Football Language: Ball watching

The phrase ‘ball watching‘ is used when a player is looking at the ball and not at the player he or she is supposed to mark which means that his or her opponent is free. This idea of ball watching is linked to a lack of concentration and sometimes pundits will say that a defender has switched off because they were not concentrating on marking their opponent and instead are looking at the ball. The phrase ‘to be caught ball watching‘ is a typical collocation with the idea of ‘caught’ suggesting that the defender was not ready due to a lack of concentration. To be caught ball watching.