I wanna talk about my issues with beating defenders. When I was younger, I played at a fairly decent standard. I stopped playing for a long time and on my return I can still do some OK stuff, but beating defenders is a real problem. I think that a lot of it is ''in my head''. Overthinking everything, scared to lose the ball etc. It all feels too planned. It used to be pure instincts and i'd rarely get tackled. I've kind of forgotten how I used to do it (beat defenders) I'm not sure whether it's a matter of having close control, waiting for the defender to commit themselves/dive in, and then take the ball away, or whether it's a matter of approaching the defender, trying to throw him off balance (say a stepover) and then exploding away. I guess the answers is 'both', but in different situations and depending on the context? I really want to get good at beating a defender with a simple stepover. (as I see lots of players use it very effectively in games that I play in). I find it impossible to get the right distance between me and the defender. Either I do it too far away and it's pointless, or I get tackled as i'm in the middle of performing the move! Also, do rightfooted players tend to step over with their right foot and explode away on their left? If I stepover with my left foot (as a right footed player), i'm forded to first step to my right so that the ball is on my left foot, and whilst doing this, I feel like I'm giving the defender a nice, easy opportunity to tackle me! Does any of this make sense? I feel as though maybe the bet thing is to just approach the defender keeping the ball under very close control of my right foot (which I'm fairly good at without blowing my own trumpit), and then waiting for him to dive in and take the ball away, but if he doesn't dive in, I can try a step over to throw off balance for a split second? (but then I am still forced to go to my weak left hand side which might not help me much anyway.) Maybe just try to get much better on my left foot??
The good thing is you're aware with the problems. Like you hinted, start the move early but not too early and that just comes with practice. Use "arm lengths" to practice the distance in which to start the move. 1 arms length is probably too close (because you're within tackling range, so you want to aim for 1.5 to 2 arms lengths to start the move. 2 is probably good to start with because your momentum will carry you forward. Practice with a cone or with a friend to get a feel for the distance. But! I think you're referring to a scissor move because you talk about faking with your right and take away with your left. A stepover is fake with right, take with outside of right. What I said above still holds true regardless of whether you are doing a scissor or a stepover. IMO a stepover isn't really a "wait and see" move, because it's most effective as a take-on move (as opposed to a turning move, which it can also be used for) when running at a defender at speed. The stepover is intended to create a moment of hesitation in the defender which lets you cut away and create your space. You should always try to be two footed.
In 1v1 situations the move is not really the key. It is first step quickness. Since you haven't been playing you probably have lost a lot of quickness while the defenders you are facing probably have been playing and have better first step quickness. If you are quicker than your marker, it doesn't matter what move you use--you will beat him. Dribbling is 50% ball skills and 50% athletic skills.
Something else I was wondering. It might seem a stupid question (like I say, i'm in a phase over over-analysing everything), but I find myself running AT the defender in one-on-one situations as opposed to running into the space and making him move first. Is there a general rule on this? It makes sense in my head that theoretically I should be running into the space. Making the defender move should increase the odds of me being able to 'turn him'? But then from personal experience when I have to fill in at defence, I HATE it when someones running right at me! I tend to get beat more this way than when I am forced to track someone before attempting to tackle them.
Okay first on defending technique. You should be not be standing with feet equal distance apart. Your feet should be staggered. Also you should not be directly in front of him, but slightly off center to encourage him to go in the direction you face--usually forcing him outside but it depends on your defensive organization. There are times though when you don't want to give ground such as when you are trapping the opponent in a double team or you are directly in front of your goal and trying to prevent a turn. Then you make yourself into a wall. http://www.ucs.mun.ca/~dgraham/manual/Pages/Principles/def_prin.html On 1v1 attacking. If the defender is positioned badly, you take advantage. If the defender is positioned well, then you are correct you may attack the space to one side or the other forcing the defender to move even if you are dribbling toward the defender. When I talk about dribbling at a defender during a match, I mean you dribble toward a defender to force him to commit to you creating passing opportunities through the space vacated by the defender. My preferences are colored by the fact I was a flank player in my younger days and very quick so I prefered to run around players using fast turns (like inside and outside cuts) rather than directly at players and use slower more complicated moves. Now I am old and slow and usually playing striker with at least 2 markers on me. I am not blowing by anyone these days, unless they are moving in the wrong direction. It is always best to have the skills to play both--flank and central. http://www.ucs.mun.ca/~dgraham/manual/Pages/Principles/att_prin.html
You can do both (run at the defender or run to the space to make the defender move), it all depends on the situation. For example, in the middle third, I tend to dribble to space at angles since the objective there is to advance the ball into the attacking third. No point in risking possession if I don't have to. In the middle third, dribbling away at angles also makes him move and creates new spaces and creates problems for defenders—do they stay with me and leave their space or pass me onto their teammate? Are they communicating well enough to know when to pass me off? If his teammate steps up, then there's room behind him that my teammate can now exploit. In the attacking third, there's little space and limited choices in creating useful space so you need to be able to do both. But again, you need to be able to do both. When you are playing, make a conscious effort to do one or the other—not just reacting reflexively.