The fascination of playing wingers on the wrong side ?

It's tedious, boring and very, very predictable.

Ojo is a left footer and cannot cross with his right.

Hoilett is a right footer and cannot cross with his left (as proven by that miss hit cross that almost dipped over the keeper)

Ojo goes off so Wilson gets put on the wing...... on his bad foot

Murphy comes on and plays......... on his bad foot

Every one of our wingers has to cut back and curl an inswinger in the hope that a striker can get a flick. Any decent opposition coach/player is aware of this tactic and defends accordingly. A cross, aay from the keeper allows a striker to get power on his header........ it also forces the defending team to face towards their own goal, which can lead to errors.

Our only threat were a few proper deliveries from Bennett (outswingers, away from the keeper) and one run by Wilson when he got to the by-line.

Why do managers do this? Warnock always thought it was clever and it never really worked for him.

Ojo & Hoilett were our poorest performers tonight, I wonder if this is a factor?

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Originally Posted by blueblade

It's tedious, boring and very, very predictable.

Ojo is a left footer and cannot cross with his right.

Hoilett is a right footer and cannot cross with his left (as proven by that miss hit cross that almost dipped over the keeper)

Ojo goes off so Wilson gets put on the wing...... on his bad foot

Murphy comes on and plays......... on his bad foot

Every one of our wingers has to cut back and curl an inswinger in the hope that a striker can get a flick. Any decent opposition coach/player is aware of this tactic and defends accordingly. A cross, aay from the keeper allows a striker to get power on his header........ it also forces the defending team to face towards their own goal, which can lead to errors.

Our only threat were a few proper deliveries from Bennett (outswingers, away from the keeper) and one run by Wilson when he got to the by-line.

Why do managers do this? Warnock always thought it was clever and it never really worked for him.

Ojo & Hoilett were our poorest performers tonight, I wonder if this is a factor?

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I asked the same thing a few weeks ago and was told it's a defensive thing. By cutting inside, it narrows the pitch slightly in a defensive way whereas someone getting to the touchline is out of the game if the cross goes wrong.

However, I still agree with you. Crosses with the wrong foot (if that's what we can call them) naturally angle towards the keeper. Crosses with the right (as in correct foot, left foot/left wing etc) will move away from the keeper.

It used to be always play your best players in their best position, perhaps is still should be

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Originally Posted by Eric the Half a Bee

I asked the same thing a few weeks ago and was told it's a defensive thing. By cutting inside, it narrows the pitch slightly in a defensive way whereas someone getting to the touchline is out of the game if the cross goes wrong.

However, I still agree with you. Crosses with the wrong foot (if that's what we can call them) naturally angle towards the keeper. Crosses with the right (as in correct foot, left foot/left wing etc) will move away from the keeper.

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And away from the goal. It’s also more difficult for the winger to get to the byline. There’s pros and cons to both.

It’s as much about creating space for the overlap of the full bsck. We created plenty of space for Bennett to cross with an outswinger. Put one or two good ones in other times his control let him down.

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Originally Posted by blueblade

It's tedious, boring and very, very predictable.

Ojo is a left footer and cannot cross with his right.

Hoilett is a right footer and cannot cross with his left (as proven by that miss hit cross that almost dipped over the keeper)

Ojo goes off so Wilson gets put on the wing...... on his bad foot

Murphy comes on and plays......... on his bad foot

Every one of our wingers has to cut back and curl an inswinger in the hope that a striker can get a flick. Any decent opposition coach/player is aware of this tactic and defends accordingly. A cross, aay from the keeper allows a striker to get power on his header........ it also forces the defending team to face towards their own goal, which can lead to errors.

Our only threat were a few proper deliveries from Bennett (outswingers, away from the keeper) and one run by Wilson when he got to the by-line.

Why do managers do this? Warnock always thought it was clever and it never really worked for him.

Ojo & Hoilett were our poorest performers tonight, I wonder if this is a factor?

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This has been a frustration of mine for many years. It certainly isn’t ‘attack’ as I remember it.
Centre Forwards should be running onto a ball that is moving away from the keeper rather than towards them.
Tonight there was an instance where Bennett was forced to put in a cross from near the goal line with his left foot and it was an excellent cross, except Moore wasn’t there to meet it. He didn’t expect it. Our attacking play is far too tentative and when chances did occur tonight our finishing was woeful.

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Originally Posted by J R Hartley

And away from the goal. It’s also more difficult for the winger to get to the byline. There’s pros and cons to both.

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But balls swinging away from the goal are harder to deal with for the defending side. Their natural trajectory favours an oncoming attacker in the box. Also, because they move away from goal, defenders often get less of a header on them. Any ball swinging away from you makes it more difficult to get a positive contact on it. The same could be said of balls that naturally swing in towards the goal. True that sometimes they only need a touch to turn them in, but they're also easier to head away.

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Originally Posted by J R Hartley

And away from the goal. It’s also more difficult for the winger to get to the byline. There’s pros and cons to both.

It’s as much about creating space for the overlap of the full bsck. We created plenty of space for Bennett to cross with an outswinger. Put one or two good ones in other times his control let him down.

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And if you have wingers naturally drifting inside then, in theory, the full-back is always going to have an extra player to aim for as well.

I cant remember the exact line John Barnes sang in the England World Cup song but it was something along the lines of there's only one way to beat them get round the back.
Football to me has lost something with wingers rarely skinning the full back and whipping the cross in from the bye line.

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Originally Posted by Hot Shot Hamish.

I cant remember the exact line John Barnes sang in the England World Cup song but it was something along the lines of there's only one way to beat them get round the back.
Football to me has lost something with wingers rarely skinning the full back and whipping the cross in from the bye line.

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Full backs are now some of the fastest people on the pitch. Gone are the days you give the ball to the winger to skin a tubby little bloke at full back. Teams have learned to defend much better as a unit. If it was so easy for a winger to get to the byline and whip crosses in all game dont you think all teams would be doing this?

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Originally Posted by J R Hartley

Full backs are now some of the fastest people on the pitch. Gone are the days you give the ball to the winger to skin a tubby little bloke at full back. Teams have learned to defend much better as a unit. If it was so easy for a winger to get to the byline and whip crosses in all game dont you think all teams would be doing this?

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Ronnie Bird would always get to the by-line, unfortunately, "he'd leave the ball behind him" :hehe::hehe:

Loved old Ronnie :thumbup:

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Originally Posted by J R Hartley

Full backs are now some of the fastest people on the pitch. Gone are the days you give the ball to the winger to skin a tubby little bloke at full back. Teams have learned to defend much better as a unit. If it was so easy for a winger to get to the byline and whip crosses in all game dont you think all teams would be doing this?

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This is pretty much it. It used to be the case in parks football that you put your worst player at right back. Obviously that wasn't so much the case in the professional game, but they were never the star player. Liverpool's dominance has come from their two incredible full backs. Alexander-Arnold was as important as Salah and Mane when they were winning almost every week for a year.

The best full backs are now the best athletes in the team.

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Originally Posted by lardy

This is pretty much it. It used to be the case in parks football that you put your worst player at right back. Obviously that wasn't so much the case in the professional game, but they were never the star player. Liverpool's dominance has come from their two incredible full backs. Alexander-Arnold was as important as Salah and Mane when they were winning almost every week for a year.

The best full backs are now the best athletes in the team.

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Is that the same full back Alexander Arnold who was torn to shreds by our winger Mendez Laing 18 months ago?

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Originally Posted by Hot Shot Hamish.

Is that the same full back Alexander Arnold who was torn to shreds by our winger Mendez Laing 18 months ago?

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Just shows these fancy full backs these days have never faced a proper winger who takes them on.

StT.
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