Cristiano Ronaldo, Luis Figo, Ryan Giggs–have all been given a legend status at one point of time or another in their career. They have a good attacking record which shows the same. Is it just talent? No. Andrea Pirlo, Zico, Michael Ballack are also talented and are considered as legends. What needs to be considered here is the fact that their record of successful crosses, one-on-one situations wins, dribbles has to do with their playing position. They play as midfielders but, that is a large category isn’t it? The role of a midfielder can be further divided into Left Mid, Center Mid, Right Mid, etc. The players mentioned earlier played as wingers, a role which they excelled in. So what is this role? Let’s dig deeper.
Wingers are traditionally stationed near the sidelines and can play as a part of either the midfield or the attack, depending upon the manager’s strategy. They can play as traditional wingers or inverted wingers. The job of a traditional winger is that of getting past the defenders and providing crosses to the striker. An inverted winger on the other hand is expected to dribble past defenders and cut inside so as to take a shot at the goal themselves as well as provide the forwards with in swinging crosses. Arjen Robben, Gareth Bale, Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi have played as inverted wingers and have excelled in the roles whereas Ryan Giggs, Luis Figo did the same while playing as traditional wingers.
A winger is usually one of the fastest in their squad and they rely on their speed and the dribbling abilities to get past defenders. Most managers nowadays have added defensive responsibilities for their wingers (Tracking back to the defense and providing support to the wing backs) but, their primary role still remains attack centric. They need to have good passing abilities in order to help them distribute the ball well in tight situations. Wingers also need to have a good have a good sense of attack positioning and off the ball movement so as to anticipate and receive balls from fellow teammates. Composure is often overlooked but is one of the key elements which separate the good wingers from the rest.
Wingers are generally troublesome for defenders to handle. Dribbling combined with Pace is a lethal combination which will often trouble defenders. Defenders in this case make standing as well as sliding tackles. Being on the receiving end of these tackles, wingers often end up injured.
The role has seen a change over the years. From placing right footed players on the right to placing them on the left, wingers are now expected to be comfortable with playing on either side of the pitch. In the recent years, the use of inverted wingers has become more prominent and this gives the coach a wider array of strategies to exploit their abilities to the best. Here is a video which shows us a few wingers at their peak.
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