Oh, it's been a while hasn't it. Not really weekly any more! That's fine, rather than try to fill in the 6-week gap, here's what I've done in the week of the 11th of November.
We can pretend that I saw this whole thing coming before I went to the roof, just between us. Really disappointed I didn't get the bump at the end, but the threat was enough.
A 50:50 into a dunk into a poolshot from my teammate, all within the box - beautifully ugly.
If a defender is going to charge at their own goal, I'm going to give them an own goal.
This was the first kick-off of the first-game of a lunchtime session with workmates, and it was all downhill from here.
My teammate was panicking, thought it'd be rude to steal this but couldn't tell if it was on target.
Not a lot of commentary, I just struggle to hit these clean from the ground, so it was nice to get.
Flip Resets have been getting a bit more automatic for me lately, but this is easily the cleanest I've scored. Perfectly over the defender and under the bar - it actually contributed to the shot.
One thing about playing against the same people every day is that they sort of know what you can do - playing against random opponents, they really struggle against my weirder habits, like this wavedash dribble.
I'm the only player on the pitch not involved in this one - a crossbar, a pinch, a whiff, a save off the post, a team-dunk, and a panicked owngoal - poetry.
Onto week 2! This covers 2024-09-30 to 2024-10-06. Been a strange week of RL for me - not really been feeling like my play is all that controlled, but there have definitely been moments of brilliance. Part of that is that I didn't play much ranked until the weekend, I think.
Just ignore that I whiffed the first touch on this one. Genuinely confused how they both kept the ball out of the net, they were both starting well in front of the line - fair play.
I've been practicing recovering from a flip with good aerial positioning so I can follow the ball more, and this is kind of the fruit of that labour. Angry comms from the orange team on this one, but I was honestly hoping for something better than a pass off the backboard.
I always love these sorts of plays when I see pros do them, and this seemed a perfect use for it when my teammate was positioned for the bump. I didn't really want the last aerial touch - it made the ball too close to the defender - but it worked out nicely in the end. Just a play built on taking my time.
Another of those 2v3 games, with the best player in the lobby as my teammate on the 2. Before this game, we agreed it'd be full ball-chase - don't play careful, just chase the ball down and win challenges. It works well when both players are on form, and this play (especially the tiny half-volley to beat the 2nd defender) exemplifies that.
What I love about my lunchtime Rocket League games at work is that I have half a dozen players with whom I play differently, and we mix up the teams every game. Over time we learn how to play off of one another really well, and you get moments like this that can only work when you really understand your teammate and your opponents - it's a very stupid play, but the correct one for the situation.
I spent a bunch of time in freeplay this week, and all I got was this stupid freestyle. I bumbled into it, but I hit the flip reset?
Ever since putting together my Recent Rocket League Clips page, I've felt there was a better way to do it. I like that it's kind of a "Now" page, not notifying RSS feeds and whatnot when it updates, but it lacks any commentary, and isn't a format well-suited to that.
I'm going to try this new format - a round-up of my favourite clips from the week (or so). This first one will be for last week (2024-09-23 - 2024-09-29) while I find my feet with it. I don't expect this to have particularly broad appeal, but it's the sort of regular post I always appreciate in my feed.
It's a real shame this clip broke on the goal explosion. I play an extremely agressive game, double so in these regular games with colleagues. I really wanted to be on the backboard for some kind of silly pass, but this was good enough.
A general rule I follow is that I want to offer my teammates the option to pass forward, but if they choose to dribble I will facilitate. Bumps are one of my favourite parts of Rocket League, and that this one put me in perfect position to steal the goal? Even better.
Pretty much everything in Rocket League boils down to getting a better outcome from a situation than your opponents, and this dribble exemplifies that. I lose control of the bounce almost immediately, but by recognising I'd done enough to beat the first defender, I could focus on getting one good touch past the last person. It looks flashier than it actually is, with the slight bump while upside-down - I wonder in hindsight if that gave me a flip-reset.
There's no getting around it - I spin too much. I enjoy doing it, and even though it means I'll probably never be World Champion, I don't plan to stop any time soon. This ball is probably a very simple tap-in once the defender whiffs near the ceiling, but I can't help myself - this is one of the rare occasions where it didn't ruin my aim, bamboozling the returning defender into thinking it was wide of goal.
I get a lot of joy making these vertical reads, but this was a big stretch on 36 Boost - I honestly thought it would be more of a pass than a shot when I couldn't get over it, but the light contact let it sneak under the bar. Just kinda pretty.
Part of playing a very aggressive, forward position is that if I don't swivel the camera, I tend to cut off my teammates. Worked out this time, we both got a touch, and it went in at around 140kph.
This one is 100% about when not to rotate back to 3rd position - common wisdom is to go to the back of the play when you stop attacking the ball, but in this case I see that both my teammates are in goal, and the ball is crossing the field - I can grab the opposite mid-boost and re-evaluate the play. In this case, it works beautifully and we catch their last man napping (the same one I got the ball past at the very start of the clip).
Full context: like most of these clips, this is from a casual private lobby played with friends from work. At 3-0 up, less than 10s left, shenanigans are the name of the game. Even so this one's a bit brutal - a full stretch spinning tap-in from near the ceiling, cutting off one of the opposing players going for the same shot (you can hear him jump just behind me, you can't here him telling me to fuck off after I hit it).
Had to apologise for that one.