The Sacred Art of Wingbacking in, Who's who?
There's a beautiful fable in native Igbo folklore about the bat and how he's neither a land or air animal. It's a story that resonates with some positions in football. An attacker should attack, a defender should defend right? But we're not here to talk about midfielders. More interesting is the sacred art of wingbacking in 2021.
There's a debate to be had that as the years have gone by wingback has morphed into a role rather than simply a position. As such, you can have wingbacks in a back four system and you can have traditional fullbacks in back five or three at the back systems. You could argue this was always the case and most people misunderstand and misuse the term. But let's stick to the popular use of the term. Let's imagine wingbacks as the widest "defenders" in a back five.
Wingbacks come in different molds. More often than not they are natural fullbacks pushed further forward like when Reece James plays there. Sometimes they are quite attacking players pulled back to give the team greater balance see Victor Moses 2016-2018. Sometimes they’re even strikers forced to play as wingbacks by big brain managers (see Calvert-Lewin playing right wingback under Ronald Koeman)
But who have been the standout wingbacks of the season so far? What’s being asked of them? What do their numbers look like and why?
Here's the 22 wingbacks involved and their teams.
Silas Wamangituka, Borna Sosa (Stuggart)
Enda Stevens, George Baldock (Sheffield United)
Filip Kostic, Almamy Toure (Eintrach Frankfurt)
Angelino, Tyler Adams (RB Leipzig)
Raphael Guerreiro, Thomas Meunier (Dortmund)
Ryan Sessegnon, Pavel Kaderabek (Hoffenhiem)
Archaf Hakimi, Ivan Perisic (Inter)
Robin Gosens, Hans Hataboer (Atalanta)
Manuel Lazarri (Lazio)
Wilfred Singo (Torino)
Leonardo Spinazzola (Roma)
Tariq Lamptey (Brighton)
Nelson Semedo (Wolves)
Marcos Alonso (Chelsea)
*Note that some of these have played in a back 4 at points this season but since they played as really attacking fullbacks either way (in some cases) and most of their minutes came as wingbacks I've ignored that. Some have even played in other positions e.g Perisic as a striker.
*All stats are from the brilliant Fbref and were correct as of 13/03/21
BALL PROGRESSION
How progressive are they? How do they prefer to progress the ball?
It's not uncommon to see wingbacks tasked with moving the ball up the pitch for their teams, especially in teams which lack natural calmness in the middle of the park.
Dortmund's Raphael Guerreiro a dynamic ball progressor, capable of carrying or passing the ball forward. His partner in crime on the right, Meunier is dynamic with his progression. For Dortmund players with at least 900 minutes, they're 4th and 5th respectively for progressive distance carried with 3 centre backs ahead of them.
Lamptey (Brighton) and Singo (Torino) are 2 impressive U23 wingbacks who rather use their pace and carry the ball than pass forward.
Wamangituka (Stuttgart) and Perisic (Inter) aren't tasked with progression for their teams
BALL PROGRESSION (INTO FINAL THIRD)
Are they tasked with bringing the ball into the final third? How do they prefer to progress the ball into the final third?
In certain teams, wingbacks are crucial to breaking into the final third. Either by passing or carrying it.
Again, Dortmund's duo are double trouble when progressing into the final third. Roma's Spinazzola is also effective at progressing both ways.
Again, Lamptey and Singo rather carry. Marcos Alonso interestingly would much rather carry as well when it comes to bringing the ball into the final third.
DELIVERY INTO PENALTY AREA
How crucial are they to their team entering the penalty area? Would they rather cross or pass into the opponent's box?
Traditional fullbacks are more often than not the most common crossers in their teams. When the ball is out wide they're often tasked with sending it into the box.
Eintrach Frankfurt's wingback duo are very good at delivering the ball into the box by both crossing and passing.
For Leipzig Tyler Adams and Angelino have extremely different roles. Angelino is tasked with delivering the ball into the box, both by crossing and passing. Tyler Adams on the other flank is more of a grafter. A natural defensive midfielder by trade, playing as a wingback, it's understandable that his skillset isn't particularly suited to an attacking role. The balance he offers is invaluable however.
For Sheffield United, Baldock heavily favours crossing while to his left Enda Stevens doesn't do either as much.
PENALTY AREA INVOLVEMENT
How involved are they in games? How active are they in the penalty area?
Wingbacks aren't always asked to hug the touchline and deliver. Underlapping runs into the box are also a good way to get wingbacks involved. Some teams (especially possession dominant teams) involve their wingbacks heavily in buildup.
Wamangituka and Perisic are extremely special. Without having much touches in the game, they constantly have possession in the penalty area. For context both Wamangituka (5.07) and Perisic (4.82) have more touches in the penalty area per 90 that Harry Kane (4.6).
Again the difference between the roles of Angelino, the attacking force, and Adams, the balancing act, for Leipzig.
Nelson Semedo is a serious drop off from Matt Doherty for Wolves last year. While he's having around the same number of touches, he touches the ball a lot less in the box. Doherty's last season numbers would have been alongside Angelino and Alonso.
QUALITY OF CHANCES CREATED
How creative are they? How often do they create shooting chances? How good are these chances?
Very often the addition of an extra centre back that leads to wingbacks, directly means sacrificing one attacker. As a result, the wingbacks are sometimes tasked with providing not just thrust but added creativity.
Filipe Kostic is a chance creation monster. Amongst fullbacks he's in the 99th percentile for both key passes and expected assists (xA).
For Inter, Hakimi and Perisic are key to chance creation. For players with 900+ minutes for Conte's men, both are even (0.25/90) slightly behind only Lukaku (0.28/90).
Wamangituka again proves how unique he is. Though he's not playing too many passes leading to shots, when he does those chances are clear cut. He's created 8 big chances this season on par with the Nkunku, Alexander-Arnold, Luis Alberto (Lazio) and more than Neymar and Mbappe.
Atalanta and Dortmund ask their wingbacks on either side to contribute differently to chances created. Hataboer and Meunier are a lot less creative than Guerreiro and Gosens.
CONVERSION OF CHANCES CREATED
How many shots are they involved in creating? Do these shots translate into goal?
*The conversation or not of these chances can be a number of different reasons. Teammates not taking chances, poor quality chances etc. Best to refer to the one above to be sure these chances are good.
Wingbacks create chances in most systems where they're found. However not all these chances are taken.
Kostic, Guerreiro, Perisic and Hakimi create good chances but they all benefit from having some of the best strikers in Europe this season in Andre Silva, Haaland and Lukaku to convert.
Sosa and Wamangituka also create good chances and have them converted.
Angelino, though he creates quality chances, hasn't had many of them converted into goals this season. Perhaps Leipzig's lack of a truly outstanding striker is a contributing factor.
Marcos Alonso is very involved in creating shots but these aren't high quality shots and so it's easy to see why they're not converted.
SHOT QUALITY
How many shots do they take? Are they taking shots of high enough quality or just speculative efforts?
Because teams often sacrifice an extra attacker to play systems with wingbacks, the wingbacks are allowed to find themselves in shooting positions.
Wamangituka having been a striker gets into good shooting positions and takes them. 11 goals for a right wing back in a season is a remarkable return.
Atalanta, Frankfurt and Inter let their wingbacks get into shooting positions often and take high quality shots.
DRIBBLE PROFILE
How often do they dribble passed opponents? Do they use these dribbles as a chance creation mechanism?
Wingbacks spend most of their time out wide, close to the touchline. With a lot of teams using passes out wide as a trigger to press (since the touchline can serve as an extra defender and help surround the player), wingbacks sometimes have to dribble their way out of trouble.
Not a lot of these wingbacks tend to create chances from their dribbles.
Wamangituka and Spinazzola are the most dangerous dribblers. They dribble often but are very capable of creating chances from those situations.
Angelino and Inter's wingback duo don't dribble very often (Hakimi and Angelino tend to use pace rather than dribbling to get out of such situations) but when they do they can create shooting opportunities.
Singo is a very active and effective dribbler for Torino. He's an outlet but doesn't create much from his dribbles.
EXPECTED GOAL INVOLVEMENTS
How much are they expected to directly influence the scoreboard? Are they expected to be more involved in assisting or scoring?
Wingbacks aren't just expected to provide goalscoring chances for other teammates. They can finish some off themselves especially those with a knack of arriving and being in the right place at the right time.
Conte's pair of Hakimi and Perisic are a serious threat as scorers and assisters. They have a combined 16 goals and assists this season.
Filipe Kostic is a serious threat and this season his 4 goals and 10 assists in the league are testament.
Sosa may not be much of scoring threat, like Wamangituka on the opposite side, but his creative ability can't be ignored. 8 assists and 9 big chances created so far.
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