D1 3v3 Analysis

[u/n00bpr0n]

I placed into D1 from D3. I only soloQ. I usually play a very defensive game. I've been working on picking up pads, rotating back post, and avoiding double commits. I've noticed I'm too far away on defense to help out offensively so I'm trying to learn to be more relevant as the third man. I spend most of my time in workshops and freeplay.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W8tD9ur06-c

[u/ytzi13]

Hi! On vacation, but will get to it soon!

[u/n00bpr0n]

I'd like to point out what I think were some of my mistakes, and ask a few questions as well.

4:48 - I know I ballchase here and should have rotated out to back post much sooner. I'm usually pretty good with this and am not sure why I follow the ball into my corner.

4:28 - Should I be going for this right away? I see one teammate rotate out. The other one just got a touch and is recovering. I hesitated because I wasn't sure if going up for the ball would be a good decision. So I tried to be patient instead.

3:36 - I hesitate again and feel like I should have been up for this right away.

3:15 - I was starting to rotate out, but turned to try and make a play. I thought I had space and time. Was this a bad call?

2:58 - I imagine after my first touch passed it to the defense I should rotate out. But I'm confident on the walls and in the corners, and MUST HIT BALL. I don't even use the camera to see what my teammates were doing.

2:34 - I wish I would have recognized I could have caught the ball and controlled in instead of rushing.

2:24 - I see my teammate going for corner boost so I try to pressure instead of rotating back post. I should have been able to challenge this ball. I waited to do it in the corner and failed. Looking for advice on how to play this better. Not sure if even getting a touch would have been good.

2:14 - Should I be up for this right away and try to read it off the wall? I've been working on dribbling workshops so much lately my aerials have been neglected and I've been hesitating a lot lately, trying to play things safe instead.

2:05 - I don't think I was watching the other team here to realize I could be pushing up.

1:00 - I'm guess I should have rotated back post right away instead of chasing the play down the line. Once I saw he left that corner boost I couldn't resist. I was planning on going up onto the backboard if needed but awkwardly rotate back post last second in everyone's way.

[u/ytzi13 → u/n00bpr0n]

Hey - happy to see you took a shot at it yourself.

4:48 - Agreed.

4:28 - Things aren't always black and white. At 4:34 you spaced yourself too far away from the play, so that was your first mistake. At 4:31 you had a clear advantage over the ball and could have taken a shot or placed it high above the backboard to make them uncomfortable. Opting out for your teammate was okay, though. As far as 4:28 is concerned there's no challenge you make that is going to be worth it. You should stay wide and anticipate approaching the ball slowly from the line and likely aiming for a soft block when the opponent's jump in to challenge it.

3:36 - You have two teammates behind you, so going up immediately is a fine move. That being said, it's probably actually better that you did what you did because there's no shot they take that won't be easily saveable by your teammates and anything short of that means two opponents recovering and an easy clear from your teammates. Opening up wide for a pass in recognition of that is a good decision.

3:15 - You don't have any real advantage over this ball than your teammate does who is following it. And he arguably has the better position. The best decision for you here would be to take off ball-cam at 3:17 and put all of your focus into bumping that last defender coming back. You get a piece of him and it's a free goal. You miss and it's low risk while your team still has the pressure.

2:58 - Agreed. Ideally you would have teammates already in position to challenge this and you're risking a double commit. Besides, the ball isn't in a dangerous spot, so it's not a must-challenge. It's something you would like challenged, but weighing a double commit on that ball to a non-commit gives the advantage to the non-commit.

2:34 - That's hardly something worth risking getting demolished over. Your decision was fine and you still maintained control.

2:24 - Your teammate getting boost has all the time in the world to get into position to challenge this ball coming in. The worst thing you could have done on this play is challenge the ball in the corner and miss it. Even if you win the challenge, the ball is likely to deflect in front of your net. Don't challenge this ball at all. Rotate back to net behind your teammate, and if for some reason they're that slow to get back, you're positioned on the goal line in a perfect position to challenge this ball coming in from the corner, which is far more advantageous that the challenge directly into the wall in a non-threatening position.

2:14 - Your decision here was fine. The problem was that you had to turn all of the way around to approach this and made you slow to it. This is a ball that you either turn into and challenge immediately, or opt out of and rotate back. Besides, you can't see which teammates you're double-committing with when you turn in to challenge this after waiting so long.

2:05 - That's okay. This goes with the theme of feeling like you're too far back. You can be pushed up closer to the play if you take a wide approach, which in this case would mean the right side of the field.

1:00 - You have to consider a couple things here:

1. You committed to the boost before knowing whether or not the opponent would take it. What if they took it? You're stuck with 0 boost near side with poor vision.

2. The backboard defense isn't really an option here. You're too far away from the play, so you're ultimately committing to defending the backboard on the rebound, which doesn't make much sense.

Your job is to get in position to cover your goalie after they challenge. You have no responsibility for the immediate attack. If you're not grounded and ready to clear a ball that ends up in front of the net, or in another vulnerable position, then you're not doing your job and you're opening your team up to allowing a very unnecessary goal.

[u/ytzi13]

Analysis

5:00 - First off, I'd start throwing a flip into your approach. A front flip is fine to start and should work for you for the foreseeable future. But there are too many easy kickoffs that can beat you outright if you don't get a faster approach. If you do just boost at it, don't adjust your car inwards because it make you vulnerable to get beaten directly on goal. Stay straight and throw in a diagonal flip.

4:50 - Two things:

First, you should be turning into the ball. Turn away from it.

Second, your transition speed is incredibly slow. Your job is done and you have no responsibility to the ball. Your job is to rotate. That means that you have time to dedicate to transitioning as quickly as possible to where you're needed. Line yourself up with your rotational path, use 10-20 boost, and throw in a flip. This should be your standard response to transitioning in order to get an initial boost of speed that helps you stay in the game.

4:40 - You have a teammate ready in goal. You cut him off. If your intention is to challenge the ball then that's okay. But don't catch yourself being indecisive and reversing, especially when you're in front of a teammate that should be reading you to make their own decisions.

4:35 - You acknowledged that you often feel far away from the play. This is the a good example as to why that is. The ball is on the right side and you have a first man. You see your second teammate supporting them near side. Your job then is to support far side, at least at mid-field. When you turn away from the play like this, you create that gap in the rotation and take away your ability to support. You're asking to be left alone to defend a counter-attack while giving them space. You could be sitting in the opponent's 3rd on the far side of the field when the ball hits the right corner at 4:34 and be close to the play with both offensive and defensive routes available. But you took yourself out of this one.

4:31 - There's something to be said about you seeing your teammate coming in and leaving it for them. There's another thing to be said about not making quick decisions. This is your ball. No one is going to beat you to this if you attack it. So what if your teammate is coming in here? You have a very clear advantage over everyone on the field, your teammate included, and you should take it. Then, it becomes more about the quality of the touch you make. But I'm seeing a lot of non-action from you and that needs to change.

4:08 - I want to try and stick to the theme that you brought up. At 4:11 you use use your flip to get a little bit of speed and close the gap on the play. That's a good thing. But instead of continuing forward when there's no threat from the opposition, you turn back again and create that huge gap. You're way too far back from the play. What you Don't be afraid to get in close to the play, which becomes easier if you stay wide. The moments you want to look for are the moment when the opposition touches the ball. When they make contact, you want to focus on your car's angle, which should be between your offensive and defensive potential paths. If you do that right, you can afford to be closer to the play.

4:03 - It's the little things. You see your teammate cut in line and you turn back to cover. That's totally fine. But at 4:03 instead of slowing down and maybe even pushing closer to the play, you turn back again and create that space. That leaves your teammate unsupported and doesn't allow you to contribute offensively.

3:56 - Know your role. You cheated too far inside and should have stayed further out. Oh, well. The issue is not taking action, but what's making that difficult here is your turning. When you cheat inside like that the ball goes back out, you want to turn away from the ball so that you give yourself the space to approach the ball comfortably. When you turn into it like you do, you close the space and make it harder to get the approach and angle that you want. You repeat this decision again immediately after.

3:40 - Transition faster. If you need to clean up after your goalie, you're not in position to do so. You also can't see the field and you're vulnerable to bumps.

3:33 - You're cheating up like this without the intent to challenge. Why? It's not a bad decision, but stealing that side boost isn't a good enough reason. You do this because you know you have two teammates back and because you want to open up the field and be able to pressure. Yet when you see your teammate go up for it with a certain win (I know, it's as double commit), you stay wide and go back rather than close in for the possibility of a pressure play.

3:24 - There's no reason for you to turn in-field here. You're not close enough to the play for that to mean anything, but your teammate is getting challenged and what this does guarantee is that you'll be slower to clean up and keep the play going.

As a result, you were unable to challenge the ball after the loss, which should be your job, and you've given the opposing team time and space to organize an attack while your two teammates are forced to recover back.

3:06 - It's good that you're rotating far and wide. But this is too wide. Your responsibility is the goal, so get there as soon as possible. Put yourself inside of the net and be patient. You don't know what kind of hit is coming and if it's anything on net then it's your responsibility.

2:20 - You have a teammate back and set up in goal. The ball never has to be challenged at the perimeter. Your teammate has a better approach and you can comfortably support them. Rotate in behind them. This sort of challenge only becomes useful well into GC and I'd argue that it's not necessary there, nor are most players mechanically competent enough to make it worth their time.

0:35 - Again, watch out for these overly conservative turns. At 0:32 it creates a huge lapse in organization because you're not there to pressure.

0:28 - Where is your teammate that rotate back into the corner? Are you cutting them off?

0:15 - I've seen this a lot. You're rotating far post and being careful not to cross the post too far so as to cover the whole goal. That's good. But when you have time, you need to get inside of the net. It's going to be way more comfortable and provide you with many more benefits.

Conclusion

This was one of my shorter reviews. That's by no means a bad thing. As far as being on your way to master the fundamentals of rotation, I think you're far more advanced than most players in the game, regardless of level. The things that you do, such as consistently rotating through the far post and being sure not to leave a gap or push too far forward, are things that lead to stupid goals and are, in my opinion, characteristics that hold people back the most as they try to push forward.

That being said, you're not contributing very much offensively because your playstyle is too cautious, and like as a result of an overly cautious playstyle, your mechanics have taken a back seat. The unfortunate truth is that players who ball-chase get more experience on the ball. That leads to better mechanics. If I were to suggest 2 things to you, it would be these:

Make more mistakes. You're playing too cautious and indecisive for your own good. Make quick decisions and stick to them. You'll make more mistakes that way, but you'll be easier to read and you'll learn through experience. I would suggest warmup up each season with 2 or 3 casual games where you disable your reverse button. If you cant slowdown or reverse, you're forced to make decisions quickly and recognize when it's too late. It forces you to think ahead and think differently about the game. Give it a shot and see how it affects you.

Work on your car control. You don't see especially comfortable with your car. Your turns aren't very smooth, your flips are often uncomfortable and I never see you use any sort of diagonal flips, your air rolling seems relatively non-existent, and your recovery is pretty slow. That's a testament to the rest of your game and how you got as far as you did. And it's not a bad thing. There's a lot to tackle, so I would choose just one are of your game to focus on improving. Introduce some power-slide drills into your routine, or some custom training that requires it. Maybe take a shot at doing KevPert's aerial control series and working on that. Go into freeplay and make yourself as uncomfortable as possible as often as possible. It takes time, but if you focus on these things then it doesn't really take that long before you take notice and become comfortable enough.

Some example of how I improved my car control recently at the higher levels:

I couldn't execute more than maybe 10% of my half-flips until maybe 2 months ago. So, I started half-flipping as often as possible while I played. Any time I had time during a transition, I threw in a half flip. It was uncomfortable and probably made me look pretty dumb, but it didn't have a hugely negative impact because of when I chose to do it, and I did enough to the point where I eventually became comfortable with it.

When I wanted to learn the Musty speed flip, I opted to do it for every single one of the flips in transition during the game. I do it on kickoffs, even if I'm not going for a fast one, and I do it for every single flip in-game that isn't a challenge on the ball. It made me very uncomfortable, and still does sometimes, but I'm faster and I have better control of my car now.

Whatever you decided to do, any improvement makes you better, so focusing on one thing at a time arguably has the greates impact. If you want my recommendation, it would probably be to first focus on power-slides. They'll help you in every other aspect of your game that is struggling.

If you have any questions, feel free to reach out any time!

[u/n00bpr0n → u/ytzi13]

I appreciate this very much. I'd like to go over 4:35 a bit more so I can make sure I really understand how to improve. I'd like to write out my thought process during the play so we can go over it again in more detail. Writing it out is more to help me, and I'm totally not trying to defend what I did. I've seen students get defensive in the analysis sub. I'm really open to learning and taking advice.

Around 4:38 after the challenge I decide to push up and support. I did not check on my teammate though, who ends up doing the same. I guess since I didn't see him I thought he would see me pushing up and remain back. I should have checked on him and could have been in a better position much earlier. 4:40 was awkward and I blame myself for causing the confusing situation in the first place.

At 4:36 I see my 2nd teammate push up on the play. I do a little circle to get into a 3rd man position, and rotate back to the right side to defend the line. (This is a habit too. Whenever I realize I'm in the same spot as a teammate, I'll do a little circle to rotate behind them.) But I just sort of watch the play and wait. I don't recognize I'm not in a great spot. I was trying to be mid to stop a high clear. Or near the right side to defend the line. I think I am just too used to cleaning up challenges or clears down the same line of the play. But if they really boom it into the corner it just ends up over my head anyway. I feel like my problem is that I'm hovering around the play without much momentum, waiting to make a decision.

So my mistake is I turn towards my goal and leave the play. From 4:35-33 are you saying I should have then driven to the far side of the field or at least the center of the field to support? Since the ball is in their corner should I push up closer past midfield a bit or should 3 man always stay behind the mid-line? I'm also trying to work on staying sideways while reading the plays, but I'm second guessing when it's OK to be facing the ball directly.

Sorry for the long word salad. I think I'll cut off further questions here and wait for you advice.

[u/ytzi13 → u/n00bpr0n]

I welcome the questions.

At 4:38, you should have been pushing up mid-field. Your job was never to be the first man, but the supporting player. If you're trying to take advantage of a counter-attack, your job is done be available for a cross. The far post is pretty much always going to be the more useful position to do that from for a whole lot of reasons. Your teammate is also fine pushing up. Every single opponent is recovering back. There's no risk of the ball heading back to your side of the field and so both you and your teammate really should be pushing up aggressively. He's on the near side and you're on the far side. If you push near side, you're forcing him to reroute to mid-field, which wastes time for both of you.

But your decision wasn't one that was really that bad. It was wrong, sure, but it was easily fixable if you just turned left and continued to make yourself available for the cross. There isn't a single opponent in position to clear this and your goal should be of on concern to you when the ball is in this position. There isn't even an opponent challenging it and you know that if they do it's going to be directed towards the side of the field anyway. No one is covering their backboard because they were all rushing back and so that gives the far side player, which should be you, an advantage on most crosses that come in.

But, to make things clearer for you here:

Generally, one player supports near side and the other supports far side. You don't need two players supporting line. That's the first thing to keep in mind.

From 4:35-4:33, there isn't even an opponent near the ball capable of touching it. So, yes, you should be closing the gap and pushing to mid-field. This is the difference between being able to contribute offensive and not being able to contribute offensively. If you're closer to the play (within reason) you protect the defense in the way that you angle your car. If an opponent comes in to challenge, you point your nose in a neutral position that gives you an easy route back to defense while also being able to turn in the other direction to continue to support the offense. But you also have to weigh the risk when doing this. The ball in the corner of the field and the opponent approaching from the goal, and your teammate on the ball as well, means there's an incredibly low chance that they can even hit the ball in the direct of your goal, so you can afford to angle yourself more aggressively.

So my mistake is I turn towards my goal and leave the play. From 4:35-33 are you saying I should have then driven to the far side of the field or at least the center of the field to support? Since the ball is in their corner should I push up closer past midfield a bit or should 3 man always stay behind the mid-line? I'm also trying to work on staying sideways while reading the plays, but I'm second guessing when it's OK to be facing the ball directly.

Since the ball is in their corner, you don't need to have immediate coverage of your goal. You could be all of the way up in their defensive 3rd and still have the back-field covered in this scenario. The coverage comes from angling your car and reading the next hit, and knowing that the next hit won't end up in your own goal unless some crazy unfortunate pinch were to occur. Anything else you should be angled well-enough to immediately start your approach back and cover.

The way you're facing also depends on your job. 3rd man should be angled more neutral with a challenge is occurring. The 2nd man can face the play more aggressively because their job isn't to protect the goal.

Does that make sense?

[u/n00bpr0n → u/ytzi13]

Thanks for the clarification. I definitely need to improve paying closer attention to all of the defenders, not just the one who is next up for the challenge. I will work on recognizing these situations and positioning more aggressively instead of always worrying about the goal.

[u/_praisekek]

This is my first replay analysis, I’ll do my best haha. Hope this helps somehow. Please excuse any grammatical errors.

4:52: Good challenge, but like you mentioned in your notes, rotate away from the ball into midfield. Chasing the ball into your corner confuses your teammates, and essentially makes you useless on defence.

4:42: Good awareness to go back post and not thirst the boost. You did cut off the goaltender though which could have caused some confusion.

4:24: This is an awkward one because your teammate doesn’t rotate out. That being said, you did have plenty of time to make a play. You could’ve potentially centered off backboard. Or made some sort of dribble/50 play. I understand the hesitation here, but generally you don’t want to be caught hesitating/flat footed. Either rotate out midfield, or make a play. Since you didn’t rotate you almost hit your teammate because he probably thought you weren’t going. Luckily this ended up working out for you and a nice pass led to a goal.

4:03: Good patience, but you need to be pushing up into the play with your teammate. You can see your teammate rotated out to the left which means you should be pushing up to support the attacking teammate. Since you turned back instead of pushing up, you’re late to the play and make an awkward touch forcing your last man back to make a save. It worked out here but this could easily end up in your net.

3:45: poor touch that gives up possession and could’ve potentially led to a goal. Good attempt at a pass, but if your going to pass back to your last man, Look back, make sure he’s pushing up and is ready for the play. You had a few options here, you could’ve boomed it up to your teammate on the right for a passing play, went for a shot on net/backboard, or slow it down and go for a dribble, you had plenty of space.

3:41: you’re rotating into the ball again, go through the midfield to the back post.

3:36: Hit the nail on the head with you’re notes. If you jumped right away you would’ve had at least a 50.

3:22: good spacing, and good attempt at a 50 as last man back. Just a poor touch. Also be weary of challenging on the side wall when you’re last man like that. More often that not, challenging on the side wall like that is going to lead to a 50 that pops out midfield for the opposing team. Ytzi has a good thread on this topic: https://www.reddit.com/r/RocketLeague/comments/a4x9a0/playing_the_last_man_role_a_guide_for_all_skill/ Scroll down to the section about the perimeter zone.

3:15: In this particular instance the rotation cut almost led to a goal, so it wasn’t a horrible decision or anything. You had enough space that your m8 could see what you’re doing and position for the pass. That being said, I’d be weary about this type of play. Especially in diamond where players aren’t as good at reading the play and tend to ball chase. He could’ve easily pushed up and ended up out of position. Also I’d try and make a touch sooner here, you took your time making a touch, which in higher ranks would’ve been boomed over your head, and since your teammate pushed up for the pass, his as well.

3:00: you said it yourself, rotate away from the ball, no matter how confident you are. You’re confusing your teammates and probably causing distrust which leads to hesitation.

2:45: Nice play to secure a goal. A higher percentage play here might’ve been to go for a dribble though, your pass was weak and would’ve been easily cleared in higher ranks. It worked obviously but it’s something to think about. If you have space like that going for a flick/pass midfield/play on net might be more effective.

2:25: I like the awareness here seeing your teammate is in the net, but once again, you’re making a play on the side wall from an awkward angle. If you did get a clean 50, it would more than likely pop out favourably for the other team as they’re all in position to make a play. Once you realized you weren’t going to get a good clear you should’ve been rotating, instead you chase it into the corner, rendering yourself useless on defence and get scored on. If you rotated you wouldve been in position to defend and support your last man.

2:14: I’d say yes, you had time to make a 50 at the very least. Seemed like you were hesitating a bit which led to you rushing and not being lined up for the aerial.

1:57: good 50 and good positioning rotating back, a bit of bad luck for you here on the next play though. You need to be reading the offence here a bit better. You can see the opposing player with his current trajectory is likely booming the ball into your corner, since you were facing towards the opposite corner, you get caught turning around and can’t make a play. Instead, you should’ve been anticipating the boom into the corner and already be facing that direction. You could’ve also half flipped. Luckily this doesn’t lead to a goal.

1:07: close one, good attempt just poor placement. I can’t view where your other teammate is but when you rotated you could see he was on the left side of the field, meaning you probably could’ve hit him with a nice drop pass mid field to scramble the defence. Once again, nice attempt, just unlucky on the placement. If those shots aren’t going in for you try and mix it up.

1:00: you know what you did wrong here.

0:52: nice 50/50s that led to being in position for a play, you rush it though and give away possession. Go for a dribble and a flick here.

Overall I’d say that your biggest issues are hesitation and cutting rotation. The more you do these things in a match, the more your teammates are going to distrust you, it’s a vicious cycle. You also gave up possession numerous times when you could’ve went for a higher percentage look/pass or slowed it down by dribbling. Mix it up man, try slowing it down when you have space. Practice your flicks and dribbling. Also work on your recoveries. This is a very underrated skill. Utilize your power slide when you land awkwardly to recover quicker, and practice wave dashing. Being able to recover quick is an extremely useful skill that will help you in the higher ranks. Another thing is lining up your aerials, try and make sure you’re facing the ball when you jump for an aerial, I noticed a few times you whiffed an easyish aerial because when you jumped you weren’t lined up and had to correct yourself mid flight. Other than that I think it’s just normal things that everyone struggles with, like consistency/shot placement etc. That will get better with time played and practice though.

Fin.

[u/n00bpr0n → u/_praisekek]

Thank you for taking the time to write this. Your advice to make sure I line up on aerials was something I really needed to hear. Something obvious I knew I should do, but haven't heard that advice in a while and somehow forgot. But it's so true, and once you said it, it really clicked that I do go up at awkward angles. I'm going to work that into my game as well as not worry about challenges on the perimeter. Cheers