When it comes to wingers whether it be in a 4-3-3 or even in a 4-4-2 we see a lot of our wingers whom are outright left or right wingers but not inverted wingers(a right footer playing on the left or vice versa). I.e Tommy Oar as a genuine left winger.

There is nothing wrong but developing outright wingers but we dont seem to develop or try to produce those inverted wingers.

Do we need to encourage it more or should the coach take responsibility in developing more of these types of players?

Should we try to produce our own Arjen Robben or Eden Hazard?

I love it.
As a Sunday league player last season I joined a new team and just couldn't get into my dual rhythm on the right, switched over to the left and had a riot for the rest of the season!
I suppose the idea is to get the best out of wingers who shoot better than they cross, as well as overloading the oppositions half by creating space for the fullbacks to overlap as the wingers cut inside to better shooting positions.

You need smart players to make inverted wingers work. They need clear space ahead of them to run into and a quality striker or playmaker to make that for them. It's actually a very hard role to coach at junior levels because of both the technical requirements, spacial awareness and game nous needed to succeed at it, especially compared to a orthodox winger who can rely on pace, acceleration and rudimentary skill to be effective.

They need strong technique in things like Dribbling, First Touch, Finishing and Passing along with decent Vision and Decision Making. Tht's all the kind of stuff that Australia sucks at fostering.

It really is a specialist position, a lot of EPL clubs (particularly Spurs and City) have just tried to lump number 10's or outright wingers out wide and it really doesn't work most of the time. Main case in point is Aaron Lennon who was placed at LM the other weak and didn't know what he was doing. It also requires a LOT of communication between full back and winger and younger kids usually won't be smart enough to know when to talk. And the ones that do are usually better off playing in the middle. Another reason why the game is suffering in Australia from coaches just selecting the quickest players.

I usually get players to swap wings, something I learnt from the Dutch.



Edited by Decentric: 24/12/2014 10:10:28 PM

What ages are you coaching? I don't bother until they're old enough to really pay attention to the whole tactical side of things.

That was with under 14s and older.

They had a had a lot of quality coaching prior, with a decent football education, but were still prone to do really stupid things as well, or forget things.

I have found it useful over the years, when playing a 442 or 433, to get the wide men of the middle 4 or front 3 to swap sides at some point in time at least once a game. It throws a whole new element to the familiarity the opposing defenders gain from playing against you, and it gives your team a whole new outlook at times.

So i see it important for all wide players to be ready, able and willing to play on both sides of the field.

I've done it to give players a rest from playing against the opposition's better full back, and to try something different.

With the massive focus on developing both sided players, this is becoming a modern trend in football.

Many former players in Australia were clearly one sided.

That is my take on this as well . Big effort to train both feet works a treat.

Does SAP account of developing two footed players? Thats the key to creating inverted wingers really. Along with learning to deal with the space they have available.