What Is An Inverted Winger? (+ Tactical Analysis)
Wingers are often the most high-profile players in football. In the modern game, they're at the heart of most deadly attacks, their mixture of skill, speed and clever exploitation of wide space making them some of the trickiest players to deal with on the pitch.
But they're also a continuously evolving breed; the days when legendary English wingers like Stanley Matthews were required to simply race up the touchline, paint their boots with chalk and deliver pinpoint crosses into the opposition penalty area are long gone. These days, there's a lot more complexity and nuance to the role of the winger in soccer.
In this article, we'll be exploring how one key change in wing play at the top level: the evolution of the inverted winger role.
We'll explain what this role is and why it has become more common in professional football, and we'll also give you a few examples of players who could be described as inverted wingers. But before we get into all that it's worth detailing the basic premise of the winger position.
What Is A Winger In Football?
Throughout the history of football, the winger role has been a crucial facet of the game, regardless of what level you're playing at. In association football, a winger is an attacking midfielder stationed on either the left or right 'wing' and relied upon primarily for wide offensive play.
Wingers need to stretch opposition full-backs and centre-backs, receive the ball from teammates in threatening positions, dribble past defenders and complete successful crosses and passes in the opposition's final third. And when it falls to them in the box, they need to be able to finish chances.
Wingers are also relied upon for defensive actions, with most wide midfielders asked to track back and help out their teammates in wide defensive areas. A solid grasp of how to effectively mark players, track runs, block passes, and make tackles and interceptions is essential for a versatile modern winger.
The winger position has been a visible part of the game since the 19th century, when teams would deploy attack-minded formations like 2-3-5 and 3-2-5, with heavy emphasis on getting the ball into advanced wide positions and stretching opposition defenders.
But the exact nature of the winger role has changed a lot over time, and these days the tasks and duties handed to wingers are more complex than ever before.
What Is An Inverted Winger In Football?
Inverted wingers are wingers who are asked to drift into more central spaces during attacking phases of play. While a traditional winger would typically hug the touchline, attempting to beat the opposition full-back and deliver crosses into the box, the role of the modern inverted winger focuses more on targeting central parts of the pitch.
Part of their game might involve beating players out wide, but they also need to be effective at finding space centrally, particularly in the half-spaces (the areas between the wings and the centre of the pitch, which positional play-obsessed coaches like Pep Guardiola will often target specifically).
Whether or not a coach chooses to employ an inverted winger ultimately comes down to their specific tactical plan (more on this shortly). However, a key thing to consider is the strongest foot of the player in mind.
A left-footed player stationed on the right wing is more likely to want to cut inside, because they'll feel more confident shooting, crossing, or delivering a razor-sharp pass with their stronger left foot. This is exactly the kind of player suited to being inverted.
There are a number of high-profile players that have become associated with the inverted winger role. Before this term became commonplace, legendary Bayern Munich winger Arjen Robben was notorious for his ability to drift in from the right hand side on his left foot, knock it past an opposition defender, and strike on goal with speed and power.
People knew what he would do every time he got the ball, but it was still extremely hard to defend against. More recently, Brazil's top scorer Neymar repeatedly dribbled inside and caused mayhem from a wide starting position, with one Mastermind heatmap showing how often the former Barca star could be found exploiting the half-spaces.
The same could be said for fluid Manchester City attackers like Bernardo Silva, who regularly dribbles in from the right wing to deliver devastating passes and crosses with his left foot.
What Are The Benefits Of Using An Inverted Winger?
The purpose of using an inverted winger rather than a traditional one ultimately comes down to the positioning of opposition defenders.
By moving infield, inverted wingers can cause confusion in the opposition ranks, because left-backs and right-backs may not know whether to follow them inside (and thereby leave a big space behind), or pass them onto a teammate (and risk leaving another opponent in space).
All over the pitch, attackers can wreak havoc by moving into areas where defenders don't expect them to be, and the inverted winger role is a classic example of this. As well as seeking to drag defenders into unwanted spaces, the application of the inverted winger role also comes down to the idea of creating overloads.
Role of Inverted Wingers and Movement Beyond
— Tactx (@Tactx_) April 7, 2025
This is one reason why wingers often play on their opposite side at clubs like Barcelona, PSG, and Spain. Wide players moving inside on their stronger foot open up multiple ‘beyond’ possibilities, with more opportunities to face the… pic.twitter.com/L93B8u5n8N
'Overload' is a term used to describe a moment in which a team gains a numerical advantage in a specific area of the pitch, allowing them to overwhelm their opponents and break through them. By drifting inside, inverted wingers can create overloads in central areas, while also leaving space out wide that can later be exploited by an overlapping full-back, for example.
Shifting a talented winger inside also allows them to express themselves creatively in a way that they might not be able to do on the flank.
It's possible for wingers to become isolated if they stay by the touchline; by becoming inverted, they can interact more with other midfielders and attackers, creating passing triangles and operating as advanced playmakers in a compact, flexible unit.
What's more, when a player gets into a more central area it also provides additional defensive solidity, because if the opposition gets the ball and launches a counter-attack, passing lanes in the middle of the pitch are more congested and the winger is in a more convenient position for tracking back to help out defensively.
What Are The Downsides Of Using An Inverted Winger?
When a transition occurs (meaning a turnover in possession from one team to the other), having an inverted winger in a central area may be advantageous, as we've just outlined. However, it can also cause problems.
Once a winger drifts inside they tend to leave a big gap on the flank, and if the team that has gained possession is able to exploit this area by pushing their own full-backs and midfielders forward, an overload can be created and a dangerous chance sparked from it.
This lack of width can also potentially harm a team in an attacking sense. If there's no one manning the wing, it's difficult for a team to offer a serious offensive threat out wide, whether it's swinging crosses into the box or beating a full-back to complete a cut-back into the opposition six-yard box.
Coaches who rely on inverted players risk over-congesting the centre of the pitch and becoming slightly one-dimensional. For opponents who defend in a low block, keeping in compact, tight defensive units, it can be easy to defend a team that insists on overloading central areas.
To counter this, coaches using inverted wingers will often rely heavily on their full-backs for attacking width. They'll ask their right-back and left-back to get as wide and high as they can (while a central defensive midfielder drops deep to provide cover) and fill the gaps left by the wingers that have drifted inside.
But this is a lot of responsibility for the full-back, and it requires a level of intensity, stamina, positional awareness, and technical ability that many players in this position simply do not have.
What Is An Inverted Fullback?
Inverting from a wide area to a more central one isn't a skill that's reserved for attack-minded wingers. It's also something that has become more common amongst traditionally defensive players, specifically left-backs and right-backs.
Coaches like Pep Guardiola and Mikel Arteta have gained attention in recent years for pioneering the deployment of the inverted full-back, effectively a full-back who is required to drift into midfield, drag defenders out of position and build play from the back.
Inverted full-backs usually have the out-of-possession responsibilities of a typical full-back, but when their team has control of the ball they will have the license to shift into more central areas, creating overloads and overwhelming opponents by getting involved with passing moves in midfield. Just like with inverted wingers, it's all about creating numerical advantages.
An inverted full-back needs to have excellent positional and tactical awareness, good creative vision, a wide passing range and strong technical ability. It's pretty hard to find full-backs that tick all these boxes and know how to operate in central midfield, but a few classic examples today include Trent Alexander-Arnold, Oleksandr Zinchenko, Joao Cancelo, and Destiny Udogie.
If you'd like to find out more about this position, check out our guide to the modern inverted full-back role.
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