Read why Stephen Puddicombe thinks the inverted winger is the future and why traditional wide men are on the way out.
In defence of the inverted winger
Christian Eriksen was again Tottenham’s saviour this weekend with a last minute winner against Swansea. But one thing that has been generally overlooked is that he did so in a role so derided and mistrusted among Spurs fans – that of the inverted winger.
The use of inverted wingers has been one of many Spurs fans’ biggest complaints in recent years. Andre Villas Boas was of course widely criticised for playing too narrow with the wide players cutting inside all the time, while the last days of Harry Redknapp’s era frequently featured furious chants from the stands of ‘He plays on the left, he plays on the left, Gareth Bale, he plays on the left’.
But, as Bale proved the season after with countless winners cutting in off the right, and as Eriksen is further demonstrating now, the notion that right-footed wingers should naturally play on the right and left-footed wingers on the left is an out-dated one. Wide-men in modern football are abandoning the inefficient method of putting in hopeful crosses into the box, in favour of combining with players through coming infield. In modern football it makes sense for them to cut-in on their preferred foot as tactical expert Michael Cox pointed out, “it is very rare for a goal to come from a cross.”
[linequote]The notion that right-footed wingers should naturally play on the right and left-footed wingers on the left is an out-dated one[/linequote]
Going back to Eriksen’s goal, it is striking just how central he is, despite playing as the left-forward in what was by that stage of the game a 4-3-3. Tellingly, he receives the ball from the left flank – the very position a traditional winger would have occupied – from left-back Ben Davies. One of the myths concerning the role of the winger is that they need to stay out wide in order to provide width; but, as this goal demonstrates, in the modern game this width is supplied by full-backs, who play much further up the pitch than they used to.
Another myth is that by cutting inside they will get in the way of the other attacking players in a congested central zone. On the contrary; skilful, clever attackers like having similar players around them to combine with. Just look at Eriksen’s other recent matchwinner against Hull. Again he scores from a central position, only this time he receives the ball from a short Aaron Lennon pass, despite both lining up on opposite sides of the pitch.
[linequote]It’s time to put aside nostalgic longing for speed merchants tearing down the flanks, and embrace the modern inverted winger[/linequote]
Inverted wingers are now common-place in successful teams. Leaders Chelsea typically play with Hazard on the left and Willian on the right; the league’s second most prolific assister Duscan Tadic has operated mostly from the right; on the continent, the best teams line-up with the likes of Gareth Bale, Isco, James Rodriguez, Arjen Robben, Frank Ribery and Andres Iniesta all as inverted wingers. Even players who could be characterised as traditional wingers like Raheem Sterling, Angel Di Maria and Stewart Downing have enjoyed greater success since abandoning the flanks for a more central position.
The traditional winger, it seems, is a dying breed. It’s time to put aside nostalgic longing for speed merchants tearing down the flanks, and embrace the modern inverted winger. The attackers brought in during the spending splurge of summer 2013 were signed on the basis of performances from inverted positions – just look at the highlights from Erik Lamela at Roma and Nacer Chadli. These players have excelled when fielded as inverted wingers – Mauricio Pochettino knows what he’s doing when playing them there.
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12 Comments
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16/12/2014 @ 1:38 pm
Agree entirely with the point being made here. However the link to Michael Cox’s piece is broken – think it should be this: http://www.fourfourtwo.com/features/europes-most-prolific-crossers-revealed-does-prove-crossing-inefficient
Also, Cox doesn’t actually say what you’ve quoted him as saying. In fact he says “it’s rare for a side to score a significant proportion of their goals from [crossing].”
18/12/2014 @ 4:01 pm
Thanks, and that is indeed the link – and I think those quotation marks must have been added by the editor!
16/12/2014 @ 5:52 pm
While I think inverted wingers are the way to go, especially with skilled fullbacks taking the width, Christian Eriksen does not fit the mold of the inverted wingers you mentioned like Hazard, Robben, Ribbery and Bale. He doesn’t have nearly the pace and doesn’t really rely on trickery to beat a fullback isolated on the wing (other than that pretty nutmeg v. Crystal Palace). His strengths are his vision and quick decision-making, making him ideal for the #10 spot.
18/12/2014 @ 4:04 pm
I’d agree with this – he reminds me a lot of Modric when he used to dictate games from the left – very good there, but even better when moved centrally. Would be good to see Chadli on the left and Eriksen central at the weekend.
17/12/2014 @ 8:28 am
Laughable and I stopped reading after the first paragraph when it was stated that Eriksen was playing the inverted winger role. He most certainly is not and anyway it’s a joke that he is picked to start on the left in the first place. Having grown tired of being substituted at half time he now (against orders) trots over to the middle (without the ball) and plays there. An inverted winger would be expected to stay left, pick up the ball and run sideways. From the middle, he is winning us games so why not start him there and have Lennon bombing down the right and Lamela the left. Eriksen would find them and we might then provide some crosses for Soldado. It would be fast football and entertaining to watch too.
18/12/2014 @ 4:08 pm
I very much doubt that Eriksen is gliding in from the left against orders seeing as Poch has selected him for every league game. And anyway, it’s a strategy that works very well as his form has proved – as I go on to argue in the article beyond the first paragraph, the role of the inverted winger in modern day football is to play more infield, with full-backs providing width instead.
18/12/2014 @ 8:17 pm
Eriksen starts in the middle and boom we win 4-0, Mr Puddicombe your argument just got blown to pieces!
17/12/2014 @ 6:46 pm
“Another myth is that by cutting inside they will get in the way of the other attacking players in a congested central zone. ”
This really isn’t a myth. Watching Spurs this season a lot of our attacking issues come from a congested central area which is easy to defend against when playing a team defending deep.
Successful inverted wingers require:
1) To be able to cut inside into space either by being an empty area i.e in a 4-3-3 with the striker dropping deep or;
2) To be in a good counter attacking team
4-2-3-1 does not suit inverted wingers on both sides. In the example of Chelsea they defend deep, hit teams on the counter and use Diego Costa to push the back line. From a Spurs POV we defend high so compress the pitch and space to work in while Soldado, Kane and Adebayor all come deep to collect the ball congesting the central area even more.
Spurs home issues this season aren’t ‘bad home form’ it’s the inability to break down teams defending deep because we are playing inverted wingers who are narrowing our play making it easy to defend against. Teams who come to WHL are more likely to sit back and it highlights this problem. The scraped wins vs Hull and Villa highlighted the same issue with the red card turning the game.
Teams that have actually attempted to play against us (Soton, Everton, Swansea) we have beaten or at least made very good chances (Arsenal, Chelsea)
18/12/2014 @ 4:16 pm
Really good point about us struggling against teams who sit deep and performing well against teams who try to play, although I’d put this more down to our attackers lack of creativity rather than the shape. Many of the top attacking sides in Europe play 4-2-3-1 with inverted wingers – Isco and James at Madrid, Robben and Ribery at Bayern (although their formation changes a lot), Hazard and Willian at Chelsea (and I wouldn’t really call them a counter-attacking team anymore – they average 56% possession this season after all)
18/12/2014 @ 12:55 pm
I don’t think you have been watching the same team as me. Our inverted wingers are hopeless. Lamela just wanders inside until he loses the ball and Townsend cuts in and hits a shot thats more likely to hit the burger bar than the cross bar. Gimme the style we had a couple of years ago with Bale and Lennon flying down their natural wings any day.
18/12/2014 @ 4:20 pm
Agree that Townsend and Lamela haven’t played well inverted this season, although they haven’t played well as natural wingers either! I’d take Bale and Lennon of the Redknapp era over what we’re seeing at the moment too, but with the former gone and the latter off-form I don’t think we have the players to do that anymore. But Chadli on the left and Townsend on the right at least still had us playing some exciting football the other night.
18/12/2014 @ 8:19 pm
Please stop writing