Wizard wingers- where have they gone?

[superfaisty]

Just showing my age, and not hate by on the current set up but growing up supporting spurs we were always known as a team with wizard wingers (though of course no correlation with consistent success on the pitch).

Whether it was waddle or Anderton or Ginola or little ruel fox or Jose Dominguez or illi Dumitrescu or bale before he got too good for us, Lennon in his early years, we had a history of producing the odd good winger.

I still cannot play football manager without having some wing options.

Maybe it's a sad indictment of how the modern game has developed but there is absolutely a dearth of quality wingers at spurs and in the league in general.

I was minded of this when I thought how Poch' has taken us forward as a team that relies heavily on the full backs to provide width, which worked when you had walker rose but is hard to replicate when you don't.

Is the lack of wing options at the club worrying? Do we have to accept that if we want to succeed we can't afford the luxury of a wing wizard?

 

[Gutter Boy]

You can find them in the 1990s, located right next to fox-in-the-box forwards

 

[BrainOfLevy]

They'll be back. Right now we're on a trend of 3 at the back, everyone is trying to copy what the trend setters were doing. Eventually they'll be nothing to be gained by doing what every other team has done, so it will need to be countered. The way to beat a 3ATB will be to play wingers to get in behind the wing backs and stretch the center backs...it will come soon.

The interesting thing is tactical shifts happened so quickly last season when usually they take a few years. But we've gone from 3-5-2, to 4-4-2, to 4-3-3, to 4-2-3-1, and now 3-4-3. Back to a 4-4-2 or maybe a 4-3-3 is a logical next step for the trend.

 

[r-u-s-x]

You can find them in the 1990s, located right next to fox-in-the-box forwards

I liked Bale and Lennon on either wing - not a fan?

 

[Gutter Boy]

I liked Bale and Lennon on either wing - not a fan?

They were more about pace (and with Bale power) and cutting in, than maizey dribbling and crosses.

 

[r-u-s-x]

They were more about pace (and with Bale power) and cutting in, than maizey dribbling and crosses.

not my definition or the OP as he mentions Bale, thing its lack of Wing options rather than jinky players.

 

[parklane1]

Good question, i think todays game is more about the " TEAM" then individuals. Over the 50 years i have seen some great wingers but in all honesty i have always seen them as inconsistent players who can look magic one game and go missing the next. Of course they were exceptions but mostly ( imo) the flattered to deceive on many occasions. There are not as many individuals as they used to be in most teams and the emphasis in todays is more about the unit and how it blends together.

 

[SpurMeUp]

Where have they gone? Try the Transfer Rumours thread. Balde probably fits the bill.

 

[milo]

They'll be back. Right now we're on a trend of 3 at the back, everyone is trying to copy what the trend setters were doing. Eventually they'll be nothing to be gained by doing what every other team has done, so it will need to be countered. The way to beat a 3ATB will be to play wingers to get in behind the wing backs and stretch the center backs...it will come soon.

The interesting thing is tactical shifts happened so quickly last season when usually they take a few years. But we've gone from 3-5-2, to 4-4-2, to 4-3-3, to 4-2-3-1, and now 3-4-3. Back to a 4-4-2 or maybe a 4-3-3 is a logical next step for the trend.

You are right. Changes in popular formation are about exploiting space on the pitch or neutralising the strengths of the opposition. A manager will find a system that exploits the inherent weaknesses in 3-4-2-1 and we will all move on. At some point that will lead us back to wingers.

 

[Raziel]

Wingers became wing forwards? I really don't see the game returning to a player that sticks out wide and only puts crosses in (that duty has been picked up by FBs), as @Gutter Boy said, don't expect to see poacher forwards again (hence Hernandez is at West Ham vs. a decent club despite his ability)

Due to the expectation of something more than being able to get a cross in, the modern equivalent has to be more of a direct goal threat, e.g. for us -> Son (previously Bale), the greatest example of course being CR.

 

[90291Spur]

You can find them in the 1990s, located right next to fox-in-the-box forwards

A rumuor was that Ruel Fox rents bouncy castles.