Coach your players to improve their first touch and soon they could be leaving defences standing and scoring as many goals as Robin van Persie.
A message for your strikers: you don’t need to have lightning pace to beat your marker and get a shot in on goal. And if they don’t believe you, just tell them to watch Robin van Persie. The Dutchman uses clever movement, quickness of thought and, above all, a brilliant first touch to give him a yard of space. And as we’ve seen time and again, a yard is all he needs to apply a devastating finish. Van Persie, who despite a lack of searing pace scored 37 goals in all competitions for Arsenal last season and already has more than 20 for new club Manchester United, honed his skills using the methods of coaching pioneer Wiel Coerver at first club Feyenoord. “I practised daily and I was highly aware it was effective,” said van Persie of Coerver’s emphasis on technique. “You noticed it in weeks.” Fifteen years later the results are clear.