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Wingers - left-footers on the right and vice versa


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Are we the only team that tends to play left footed players at outside right/right wing and right footed players at outside left/left wing or do all teams do this? We have employed this tactic for years now but other than tucking in the wingers for a better defensive shape, I am baffled as to what it brings. 

 

Other than Chris Waddle, I can’t think of many of our players that really suited playing “on the opposite wing”. 

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If we had amazing attacking full backs we would really see the benefits of this as that's what it is designed to do. get them in space.  But we don't as neither Palmer or Fox or even Hunt or Pudil were that great at doing the job of an attacking full back. 

 

Strange.

 

We should just let Reach and Aarons attack there own sided flanks.

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14 minutes ago, Junk Smuggler said:

...allowing Wallace to come inside on his left fit and often get shots away. 

 

Anyone else reading this as the policeman from Allo Allo?

 

Team-talk “Pisss it to the wanger, run into the box, wait for the criss, jimp, and hood it into the nit past the goal-cooper.”

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1 hour ago, Junk Smuggler said:

Only time it ever really used to work for us is when Wallace was here. The RB would give us the width drawing one or two players in the process allowing Wallace to come inside on his left fit and often get shots away. 

I respectfully disagree. I think we lost a lot of Wallace’s attacking threat when he had to keep checking back on his left foot. We never played him on the left which would have allowed him to get to the byline and whip the ball in. 

Edited by shandypants
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22 minutes ago, shandypants said:

I respectfully disagree. I think we lost a lot of Wallace’s attacking threat when he had to keep checking back on his left foot. We never played him on the left which would have allowed him to get to the byline and whip the ball in. 

Wallace wasn't a get to the byline type winger.

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I think a lot of teams do this these days, but imagine if Fergie put Giggs on the right and Becks on the left for the whole of every match. Seems an odd thing to do to me 

 

Like I said after the Ipswich game I’m not sure why Reach and Boyd didn’t switch for a bit in the second half. But I have more faith in Bruce’s coaching than my own 

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3 minutes ago, Southie_Owl said:

I think a lot of teams do this these days, but imagine if Fergie put Giggs on the right and Becks on the left for the whole of every match. Seems an odd thing to do to me 

 

Like I said after the Ipswich game I’m not sure why Reach and Boyd didn’t switch for a bit in the second half. But I have more faith in Bruce’s coaching than my own 

It allows Palmer and Fox to see a lot of the ball on the wings and deliver crosses into the box. the problem is that they are not very good at it.

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9 minutes ago, pazowl55 said:

It allows Palmer and Fox to see a lot of the ball on the wings and deliver crosses into the box. the problem is that they are not very good at it.

That’s not quite the problem.

Fox puts very good crosses in from the left. He just doesn’t get into a position to do it more than once or twice per game.

Palmer on the other flank, lately being a more willing runner, gets into position more often, but struggles to find a team mate with his cross.. However under the Bruce regimen the main job of a full back seems to be to to defend, hence the clean sheets.

Crossing is becoming more the job of the midfielders.

 

The ideal scenario for me would be for our wide attacking players, like Reach for instance, to keep switching wings.

A full back suddenly facing a different type of player every few minutes down the flanks is unsettling for opposing defences.

 

 

 

 

 

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1 hour ago, pazowl55 said:

Wallace wasn't a get to the byline type winger.

Not for us but I heard him interviewed once by Radio Sheffield and he said that he’d played all of his career prior to coming to us on the left where he’d get to the byline and cross. He said that it was new to him playing on the right. 

Edited by shandypants
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1 hour ago, shandypants said:

I respectfully disagree. I think we lost a lot of Wallace’s attacking threat when he had to keep checking back on his left foot. We never played him on the left which would have allowed him to get to the byline and whip the ball in. 

 

Wallace’s best performance in an Owls shirt was 45 second half minutes against Bristol in 2016 playing on the left. We came from 2 goals down to win 3-2. Bizarrely he never played wide left again.

 

I think people get carried away with the screamers Wallace and Reach have scored for us cutting in from the right. Overall we’d look far threatening if we played wingers on their natural side. 

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Guest wilyfox

Depends on ability. Waddle had the dribbling wizardry to turn defenders inside out at will and do pretty much what he wanted. On the outside, Reach doesn't have the pace to roast full-backs and protect the ball on his weaker side. When he cuts inside on his favoured left, he doesn't always have the guile & craft to create himself a yard to shoot or deliver, so he often comes away from goal and plays a backward pass. Momentum is lost and we end up going nowhere. Switch him back to the left and you lose his goal threat from range altogether. It's a problem. 

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I can understand a player, any player  let alone a winger, much preferring one foot to the other. What i cannot understand is the inability of so many players in today's game  to be able to use BOTH feet. One will always prefer using one's 'better' foot,  but to be constantly dragging it back onto that foot, particularly when on the wing, is something I find abhorrent. With the amount of money these chaps are getting paid they shouldbe able to use both feet. 

The case of Wallace used to stick out a mile. He played on the right wing and ALWAYS had to bring the ball onto the inside , which meant that the defender had only to keep on his left hand side, and prevent him cutting in.

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13 minutes ago, Buxtongent said:

I can understand a player, any player  let alone a winger, much preferring one foot to the other. What i cannot understand is the inability of so many players in today's game  to be able to use BOTH feet. One will always prefer using one's 'better' foot,  but to be constantly dragging it back onto that foot, particularly when on the wing, is something I find abhorrent. With the amount of money these chaps are getting paid they shouldbe able to use both feet. 

The case of Wallace used to stick out a mile. He played on the right wing and ALWAYS had to bring the ball onto the inside , which meant that the defender had only to keep on his left hand side, and prevent him cutting in.

100% agree. I always used the analogy of a driving instructor to show it's ridiculousness. Imagine you've been learning to drive for 2 to 3 months and one lesson you say to your instructor "can I learn a manoeuvre today" the reply"sorry I can't teach you to go backwards, forwards I'm brilliant, but backwards no chance its just too difficult for me".

 

I think the instructor would struggle long term for pupils! Yet this nonsense is allowed at all levels in football. I'm not expecting every player to be able to beat 4 players then bang it into the top corner from 25 yards with their weaker foot but they should be competent enough to perform the basics with each foot.

Edited by damianb1
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Many years ago the right winger played on the right and the left on on the left. If they were any good they would test the full back and if they weren't getting any joy they would switch wings and both try the opposite full back. If they didn't get any joy they would switch back and try again later.

 

Ring the changes, keep asking different questions of the opposition. These days it doesn't seem to happen, maybe managers want to keep the defensive shape. To me it shows the players don't have the ability to think for themselves or they do but the manager won't allow them to.

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2 hours ago, Blatter said:

That’s not quite the problem.

Fox puts very good crosses in from the left. He just doesn’t get into a position to do it more than once or twice per game.

Palmer on the other flank, lately being a more willing runner, gets into position more often, but struggles to find a team mate with his cross.. However under the Bruce regimen the main job of a full back seems to be to to defend, hence the clean sheets.

Crossing is becoming more the job of the midfielders.

 

The ideal scenario for me would be for our wide attacking players, like Reach for instance, to keep switching wings.

A full back suddenly facing a different type of player every few minutes down the flanks is unsettling for opposing defences.

 

 

 

 

 

Problem is once in that position first thing both look to do is play it square to Bannan.

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