Jamie Carragher vs. Gary Neville

But as Melton said it is more specialised because the wingback not operating with wide forwards (the way Barca do it) and how we aren't don't have the players ahead that can move opposing players out of position to give them the space to attack which is what you see so often with more conventional fullbacks who have wingers ahead of them to do that.

comment by manutd1982 (U6633)
posted 20 minutes ago
I can imagine his were similar. Do you find he offers enough defensive support, always been something I've been sceptical of him.

Regarding United I think Rafael can do the wingback role well because he loves to bomb forward. I'm slightly more skeptical with Shaw purely because his main attribute is his defensive game and while his offensive game is good but not something you would want from a wingback. In general I'm not particularly a fan of us wanting to operate 352, 433 with actual pace on the wings would be so much more balanced for us.
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Agreed, don't think shaw offers much going forward, whereas rafael, while defensively weaker is a better attacker. I don't think WB role will suit shaw, he doesn't have a particularly good skill set for offensive play.

The wing-backs become the winger when going forward. So when one of the centre backs or one of the central midfielders is on the ball it's the wing-back making the space further up the pitch.

Their natural starting position when play is building up isn't as deep as it would if they played in a 4 man defence, it'd be 10-15 metres higher.

You want your wide CBs bombing forward to put in crosses???

It's more the cover they have behind them - fullbacks playing with wingers, then the winger will stay deep. With inside forwards, they are essentially wingbacks.

Manutd, Rafael would be good I agree. I prefer wingbacks that are converted fullbacks more than I do converted wingers.

The other thing i would add is the role of the wingback in a 352 differs not just due to the normal transitions in game but also as a whole. Some are used to make up for flaws defensively and so play out as a 532 whereas others are all about controlling midfield.

Your 352, the issue at the moment is it isn't balanced for me and your central defenders aren't good enough given the people you are utilising as wingbacks. I thought it suited your squad brilliantly last year. Not right now though.

Yeah I always thought Evra would suit the wingback role the older he got and the less interested he seemed to be in defending.

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I can imagine it's an incredibly demanding role which is why I agree with Neville in saying it's a specialised role. I'm sure a player who has played over 400 games in the wide defensive role can understand the differences better than any of us, experience in anything gives you a far better understanding.

Carra's wearing the better suit so he wins