Scanning in football

It is a well-known fact that football is a fast-paced and unpredictable sport. While tactics and opposition analysis offer a sense of preparation and guidance, one thing that is entirely upon a player’s control during the match is knowing where everything and everyone is in order to proceed with an action (pass, movement, shot etc…). The art of constantly checking one’s surroundings when receiving the ball is called scanning.

Scanning enables players to understand the position of other players, teammates, potential space and thus anticipating opponents potential movement thus providing better and faster decision-making during the game. It also increases reaction speed thus overcoming hesitation and identifying the viable passing option faster allowing them to play at a higher tempo. Increased spatial awareness enables players to anticipate pressure from the opposition, make safer passes and maintain possession under challenging conditions. Specifically, midfielders and attackers with good scanning abilities can increase the chances of a goal by identifying earlier the gap or time their runs better for a scoring opportunity.

Alternatively, poor scanning ability can lead to a loss of possession or increased mistakes due to inability to spot opponents sooner and getting caught off guard. Infrequent scanning can lead to a loss of opportunities as players may take longer to process their available options, may not recognize space, teammates’ movements, or defensive pressure, limiting their effectiveness on the field. Often, scanning ability can define the level of expertise among players. Professional players scan the pitch significantly more often and are prepared before they receive a pass while novices may focus too much on the ball and react to situations instead of anticipating them. Positional differences also arise as more seasoned players use scanning to place themselves effectively, exploit spaces, and break defensive lines, while many novice players struggle with positioning due to limited awareness.

It is worth mentioning that scanning adds considerably to the mental fatigue load. However the benefits are guaranteed to enhance performance thus with the appropriate planning and coaching, it is vital for it to be practiced daily until it becomes a habit.. There are countless training methods to improve scanning in football. These can be specific drills such as practice reactive head-turning during passing drills to encourage quick head movements before receiving) or awareness passing drills where players must check over their shoulder before receiving a pass and then turn or make a decision based on what they scanned; as well as the use of small-sided games where players are instructed, on a touch-restriction rule, thus needing to scan more often to achieve a successful pass. Also, there is video analysis by which watching professional players and analysing their scanning behaviour helps players understand when and how often to scan in real match situations.

Our coaches within our international football athlete program, plan scanning drills and patterns for our coaching sessions, whether these are embedded in drills prioritizing other skills or exclusively scanning drills considering at which point of the microcycle that training stands. For instance, the following drill is a combined scanning and short burst intensity drill as the main focus is the ability to maintain scanning ability through different progressions whilst engaging in physical and technical abilities with football, such as reaching anaerobic threshold and maintaining ball possession. The following picture represents the drill mentioned above. As 12 cones are placed forming gates, a few players take position inside the circle each with a football while 4 other teammates are placed outside the circle. For 50 seconds at a time, players start dribbling freely when the coach says 3 combinations of colours at which point players have to dribble through the gates in that specific order while avoiding the other players. The following challenge will involve a pass to the outside players while they select a new sequence of gates the inside players have to go through. The last progression will involve the players posted outside again, as they raise their arm(s) spontaneously and the players inside have to scan and count the right number whilst dribbling through the coach’s selected gates. The coaching instructions to all drills should be high intensity and frequent scanning in order to identify early the fastest, most effective way to achieve each objective.