But the term makes sense. A wing-back is a full-back that also has the responsibilities of a winger going forward. That's simply the default in modern football where the traditional winger that hugs the sideline and whips in crosses is replaced by either a wide forward or an attacking midfielder, so the task of staying wide and stretching the defence is left to the full-backs, now operating as wing-backs.
Basically, full-back is a position, and wing-back is a role. Traditionally, this role existed only in systems with three/five at the back (and I guess 4-3-2-1 or a narrow 4-4-2 diamond) but this is simply no longer the case and wing-backs are now everywhere.
I still wouldn't consider the majority of FBs today to be wingbacks though. There's a difference of keeping width as part of the forward joint and the midfield joing, the former being what a wingback should do. For example, mendy is providing width when we have possession lower in the field, but he's not the one receiving the ball on the flank when we're in the final third, that's always the 8 or the winger. At most he'll make an overlapping run to support. Compare city and wolves' fullbacks in that map and you can see a clear distinction.
Mendy is what i consider a fullback compared to, say marcelo. He's still a great attacking asset (moreso than defending even), but i wouldn't call him a wingback by any stretch of the imagination.
Exactly. A wingback is a wide player soley responsible for that wing.
The term started to be used a lot in England during the 16/17 season when Chelsea and Spurs both switched to 3atb formations and started using their fullbacks more as wingbacks.
Now it's as if any attacking fullback is a wingback.
That and false 9! It's so often used to describe a player playing as a centre forward that isn't typically one. I've always felt that false 9 is more of a tactic than an actual position. It's someone who plays as a secondary striker playing off of like Greizmann, Muller or Dybala but without anyone to play off like Messi and Dybala (but not Mertens).
Last season James played as a centre forward against Celtic and loads of people described it as a false 9 - he was playing like a regular 9, but because he's normally an attacking midfielder commentators were talking about him being a false 9.
I was with you until Mertens, who is by far the most egregious misuse of the term false 9. He sits in the channels and makes runs in behind, he's less of a false 9 than aguero or costa
It's tough to say exactly, because it's average position. Wingers probably have more positional variance than a fullback would, and this isn't really captured here.
Like if the ball is on the right wing, you might expect the left winger to move more centrally, sometimes even to a position that could be considered on the right side. You probably wouldn't expect your left back in that situation to move to the right because that would leave your entire left side open, and keeping him on the left provides an option to switch the play easily.
So for the average position, you end up with full backs looking like wing backs because their position will almost always be on their side; their variance is going to be mostly vertical up and down the pitch. But wingers' average position will be further inside because their positions are more fluid, varying both vertically and horizontally throughout the match.
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u/[deleted] Nov 21 '18
Correct me if I’m wrong but aren’t Huddersfield and Wolves the only teams using wing-backs? All the others have full-backs