I played against a PREMIER LEAGUE winger and it was my TOUGHEST challenge yet! Please like and subscribe if you enjoyed the video :)
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00:00I am going to be defending against a Premier League player in a pro football match in seven days time.
00:06But there is only one problem.
00:08I have been a winger my entire life.
00:11So for the next one week, I am going to be training like a pro defender
00:16to prepare for the biggest match of my life.
00:19Day one of being a pro defender.
00:21Let's see what level I'm at.
00:22Starting with 1v1s against semi-pro winger Ade.
00:25And I made a great start after pulling off a brilliant tackle.
00:30But it all went downhill from there and Ade was embarrassing me.
00:35I could not keep up with his strength and speed.
00:38And after a very poor defensive performance,
00:41Ade ended it by barging me to the floor.
00:44And this would be a huge problem on day seven.
00:47After feeling weak and embarrassed, I finished my first test with a score of 1 out of 5.
00:52On to the next drill.
00:53One thing every defender needs to be good at is heading.
00:56Let's see how I do.
00:57And on my first header, I'm pretty sure I got a concussion.
01:00However, my performance in this test was a lot better.
01:04I managed to score not one, but two great headers.
01:08But on my final goal, I was once again struggling with physicality
01:12as I got beaten to the ball way too easily.
01:15And physicality would end up being a huge factor in the final pro match.
01:20But the question is, would I be able to improve it?
01:22Final test was a strength test.
01:24How long could I shield the ball?
01:26And I was using all my power, but I was once again just too weak.
01:31Leaving me with a final score of 5.86 seconds.
01:36On day two, I organised a seven a side match.
01:39And I only had one goal.
01:41To keep a clean sheet.
01:43My first touch of the game was me playing out the back and passing my two strongest points.
01:48And my first piece of defending started great as I pulled off a very good tackle and kept the ball.
01:53And my good form continued after a big header to clear the ball away.
01:57And I then pulled off an insane interception to stop the other team from scoring.
02:02With the scoreline being 0-0, the ball came to me on the halfway line.
02:06I took a touch and I smashed the ball in the top corner with my left foot.
02:11But after the goal, I was forgetting I was a defender.
02:14I decided to take on the whole team.
02:16And after dribbling past five players, I took a good shot, but it was a good save.
02:21And as a result, I was now tired and out of position.
02:25After some lazy defending, the opposition team was so close to scoring.
02:29And this would become a problem in the final pro match.
02:32I was out of stamina and my defending was so poor now.
02:36And then eventually the other team scored, making me lose my clean sheet.
02:41Ending the game at 1-1.
02:43I had failed my only goal.
02:45For day three, I hired professional coach NB7 Fitness to train me like a pro defender.
02:52We started off with a light warm up as this session was going to be very intense.
02:57We then got into a reaction drill where I simply had to keep up with NB.
03:01But as you can see, I was really struggling.
03:04The next drill was testing my speed and defending.
03:07But round one, I could not keep up with NB's pace as he smashed the ball in to go 1-0 up.
03:14For round two, I put in a brilliant slide tackle to stop the ball going in.
03:18And then in the final round, I beat NB to the ball and scored to leave the final score at 1-1.
03:25The next drill was very simple.
03:27Stop the ball from going into the goal.
03:29Go, go, clear it.
03:31Yeah, head away, head away.
03:32Good.
03:33And finish off, finish off.
03:35I put in a great shift, but I just couldn't get to the final ball.
03:39And we ended the session with some 1v1s.
03:41On my first attempt, I pulled off a very good tackle.
03:45But my next attempt, NB was embarrassing me after some very poor defending.
03:49On the final goal, NB barged me to the floor and scored.
03:53In the last three days, my clearest weakness was my strength.
03:57It was now time to do something about it.
04:00Go on, Jim.
04:01I started with a treadmill exercise to help improve my stamina.
04:04We then went on to weight exercises to help me improve my strength,
04:08which was my weakest point so far.
04:10And after doing some key leg workouts, we then got into doing pull-ups.
04:15And at this point, my body was aching everywhere.
04:18And after an intense gym session, we finished by doing a cool down.
04:23So day five is my first rest day.
04:25It's been a very intense week.
04:26And I need one final break before the big pro match, which is now only two days away.
04:31But I didn't want to waste my day.
04:33So I analysed my performances to see where I was going wrong
04:37and find out my biggest weaknesses.
04:39I then got into some light workouts.
04:41So my body was ready for the biggest two days ahead.
04:45And I ended the day by watching some of the best defenders in history.
04:49It's day six, one day before the pro match.
04:52Let's see how much I've improved.
04:53We started with 1v1s and it was clear to see how much I'd improved since day one.
04:58I wasn't rushing in and I was reading where Ade was going.
05:01But on the next goal, Ade absolutely embarrassed me by not megging me,
05:06leaving me with a final score of three out of five.
05:09Next up was headers.
05:10And after an amazing save by the keeper, followed by a header off the crossbar,
05:15I was zero out of two.
05:17On my third attempt, I just about managed to score.
05:20And my good form continued after I scored a bullet header.
05:23And on my final goal, I learned from my mistake on day one
05:27by catching the keeper out to score a simple tap-in.
05:30Once again, a better score compared to day one.
05:33And the final test before the big day was the strength test.
05:37And I was using my strength to shield the ball.
05:40But as time went on, I was starting to struggle and I eventually lost the ball.
05:44But it was a great attempt.
05:46I've officially been a defender for one week.
05:49Now it's time to see, did it all pay off?
05:51The big game is tomorrow.
05:52Everything I had worked for came down to this very moment.
05:56We started with some light defensive drills 30 minutes before kickoff.
06:00And as you can see, I was looking very nervous.
06:03Was I ready to play as a defender in a pro football match?
06:07It was now time for kickoff in the biggest match of my life.
06:11The game started and I quickly realised
06:13I did not learn anything about where to position myself as a defender.
06:18The ball got played into me for my first ever touch in a pro game.
06:21I took a good touch, I cut inside and I paid a brilliant through ball to the striker.
06:26The ball got played into the ex-Tottenham and Fulham winger and it was a 1v1.
06:32He drove down the wing and as I tried to keep up with him, this happened.
06:37He absolutely embarrassed me.
06:40I had to get my revenge.
06:41The next time the ball came to me, I only had one thing on my mind.
06:45I drove with the ball and turned away from the midfielder brilliantly.
06:49And after successfully getting past three players,
06:52I played the ball down to the left winger.
06:54But I made the exact same mistake as the Seveners side match.
06:58I was now out of position and I had to run back into defence.
07:02But as the striker took a shot, Angry Ginge saved me by intercepting it.
07:07Shortly after, a long ball got played down the wing.
07:10And after getting the ball off Angry Ginge, it was up to me to defend.
07:14But I ended up getting knocked mate.
07:16This ex-pro was embarrassing me.
07:19Towards the end of the first half, young Philly played the ball towards me.
07:23I took a good touch and I drove down the line.
07:26After a good run, I played the ball down the wing.
07:28It was a good cross from the right winger, but Danny Aron smashed the ball over.
07:33And then after a poor touch, I finally managed to tackle ex-pro Matt Briggs.
07:39But Angry Ginge could clearly see I was still struggling.
07:42So he came over and gave me some important advice.
07:45Could this finally be my turning point?
07:47But the answer was no, as once again, I got caught out of position.
07:51Nearly leading to a goal from the opposition team.
07:54When the ball next came to me, I did a body feint and I sprinted down the line.
07:59I then took a quick turn inside after getting past the left back.
08:02But as I tried to cut back inside, I just couldn't keep the ball.
08:06And after that run, I had lost all my stamina.
08:10I tried my hardest, but becoming a defender was much harder than I thought.
08:14And even though I was very disappointed in my performance,
08:17I somehow managed to keep a clean sheet.
08:20I'm never going defence again. Defenders, you proved me wrong. It's difficult.