
They are encouraged to hold their position and simply recycle possession for the team. The most defensive out of the midfield strata is the Ball Winning Midfielder. Despite that, a good wingback has the ability to cause serious problems, by stretching opposition outwards and playing dangerous crosses and passes as well. Furthermore, a quick counter from the opposition can cause serious issues, where the wingback is caught out of position. It is a high-intensity position requiring a lot of running up and down the flank, which can impact fitness and increase injury risk. They are very useful outlets to have in the lineup, however, there are a couple of risks. Whilst also doing the defensive work of a fullback, they also take up the attacking duties of a winger as well. The wingback generally has a lot of work to do throughout the 90 minutes. Some opposition sides like to lob long balls over the defense and into the path of wingers, and so a fullback in place can effectively cover those areas. Usually, though, the fullback will take fewer risks and play in a support position rather than fully bombarding forward. However, on the attack, they may still move forward to provide a bit of width. The fullback remains primarily as a defensive player, holding to their position and combating attacks. Soccer Manager 2022 Tactics: Defending Roles 4.
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One of the common ways to do so is through fast-paced transitions, and a BPD is almost a necessity for this. As most teams nowadays are usually very well trained in defense, it’s often difficult to find ways to break them up. They’ll attempt to push forward with the ball looking for long balls and splitting passes. Rather than playing safe, a BPD takes is encouraged to take more risks in possession. The BPD will obviously defend as normal, but functions as the polar opposite to the Stopper when with the ball.

This is the more common role seen in modern football. They are useful to cover certain areas of the pitch which would either be left too open, but the fact that they offload so quickly and randomly means they are very limiting for possession-based football. With the ball at their feet, the Stopper will usually try to play the simple pass, and when under pressure, will look to offload quickly. They’ve only got one focus, which is to stop attacks and get rid of the ball as soon as possible. The Stopper functions like the classic No-Nonsense center-back. For more control over these decisions, the other two roles are much better. According to the player’s mentality, the decisions a General Defender makes can vary, and they will usually adapt as a game goes on. This is the default option and involves a mix between the two other roles.
