Overlapping centrebacks could become a thing, like we saw with Chris Wilder's Sheffield United. But that's probably either too far into the future or not gonna be explored due to bigger changes in the picture
While there are still out and out center forwards, they've also been forced to evolve and adapt their game. The likes of Lewandowski, Lukaku, Haaland and Kane can not only score goals like a striker would, but they also have the ability to drop deep (Esp Kane last season) or move out wide (I know Lukaku does that quite a bit, his footwork isn't as bad as people make it out to be.)
Center forwards are now acting more like a pivot up front, mostly a traditional target man + linkup play to lay off other forwards, Giroud is another type of player here. Still this leaves space for positional forwards like Vardy, Aguero, Lautaro Martinez to strive because of their positioning and sharpness in front of goal.
Lukaku footwork is not bad at all, people seem to forget technical skills can get better with age. Unlike physical traits which tend to be more set in stone
The 433 or the 4231 is the best examples of the rise of inside forwards like Robben, Rashford, Salah and Mbappe and the inverted wingers like Ribery, Hazard, Di Maria and Marhez. It's the current football meta and why Guardiola, Klopp and Zidane have a false 9.
Eh the meta for me anyways is changing to a 3 in the back. The 433 has always been the meta especially with the Likes of Barca, Spain, Ajax, and Netherlands. Feel like the 433 will always be a go to. While now a days were seeing 3 in the backs even in a 433 system where a wing back or DM slots in as a 3rd CB to provide build up and protect counters.
@@rickynetogoat5769 There are no longer any fixed formations. It's a different formation for each phase of play, like defence, transition and attack. Also players are having different roles in each phase, instead of a fixed place throughout the match.
@@camelio10 Scoring 20+ goals in league under nagelsmann's counter attacking style was perfect suited for Werner. He was an average player before and should've stayed at Leipzig for his own good
@@pavanmanchineni4153 he might not scored tons of goals but he got his first UCL in his first season in Chelsea. Isn't it a "good" personal achievement one could get? I bet he'll never regret his decision on this move
@@h.z1793 Achievements are highly subjective innit? I mean everyone loves to win, but buffon hasn't won CL till now while odriozola kind of players have won.
@@camelio10 It all depends upon the club and style of football they play. Look at Griezmann, he was in the same league in Atletico and Barca but the thing is Defensive Counter Attacking team players don't suit to other styles easily but other can suit to counter attacking quick like Louis Suarez.
Without great hardworking fullbacks,playing inside forwards or inverted wingers can basically be shooting yourself on the foot.The best example of this is Barca playing Messi on the right wing and Roberto as a right back.
Yep or Guardiola's City which don't have fullbacks overlapping/underlapping hence his team always looks a lot better when playing with traditional wingers compared to inverted wingers.
For this system to really work, you need the best attacking fullbacks possible with center backs who can defend a 2v3 or a 2v4. With this system teams either play like Liverpool or Arsenal
Not really if you can still get numbers back from your midfield. A lot of center mids now a days are told to defend the wide areas and become more of a carillero. To help full backs like Marcos Llorente does for Atleti or Koke. It really just depends on who's in your midfield. Attacking full backs also aren't really that important as defensive ones. Atleti love their inside wingers and one could argue that they have some of the best defensive wing backs in terms of straight defending. I feel like a more suited attribute would be crossing like Trippier or TAA because of how wife wing backs are supposed to be in attack due to the inward runs of wingers
No you dont... Klopp has fabinho deep to help stop counters (through tactical fouls). and pep adopts a sort of w-m formation to stop counters with the fullbacks inverting into midfield.
@@Getroy Actually they do. While Mahrez and Sterling tend to hug the touchline to stretch the pitch, they are always cutting in with the ball when they receive it in space... Do you watch Mahrez play hes always cutting into his left foot. And Sterling also inverts in the final third to get into the box.
This is what the doubter of ronaldo's 'goal-per-match' need to know ; ronaldo career is from 2002 - until now. But he ONLY started playing inside forward or centre forward since mid 2007. from 2002 until pre-mid 2007, he was still playing as a traditional winger (also called right/left mid) in a 442 formation, they just run to the byline and whip in cross all the time, thats all they do for most of the 90 minute (like what fullback do nowadays. fullback essentially replaced the traditional winger's crossing job). So just imagine that, how many game he went without focusing on goalscoring and attacking towards the box. THAT'S what create the huge gap between games played and goal scored. Now i dont want to see "but messi was a midfield too" no he wasnt, he just DROP DEEP, and then proceed to go up the field. He's a unique forward that help the build-up play, but he is still a forward, he literally goes up the field towards goal. Cavani and tevez always drop deep, yet I dont see anyone calling them a midfielder?.. Yes, messi has played CAM but thats just some rare occassion back in the days and in recent years with Barca, usually to fill spot left by absent players or tactical change for a specific game. He never fully dedicate as a CAM throughout a whole single season. Ronaldo on the other hand, dedicate 5 whole season as a fully traditional winger. Hence the goal-per match gap. This is not a hate towards messi at all (I love him, he's a much more complete player than CR).But an explanation to ronaldo's goalscoring doubter/hater
Bro . I don't wanna start a mostly used football debate . Let's just say Messi didn't simply dropped midfield. His vision and passing is second to none. That's why he has playmaker of year awards. Also the way he carried team in 2017-2018 is impeccable playmaking sense. One More thing to say Messi's goals are coming as a bonus from his playmaking role. He too played RW role is 2 years I guess. Edited: What Messi does is not like Cavani or Tevez does by coming inside .
@@Praveen.mukunda.3 Everything you said didn't make any sense... and what did didn't say anything at all. He just said Ronaldo's sketchy goals per game ratio is in part due to his role as a player when he first started playing.
@@Praveen.mukunda.3 Im not talking about his vision or playmaking bro, I know its incredible and i have no problem with that. But do you know why i bring up about 'messi playing midfield'? Heres an example of what people always say for messi : Person A : "ronaldo didnt score much because he was a traditional winger earlier in his career " Person B : " But messi was not a forward too, he was a midfielder back then. But he still have a better goal-per-game ratio." So person B is saying, messi is placed in midfield, but he still score so much, which is incredible. But person B is wrong. Messi is NOT placed in midfield. He is placed at forward, so although he drop deep and does midfield duty like playmaking, he will eventually go forward into the box to join the attack and score. That means he's still a forward. he doesnt stay around the middle of the field like Kroos, Xavi, Pirlo, Jorginho, Rakitic. So all my explanation is to tell why people who think like person B is incorrect. I'm not talking about messi's vision or playmaking, i know all that but that has nothing to do with this. Yes i know cavani/tevez does not do the same thing like messi. But regardless of the different thing that they do when deep (playmaking /build-up passes / tackling/ marking), whatever each of them does, one thing for sure, they are STILL forwards/strikers. Because they eventually go up to the penalty box to score goals. They dont stay around the middle like those midfield names that i said previously. And about that RW that you said, messi is playing as inside forward RW bro, so still a 'forward', like this video. Not traditional RW (a.k.a RM), like ronaldo from 2002-2007.
Hadnot been that three goals by him, you wouldn't even think of sniffing these type of comments. Let that kid atleast play a season good, then tell "one of the best" nonsense. Don't just rate him yet.
Great video. On the graph showed at the beginning, it's impressive how Messi+Ronaldo's output in '08 and '12 even bent the statistics against the dominating trend ofthe time, lol
While I enjoy seeing both players' achievements and evolution, I found Messi in 2012 (calendar year) to be inhuman. Don't think we'll see something like it anytime soon. The following year, he had some injuries that slowed him down statistically (I suspect it was somehow related with him becoming a father for the first time). Afterwards he morphed a bit, to add the Xavi role to his repertoire.
@@rlfernandes9538 2012 was obviously Messi's best year in terms of goalscoring, but personally I think his best season overall was 2014/2015. It's when he added that new deep-lying playmaker dimension to his game, while still scoring a massive amount of goals.
@@rod6722 agree, that was the "Xavi role" I mentioned. He became much more complete and influential in games. That first MSN season was magical, happy I was able to watch those games. So much flow with a 2-3-5 in attack (Alba, Neymar, Suarez, Messi and Alves moving around the front). That will hardly be repeated.
If you have followed this channel closely , you know he has made this video very early , but i guess it was on patreon , now he has uoloaded it , BTW great video mate!
Haven’t watched the video yet but i feel like the first time i really saw inside forwards were ajax back in 80s and 90s im sure they were used before though and also thought bayern with ribery and robben used it to perfection
Finally some brought up this topic as guy who started watching football in the early days for 2010’s I saw this football Transition involving wide players basically becoming strikers in game . Cr7 is my favorite player so I obviously I would break down his game and I would see this. Players such as bales , sterling and even spurs heuing-Ming son . Even in fifa I would use winger as strikers because they had all the tools to scores goals such as in real life . For example putting son on the wings is a waste the guy is agile fast and shoot the ball with either foot. Even tho I’m spurs he often starts on the LW/LM position he almost played like a second left handed striker next to Harry Kane. This players are favorites players who play on the wing but Contribute in the score Line weather being assist or goals . So many of things players are my favorite players. Such as Ronaldo , (prime) hazard neymar , salah , bale , Ribery , son , and Messi
I mean I get what you're saying but you could say that Son provides a different dynamic when he's out in the left that I don't think he could get playing down the middle. Moving between channels is so much better when moving from the wings and it's a different set of abilities. Using Son as a secondary striker to a big man like Kane is good but when you use Son as a solo Striker I feel like that would be a lot more difficult for him to accomplish then what he does from the wing. In Fifa I always like to use my wingers to make the runs while the striker sits deep and becomes my target man. Feel like that's much better for using Son than playing him as an out and out striker
When C. Ibe Ronaldo won the golden boot and best forward in 08, he said he had changed football a little bit. This is the result of that change actually.
CR7 and Pep changed football drastically. Pep changed defensive aspect of football, defenders are rated not only with his defensive attributes but also his ability to play the ball.
@Tamal Chakraborty Actually the wide players pep uses arent exactly classical wingers. They tend to hug the touchline to underload the opposite side of the pitch. This allows guardiolas team to overload one side and switch play, giving the opposite wide player a one on one vs the opposition full back. In this instance they either can cut in or they can pass it to an onrushing midfielder in the half space. Riyad Mahrez and Sterling are far from classical wingers
"How Wingers Became The Most Important Players". Became? Look at the Dutch football school, which is based on wing play, or at Ajax 90's... Wingers and inside forwards were, in specific systems, already key... And that 30 years ago!
@@JayzsMr yeah man you're wrong in this one. Wingers we're often times played inside like in the modern game just they would be creators like Sarabia, and early Beckham rather than inside forwards like we see today.
Would love it if you could do a video about Wide Playmakers such as how teams like Leipzig (Sabitzer, Forsberg and now Szoboszlai) utilize to great success.
Nice video! We should also add that teams press more than before and are now more compact than before, which means creativity higher of the field is harder since there are less solutions to give the ball, and less time to think about what to do. So n°10 and creators can't be at the heart of the game, they have to be in a much lower or wider position, as a regista or creative winger (or even as wing back, like Alexander-Arnold)
I think the historical description of this video is very connected to England. Brazil in almost its entire history had examples of inside forwards and inverted wingers
I guess u should include Football manager game info in the role explaining thing. Its so accurate and viable and people who play it have more understanding of the game.
Isn't that Putting pressure on wingers too ? If you score it's good but if you can't ? You're considered as a useless winger now. Sterling for example is an excellent winger & prolly best but gets slandered for missing sitters.
A dozen years ago Mourinho - Britain's most hated man for playing defensive like it was part of the game - was doing all this at Inter with Milito as center striker, Eto'o/Pandev as winger cutting inside and Maicon burning up the right outside. He won a treble doing it beating Barcelona, Chelsea and Bayern Munich along the way. I think at this point it's safe to say that if it is being done in EPL now, than it has been a part of the regular tactical game in Italy and Spain for a quite a while.
I must disagree, the inside forward actually makes the striker role even more important, as they now must contribute more into teamplay instead of just camping in the final third all game waiting for oppoturnity. Many of the greatest super stars in the last decade playing in this role: Messi, Benzema, Lewan, Kane, Rooney, Drogba, Ibra, Tevez, Henry..... On the contracy, there were not as many super star inside forward: CR7, Neymar, Salah, Son, Robben.... With the exception of CR7, the inside forwards group could not really match the striker group in term of legendary status.
Msn Messi neymar we’re inverted wingers . In fact Messi has always been an inverted winger from 2003-2009 he played on the rw and he’s left foot . From 2015-2019 he played on the rw ofc he would drift anywhere to
Wenger kinda invented this system with Pires and Ljungberg in early 2000's especially Pires he was such prolific goalscorer playing from wide area, however CR7 popularized this trend in 2007, another winger followed suit even Robben wasnt a prolific goalscorer before he moved to Bayern in 2009. What made CR7 special is that he always outshined world class strikers in his team, like Wayne Rooney, Carlos Tevez, & Karim Benzema. Hes always been the focal point of his team ahead of those generational strikers.
Milan's 3-4-3 was probably the only exception, their front three that consisted of Sheva/Inzaghi, Kaka, Seedorf was narrower, yet, both Sheva & Inzaghi didn't drop as deep as other false 9s, well cuz they weren't.. Well, a front three doesn't always need inverted wingers or inside forwards IMO..
ronaldinho inside forward left, messi inside forward right, both always start attacking from deep wide, etoo more like targetman pivotal for both can drift into penalty
Well explained. I could add that this change probably started in 2006 world cup with 3 players focused on it: Ribbery, Robben and specially LAHM. Not before that cuz ive even seen Messi videos playing on the left at BarcaB. Its not a secret that this change is one of the effects of a more offensive football since 2008.
It started a few years before. Before the 2006 World Cup, Ronaldinho was already the best player in the world playing as an inverted winger for Barcelona. Another example would be Zidane, who played as an inverted winger for Real Madrid. Inverted wingers weren't the rule in the early 2000s but there already were some prominent examples.
@@lexkanyima2195 Of course he wasn't, but for Real Madrid he started from the left-wing, with Roberto Carlos occupying the wing when Zidane would come inside. Kinda like players such as Ozil and Iniesta played on the wing in some games despite not being wingers.
What with this revisionism here? Robben wasnt known as a prolific goalscorer before his transfer to Bayern Munich in 2009. If you want to know the inventors of this system, you can look at Arsene Wenger in 2002-2004 with Robert Pires and Sir Alex Ferguson 2006-2009 with Cristiano Ronaldo. Go take a look at numbers of goal scored by these 2 players playing on the wide positions.
other than formation and tactics, there is also the culture of football - people watching messi and ronaldo, you then have the talented kids growing up wanting to play like them
I don’t know if this can be also included but to have winger who are really moving and versatile in their positions in order to make the opposition defensive confused. A front three that has both inverted wings but who can switch positions in between them and the center-forward. Barcelona’s MSN used to play like that but a quick example is the front three of last year’s Chelsea! When Mount was playing as a winger, they tend to switch wings and you would never know who track Pulisch or Werner or Mount in counter-attack! I’ve just thought of it 😂😂
Strikers are still there kicking, its the Im small pacy player so I'll play as stiker so ill dribble pass is dead cause that rearly works, so most team takes Tall and strong strikers while sends the pacy players in wing cause that works better. Plus taller player can score with head thats not easy for shorter players
Not necessarily. Theres been many phases over the years where defense was more important. Look at the milan team of old. They barely scored any goals, one of the lowest of all time for a league winning side. But they just didnt allow people to score. Its just like fashion, there will be phases. It will constantly change back and forth
The best centre forwards actually adapted several aspects of inside forward play in their game to take them above other strikers in goalscoring. Haaland plays similarly to an inside forward in the sense that he likes to make his trademark diagonal runs into the inside left channel before wrapping his favourite left foot around the ball to send to the far corner. As such he often lines up in the right half space upfront to allow his diagonal runs to happen. Lewandowski is known for dropping deep but he often drops deep to the flanks to help in overloads. While he rarely cuts inside to shoot like ronaldo after coming up from the flanks, he much prefers to pass the ball away to allow him to get into central scoring areas in the box. The future will see the rise of goalscoring wingbacks as the three centre back tactic with wingbacks become more popular like at the recent Euros. The rise of achraf hakimi and denzel dumfries cannot be ignored in the eventual evolution of the goalscoring wingback.
I feel like this video is 10 years too late . Current evolution shifts back importance on the classical forward with 3 at the back formations becoming poplar which allows the classical forward to stay centrally supported by two creative players . Like Chelsea are playing for example. Furthermore especially in Germany teams play with a very strong emphasis on high pressing and quick transitions through the center which let to the rise of forwards like Haland who mainly thrive in these situations . Then obviously Guardiola who is always ahead of the curve who uses his fullbacks as midfielders while the wingers stay wide and play more like classical wingers to make space for creative 10 like players to attack the half spaces behind and create goals via cutbacks.
As someone who only started watching football in 2012, I wish that someday the 4-4-2 formation would be the go to formation for all the top teams in Europe again
Football should thank Pep for this. For him the wingers do not have to go to the corner because it means locking himself in with only the ball. The winger must go to goal associating on the way with his teammates
Wenger introduced it first to EPL with Pires and Ljungberg as goalscoring inverted wingers, when Guardiola is still playing. Wenger revealed he was once visited by Guardiola, who wanted to join Arsenal and learn from Wenger
It's simple really. Wingers tend to only face against 1 opponent on the side, which the current top wingers always dribble or cut into middle and shoot before reaching the opponent's central defenders. Meanwhile center forwards used to be 2 against 2 found themselves 2v1 in the current trend, making their jop much harder than before.
