When I first started watching football, fullbacks pretty much stayed full back. Over the last 30 years they have become more attack minded, certainly for the top teams, & this has created partnerships where the winger is expected to tuck in when the fullback overlaps. Classic examples for United are Neville/Beckham, Evra/Giggs, Smalling/Valencia. Do you see ‘covering down the channels’ as the future for United. or should there be a completely different setup. Eg. no wingers, much more attacking fullbacks, & 2 holding midfielders who interchange with the centre half &/or fullback. United’s tradition is to have ‘world class’ wingers, Best, Beckham, Giggs, Ronaldo, etc, & personally, this is the style of football I prefer to watch, but could this work
2 Centre halves who interchanging with the Defensive midfielders & full back positions
Jones & Smalling. Both comfortable on the ball, & versatile enough to take up all 3 positions.
2 Wingbacks who would be expected to push on down the line for most of the game with cover from CHs & DMs
Rafael & Fabio. Both attack minded & capable of taking on a defenders. Played a similar role successfully against Arsenal
2 Defensive midfielders their main role would be to break up play, but they would also be required to find a pass; both long to the wingbacks, & penetrating to the attacking diamond . At least one of them will be back at all times, & ready to drop into CH or FB position.
Currently, in my opinion, we do not have anyone capable of playing this role, possibly Pogba & Tunicliffe for the future.
In the short term we could use Jones & Fletcher who are defensively sound & astute enough to take up all 3 positions, but will they find that searching pass? (this would mean Evans as CH),
4 Attacking Midfield/forwards in a diamond which rotates between attacking midfield & centre forward. Little or no defensive duties other than to harry the opposing defenders. A playmaker with an eye for goal.
Rooney, Nani, Cleverly, Welbeck.
In essence there are no fixed positions: we have 6 interchangeable players at the back when we are up against it, & 6 up front when we are attacking.
Is this an option?
posted on 11/11/11
I dont see the benefit of having centre backs who interchange with the midfielders. Will create far too many problems.
posted on 11/11/11
Gimme a minute
posted on 11/11/11
No, it's not really an option. Unless they all shared a telepathic link it would just cause confusion. Players for the most part want to know just what their role is, and don't like to be out of their comfort zone. And having the entire attack force with no defensive duties would be a recipe for disaster.
posted on 11/11/11
This only works in extreme cases though. There are not many full-backs that are able to run up and down the pitch and genuinely be a threat and be defensively alert. Remember Theo Walcott slamming Carl Jenkinson as despite his ability to try to attack, there was a complete lack of his defensive side, and if it wasn't for Walcotts' speed it would have led to a goal scoring opportunity.
In my opinion, there is barely a handful of full-backs in the league that can do this successfully, Evra and Cole probably the only two. Rafael is working on it, but we all hold out breath when he's trying to chase a player back, and hoping he doesn't lunge at them.
The best two in the world at the time that did this was Roberto Carlos and Cafu. It'll probably never be repeated again successfully on the pitch as consistently as those two.