Our guest columnist on the importance of being versatile
WHEN I was coaching at Crystal Palace in 2015-16, Aaron WanBissaka was a winger in the reserves.
He was struggling, and Alan Pardew was thinking about releasing him. We were literally having conversations about how he was failing and probably wouldn’t make the standard.
Then, one day, somebody said ‘Why don’t you have a go at right-wing back?’. Aaron agreed, did well, and then it was ‘What about right-back?’.
All of a sudden you’re seeing an average winger hold his own against Wilf Zaha in training and it was like ‘You know what, this kid has got something’. Now he’s a £45m defender and a starter for Manchester United.
In actual fact, a lot of the best full-backs are failed wingers. They’ve already got the pace. If they can sort their feet out, be disciplined and get their heads around the tactical demands of the full-back position, it’s a route to a very good career.
It’s why I always urge young players not to be too picky about where - or how - they play. If Aaron had dug his heels in, where would he be now?
I was a similar case. I was a centre-forward when I started at Palace. But Steve Coppell, the manager, said ‘Look, we’ve got Ian Wright and Mark Bright, we’ve got Stan Collymore on the bench - do you fancy having a go on the left wing?’.
I did, and it gave me a great career. That being said, I remained a frustrated striker at heart. I always wanted to be in amongst the goals because that’s where the prizes are. Like everyone in those days, I had a goal bonus in my contract and I wanted to get in on the action. But as a winger, I was expected to cross for Brighty and Wrighty.
So what Steve and his assistant Alan Smith came up with was a combination bonus. They said to me ‘We’re going to put a clause in your contract for goals and assists. I’m setting you a target of 20, and if you hit it then you’ll get a bonus’.
That’s probably commonplace now but, at the time, it wasn’t. There wasn’t much data and nobody really counted assists. It was a great piece of management because it made me feel valued - that what I was doing counted for something.
Of course, I’d rather have been scoring goals, and that’s why I’d have loved to play now, when everybody plays that 4-3-3 system which becomes a 4-5-1.
I played in the era of 4-4-2, when wide players stayed wide.
You got up the line and put crosses in. Then you got back to help out your defender.
Box-to-Box
When we played, wingers were genuinely box-to-box and probably covered more ground than anybody on the pitch. It wasn’t until Johnny Barnes came along and started to join in with the strikers that things started to change.
Nowadays, they’ve all got that licence to work a bit less, attack a bit more. Cheating, as it was known in my day! If you’re in that three, you’re expected to tuck in, score goals and let the full-backs do the running. Mo Salah at Liverpool is the archetypal example. Am I jealous? Yeah, I am. I’d have loved to play in that Salah role. Especially on the surfaces they enjoy today.
But don’t get me wrong, I loved my era and playing wide. I’d have played anywhere for a career in football - and every player needs to have that attitude.
John Salako is an ambassador for My Club Group, who provide goods and services to help grassroots sport clubs survive, revive and thrive. www.myclubgroup.co.uk