wrong-foot
/ˌrɒŋˈfʊt
/verb [with object] British
1(In a game) play so as to catch (an opponent) off balance: Cook wrong-footed the defence with a low free kick...
- As more Stuttgart players were drawn towards him, his reverse pass wrong-footed the entire defence to leave Giggs scampering clear before rolling his shot calmly beyond Hildebrand.
- A slick side-step wrong-footed the Dewsbury full back and Stepho looked poised to score, but he was held just two yards short of the try line.
- A minute later Sylvain Wiltord's strike hit Ian Baraclough to wrong-foot Ludek Miklosko and the game was all but over.
1.1Put (someone) in a difficult situation by saying or doing something unexpected: an announcement regarded as an attempt to wrong-foot the opposition...
- He fails completely, of course, but with his attempts to confound and wrong-foot audiences more used to linear stories, it is a noble failure.
- Final track Come and Go completely wrong-foots you with its bossa-nova beat.
- In four years he had gone from nobody to totemic figure, each new direction he took wrong-footing fans who were desperately trying to keep pace with him.
