It's a bit swings and roundabouts the kicking factor is a reason you're also passing off your stronger side (not that any of the wingers I played with ever passed!!!).hugonaut wrote: ↑November 2nd, 2020, 11:59 amInteresting idea.
I never played in the back three [even as a nipper] and it's part of the game where some nuances are lost on me. I understand – I think I understand – what is expected of wingers in different defensive systems, but I mostly put their selection at either left or right wing down to getting them in the team, maybe sometimes whether they favour kicking the ball with left or right foot.
For example, Stockdale and James Lowe are both left-footed, but surely one of them can play right wing without his game going to pieces? And if a left-footed kicking option in defense has become a big requirement for us, surely you can just put your left-footed winger in at fullback for one phase to make that kick – for example, you could play Hugo Keenan at fullback with Lowe or Stockdale on the left wing and just swap positions when you need a left-footed defensive clearance.
I've generally come down more in favour of big wing/small wing, players who offer different threats; for example, Shane Williams and George North for Wales in 2011-12. Both guys have pace and can beat you in small spaces – one guy by sending you the wrong way, the other guy by going through you.
Would be keen to learn more and hear different opinions.
At this level these things shouldn't matter. Having played soccer at a decent level we were expected to use both feet and trained that way, never bothers me which foot I shoot with.
