Daly's Law

Daly's Law of Creative, Attacking Football

Daly's Law states that the optimum condition for creative, attacking performance is created when the ball is vertically weighted, deliberately or accidentally, so that the ball's horizontal pace is counteracted by its vertical weight, in space, on the horizontal or vertical planes.

Weight is  vertical, not horizontal

Look at the above pass.  The speed of the ball parallel to the ground is the horizontal pace of the ball.  The rise and drop of the ball is its vertical weight.  Weight is the vertical force experienced by the ball as a result of gravity.  It equals the mass of the ball multiplied by the acceleration of free fall (gravity).  The vertical force of gravity is 9.8 metres per square second (per second per second).  Weight is vertical, not horizontal.

Vertical weight and horizontal pace

If a player wants to put 'more weight' on a pass, he needs to increase the ball's rise and drop in order to increase the ball's vertical force.  Weight is very different to horizontal pace.  It counteracts the  horizontal pace of the ball.  If you don't know this, you cannot coach players properly. 

The vertical plane and the horizontal plane

Space on a soccer field is to be found on the vertical plane as well as on the horizontal plane (see above diagram).  Daly's Law Coaching utilises both planes when it consciously and systematically coaches players to control the horizontal pace of their passes, shots, crosses, etc. using vertical weight.

Vertical weight controls horizontal pace

When a player plays a pass such as the one illustrated above, the ground absorbs both the vertical weight and the horizontal pace of the pass on two separate occasions - the first and second bounces - before the ball rolls in horizontal space.  The ball's horizontal pace is controlled by its vertical weight.

What does Daly's Law mean in Practice?

The practical effects of Daly's Law are as follows:

• The passer, not the target player, controls the horizontal pace of his own pass by using vertical weight.
• This, in turn, allows the target player to concentrate totally on his creative, attacking options instantly he first sees the ball rise and drop in space.  The target player knows that the horizontal pace of the pass is going to be controlled by its vertical weight, therefore his first touch does not have to be a controlling touch.  As a result the target player can prepare or 'set' himself for a potent creative, attacking play even before the ball arrives.
• The target player automatically prepares or 'sets' himself mentally and physically by looking up and around, making a decision about what he's going to do even before the ball arrives (including selling a dummy) and breathing in so as to have enough oxygen to execute his decision with explosive speed, power and confidence at exactly the right moment (timing).
• The fact that the first pass is weighted into space on the horizontal as well as the vertical plane means that the target player is running onto the already controlled (weighted) ball at speed.  Such player momentum ensures explosive power, speed and effectiveness of play in terms of whatever creative, attacking option the target player performs thereafter, with the ball's own horizontal (parallel to the ground) pace being balanced by its vertical (rise and drop) weight.

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