The correct use of wide players

[madras]

One of the best ways to use the width of the pitch btw, is for the keeper to throw the ball out to the full backs who can then bring the ball out. We prefer to smash the ball long to the CF whether he's equipped for it or not.

tbf due to not getting players in the box the oppo can usually press high against us meaning the full back gets closed down quickly.

 

That's why it's not a great tactic to sit so deep and use the long ball as an out. If we encouraged forward movement and passed the ball quicker in possession like the better teams I think we could do much better. Just think back to what Keegan did to the side we were struggling with under Allardyce.

it's not a great tactic but i don't really think it's a deliberate ploy. it all stems from the lack of movement. movement gives options and that makes it easier to retain possession, watch anita when he plays in the middle, constant movement, even if not for the ball if it drags a defender away it creates space elsewhere for others. our problem being he is the only one with decent movement off the ball in a retension sense

 

 

[Belfast Mags]

It was just an explanation, its not down to an exact science i'm not that great at drawing those things

 

You never drew that, that was on a computer or something

 

I know what you were getting at with it though

 

Oi, i typed the names out and everything

 

Love your general use of the angry face, always makes me laugh 

[TRon]

One of the best ways to use the width of the pitch btw, is for the keeper to throw the ball out to the full backs who can then bring the ball out. We prefer to smash the ball long to the CF whether he's equipped for it or not.

tbf due to not getting players in the box the oppo can usually press high against us meaning the full back gets closed down quickly.

 

That's why it's not a great tactic to sit so deep and use the long ball as an out. If we encouraged forward movement and passed the ball quicker in possession like the better teams I think we could do much better. Just think back to what Keegan did to the side we were struggling with under Allardyce.

 

Was saying this to my brother earlier, although I was stressing how look it actually took KK to get us sorted out and looking fluid again.

 

It feels to me like we're at as low an ebb as we were under Allardyce and I personally can't see a quick way out of it, especially without a change of manager.

 

We're not just going to flick a switch and starting playing great all of a sudden, everyone's confidence is on the floor.

 

This is an interesting thread by the way and the wide areas are definitely one of our major problems.

 

No we aren't going to do it in an instant Rich, even Keegan struggled for his first 8 games and we seriously looked like relegation candidates at that time if you cast your mind back. But KK believed in his principles, just like Pards believes in his. Speaking for myself, I was in a far happier place when KK was boss than I am now. I am no romantic either, I just don't relate our current football to what the best teams are producing compared to the team Keegan left.

[Guest bimpy474]

It was just an explanation, its not down to an exact science i'm not that great at drawing those things

 

You never drew that, that was on a computer or something

 

I know what you were getting at with it though

 

Oi, i typed the names out and everything

 

Love your general use of the angry face, always makes me laugh 

 

I like angry Mole 

[LucaAltieri]

Also worth noting that there's no "correct" use of wide players. It depends entirely on how you want to attack and what the opposition are doing. You're going to approach the standard zonal marking back 4 differently to the back 3 Martinez likes to play here and there. You're going to attack differently again depending on how those individual defenders are behaving - standing off or keeping tight, pushing you outside or inside, going to ground or staying on their feet, doubling up or letting you roam.

 

It's all fine and well knowing what you want to do. But you need to figure out where the space is and use it as best you can. Disrupt the opposition's game plan as best you can. Your tactics don't exist in isolation.

 

There is no "correct" way to use wide players. It really just depends.

[Guest tollemache]

The OP said:

 

Under a 4-4-2, you need your wingers to be on their natural sides. Lefties on the left, right footers on the right. That way they can get to the byeline and get a cross in for the forwards.

 

Under a 4-3-3, you need your wingers to be inverted as they're actually operating as auxillary strikers and neet to cut in to support the main centre forward.

 

I don't doubt that someone can come up with some example from the last 120 years of world football where some player has bucked this trend but really this is fundamental, schoolboy level stuff

 

...and that's where I stopped reading. Total wrongness. It depends on who your wingers are, who your strikers are, who your fullbacks are, what style of football you want to play, blah blah blah blah blah wrong wrong wrong. And it's got nothing to do with whether you're playing 4-4-2 or 4-3-3 whatsoever so even more wrongy wrongness there

 

A problem of ours in the last couple of years has seemed to be having no left footers on the left side whatsoever, though given that Bernard, Duff and Robert contrived a very similar brand of aimlessness down that flank despite all being left footed, I suspect it's had more to do with a lack of cohesion than a fundamental tactical error. Lahm behind Ribery springs to mind. It's easier to overlap naturally etc if fullback and winger are either both on their 'natural' sides or favour different feet, but a good team will make it work anyway.

[Zero]

The problem is we only have Sammy and Obertan as our "wingers".  HBA is not a winger, but a play maker who is allowed to do everything.  So it is like whatever we are playing now it seems "incorrect". 

[thorin]

Only thing that matters is the player material and obv. a decent strategy/tactic where one can actually make something happen.

[AY]

One of the best ways to use the width of the pitch btw, is for the keeper to throw the ball out to the full backs who can then bring the ball out. We prefer to smash the ball long to the CF whether he's equipped for it or not.

tbf due to not getting players in the box the oppo can usually press high against us meaning the full back gets closed down quickly.

 

That's why it's not a great tactic to sit so deep and use the long ball as an out. If we encouraged forward movement and passed the ball quicker in possession like the better teams I think we could do much better. Just think back to what Keegan did to the side we were struggling with under Allardyce.

 

tbf Keegan used Martins as an out ball often. Using his pace to get behind oppo right back. Long ball to him towards the corner flag. Worked a treat because of Oba´s pace.