In the previous article we tackled the false 9. Now lets head on to another tactical staple of the modern era, the dangerous “Inverted Wingers”. If Messi epitomizes the false 9, then his challenger for the best player of the world Cristiano Ronaldo is one of the finest inverted wingers out there.
Before we go to inverted wingers, lets first understand what a winger is. Wide midfielders play generally about mid-way between the strikers and defenders. They are stationed on their stronger foot. Right midfielders will have a strong right foot and vice versa. They use their stamina to both help out in defense and then run up the pitch to cross in the balls for the strikers.
Wingers on the other hand play much further up the field. Closer to the strikers and often just in front of the opposing full backs. They are generally faster, better dribblers and often try to go past their marker and get behind the opposition defense allowing strikers to run into space.
Inverted winger is fundamentally a simple concept. Instead of putting a left footed winger on the left, play him on the right. While this is a counter-intuitive tactic, (I mean, come on! How can you put him on his weaker foot! Most wingers don’t have another foot! *cough* Bale *cough*) it is surprising deadly.