The inverted winger: why the wrong-footed wide player took over football

For a century a winger was a player who ran to the byline and crossed with his outside foot. The right winger was right-footed. Then coaches noticed what happens when you swap him: a left-footer on the right does not run to the byline. He cuts inside, and every cut ends with the ball on his strong foot, twenty metres from goal, facing it.

The cut inside

The mechanism is one touch. The winger receives wide with his back half-turned to the touchline. A right-footer would push the ball outside and look for the cross. The left-footer pushes it inside, across the full-back, and in that single movement three things change: he is facing the goal, the ball is on his shooting foot, and the full-back is behind him.

From there the options are the ones a number ten has, not the ones a winger has. A shot into the far corner. A pass into the striker's feet. A ball round the corner for the overlapping full-back. Robben scored the same goal for a decade and nobody could stop it, because the alternative to letting him cut inside was worse.

The inverted winger does not beat the full-back. He makes the full-back irrelevant.— TacticFrame editorial

The full-back it needs

A winger who comes inside leaves the touchline empty. Somebody has to fill it, or the defence simply narrows and the cut inside runs into three players. That somebody is the full-back, and this is why the role changed full-backs as much as wingers. The overlap is not decoration: it is the width the winger gave up.

Now the defending full-back has an impossible choice. Follow the winger inside and the overlapping full-back has the whole flank and a free cross. Stay wide on the overlap and the winger is in the half-space on his strong foot. The near midfielder can help with one of those, never both.

• The winger inverts; the full-back provides the width.
• The striker stays central so the centre-backs cannot slide across.
• The far winger does the same on the other side, so the defence cannot shift its spare man.

What defences do about it

The answer, and it is only half an answer, is to show him the outside. The defending full-back stands on the winger's inside shoulder, body angled to block the cut, and dares him to go down the line on his weak foot. The nearest midfielder drops to double up. The cross that follows comes from the wrong foot and the box is set for it.

It works against wingers who only have the cut. Against the best ones it merely changes the question: Salah shown outside plays the early low cross; Saka shown outside stops, waits for the overlap, and the full-back is now marking two. The role took over because the counter to it needs two defenders every time, and the attack only spent one.

What to look for

• Check the winger's foot against his side. Left on the right or right on the left means every touch is aimed inside.
• Watch the full-back behind him on the first cut. If he is already overlapping, the width is planned; if he is standing still, the winger is on his own.
• Notice how the defending full-back stands. Inside shoulder means the coach has prepared; square on means the cut is available all night.