My last season at Manchester City, it was uh the first season of Pep Guardiola. And of course, from nine years I've been playing with Manchester City, it was the moment that my role into the team changed completely. [Music] I'm Pablo Saveta and I'm going to talk about uh defensive and offensive principle of being a fullback.
During my time at Manchester City and West Ham, being a fullback is something that is very demanding in terms of physicality is a position that you have to run up and down during 90 minutes down the flank. And as I say, you have to be uh very good at solia at defensive phase normally because you play against fast wingers. Um they have a great ability and you have to be really good at one-on-one situations, but then also you have to be able to support the attack to to make that overlapping or overlapping runs.
sometime especially when you face team that they are very low block and you have to to be able to offer uh your teammates another option from wide areas. Defensively you will face a lot of good players and you have to be solid. You will find yourself as a fullback many times going on one-on-one situations.
For me, always something very important as a fullback to stay always very close to the winger, not let them space or two, three meters to run at you because they normally are very good and when you face that situation that they coming at you, you might struggle. So basically when the ball was going to to the winger I was always very close to him not to allow to run or especially if he makes that runs in behind to be able to make that diagonally run to close the space. So once that you are in a one-on-one situations it is very important to see if he's a right foot or left footed.
many times or with many players or wingers, they like to cut inside to come into this situation to have a shoot themsself or even to have an inverted cross. Sometimes when they are left footed, they normally go to the Y area. So, it's massively important to to avoid any kind of crosses or cutbacks.
So this is for me as a fullback um very very important even communication with your center back or one of uh the midfielders always to come and to support you to double up here in that situation to force the winger to play the ball back and also in case of losing that one-on-one. If he beat you at least you have the center back ready to go there and the midfielder to go in the inside position. But that's why for me creating that situation 21 it was something communication between fullback, center back and defensive midfielder to protect very well that situation.
[Music] During my time uh at Manchester City, I had coaches with very similar philosophy regarding the fullback position. Roberto Manchini used to play with players that they were not proper wingers. They were more attacking midfielders that was David Silva in that position and Samri in here with two strikers Edino Teves or Agüero whatever.
But what was the main reason of having a player that normally was really good at playing in between lines? That was for me always a very good chance to attack always that wide area. The receiver was the ball coming from that side.
let's say from the midfielders he was always coming to that position where normally the fullbacks was making that moment here to press debila so the space was there for me it was not important to be already there for me that position of the fullback just waiting for that ball coming from the opposite side to those players is where you need to attack into the space to have more option So the the receiver can set the ball for the midfielder and then play the ball in behind and there is the right moment for the fullback to attack. normally and I face many players wingers that they are very good going forward but sometime they're a bit lazy at tracking back the fullback right so the only reason that sometimes is a bit risk when you are there if losing that ball right maybe that player could be free but of course uh we we were Man City we were a dominating team or at most in 80% 85% of the games and it was very important for us to to attack with at least seven players. And as I say, Manchini was a coach that was all the time telling me to to go and attack support attack to get there.
And of course, once you get into that position to the by line, we need to have a good number inside the box, right? So it was very very important for me getting into those situations always to have one or two second to open up look at the players that were in the box and always to finish with a low cross for me get into that position here for me a good low cross or even a cut back from here normally defenders they covered the six sharp box right but that moment of the players of one of the midfielder coming back that for me was very important I remember having Edin sees AO even they only Eden seco was really good in the air by having crosses but I think as a fullback you can put a high cross if you get here but obviously getting into those situations probably was better to find some of the player from that second line [Music] at Manchester City. I've been working under Emanuel Pellegrini.
We were a very good team in possession. He used to play with with four at the back with two midfielders and two strikers and two attacking midfielder. was like 4222 basically where it was color on the left and myself on the right and we used to provide the width all the time into those those channels here because more or less it was very similar to the team that Manchini left with Yaya Fernandinho and uh and again it was Negreedo that the season was really good and Sergio.
So he wanted both full back from from the right side and the left side all the time to support attack to push forward and very similar to Manchini it was Davy Silva here and Samasri they they they both were playing in the half spaces the only uh different that sometimes it was Jesus Navas playing as a winger on the right side. Okay. So for me I needed to adapt into the player that I I had in front of me.
Right? So when Davy Silva was playing in that side again for me it was that space all the time to attack and to appear into the space right but when I was Jesus Navas for me that was different because of his uh way of playing. He was always waiting the ball to go one-on-one situation with the the opposition fullback, right?
Most of the time, Jesus was a player that when he was attacking, he was going into his right. He had very good cross. For me as a fullback, it was massively important to understand Jesus Navas and leave him as much as he can possible to go on him one-on-one.
And I needed to be just in behind him to give enough deduction in case he couldn't go against the fullback. as a fullback sometimes you have to read a situation where probably that's not the time to attack but to give him support from behind. Okay, maybe he can play the ball back to me and we can switch or go to the other side.
So with Jesus was a bit different obviously always it was the chance for me not to go in overlapping right so I needed probably to look into those spaces between the center back and and the fullback and Jesus to play mid that ball. Okay. So it's always very important as a fullback always to read the situation and to have a very good connection and and a very good understanding with the winger because depending of the movement of the wingers is where you have to make your movement.
[Music] My last season at Manchester City, it was uh the first season of Pep Guardiola. And of course from nine years I've been playing with Manchester City regarding my position as a fullback, it was the moment that uh my role into the team changed completely. He came with a concept of uh the inverted footback.
Something that for me it was new and with Pep. I will never forget having a conversation with him when when he came to the club because he he was doing it with Philip Lman at Bayern Munich his previous year coming to to the club. Explain a little bit what what was the reason for him to bring the full back uh inside [Music] playing out from the back.
That was something very important for Pep. The reason of the fullback coming inside, right, it was always to to create the three plus two, right? To create to have an extra man in midfield.
Pep with the different of uh Manchini and Pellegrini, he was using proper wingers, very wide all the time. they could pin the fullback. Okay, so normally all the time as a fullback receiving the ball from the center back, you open up the control here and you have the view basically of of the whole pitch and then you have the chance to play to the midfielder or even to some some long ball for the striker.
If you cannot progress because you have the winger in front of you, you can play the ball back to the center back and then switch side. But coming into midfield into inside position, he he changed uh completely uh the body shape of uh of the player. how you need to control more stuff in terms of uh when you're receiving the ball from from one of the of the center back.
Okay, you have to be in a position where you have to be here to create that passing line in between these two players or even if the center back go ball here if he jumps you have to be also in between two to receive and then turn and go to the attacking phase. What was difficult at the beginning that sometimes you have the pressure of that midfielder, right? So if you're not in the right position or scanning all the time what's going on in behind you, you can receive that ball from the center back and if you turn and you lose that ball, then it's a quick contact and it's very dangerous to lose the ball in here.
So that's why it was for me all the time very very important to be in a good position always to give an option to these three players. Right? Okay.
If that was the winger and the ball was to that center back to be here then if he closed the line I could move into that space. If not one of the attacking midfielders to to get into those positions. Okay.
even sometimes to the winger so he could play that ball to the winger and and then to make that run to the attacking midfielder from inside to outside. That was something new for me. I have to say that it was incredible.
I think he's one of those manager that sometime brings new ideas into the world of football and uh and then when you are on the game or playing you could see it's really happening in the game. So that's why he really convinced the players to to do this kind of uh job. [Music] Was saying to me I don't want you to be out wide here.
I want you to be here because of the ability of of the winger and and attack the attacking midfielders normally are much better than than the fullback, right? So, what I needed to do is just see if I could pass the ball that diagonal pass to to the winger to go one-on-one. Okay.
Then both the attacking midfielder are making that run in behind. Then sometimes if I could play that through ball to the attacking midfielder here was Gundowan Kevin the brewing operating in those spaces. I only needed to to look to the best option.
If the winger was closing inside the option was upside if there were a bit of room of space to play that through ball it was even perfect. So why for me it was very good at that time to play in that in that role in that position because for me it was so much better to control the winger. So after the team was losing the ball or giving the ball away if they wanted to connect to the winger I was already there quickly and very close to him to press and avoid any kind of counterattack.
teams when they defending a very low block then they have very good so most of them they have so much pace to go forward and if you are high up the pitch then you have to be very very quickly to to track back and probably sometimes you don't get into those positions [Music] when I left Manchester City uh I signed for uh West Ham United Football Club I went from being playing with one of the best team in the world in terms of having fantastic players. Uh a team that could control 90 95% of of the game it was a team that it was more physically stronger than Manchester City with different type of players. I always laugh a little bit about it because I was 34 years old and I was talking about getting into the position of the inside and probably uh not running uh down the flank all the time.
We used to play with with five at the back at time. So uh I I was playing as a wim back. The Premier League is very demanding the rhythm, the physicality and all that.
But listen, sometimes uh I always say that age is just a number. If you have passion, if you want to do the best for the team, you always need to do what the manager needs for the team and what the team needs from you. So um rather than obviously playing as a in that position that we have seen as Pileta also coming and playing here at that time it was Fonte, Portuguese player that was playing here.
So I was operating as a wing back. The good thing is sometimes defensively you are very well protected in terms of uh sometimes you defend like this and you have always that right center path that can cover your back. But then obviously when you are in the tacking phase you definitely need to go all the time very high and then when the cross let's say come from that side from the opposite wing back you have to get into the far post you are almost like a winger in the attacking phase so I was always there waiting for the cross because obviously one-on-one for me that was not I didn't have the ability to to play uh against their fullback one-on-one.
For me it was all the time looking to play maybe one two because probably I was even better at doing this one two then going to attack or probably letting one of the strikers always to attack and coming into the situation here. But of course that's why as a wing back is is even more demanding as a fullback because sometime in a back four you can control yourself a bit more be more let's say conservative but as a wing back you definitely need to support the attack all the time so um my first season slavich and David Moyes a westam I've been having the experience of what it means being as a wim back so basically I've been playing with the back four back three as a wing back being the fifth in that position and that's was all my experience as a footballer in England.
