Football: The Full Back is Everything?

One position epitomises the dramatic changes in how football is played in the modern Premier League: the full back.

Before the arrival of managers like Pep Guardiola and Mauricio Pochettino the full back was the rock of defence – big, strong and old-fashioned types who commonly used statements like “if in doubt, get it out”.

Players like Gary Neville (left) who based their game around making it a difficult game for the opposition through physical interrogation and bullish tactics have simply died out of the game.

Another example and probably one of the best full backs ever seen in English football was Denis Irwin.

Although he had a phenomenal knack of getting forward and affecting the game, his primary role was to stop attacks and he regularly did that with a clattering tackle.

Evolving

The change was in the works when Ashley Cole arrived on the scene at Arsenal and began showing people the extra attributes that a defender could possess.

The England left back (left) was blessed with a left foot that during his peak years could deliver into the box the most dangerous passes in the league. Before Cole there weren’t many full backs who dared cross the halfway line more than five times in a game.

Although he was aggressive and tenacious Cole was more intelligent than the full backs of a decade earlier, with better-timed forward runs and more frequent darts into the opposition half. Pablo Zabaleta is one of very few who managed to adapt his game perfectly after arriving at Manchester City.

The Argentine defender is still known for a strong tackle and can certainly play that side of the game but over his nine-year stay at City, he began as a Neville-type defender who was shy of getting forward regularly but developed into a powerhouse in the final third.

New Style

The switch from aggressively manhandling full backs to fast-running marathon men who offer you another attacking option out wide officially landed when Pep Guardiola became one of the most influential managers in the world.

His Barcelona team included Dani Alves and Jordi Alba, who to this day are criticised for their lack of defensive quality but provide a much greater service going forward.

Guardiola’s approach has been backed by City’s big-money signings of Kyle Walker (above) and Benjamin Mendy and he has once again imposed his philosophy that a side’s full backs should be two of its best footballers.

Influence

So the role that was once filled by the most underappreciated players on the pitch is now one of the most influential positions on the field. The likes of Walker, Danny Rose at Spurs (left) and Arsenal’s Hector Bellerin are asked to provide as much width and attacking guile as a winger and if managed properly, their defensive weaknesses don’t actually matter too much, as Guardiola proved at Barca.

The days are gone when just being able to win a tackle and nullify your opposition was enough to justify a full back’s pay packet. I would even argue that players like Neville would be unable to compete in the modern day.

A full back now tends to be among the fittest players on the pitch, the marathon men of the team whose position is more appreciated now than ever before.

 

by Nubaid Haroon

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