Left back

thewolfboy

I used to play left back for my school, college and local ‘pub’ teams. Nothing special but I knew my job; stop the winger from crossing the ball and cover the centre half. I hardly ever crossed the half way line. These days I would be extinct! The thought of being a wing back and galloping up and down the field makes me wince. The thing is I don’t recall Lennie Glover or Mike Kenning ever tracking back, or the great Colin Powell, although Martin Robinson might have helped out a bit. I guess football was far more simple in those days. Now Johnnie Robinson did track back and was pretty good going forward, even so we used to moan that he had to turn back to use his right foot to send over a cross. These days I think Robbo would be a wonderful wing back in our current team and maybe Newton as well. Newts would just scorch down the line and put over a cross, no fannying around like DJ does.

Mendonca In Asdas

I too used to be a left back , I ran like the wind, and had an absolute engine for getting up and down the pitch, I couldn’t however cross a ball , I think I’d fit right in!

T

My Brother used to play a fairly high level of football  He was quick and played in the forward positions wide up top or through the middle. 

He'd fallen out a favour with the manager a bit and wasn't starting was often an unused sub. He was playing for Wealdstone at the time and playing AFC Wimbledon the following day, decided to go out on a Friday night for a mates birthday thinking he'd be an unused sub like normal or get 5 mins at the end.   Day of the game manager says "we're switching up formation today boys, Phil you're at right wing back"

Three full pitch sprints in the first five minutes he's defending a corner and throwing his guts up on the post much to the amusement of the 2,000 travelling fans behind the goal. They lost. 

mendonca

Left back is quite different to wing back. DJ looks to me like somebody who knows he is going to have to charge up and down the pitch, so conserving energy at the wrong time - when in the attacking third.

CAFCTrev

I used to be left back






in the changing room. 

_MrDick

CAFCTrev said:

I used to be left back






in the changing room. 

And I was right back …. Behind the goal 

thai malaysia addick

Full back was the only position I hated to play; anywhere else, including goalkeeper was fine. I was a typical left-footed player of my day in that my right foot was totally ineffective. I recall playing right back one Sunday morning and getting ripped to shreds by a nippy left winger and being responsible for three or four goals.

Talal

When I wasn't in goal for the school or Sunday league team I'd be left back. Formations were nearly always 4-4-2 but every now and then the managers would go mental and play with wing backs. Used to absolutely hate it, so knackering. By the second half we'd effectively be playing with a flat back 5 as neither of us could get up the wings anymore. 

sam3110

Being left footed I was always used on the left wing by the youth teams I played in. I wasn't particularly skillful and I was tall but gangly, but I was fast and could kind of cross the ball, so that's where I played. One game, our main left back and centre back (brothers) weren't playing as it was one of their relatives' wedding day, so we played a makeshift back 3 with me as the left wing-back. About 10 minutes in one of the opposition players breaks down the right hand side, and in desperation I charge over and slide infront of him, somehow cleanly taking the ball from him, before standing up as I controlled the ball and played it into the channel. Midway through the half, one of our defenders goes down injured, and having seen my wonder tackle earlier, the manager decides the best thing to do is put me in centre back for the remainder of the game. We were drawing 1-1 at the time, and by halftime we were 5-1 down. I'd like there to be a good ending to this where I get an inspirational team talk from the manager and we go on to win and I score a hattrick, but in reality he said "I'm leaving early lads, it's raining and I don't really want to be here anyway, good luck though"

We lost 14-3

DA7

2 - 3 - 5 the best, with numbers on the back matching the positions

killerandflash

By the 80s though, thinking about the likes of Kenny Sansom and Stuart Pearce, full backs were expected to get up and down the flanks, so it's that new a change, even if they weren't the attackers that the likes of TAA often are nowadays

When Scott Minto played behind Colin Walsh, it was Minto who provided the legs in attack while Walsh provided the guile

cafcfan

thewolfboy said:

I used to play left back for my school, college and local ‘pub’ teams. Nothing special but I knew my job; stop the winger from crossing the ball and cover the centre half. I hardly ever crossed the half way line. These days I would be extinct! The thought of being a wing back and galloping up and down the field makes me wince. The thing is I don’t recall Lennie Glover or Mike Kenning ever tracking back, or the great Colin Powell, although Martin Robinson might have helped out a bit. I guess football was far more simple in those days. Now Johnnie Robinson did track back and was pretty good going forward, even so we used to moan that he had to turn back to use his right foot to send over a cross. These days I think Robbo would be a wonderful wing back in our current team and maybe Newton as well. Newts would just scorch down the line and put over a cross, no fannying around like DJ does.

You're probably right, players weren't as fit obviously but have a look at where Colin was at the start of the move for the Hales goal against Hull. And where he was when he put in the cross.

https://fb.watch/aE5Ex4mZiU/

thewolfboy

cafcfan said:

thewolfboy said:

I used to play left back for my school, college and local ‘pub’ teams. Nothing special but I knew my job; stop the winger from crossing the ball and cover the centre half. I hardly ever crossed the half way line. These days I would be extinct! The thought of being a wing back and galloping up and down the field makes me wince. The thing is I don’t recall Lennie Glover or Mike Kenning ever tracking back, or the great Colin Powell, although Martin Robinson might have helped out a bit. I guess football was far more simple in those days. Now Johnnie Robinson did track back and was pretty good going forward, even so we used to moan that he had to turn back to use his right foot to send over a cross. These days I think Robbo would be a wonderful wing back in our current team and maybe Newton as well. Newts would just scorch down the line and put over a cross, no fannying around like DJ does.

You're probably right, players weren't as fit obviously but have a look at where Colin was at the start of the move for the Hales goal against Hull. And where he was when he put in the cross.

https://fb.watch/aE5Ex4mZiU/

Wow! What a fantastic goal and with a great left footed cross from Powell.
Thanks for that memory.