The ball roll cut joins two moves: you roll the ball across your body with your sole, set that foot down as a plant, then cut the ball away with the other foot. The roll pulls the defender one way and the cut changes the ball's direction off a planted foot. Unlike the Roll Over, which carries the ball on past the defender, this move stops and redirects it, so the plant is what the camera checks.
Set up
Dribble at the defender with small touches so the ball is always in reach. Keep your head up to see the space.
Ball close, eyes up.
Slow down as you arrive. Brake over the last couple of steps, not all on one final step, and bend your knees so you have a base to push off from.
Brake early, stay low.
Roll-cut
Once you are inside the defender's tackling range, put your sole on top of the ball and roll it across the front of your body toward your other foot. Keep the roll short so the ball stays under you.
Sell the roll with your eyes, head and shoulders, as if you are going or passing that way. Keep your weight centred so you can still come back.
Upper body sells, weight stays home.
Set the rolling foot down beside the ball as your plant. Keep that knee bent and pointing the same way as your toes, not caving inward, and keep the foot under you rather than far out to the side.
Soft knee, foot under you.
Cut the ball with the other foot. Use its outside (little-toe side) to cut it sharply on, away from the defender. If the defender has gone across with the roll, cut it back the way it came with the inside of that foot instead.
Roll smooth, cut firm.
Make the cut touch firmer than the roll so your head can come up. Keep your trunk upright or leaning into the new direction, not falling sideways away from it, and accelerate into the space.
Push the ground away.
Feel it
The roll is short and quiet with the ball under your sole. Your eyes and shoulders go with it, but your weight never fully follows. Then the rolling foot lands on a soft, bent knee and the other foot cuts firmly. The contrast between a smooth roll and a sharp cut is what moves the defender.
Fix-its
- The roll runs away from you Keep the sole on top of the ball and roll it a short way, just across to your other foot. A long roll gives the defender time to step in.
- You cut before the rolling foot lands Roll, set the foot down, then cut. Walk it through slowly until the plant comes before the cut every time.
- Knee caves in on the plant Keep the planted knee pointing the same way as your toes. Slow down until you can hold that line.
- Plant foot lands far out to the side on a straight leg Plant closer under your body with the knee bent, and do more of your braking on the step before.
- You roll too far from the defender Wait until you are inside their tackling range. Too early and they simply follow the ball.
Drill
- Walk-through, no defender: roll, plant, outside cut with the other foot. Then roll, plant, inside cut back. Work both feet equally.
- Cone at walking pace, then at speed: dribble at a cone, slow down as you arrive, roll and cut, then attack the space with speed.
- Semi-opposed: a partner stands as the defender and only goes live after your cut, then play out the 1v1. Rotate roles every two minutes.
- Small-sided game: a goal scored straight after a roll cut counts double. Keep your head up to see where the space is.
- Do these after a full warm-up, build from slow to fast before adding a live defender, and stop if your knee hurts.
Sources
- RBNY Academy (Coaches' Voice Session Planner) — Roll / Roll Step / Roll Cut, intermediate
- RBNY Academy (Coaches' Voice Session Planner) — Roll / Roll Step / Roll Cut, advanced
- Middletown SC — Roll/Roll Push session (Sport Session Planner, 2014)
- Keron Doldron — Roll/Roll Step session (Sport Session Planner)
- England Football Learning — How using the sole of the foot can benefit players (2023)
- England Football Learning, Emily Senior — Moving with the ball and turning: moving with deception (2025)
- Brault, Bideau, Kulpa & Craig — Detecting Deception in Movement: The Case of the Side-Step in Rugby, PLOS ONE (2012)
- Dos'Santos, Thomas, Comfort & Jones — Training interventions on change of direction biomechanics and ACL loading: a scoping review, Sports Medicine (2019)
- Donelon, Dos'Santos, Pitchers, Brown & Jones — Biomechanical determinants of knee joint loads during cutting: systematic review and technical framework, Sports Medicine - Open (2020)
Last checked 2026-10-30.