What makes the perfect football wing-back

 

Chelsea dominated the premier league 2016-2017 under the shadow and mastery of Antonio Conte. Antonio reverted the three at the back system familiar to him from both Juventus and Italy. That change, Conte mastery at this system and his squad, has propelled Chelsea on a superb run. Conte is also only the second manager in premier league history to win 13 of his opening 16 games in the competition after John Gregory at Villa in the 98-99 season. Conte’s 3-4-3 formation was actually a 3-4-2-1 that created a numerical imbalance that push the Chelsea towards the title. Conte’s ability in this league earned him the title of good tactical and man manager.

With the advancement in technology with the back support of years of experience, the critics of football and analysts are more active than ever. In recent seasons, a great shift in football formation and tactics has guided the widespread use of wingback position. Teams such as Leicester City, RB Leipzig, and Chelsea have utilize the wingbacks to alter their degrees of success. The 2020-21 football season has seen RB Leipzig wingback, Angelino excel at the position.

Before plunging into the things that makes a perfect wingback, it is essential to get an insight of what actually a wingback is

Wingback position in football

 

Positions guide: Wingback

The wingback is a modern and unique variation of the full back position. It is a slightly more advanced form of flat back four. It is also more charged and faster than full back, because winger has to contribute in the attack as well as tracking back to the defense in time when the opponent has the ball.

Wingbacks has this responsibility to overlap and send crosses in the opponent box in order to ensure the attacking player get access to the ball. Despite Liverpool play with a back four, Andrew Robertson is one of the best players in football at getting forward and crossing the ball.

Players must mark opposition wingers when necessary but the back three is used by central defense. The opposition wingers can be pushed back to the defensive position by the vigorous attacking motivation of the wingbacks. This can help them to take back the opposition wingers from attacking areas. As the wingbacks are supposed to stay on the touchlines, so they must have some chalk on their boots. The wing backs are quite apart from midfield, giving them a large space to make crosses, run back and forth on flank, and provide cover for those player who are more indulge in the field.

Due to the vital and robust role of wingbacks in the game, they are most physically demanding in football. This is because they have to sprint in the large area of game. They have to cover a large portion of ground mostly with competent speed. Due to this, they are proved a nightmare for opponents, as they are unpredictable in their actions. One must never know from where they are going to attack. The wingers must be ready to charge for an attack and to the sudden trackback to make a defensive position when opponent seems to be in control. This makes their role more attacking than the full backs.   

It is an amazing sight in the game watching the wingbacks flying up and down the touchline frightening the opposition. To be a fruitful wingback it is essential to be good at all parts of games; fit, strong with both of the feet, good at dribbling and tackling, a good passer and fine crosser of the ball. 

Perks of having a wingback

Not every football formation includes wingers, but having them at your side can provide the following benefits

Multiple attacking options

The wingback have multiple attacking options. As the main role of a wingback is to fill the space left by the absence of winger so they can provide attacking help for the team. Similarly, nullifying the effect of winger they also need to assist the defense. They can also pressurize the DM and CB.

However, the back wingers do not get much chance of making a goal but back wingers perform most of the assists. They can do cross, dribble, long and short passes and stay under spotlight for several minutes.

Provide width to expand play

Back wingers play at the corner of field. It can be seen in the Game analysis of Marcelo Vieira in the match between Real Madrid v Valencia 2017, that the back winger is used to provide width and height to the play which helps the team to expand their play to the wings. This is the crucial factor in the game, which helps to decrease the pressure at the center; it also creates the hole between the defensive lines of opposition. As when the ball is on back winger, the opponent is expanded and stretched and their defensive line got misplaced creating a hole, which is ultimately a chance to goal.

Easy to bypass many player

It is the perk of back winger that it can bypass many players. Due to a width creation, a back winger can stretch the opponent team, sometimes engaging two to three players with him and then bypass them by doing crosses or long pass. 

Help in assist, corner, crosses

The major role of a back winger is to provide assists, perform corners and crosses. Most of the time, the assist is provided by the back winger as they have a good chance to get a corner of void to pass the ball.

Tips to make a perfect football Wing back

The importance of back winger cannot be casted aside but in the meantime, it is vital to ensure the ability of a person to become a back winger. For example in the recent match between Barcelona and PSG in the “UEFA champion’s league”, Kylian Mbappé destroyed the back winger of Barcelona because of his incompetence. Agility, stamina, dribbling ability and speed; are all must be an attributes of a back winger.

Few tips to make a perfect wing back are following

Improve speed and stamina

As a back winger has to reverberate up and down in order to ensure its attacking and defensive positions, so it is essential for him to have a good stamina and speed. They have to make a movement in relation to the ball for the sake of providing support and width. They often have to start off deep and narrow          and then recognizing when to start running from behind at once to play the cross behind defensive line. All of it requires a lot of speed and stamina which.

Improving speed is the most basic physical attributes that a good winger should have. With speed, you would be able to bomb down the wings like Ronaldo or Messi.

Another physical attribute that a good winger should possess is stamina. Speed, stamina, two different things, and both are equally essential for a back winger. A way to build this up is through swimming and frequent long distance jogs at high altitudes. The former increases lung capacity while the latter increases the amount of red blood cells that your body produces. These types of exercise increase the amount of oxygen you can take in your lungs with a single breath.

Dribbling and Agility

No winger would be complete without good dribbling and agility. Overall, football agility is one of the most important skills in the aforementioned sport. Often, the best players in the world; the players that are also most deadly on the pitch, are players who are quick and can dribble at pace, changing direction without losing balance. Modern football has certainly shifted towards favouring the most athletic players due to both tactical styles of play, as well as advancements and focus on sports science, nutrition and fitness. It is clear that elite players these days are far more athletic and agile than the legends from the previous eras.

Keep up with the play

When to make the pitch big and when to make it small, so remember if you are out of position and you are defending getting nice and compact, getting across the pitch to support the center back. You have to make the pitch big quickly as you prepare to attack as a team.

Explosive start

Thinking about the first touch and be explosive. Getting up that wide area so you can start attacking those defenders so you can make a turn that defense into attack. That transition is an important part of back winger game. It is really the key these days, so when you slated to win it, you have that quality to gather the pitch quickly.

1 v 1 Ronaldo

If you look at all the best full backs, wing backs in the world of football; they are positive, they can attack and they can take players. That 1 v 1 is the key for your modern full backs and wing backs, being able to dribble out a player and unbalanced them and pass them to get the shot that cross or pass into that area where the attack is easy.

1 v 1 hazard work

Being able to cut away from pressure while protecting the ball to get that specific pass, cross or shot into the goal. This is another key ingredient of top quality modern wing backs in their position, recognizing when you got to protect the ball and how you can shift the defender from one way to the other to create that half a yard.

Work with both feet

You need to be able to cross, pass, and shoot with both feet. Many of the world's greatest wingers are two-footed and are so dangerous because they are able to cut in and shoot or drift wide and cross. Work on using you weak foot to control, pass, and shoot the ball. It may feel awkward at first, but eventually, you will get used to it and it will feel natural.