Would Stanley Matthews be a full-back/wing-back today?

[Physiocrat]

Considering the recent discussion following harms comp of the Matthews FA Cup final I was wondering where he would play in the modern game. It was agreed his skillset was somewhat limited so doesn't seem like he would be a modern winger/wide forward so the only other option I can see is RB/RWB - a much better version of Antonio Valencia.

I am I off base or does this seem reasonable?

 

[Gio]

I think it would depend on the system but ideally he'd still operate as a winger. Look at Pep's positional play where the wide attackers in his 4-3-3 shape are as wide as possible - that would suit him down to the ground. Pep loves wide players who are great 1v1 against a low block and who can get to the bye-line for a cut-back - just the sort of stuff Matthews excelled at better than just about anyone else in the history of the game.

In a 4-3-3 or 4-2-3-1 with inverted forwards he could be tried on the left, where he could shimmy into shooting positions on his right foot. It would be similar to a reverse Robben where everybody knows he's going to cut onto his stronger foot, but nobody can do anything about it. Matthews was the same with drawing in the full-back and then conjuring the ball past him on the defender's left side. I don't think he'd be as effective because he wouldn't instinctively have that powerful off-the-ball running to get on the end of things, but we saw in the 1953 final that he danced past players really well, almost Iniesta-like, in in the inside-left channel.

 

[Physiocrat]

Yes, in a Pep style wide right role he could still be his normal winger self.

 

[harms]

No. I've been thinking a lot about it and the same thought about Pep & stretching the pitch came to my mind.

Many managers today (again, mostly after Cruyff -> Pep and their thoughts of how the space for the attack should be created) operate in a way that specifically creates one-on-one situations for their wingers. Ten Hag did that for Antony — Ajax would often create numerical overload on the left only to cross the ball to Antony for him to beat his fullback and then shoot or cross back to the centre. We've seen similar patterns in our game against Arsenal.

Overloading the left, notice that Antony is so far out wide that he doesn't even appear in the scope of a camera:

Which leads to situations like this — an extremely common picture in literally every Matthews game:

Pep and his Juego de Posición, weirdly enough, reactualized a lot of tactical features from the 50's, at least in possession where his teams are more or less recreating front 5's of that era, be it with false fullbacks pushing inside or with one fullback and one winger taking the wider positions. With Haaland getting into the team we see way more crosses from that City side — put Matthews in Mahrez place and he'd barely need any time to adapt.

He obviously is an odd fit to Klopp's type of 4-3-3 where he would look out of place both in Salah's and in Trent's role. More importantly, Matthews barely ever crossed early, like Beckham or Trent love to do — if he got the ball on the right, he was going to try to beat that left back first 9 times out of 10 (with an amazing success rate). Valencia got pushed deeper not because it was a natural progression for him as a player, it was because he got horribly ineffective in a more attacking role once he forgot how to cross but he still had the athleticism to produce decent performances & do progressive carries from right back position.

 

[Physiocrat]

Great stuff @harms The third picture looks just like a scene from a Matthews game.

 

[GodShaveTheQueen]

The only manager who would get the best out of Matthews in a role very close to the one physio asks is Conte.

Replace Moses with Matthews in Conte's 4-3-3 and he works like a charm IMO.

In general, don't think he could ever have been anything but a RW in a 4 man attack.

 

[Himannv]

Lovely stuff @harms

 

[General_Elegancia]

Agree with @harms , It's a strategy that City or every team usually deals against low block by keeping one player on each wing. It reminds me of Guardiola's City 3-4 years ago when Sane and Sterling keep hugging the touchline to stretch the opposition and keep the pitch as big as you can. You can overload one of the sides by moving several players to another side of the field. It gains a numerical advantage on one side of the pitch to drag the opponent's team to another side of the pitch. This will create 1 on 1 situation or even 1 vs 0 situations and also gain to create a lot of goal-scoring opportunities. It fits with some teams like Man City and Ajax, a team that always likes to regain possession or build up from the back.

For example, Man City, They always like to overload the right side of the pitch, and then the ball is switched to the left side of the pitch where the space is empty and then left-wingers like Foden/ a former Sterling has a chance to get into 1v1 situation and could do anything that he wants to do like plays low cross to striker or dribbles past full-backs. I can see Matthew thrives in this strategy of Guardiola especially after having Haaland and then he will have a lot of freedom to do 1v1 situations or produce many accurate crosses to City's strikers or other players.

This is the example of ETH's Ajax Team creating an overload on one side.

This picture happened after City finished overload and then Fernandinho had a chance to pass through to Raheem Sterling.

Sterling was able to get into 1 v1 against opponents ( Bournemouth's rb) and managed to pass his defender and made a cross.

I can see Matthew's in a situation similar to Sterling especially after City has a target striker, who is top-notch in finding space for score and has a great finishing skill. He will have an opportunity to make it.

Another role that I think Matthews could play is a right-central midfielder in the 4-3-3 system by some managers. He had superb dribbling skills to unlock the defense, had great long-passing skills, and was not mediocre at a short passing skill. It would be a lot different from his hugging touchline winger( outside right). I think some top managers will try him to play in 3 midfield men in a 4-3-3 system. It could hybrid between right central midfielder/right winger and then he will have some freedom to play long balls.

 

[Jim Beam]

He would be brilliant in Boehly's 4-4-3

 

[Šjor Bepo]

reckon he would be a cobbler if he was born in this era

 

[GodShaveTheQueen]

Another role that I think Matthews could play is a right-central midfielder in the 4-3-3 system by some managers.

He'd be really bad in that role.

 

[Joga Bonito]

reckon he would be a cobbler if he was born in this era

 

[General_Elegancia]

He'd be really bad in that role.

Not the best possible fit for sure but I wonder someone would try him at that role. It could go both ways imo.

 

[GodShaveTheQueen]

Not the best possible fit for sure but I wonder someone would try him at that role. It could go both ways imo.

Nah, it can only go bad imo. He did attempt moving inwards a fair few times most games but hardly did anything decent from those positions from the games available.