Full-back Tactics: How to interact with your winger to become a dangerous duo

Simple Combinations ​

When you’re playing as a fullback and you get the ball from the centreback, what you’ll need to do is open your body up with a positive touch and you give it to your winger up the line, and then you have a few options.

Knowing what your winger usually does is important to pick up on and you can chat with them prior to the game, so you know how they like the ball, to which foot they prefer to receive it, et cetera.

After you pass the ball, the winger will usually turn and take on the defender but if he’s got a man marking him tightly, then you ned to show after you made the pass to support him from behind. As a simple support, he could drop the ball back to you, then you could bounce it up to the striker or you might have to play it back to the centre back, whichever option is best.

If your winger is able to turn with the ball and he starts to take the ball inside, to engage the defender, THAT is your cue to bust your ass to get around him in an overlap, to receive the ball and cross the ball or dribble into the box.

Becoming more prominent is the underlap as well. If your winger takes on a player, you might be able to make the run inside, then if he passes you’re in through the channel with your momentum headed towards the goal.

Here's a quick Demo of the movements on a board ​

​My Preference: Switch and Go

As a right fullback, I enjoy supporting in this way:
When the ball is all the way on the other side of the pitch with our left back, the opposing team usually squeezes their players towards the other side of the pitch, which creates a huge amount of space on my side. When that left back plays the ball into the center mid, I would know that even before he turned with the ball, that I would get on my horse, sprinting up the line because that’s where the space would be (*it must be a player capable of pinging accurate balls across pitch for a switch of play). 


Once getting the ball, you’re in 2-v-1 territory with your winger, and that’s where the creation and collaboration happens. And then the same rules apply: play in your winger, overlap, underlap, support, move off the ball, etc.

Here's a quick Demo on a board of the movements

​Counterattack from the Keeper​

Especially on a counter attack, in the modern game, you’re also well able to make your run up the line and utilize the space that was created as a result of the oppositions thwarted attack. So if a cross comes in from the left side, and your keeper gets up and catches it, that’s your moment to realize the potential for a counter as you run up the pitch (leaving the opposing teams winger in your dust because he’s probably still in your box thinking about what just happened in their attack!) Get better and better at noticing this type of situation and it’ll become instinctual. 

​Demo here

A key helper in this situation is when your winger makes a diagonal run towards the middle of the pitch so that you can honor the space he’s made for you with your run.

​What about you?

Which Combo do you like? What's your style of play?

Make sure you're communicating with your wingers often, on and off the pitch, to be on the same page. Work hard. Work together. And for God's sake, score some goals!


Cheers,

​-z