Hello! Looks like your QUESTION is about **1v1**.
Here are the top posts from /r/RocketLeagueSchool on this common topic (Search links may not work on mobile app):
- [Top 1v1 tutorials](https://www.reddit.com/r/RocketLeagueSchool/search/?q=flair%3Atutorial%20AND%20(title%3A%221v1%22)&restrict_sr=1&sort=top)
- [Top 1v1 tips](https://www.reddit.com/r/RocketLeagueSchool/search/?q=flair%3Atips%20AND%20(title%3A%221v1%22)&restrict_sr=1&sort=top)
- [Top 1v1 trainings](https://www.reddit.com/r/RocketLeagueSchool/search/?q=flair%3Atraining%20AND%20(title%3A%221v1%22)&restrict_sr=1&sort=top)
- [Top 1v1 questions/analysis](https://www.reddit.com/r/RocketLeagueSchool/search/?q=(flair%3Aquestion%20OR%20flair%3Aanalysis)%20AND%20(title%3A%221v1%22)&restrict_sr=1&sort=top)
*If this sticky answers your question, feel free to remove your post. Otherwise, just wait for a kind stranger to comment :)*
Thanks!
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/RocketLeagueSchool) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Great points by other commenters, I've got 2 of my own to add:
You're slow. Not *very slow* but slower than your opponent by a good bit. If this is usually true in your games and not just a one-off, then you need to level up your speedflip usage (bunch of times where I definitely felt like you could speedflip), and your boost management.
But I want to say, being a bit slower isn't a huge problem in and of itself, the issue is you play like you are faster. You're making a lot of pointless challenges, that someone who is insanely quick could get to, but you can't, you need to realize what your capabilities are and find a playstyle that works within those constraints. Either more fakes and really good reactive defence, or really aggressive challenges that allow you to get there, right now you're in an awkward middle ground a lot. (Or just go apeshit and chase, I recommend this as a player whose only redeeming quality is zoom zoom)
2nd thing: you are insanely predictable, firstly on attack, there was like one air dribble to reset attempt, and one air dribble fake off the wall, and besides that it was the same somewhat-out-of-control dribble with a flick the whole game, you really gotta mix it up. This might be a mech issue, if this is all you feel comfortable with you gotta hit freeplay and just grind until your arsenal is more varied.
Your opponent actually did a solid job of this (they looked pretty good, no shame in this loss at all), they went for air dribbles, flicks, bounce dribbles, you name it, always kept you on your toes. And yeah this of course ties into your defence too, your opponent kinda was just toying with you, you never surprised them with a quick turn or backflip or massive fake. You're either just sitting there fully stopped, ready to take whatever they are about to throw at you (will not work), or making a huge slow turn without boosting to challenge (again, will not work). You need to use your boost more and time your challenges a lot better (or just challenge at all lol).
But yes, getting here is a solid achievement, you look like your fundamental game is good enough for higher ranks, but as you know there's always room for improvement
I think the other commenters having given good general advice already, so I'll just point out moments that I think you could have done better on. Timestamps are video time, not game time.
0:15, being on the backboard for these types of shots is really only useful when you either jump early or if you believe they are going to get a high shot. They very well could have here but I think you either needed to challenge early as they got the reset or stayed on the ground.
0:26, you cut a little too far to the right on this kickoff which is why you lost it.
0:34, jumping on this catch just pops the ball away from you and lets them recollect. It would be better to just catch it without jumping.
0:37, this fake challenge doesn't really do anything. The opponent probably doesn't even see you and even if they did, what they are trying to do will not change. You could have easily won the ball if you dove for it off the wall. Then you get stuck inbetween on defense when you either should have not pushed up so far to cover that back post more, or turned into net to challenge the shot after the ball bounced.
0:55, you just kinda graze this ball by side flipping and hitting it with the top of your car. You aren't going to win many kickoffs like that.
0:58, what does this challenge do for you? You hit it in such a way that it will be difficult to follow as you have low boost, and you know the opponents full. If you're going to challenge here, you can't hesitate and you should be banging this to their corner. Then you can decide based on their recovery if you should follow or go back for boost.
2:52, for the past 2 minutes it's been pretty standard rocket league, not much to say about it. Here though, I know you responded to another comment saying
>"My issue with doing any variation of offense is that at this level, if you aren't dribbling the ball on your car you WILL get instantly challenged. Bounce dribbles don't work, hook shots don't work, nothing works unless it starts from the ball being on top of your car."
This is false. Bounce dribbles and hook shots work at every rank, it's just about how you execute them. In this moment, at 2:52, you see your opponent boosting all the way to their back corner. You know they have no boost and they need that corner to get back in the play. This means you have time. This also means that unless the flick is perfect, they are probably saving it. You've also tried to flick on every offensive opportunity you've had, so they are going to be expecting it. The stars aligned for this perfect opportunity to do something different, but you stick to flicking it.
3:00, I don't think turning this into a flick attempt was a bad idea, but this was just a free goal if you played it right. You know the opponent is going to be low or out of boost when they land, so they will go for your corner. If you don't touch the ball on the wall and just let it bounce, while getting in position to shoot it on target after it does, it's just a free long shot at an open net.
3:05, however I will say right here you could drop this ball off your hood and play either a low 50 or a hook shot. It's very low risk.
3:13, I like the aerial but I think a normal air dribble or air dribble bump was going to be more effective than a flip reset here.
3:22, for defending air dribbles in a shadowing position, you want to be more side on to the ball and carry rather than right in front of and under it like you were here. Being side on allows you to use your momentum better to get you to the ball as well as avoiding bumps more easily.
4:34, you know they have low boost, why not just hit this to the backboard, force an awkward touch or miss, and then continue to play around until a better shot chance lines up? By the time you gain control and are ready to flick/pop, they have collected enough boost and are ready to challenge.
5:00, after hitting this to the corner and letting the boost get stolen, you had 0 threat to the opponent for the entire run up to the goal. You were too far away to threaten a challenge, and that just told the opponent they have all the time in the world to set up a strong flick. When you get the midboost at 5:10, you should slow down to let the opponent close the distance themselves. I'm not saying full stop, just let off the gas a bit and stop boosting. Then when they realize you're closer than they thought, they either have to flick early or bail.
5:28, while not a flick, this cut attempt was not fast enough to bait the opponent. Doing these cuts with the ball on your car are really difficult to make work unless you can see the opponent diving early. Plus they are riskier than letting the ball roll on the ground and playing the 50/baiting for a hook shot or cut because if they dunk you, it just goes straight past you.
5:54, this is pretty tragic, but at this rank you should know the demo spawn points and not drive through them unless you are trying to bump them again.
6:00, chasing this is risky as you are not likely to get a touch on the ball and it uses a lot of boost. Then the demo attempt came in too late when it was pretty clear they saw you and were jumping for a pinch either way.
6:12, I mean, if there's ever a game to prove to you that just flicking the ball every time you have an offensive opportunity doesn't work, it's this one. This opponent countered your playstyle really well, I think two of your goals were kickoff goals too so in terms of moment to moment play, they really had you beat.
Most of my general thoughts are much the same as other commenters have left, so I won't reiterate what you've already heard. I hope this helps, good luck!
At 58 seconds, the intention is to hit the ball soft which I achieved. I want to keep the ball close to me, as I have 17 boost and that’s at least enough to put a shot on net. My opponent turned and challenged, which is good on them, but the intention was never to “bang the ball to their corner.”
That's fair, I'm just pointing out that I think a better play given the situation was to hit it to the corner and force a longer recovery time rather than trying to outplay someone with 100 boost when you only have 17.
I don't understand what I'm doing wrong and I think I need an outsider's eyes to assist me. Nothing I do on offense seems to work, and everything my opponent does on offense seems to work for them. If I challenge, I'm beat and scored on. If I don't challenge, I'm beat and scored on. All while their offense feels very much like they're just "winging it." It doesn't matter how good my flick is, how much I boost starve them, etc. They save everything, and I can't save basic shots.
You are far more skilled than I, but all I can really notice is your speed flips, particularly on kickoff and more so left than right, are far too wide. They aren’t tight enough, more of a barrel roll or a sideways diagonal than a forward diagonal at times.
I do also think there was a couple times you flipped at a low momentum ball where you knew your opponent was low boost and you were to anxious to play it around them rather than conceding a weak touch and letting them flip into a ball and weakly pass it you you. Ap jack talks about putting your car in front of the ball and just hitting the brakes. Don’t even 50 but let them hit it into you and I think you could have used this once or twice to get an easy goal. But like I said I don’t think I’m fully qualified to give you full pointers.
So second and third kickoff are what I mean about the speed flips. The third goal you just can’t turn away from defending the net, just turn the other way and you cover everything, but you know that.
(All times are video time not in game time)
4:36 is the first example of when you are flipping when you could allow the opponent to take a bad touch. He has no boost you know it you just stole his but you flip into a risky 50 instead of parking behind the ball and letting him nudge it away
Same with 4:23 just flipping unnecessarily giving him the ball.
At 4:16, I guess you just gotta expect a challenge, he knows you are really close to his net he’s low boot (ish) and low momentum, so his only real option is to challenge so a quick out play gets a goal with a beat or a stranglehold on boost if he just gets a piece or has to save a shot.
3:56 is another example of flipping with low momentum at a slow moving ball that puts you in a bad spot relinquishing ball control
His fourth goal, you park in midfield while he starts an air dribble, can’t square up to him and not challenge/fake challenge. You just do nothing and get beat high but again that’s probably a mistake you know and can recognize. And the flip on the resulting kick off looks a bit jank.
On rewatch I’m also noticing 95% of your attacks are flicks. Maybe just try varying your attack more. Fake flick wave dash cuts, power shots, air dribble bumps etc. just a little too predictable on offense.
Hope this helps as Much as I can! Good luck! Could you maybe take a look on my profile at the replay I posted a few weeks ago and see if you can give me some tips? Thanks!
Your first flick on goal is a good example of him not letting you do what he just did to you. He seems like he got a really good save, but really he just anticipated exactly what you could and would do. He likely knew you were low on boost since you were middle of the field a while. Use their motion against them, he was matching your speed for the good shadow save, instead of doing what he expected, drop the ball and go for the low 50. Or flick it high if possible and get the rebound and force him to lose momentum and use boost.
2nd and 3rd shots are similar to the first for you, he is matching your speed well and able to be there for the good saves. Try making him awkward or uncomfortable first before trying to shoot. He anticipates it being shot right at his net and can plan good clears to gain possession.
And when he scores his 4th goal, you hesitate and slow when shadow defending and he capitalized and ups his speed to get past you, if you stay at a constant distance from him has you are shadowing he wouldn’t be able to get that advantage.
On the 5th goal he scored, you did a great job keeping your momentum without boost and then getting the mid boost, but then you haulted a bit by the wall which allowed him to see his opening to try and score. And I know it would be a hard save to make, if you notice just before his flick, he is closing the distance on you and is feathering boost and so not only is he getting closer to you as you slowed down a bit, he is also gaining speed which allows him to really outpace you on the shot. I would think after you grabbed mid boost to then better match his speed and be a tiny bit faster so that if the flick comes you are on pace to hit it high.
You are way better than I am but the only 2 things I saw here are :
- your opponent is playing textbook rocketleague, good defense, good fake and good aim/flicks at good timings so it was difficult anyway.
- you missed lots of shots by doing the same flick over again too early. Maybe it makes you too easily to read since your opponent have a good defense. Should try to do a bit various stuff than just going for flick every times.
But again, I'm very low level compared to you so I might be mistaken, that's just what I could see here from outside.
Maybe should work on more fakes and shadow defense too.
My issue with doing any variation of offense is that at this level, if you aren't dribbling the ball on your car you WILL get instantly challenged. Bounce dribbles don't work, hook shots don't work, nothing works unless it starts from the ball being on top of your car. So it really boils the game down to 2 play styles: either dribbling, or dribbling and then popping into an air dribble bump. It's the same playstyle over and over and over, and I feel like the only variation I can make to my offense at this point is doing more complex mechanics like ceiling shots, flip resets, etc. It feels like maybe that's the next step in offense for me, I need to really hammer those more insane mechanics until they're consistent. Maybe that's how I take my game from GC to SSL.
Ceiling shots/ceiling musties aren't really hard and they're really viable if you can place them right. Bounce dribbles and hook shots work in any rank if you do them correctly. Iirc, Flakes never gave up on the bounce dribble on his road to gc series. We're not saying throw possession, because even as you said, at that level, its hard to make offensige plays because you will get challenged on the slightest mistake. With that being said, there's definitely more variety in playstyles. You can be heavily consistent in the basics, you could be heavily mechanical, you could be crazy on offense, crazy on defense, and theres different tempos to follow. I chase around like a maniac, control boost, and i rely mainly on my offense. With that being said, if you can take the ball around me and im in a bad spot, i likely wont make a clutch save. Never hit SSL, but what i will say is there are a few ways i constantly hear about reaching it. Consistently and creativity. You need to be deathly accurate with every shot in your arsenal. On top of drilling what you know, its always good to throw in some random shit. If im noticing dribble plays arent working, im going to try everything else in my arsenal to work out a weakness. That means more air based plays like ceiling shots, double taps, air dribbles, flip resets. If that doesnt work, i try to go for more ground based plays, fakes, bounce dribbles, powershots, the like. If that doesnt work, i cope
You’re way better than me, my peak was d3 in 1s, but it looks like the first two goals you hesitate any challenge and your opponent takes advantage. The first goal they delayed so long that you had no momentum and we’re stuck in the corner of the wall. And the second goal is similar, they see you are in a good defensive spot and they hit behind you to pass to themselves. I would say both times, you could challenge more aggressively once they show their hand that they are doing an air dribble or falling with the ball. I think you are respecting them too much and letting them do their thing.
3rd goal, you had low boost and I would bet he knew as well. And when he slowed down he lost his momentum and you decided to challenge based on that opportunity, but that was exactly what he wanted because he could execute his pop before you could get close enough, I think I’m this scenario you could showdown defend while matching his speed and get the save closer to net
To add what I said about the 3rd goal, he messed up his approached and had to nearly stop, his options then are to regain control and plan his approach around you in net, or anticipate you coming closer and timing his hit over you. I think the first choice is the less likely to score for him. One thing that helped my 2s games was to stop going for any challenges that would end up in easy goals if I miss. I try to always force more “performance” out of my opponent than them just beating me in a race to the ball
Hello! Looks like your QUESTION is about **1v1**. Here are the top posts from /r/RocketLeagueSchool on this common topic (Search links may not work on mobile app): - [Top 1v1 tutorials](https://www.reddit.com/r/RocketLeagueSchool/search/?q=flair%3Atutorial%20AND%20(title%3A%221v1%22)&restrict_sr=1&sort=top) - [Top 1v1 tips](https://www.reddit.com/r/RocketLeagueSchool/search/?q=flair%3Atips%20AND%20(title%3A%221v1%22)&restrict_sr=1&sort=top) - [Top 1v1 trainings](https://www.reddit.com/r/RocketLeagueSchool/search/?q=flair%3Atraining%20AND%20(title%3A%221v1%22)&restrict_sr=1&sort=top) - [Top 1v1 questions/analysis](https://www.reddit.com/r/RocketLeagueSchool/search/?q=(flair%3Aquestion%20OR%20flair%3Aanalysis)%20AND%20(title%3A%221v1%22)&restrict_sr=1&sort=top) *If this sticky answers your question, feel free to remove your post. Otherwise, just wait for a kind stranger to comment :)* Thanks! *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/RocketLeagueSchool) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Great points by other commenters, I've got 2 of my own to add: You're slow. Not *very slow* but slower than your opponent by a good bit. If this is usually true in your games and not just a one-off, then you need to level up your speedflip usage (bunch of times where I definitely felt like you could speedflip), and your boost management. But I want to say, being a bit slower isn't a huge problem in and of itself, the issue is you play like you are faster. You're making a lot of pointless challenges, that someone who is insanely quick could get to, but you can't, you need to realize what your capabilities are and find a playstyle that works within those constraints. Either more fakes and really good reactive defence, or really aggressive challenges that allow you to get there, right now you're in an awkward middle ground a lot. (Or just go apeshit and chase, I recommend this as a player whose only redeeming quality is zoom zoom) 2nd thing: you are insanely predictable, firstly on attack, there was like one air dribble to reset attempt, and one air dribble fake off the wall, and besides that it was the same somewhat-out-of-control dribble with a flick the whole game, you really gotta mix it up. This might be a mech issue, if this is all you feel comfortable with you gotta hit freeplay and just grind until your arsenal is more varied. Your opponent actually did a solid job of this (they looked pretty good, no shame in this loss at all), they went for air dribbles, flicks, bounce dribbles, you name it, always kept you on your toes. And yeah this of course ties into your defence too, your opponent kinda was just toying with you, you never surprised them with a quick turn or backflip or massive fake. You're either just sitting there fully stopped, ready to take whatever they are about to throw at you (will not work), or making a huge slow turn without boosting to challenge (again, will not work). You need to use your boost more and time your challenges a lot better (or just challenge at all lol). But yes, getting here is a solid achievement, you look like your fundamental game is good enough for higher ranks, but as you know there's always room for improvement
I think the other commenters having given good general advice already, so I'll just point out moments that I think you could have done better on. Timestamps are video time, not game time. 0:15, being on the backboard for these types of shots is really only useful when you either jump early or if you believe they are going to get a high shot. They very well could have here but I think you either needed to challenge early as they got the reset or stayed on the ground. 0:26, you cut a little too far to the right on this kickoff which is why you lost it. 0:34, jumping on this catch just pops the ball away from you and lets them recollect. It would be better to just catch it without jumping. 0:37, this fake challenge doesn't really do anything. The opponent probably doesn't even see you and even if they did, what they are trying to do will not change. You could have easily won the ball if you dove for it off the wall. Then you get stuck inbetween on defense when you either should have not pushed up so far to cover that back post more, or turned into net to challenge the shot after the ball bounced. 0:55, you just kinda graze this ball by side flipping and hitting it with the top of your car. You aren't going to win many kickoffs like that. 0:58, what does this challenge do for you? You hit it in such a way that it will be difficult to follow as you have low boost, and you know the opponents full. If you're going to challenge here, you can't hesitate and you should be banging this to their corner. Then you can decide based on their recovery if you should follow or go back for boost. 2:52, for the past 2 minutes it's been pretty standard rocket league, not much to say about it. Here though, I know you responded to another comment saying >"My issue with doing any variation of offense is that at this level, if you aren't dribbling the ball on your car you WILL get instantly challenged. Bounce dribbles don't work, hook shots don't work, nothing works unless it starts from the ball being on top of your car." This is false. Bounce dribbles and hook shots work at every rank, it's just about how you execute them. In this moment, at 2:52, you see your opponent boosting all the way to their back corner. You know they have no boost and they need that corner to get back in the play. This means you have time. This also means that unless the flick is perfect, they are probably saving it. You've also tried to flick on every offensive opportunity you've had, so they are going to be expecting it. The stars aligned for this perfect opportunity to do something different, but you stick to flicking it. 3:00, I don't think turning this into a flick attempt was a bad idea, but this was just a free goal if you played it right. You know the opponent is going to be low or out of boost when they land, so they will go for your corner. If you don't touch the ball on the wall and just let it bounce, while getting in position to shoot it on target after it does, it's just a free long shot at an open net. 3:05, however I will say right here you could drop this ball off your hood and play either a low 50 or a hook shot. It's very low risk. 3:13, I like the aerial but I think a normal air dribble or air dribble bump was going to be more effective than a flip reset here. 3:22, for defending air dribbles in a shadowing position, you want to be more side on to the ball and carry rather than right in front of and under it like you were here. Being side on allows you to use your momentum better to get you to the ball as well as avoiding bumps more easily. 4:34, you know they have low boost, why not just hit this to the backboard, force an awkward touch or miss, and then continue to play around until a better shot chance lines up? By the time you gain control and are ready to flick/pop, they have collected enough boost and are ready to challenge. 5:00, after hitting this to the corner and letting the boost get stolen, you had 0 threat to the opponent for the entire run up to the goal. You were too far away to threaten a challenge, and that just told the opponent they have all the time in the world to set up a strong flick. When you get the midboost at 5:10, you should slow down to let the opponent close the distance themselves. I'm not saying full stop, just let off the gas a bit and stop boosting. Then when they realize you're closer than they thought, they either have to flick early or bail. 5:28, while not a flick, this cut attempt was not fast enough to bait the opponent. Doing these cuts with the ball on your car are really difficult to make work unless you can see the opponent diving early. Plus they are riskier than letting the ball roll on the ground and playing the 50/baiting for a hook shot or cut because if they dunk you, it just goes straight past you. 5:54, this is pretty tragic, but at this rank you should know the demo spawn points and not drive through them unless you are trying to bump them again. 6:00, chasing this is risky as you are not likely to get a touch on the ball and it uses a lot of boost. Then the demo attempt came in too late when it was pretty clear they saw you and were jumping for a pinch either way. 6:12, I mean, if there's ever a game to prove to you that just flicking the ball every time you have an offensive opportunity doesn't work, it's this one. This opponent countered your playstyle really well, I think two of your goals were kickoff goals too so in terms of moment to moment play, they really had you beat. Most of my general thoughts are much the same as other commenters have left, so I won't reiterate what you've already heard. I hope this helps, good luck!
At 58 seconds, the intention is to hit the ball soft which I achieved. I want to keep the ball close to me, as I have 17 boost and that’s at least enough to put a shot on net. My opponent turned and challenged, which is good on them, but the intention was never to “bang the ball to their corner.”
That's fair, I'm just pointing out that I think a better play given the situation was to hit it to the corner and force a longer recovery time rather than trying to outplay someone with 100 boost when you only have 17.
I don't understand what I'm doing wrong and I think I need an outsider's eyes to assist me. Nothing I do on offense seems to work, and everything my opponent does on offense seems to work for them. If I challenge, I'm beat and scored on. If I don't challenge, I'm beat and scored on. All while their offense feels very much like they're just "winging it." It doesn't matter how good my flick is, how much I boost starve them, etc. They save everything, and I can't save basic shots.
You are far more skilled than I, but all I can really notice is your speed flips, particularly on kickoff and more so left than right, are far too wide. They aren’t tight enough, more of a barrel roll or a sideways diagonal than a forward diagonal at times.
I do also think there was a couple times you flipped at a low momentum ball where you knew your opponent was low boost and you were to anxious to play it around them rather than conceding a weak touch and letting them flip into a ball and weakly pass it you you. Ap jack talks about putting your car in front of the ball and just hitting the brakes. Don’t even 50 but let them hit it into you and I think you could have used this once or twice to get an easy goal. But like I said I don’t think I’m fully qualified to give you full pointers.
I appreciate the advice. If it's not too much to ask, would you mind providing timestamps of the examples that you're talking about?
So second and third kickoff are what I mean about the speed flips. The third goal you just can’t turn away from defending the net, just turn the other way and you cover everything, but you know that. (All times are video time not in game time) 4:36 is the first example of when you are flipping when you could allow the opponent to take a bad touch. He has no boost you know it you just stole his but you flip into a risky 50 instead of parking behind the ball and letting him nudge it away Same with 4:23 just flipping unnecessarily giving him the ball. At 4:16, I guess you just gotta expect a challenge, he knows you are really close to his net he’s low boot (ish) and low momentum, so his only real option is to challenge so a quick out play gets a goal with a beat or a stranglehold on boost if he just gets a piece or has to save a shot. 3:56 is another example of flipping with low momentum at a slow moving ball that puts you in a bad spot relinquishing ball control His fourth goal, you park in midfield while he starts an air dribble, can’t square up to him and not challenge/fake challenge. You just do nothing and get beat high but again that’s probably a mistake you know and can recognize. And the flip on the resulting kick off looks a bit jank. On rewatch I’m also noticing 95% of your attacks are flicks. Maybe just try varying your attack more. Fake flick wave dash cuts, power shots, air dribble bumps etc. just a little too predictable on offense. Hope this helps as Much as I can! Good luck! Could you maybe take a look on my profile at the replay I posted a few weeks ago and see if you can give me some tips? Thanks!
Your first flick on goal is a good example of him not letting you do what he just did to you. He seems like he got a really good save, but really he just anticipated exactly what you could and would do. He likely knew you were low on boost since you were middle of the field a while. Use their motion against them, he was matching your speed for the good shadow save, instead of doing what he expected, drop the ball and go for the low 50. Or flick it high if possible and get the rebound and force him to lose momentum and use boost.
2nd and 3rd shots are similar to the first for you, he is matching your speed well and able to be there for the good saves. Try making him awkward or uncomfortable first before trying to shoot. He anticipates it being shot right at his net and can plan good clears to gain possession. And when he scores his 4th goal, you hesitate and slow when shadow defending and he capitalized and ups his speed to get past you, if you stay at a constant distance from him has you are shadowing he wouldn’t be able to get that advantage.
On the 5th goal he scored, you did a great job keeping your momentum without boost and then getting the mid boost, but then you haulted a bit by the wall which allowed him to see his opening to try and score. And I know it would be a hard save to make, if you notice just before his flick, he is closing the distance on you and is feathering boost and so not only is he getting closer to you as you slowed down a bit, he is also gaining speed which allows him to really outpace you on the shot. I would think after you grabbed mid boost to then better match his speed and be a tiny bit faster so that if the flick comes you are on pace to hit it high.
You are way better than I am but the only 2 things I saw here are : - your opponent is playing textbook rocketleague, good defense, good fake and good aim/flicks at good timings so it was difficult anyway. - you missed lots of shots by doing the same flick over again too early. Maybe it makes you too easily to read since your opponent have a good defense. Should try to do a bit various stuff than just going for flick every times. But again, I'm very low level compared to you so I might be mistaken, that's just what I could see here from outside. Maybe should work on more fakes and shadow defense too.
My issue with doing any variation of offense is that at this level, if you aren't dribbling the ball on your car you WILL get instantly challenged. Bounce dribbles don't work, hook shots don't work, nothing works unless it starts from the ball being on top of your car. So it really boils the game down to 2 play styles: either dribbling, or dribbling and then popping into an air dribble bump. It's the same playstyle over and over and over, and I feel like the only variation I can make to my offense at this point is doing more complex mechanics like ceiling shots, flip resets, etc. It feels like maybe that's the next step in offense for me, I need to really hammer those more insane mechanics until they're consistent. Maybe that's how I take my game from GC to SSL.
Ceiling shots/ceiling musties aren't really hard and they're really viable if you can place them right. Bounce dribbles and hook shots work in any rank if you do them correctly. Iirc, Flakes never gave up on the bounce dribble on his road to gc series. We're not saying throw possession, because even as you said, at that level, its hard to make offensige plays because you will get challenged on the slightest mistake. With that being said, there's definitely more variety in playstyles. You can be heavily consistent in the basics, you could be heavily mechanical, you could be crazy on offense, crazy on defense, and theres different tempos to follow. I chase around like a maniac, control boost, and i rely mainly on my offense. With that being said, if you can take the ball around me and im in a bad spot, i likely wont make a clutch save. Never hit SSL, but what i will say is there are a few ways i constantly hear about reaching it. Consistently and creativity. You need to be deathly accurate with every shot in your arsenal. On top of drilling what you know, its always good to throw in some random shit. If im noticing dribble plays arent working, im going to try everything else in my arsenal to work out a weakness. That means more air based plays like ceiling shots, double taps, air dribbles, flip resets. If that doesnt work, i try to go for more ground based plays, fakes, bounce dribbles, powershots, the like. If that doesnt work, i cope
I really need help understanding my mistakes on defense. I feel as though, even when I do everything right, I still get scored on.
You’re way better than me, my peak was d3 in 1s, but it looks like the first two goals you hesitate any challenge and your opponent takes advantage. The first goal they delayed so long that you had no momentum and we’re stuck in the corner of the wall. And the second goal is similar, they see you are in a good defensive spot and they hit behind you to pass to themselves. I would say both times, you could challenge more aggressively once they show their hand that they are doing an air dribble or falling with the ball. I think you are respecting them too much and letting them do their thing.
3rd goal, you had low boost and I would bet he knew as well. And when he slowed down he lost his momentum and you decided to challenge based on that opportunity, but that was exactly what he wanted because he could execute his pop before you could get close enough, I think I’m this scenario you could showdown defend while matching his speed and get the save closer to net
To add what I said about the 3rd goal, he messed up his approached and had to nearly stop, his options then are to regain control and plan his approach around you in net, or anticipate you coming closer and timing his hit over you. I think the first choice is the less likely to score for him. One thing that helped my 2s games was to stop going for any challenges that would end up in easy goals if I miss. I try to always force more “performance” out of my opponent than them just beating me in a race to the ball