Skills / Turning

The outside hook

Wrap the outside of your foot round the ball and pull it back as you turn. Quick, and it keeps your body between the ball and the defender.

L R 20 cm
  • Foot on the ball
  • Ball's path

From about age 7

When to use it

Turning away from a defender who is coming from your kicking-foot side.

Get it right

  • Reach past the ball with your kicking foot.
  • Turn the foot in so the outside of it wraps round the front of the ball.
  • Pull the ball back with the outside and turn over the same shoulder.
  • Stay low and push off fast.

Watch out for

  • Reaching too far and losing your balance.
  • Turning before the ball has come back with you.

Drawn for the right foot. Learn it on your weaker foot too: it doubles the number of ways you can go.

More turning: The drag-back, The inside hook, The Cruyff turn.

In a match

Practising a skill is half of it. Here is when it turns up in a game, and what to look for.

Where
Down the wing and in midfield, to escape pressure.
The moment
A defender closes from the side of your kicking foot and the space is behind you.
Match mistake
Hooking without looking, straight into the next opponent.

Try it in your next match. Use the outside hook to get away from a press and keep the ball.

Match moments where it counts: We have just won it

Practise it

Drills where you will use this skill again and again.