Wingless Wonders?

By: wan | July 31st, 2008

Whenever anyone chooses to follow a football club, for some it is because of certain star players while for others it is the glory and pride of following a winner that attracts them. Me? I have a totally different perspective on this matter – I choose my clubs according to the ethos that they adopt. To put it more simply, I choose teams that play with wingers.

Naive as it may be, I have a moral conviction in believing that football is the “Beautiful” game and I think that the best expression of this beauty is when teams play with two out-and-out wingers to stretch the field in an ultra attacking 4-2-4 formation. The philosophy of this is pretty easy to understand – by stretching the field and preoccupying the full backs, it prevents the defensive four from coming together as a bloc and opens up a lot of space for the strikers and attacking midfielders.

It goes without saying then that I am a Dutch supporter when it comes to the global game and there is an interesting article on why the Dutch believes (as I do) that wingers are the way to go. So it is also with this in mind that I first took notice of Real Betis.

I am not sure if the club acutally honours this heritage of theirs but the Betis of my mind are a club that stays true to this ethos - I can still remember the days when Robert Jarni and Finidi George were flying down the flanks, tormenting defenders and whipping in crosses that caused great havoc for both defenders and goalkeepers. Even names like Peter Barnes and Rafael Gordillo made the left flank their own during the yesteryears.

While never a fan (I was and has been since I started following football a fan of a team in red that also plays with wingers), I always did have a soft spot for Betis and kept an eye on their results. Over the years, names like Denilson, Joaquin, and now David Odonkor and Mark Gonzalez kept the spirit alive. It wasn’t so much whether they were good or bad players or whether they were right for the club – to me as long as the belief is there, suitable players can always be found.

So it is with a certain irony that now that I have decided to pledge my alligiance to Betis, Paco Chaparro made the announcement that they are switching to the 4-3-3 formation and worse still, wingers are no longer required in this new system.

I understand where he is coming from and 4-3-3 is the new in-thing (made famous by Jose Mourinho) whereby the two auxillary flank players can either double up as attackers when the team attacks or switch back to form a 4-5-1 when the team is defending.

Recent friendlies played by Betis (more of that later) have also showed that the players are adapting well to it and the club does have players like Edu and Xisco who excel in this role as well. Still I feel a major tinge of regret that the great heritage of the club is now being thrown away so easily.

Other Betis fans will of course disagree with me and say that the history of Betis is so much more than just a playing style but for me this is and will always be what Betis really is about. Just like how one will always remember the first time you fell in love, so too will I always remember the days when wingers ruled the roost in Andalucia.

Who knows? Maybe one day, those great days will return once again.