What Are Inverted Full Backs? How & Why Teams Use Them...
- Matt Smith
- 13 hours ago
- 4 min read
In the modern era, the role of a full-back has developed significantly, and they’ve now become one of the most important positions on the pitch for teams that like to dominate possession.
A new role has developed in recent years - the inverted full-back. A full-back who comes into the midfield zone in possession, often sitting alongside a single pivot, meaning teams can keep a 3-2 shape in possession, with one of the back four coming into the midfield.
This often allows one of the midfielders a bit more freedom to push into advanced areas and become an option in the final third, knowing they’v
e got the central protection of the inverted full-back if the opposition transitions quickly.
Out of possession, the inverted full-back will usually drop back into the back four shape eventually, although if the ball transitions quickly, they can remain centrally to prevent the opposition overloading.
In the modern era, Pep Guardiola is most well-known for utilising the inverted full-back, but we’ve seen the likes of Enzo Maresca, Ange Postecoglou, Jurgen Klopp, and Mikel Arteta, among others, all follow suit.
The benefits of inverted full-backs
One of the benefits of using inverted full-backs is to create a double pivot in the midfield, while also ensuring you can have plenty of options higher up the pitch.
Getting dangerous players into dangerous positions
Tucking a full-back into midfield means you can allow your other central players, such as Bernardo Silva and Kevin De Bruyne in the example above, to get into advanced areas, where they are most dangerous. If a full-back stayed in a natural full-back position, you’d be forced to drop one of the more attacking options into a deeper role, meaning you have one less player in attack.
If you weren’t to drop an attacking player deeper, you leave yourself exposed in transition, so it’s a huge benefit from an attacking sense, while also ensuring your rest defence is nice and secure.
In modern sides, they often like to have just one, naturally defensive midfielder, with others being an option further up the pitch. In the example above, where Chelsea don’t have an inverted full-back at that current moment, you can see how crowded Moises Caicedo is, and how difficult it would be to get him on the ball in time and space.
Clearing wide channel areas
When a full-back is inverted, you can create situations where one of the attacking players has freedom to drop into the spaces vacated. Above, Cole Palmer can drop into the right-back position to get on the ball, potentially creating a 2v1 situation out wide.
The full-back being inverted doesn’t necessarily mean teams now have an opportunity to consistently play centrally; it also creates space for others, potentially more dangerous players, to get on the ball.
Increasing 1v1 situations
Opening up the channels has its benefits, as mentioned. If you have wingers that love to get into 1v1 situations, then inverting your full-back drags an opposition marker into central areas, leaving the channels open.
You’ll also see sides invert both full-backs at the same time, inviting pressure into the central areas, creating space out wide for wingers. With the flat back three shape still remaining, with a midfielder dropping in, you can easily shift the ball to one of the wide centre-backs, before offloading to a winger in a 1v1 situation.
Creating deeper space
It’s not just out wide or in advanced positions where an inverted full-back can help create space.
Although usually starting in the double pivot position, the inverted full-back can create space for the natural defensive midfielder, dragging away markers and taking them out of the defensive midfield zone.
This allows a clearer pathway for the team to find the #6. In the example above, Malo Gusto makes an unselfish run, knowing he’s unlikely to receive the ball, but it opens up space for Chelsea to find Reece James.
There are, of course, some disadvantages to playing inverted full-backs, and not everybody can play that role. This is why you see managers like Guardiola use the likes of Matheus Nunes and Nico O’Reilly, players who are naturally midfielders, in a full-back role, as they are comfortable stepping into the middle of the park.
It’s not just any player who can do it. Guardiola even admitted that Kyle Walker, one of the best full-backs to have ever graced the Premier League, simply isn’t suited to playing that role.
“He (Walker) cannot do it. To play inside you have to make some educated movements. He has other characteristics. He will always have pace. He will be the fastest in this room at 60 years old.”
As a result, if you have injuries to certain players who usually play in the inverted full-back roles, it’s not easy to simply slot another full-back in to play this position. This can lead to having to alter the system game by game when players are coming in and out of the side due to injury, which can hamper performances and the ability to implement a style of play.
The inverted full-back is one of the many shiny new toys that have appeared in the game over the last few years, and it will be interesting to see how long it sticks around for.
