The art of long-range shooting: ‘Captain Marvel’ Matt Holland on Lampard, golf clubs and his World Cup goal

One of the Premier League’s most reliable midfield goalscorers explains what it takes to score from distance

Matt Holland: 'There are all sorts of techniques to score goals from distance' (Getty)

Throughout a 19-year career, Matt Holland, thanks to his brand of quiet leadership and unfaltering consistency, was steadiness personified.

The Republic of Ireland international made over 700 total appearances, captained Ipswich and Charlton to top-seven Premier League finishes and once played 223 consecutive games, avoiding injury and suspension for a period spanning more than four years while at Portman Road.

The man former Ipswich manager George Burley nicknamed “Captain Marvel” was a safe pair of hands in the middle of the park. But Holland, whose shooting technique enabled him to threaten goal from anywhere within 30 yards, was capable of the spectacular when the opportunity arose, with many of his 83 goals scored from outside the penalty area.

“I’ve always scored goals from distance, even as a child,” Holland tells The Independent. “I wasn’t afraid of taking shots from a long way out from an early age. I was on free-kicks for my team. I had a decent strike. I tended to put my foot through it, rather than turn it over the wall. It was just something I did as a youngster.

“With a lot of my goals, I would take a touch to get it out of my feet and then hit it. But as a midfield player, you’re backing things up, waiting for things on the edge of the box to drop and I’d hit a lot first time.”

Many of Holland’s long-range strikes tended to be controlled efforts, with the midfielder focusing on accuracy and a clean connection with the ball rather than power. But he admits this is something that took time to develop, and that the key to consistent success from distance is to cultivate a wide arsenal of techniques.

“When I first started at Ipswich with George Burley, his analogy was golf clubs. He said, ‘You’ve got the driver’. That’s how I used to strike the ball. He said, ‘You need to get the nine iron into your bag, the pitching wedge’.

Matt Holland in action against Manchester United at Old Trafford (Getty)

“There are some where you try and pass it in, when the pace is already on the ball and you just guide it into the net. Sometimes you have to smash it, sometimes you have to guide it, sometimes you have to bend it – there are all sorts of techniques to score goals from that sort of distance and I think it is important you practise all of them.”

Equally as important as a mastery of the techniques required to score from outside the penalty area is the ability to find space on the edge of the box and anticipate the movement of the ball. Holland credits his career return of more than 80 total goals as much to the development of his reading of the game as his flawless ball-striking form.

“If the ball was wide and it was getting crossed into the box, my position would be to try and work out where I think the ball was going to drop to and try to get into an area where I think the ball is going to be cleared to,” he explains. “If the defender is under pressure, he might not be able to get much purchase on his header; if he’s not under pressure, he might be able to get a bit more on it.

“When play was developing, I was always trying to work out where the ball might drop for me as a midfielder coming on to it. I wasn’t thinking about where the goalkeeper was or trying to find space particularly. If you don’t get into the right positions, you won’t get opportunities. You have to be there. You have to be able to back play up.

“If you look at Frank Lampard and the goals he scored, he was similar. He did it more than I did, getting into the box. He was always aware of where the ball was going to drop and he was always trying to get into the box and into the opposition’s third to score goals. It’s important you get yourself into those positions otherwise you won’t score goals.”

Perhaps the most famous goal of Holland’s career came during the group stage of the 2002 World Cup. Ireland were trailing Cameroon 1-0 in their opening fixture of the tournament when, in the 52nd minute, Kevin Kilbane broke away down the left flank. The winger’s cross was cleared only as far as Holland who, striding on to the ball from 25 yards out, ignored all passing options as he arrowed an equaliser past goalkeeper Alioum Boukar and into the bottom corner.

“I’m probably doing myself in a bit here, but I wouldn’t have seen the other options, really,” Holland recalls. “My eyes, then, were on striking the ball to goal. If I hadn’t have hit the target, Damien Duff and Robbie Keane would have slaughtered me for not passing the ball to them. My thought process would have been: that ball is sitting up really nicely, I’m coming on to it at the right time and I’m hitting it first time.

“I probably had time to take a touch, but by taking a touch you take the pace out of the ball. The ball is coming to you at pace anyway. If I take a touch there, I’m having to generate more power then with the strike, and it’s taking a little bit longer. I often hit things first time, coming out from the edge of the box. As it’s coming to you, you don’t have to put as much power on to the shot. Then it’s more of a guide, really.

“I was focused completely on the ball. I had to adjust my body slightly, so that I got it at the right time, as it was just dropping so I could come on to it without it hitting the floor and so it was definitely on my right foot. I didn’t have to generate too much power; the power was already there. All I needed to do was just guide it.

“It came off my foot really sweetly. It was one of the best strikes I’ve ever had. All those years of practise, of those things coming out to you on the edge of the box – that’s what you do it for, those moments.”