Art of goalscoring

STEP 1

STEP 2

STEP 3

1. 
   
   Wayne Rooney's winning goal for Manchester United against City was the perfect example of great centre forward play. After great work and persistence from Ji-sung Park, Michael Carrick found himself in possession of the ball on the left hand side of the Manchester City penalty area being tracked closely by Micah Richards and Shaun Wright-Phillips.
   
   Carrick’s shot selection is our first point of discussion. He could have struck the ball to the near post, if he had done this I believe Joe Hart would have made the save. 
   
   Another option would have been to drill the ball across goal and hope for a touch from a defender or team-mate. This cross would already have the power, so a light touch would be good enough to possibly send the ball into the back of the net.
   
   Carrick chose to strike the ball across the keeper towards the far post, which would either nestle in the back of the net or encourage a parry from the goalkeeper that would probably end up in the POMO (Position of Maximum Opportunities aka the second 6-yard box ). This would leave an alert striker like Rooney with an open goal and an easy finish.
   
   Carrick picked the third option which proved to be the right one on this occasion as the England striker was left with what looked like a simple tap in to the naked eye, but was presided with a great bit of positioning and movement that we will discuss in step 2.
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2. 
   
   As Michael Carrick is shaping to shoot, Wayne Rooney moves into a great position in between Richard Dunne and Javier Garrido, which caused some confusion between the defender’s. It made it difficult to track his movement.
   
   Rooney was on the blindside of Dunne, so he would have struggled to see where he was while trying to focus on the position of the ball.
   
   Garrido was conscious of Dimitar Berbatov ghosting in at the far post, which caused some indecision as to who he should be marking.
   
   As the ball leaves Carrick’s boot there are two possible options for the young forward. Either make a late and quick run across Dunne towards the near post, this would be highly effective if Carrick had played the ball across goal, as the run would be from the blindside of the defender and would be timed to leave little chance for a recovery run or tackle from Dunne.
   
   Or he could have stayed on the blind side of the Manchester City defender and move towards the edge of the 6-yard box looking to react to any parry from Carrick’s shot if the goalkeeper makes a save.
   
   Rooney reacted to Carrick’s shot and choose the latter, which leads us to step 3.
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3. 
   
   There was not much else the young City goalkeeper could do to keep Michael Carrick’s shot out of the goal.
   
   Unfortunately Joe Hart’s parry was directed straight into the path of Wayne Rooney, whose great timing and movement left him with the easiest goal he will score all season.
   
   This may have looked simple from Rooney, but this was a great piece of predatory attacking play from the young hitman who seems to have everything in his locker and I’m sure there is more to come.

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