Everyone loves the good nutmeg unless you're the one getting megged. In this article you will find out what is nutmeg and how to step by step become master of the nutmeg.
Nutmeg - what is it
The key of the Nutmeg is to kick, roll, dribble, throw, or push the ball (or puck) between an opponent's legs (feet). This can be done to pass or shoot the ball, but the Nutmeg is more often associated with the dribbling skill, which allows a player to get behind a defender.
How to become good at nutmeg?
Here are some steps to getting good at nutmeg:
Anticipate the gaps
The real key to becoming a nutmeg king is learning to anticipate when there's going to be a gap between the defender's legs. No defenders can always have their legs closed, you just can't run that way, so that means that at least some of the time a defender is going to have a gap between their legs. They might be moving to block your path. They might be reaching in to steal the ball or they might just be running to catch up with you. The point is there are always gaps there. Finding them is just a matter of experience and spending lots of time watching defenders legs.
When you've spent years looking for megs you eventually begin to understand how defenders move and you'll know almost instinctively when there's going to be space between the defender's legs. And then it's just a matter of timing and accuracy.
Timing
If you want to improve your timing and anticipation of gaps then really the only way is to practive against real people. You cant start by going 1vs1 versus a friend. Then as you improve you can start trying to pull off mags and pick up games and eventually in full competetive matches. Also when you're playing against your friend don't be that person that just keeps their legs closed the entire time so that they can never be made. That just defeats the purpose. The point is to practice your megs not to never be nutmegged.
Improve your drybling
It's going to be difficult to nutmeg anyone if you're a poor dribbler. To meg someone you have to keep the ball under control probably while moving and then you have to touch the ball quickly and accurately through a small gap in the defender's legs. And not only that but your touch has to be the right speed. Touch the ball too soft and the defender gets it. Touch it too hard and a different defender will probably get it on the other side. So you have to push the ball at the right speed. Hard enough that it will make it through the defender's legs but soft enough that you can still get it on the other side. To practice your nutmegs and your dribbling at the same time set up two cones side by side to represent a defender's legs.
Understand the situation
You can have a great timing and great dribbling and great nutmegging ability but if you don't have field intelligence then your skill is going to be mostly useless. If you want to successfully meg someone and get it on the other side then there needs to be some space behind the defender. Which means that before you go for the meg or really do anything you need to look past the defender to see what's behind them. And if there's another defender right there then going for the meg is probably not the right option. Also at the end of the day no matter how good you are a nutmeg is risky so it's probably best not to try it near your own goal or really in any situation where losing the ball could immediately cost you the game.
Mastering the meg
The truth is becoming great at nutmegs takes years of practice and experience but once you start anticipating the gaps and you get your timing down makes almost become second nature and pretty soon you'll find yourself megging people all over the pitch.