What Are The Basic Qualities Needed To Be a Good Winger?

 Being a Winger is not an easy job,  it requires great vision and fitness levels.  So here are the Basic Qualities or aspects that are needed to be a successful winger. 

1.  Speed and More Speed:

                               Being quick is a mandatory feature of wingers.  If you have to be a winger, you have to be very quick and your steps have to really fast.  Which means you do not need to have very fast sprint speed all you need to have is quick acceleration.

Acceleration Is Mandatory..

  Acceleration is a key element of wingers.  Because during counter attacks, wingers need to move very fast and adjust to the speed of the play.  Wingers need to accelerate as quick as they can so that they midfielders might give them a ball over the top.  Which brings in a sweet break away and after that all you have to do is to run with the ball and deliver a cross or score a goal yourself.

                                Also your speed helps you to beat defenders quickly.   Especially during through pass occasions.  You should be behind the defender before a receiving a through pass to prevent being off side.  So when the midfielder pushes the ball through the defenders, you should overtake and cut past the defender diagonally to receive the ball and start a successful attack.  You should look to get past the defenders only if you are quick, that is, only if you have the speed in your legs, other wise you should look to get into dangerous positions and then use your passing ability to put in some great crosses or through passes.  

2.  Be A Monster In Head To Head Situations:

                                   Being a winger you might want to encounter the full backs down the wing.  Full backs will be quicker in their movements than the others in the opposition side, so your primary task as a winger is to get past the full backs.  This does not mean that you have to make those fancy leg movements and skill moves.  A clear example is Gareth Bale.  Gareth does not make those skill moves or leg movements to get past defenders, but what Bale does is, he outsmarts defenders by his accurate movements.  He knows when to beat the defender and when to retreat back.  He pushes the ball past the defenders and uses his pace to get past them.

This Is Exactly What Bale Does Pushes The Ball Past The Man And Runs Like A Demon.

  Also he times his runs to perfection.  You do not have to be a Skill full player like Neymar but if you know when to alter your speed and quickly burst away you can beat the full backs easily using some small body feints.  

                                    To improve your ability in head to head situations, you should play more of street football and 5 vs 5 football and gully football.  Because in those areas you will not have much space to work the ball you have to constantly beat the defenders with good alteration of your speed.   So playing 5 v 5 football will definitely improve your skills in 1 vs 1 situations.  

3.  Be A Good Crosser:

                                      Crossing is a very important aspect in a winger's game.  Because in 4-3-3 formations most of the times the Wingers are the trump cards.  Being a quick, skillful, winger is not the most important thing, you have to be accurate on your deliveries.  After you beat a man, your primary task is to cross the ball in to the 6-yard box.  A team consisting of Wingers will have strikers who have great ability in the air.

As A Winger You Never Have To Fear If You Have An Aerial Threat Like CR7

  So you do not have to worry about the finisher, all you have to do is to give an accurate ball into the 6 yard box.  Which is really the best way to get goals frequently.  

                                        But you should never cross a ball for crossing sake.  Some wingers make a mistake by crossing the ball frequently, without any purpose on it.  This is not appreciable.  You should cross the ball only when you have your player with good aerial ability.  Also you should give some time for your strikers to get into a dangerous position.  If you feel that your cross might not reach your man, never cross the ball, move it into the box on your own and then pass it to the appropriate person, or snatch a goal yourself.  

4.  Great Sense Of Timing And Positioning:

                                          Positioning yourself and timing your runs is very critical.  You have to get into an attacking position to seek the interest of your midfielder so that he can trust you on a through ball.

Just Time Your Run And You Can Dominate.

  You have to time your runs, which means your have to move past the player down the who has the ball at his feet so that he could put the ball through two defenders and you might be able to get the ball.  Positioning is a tough skill and if you master it you could become a very successful Winger.  You have to position yourself in such a way that your team can move the ball up and keep the pace of the game.  Your positioning is the key factor to see more of the ball.  So if you have the skill to get yourself into dangerous through passing positions, then you might be a different winger apart others.

5.  Physical Fitness And Stamina:

                                            Fitness is the basic and important ingredient in this lesson.  Modern day Wingers are not only attack minded wingers, they also have to retreat back at times and stop the other wingers.  So to make quick runs down the wing in both directions, you have to be in good shape.

Fitness Is The Base Quantity, Best Fitness Idol Can Never Be Anyone Than This Man/

  You can do this if you are quick, but if you want to do this repeatedly in the course of a game, you have to have good fitness levels.  Being quick is not the basic thing, but repeating it during the course of a full game has the utmost importance.   Because rapid counter attacks can happen any time during the course of a Match so have to be prepared to make those quick and decisive runs at any time of the game.  Your stamina levels is the element that will get you in the team sheet frequently.  

                                             A final and extra note for all of you, a winger does not necessarily need to score tons and tons of goals, but if the winger can, then it will make you unique.  This skill is what it makes some wingers more prolific.  If you ask me to choose between Benardeschi and Theo Walcott, i would choose walcott because of his accuracy in front of goal.  So If you are a good  goal scoring winger than you have more chances of winning individual titles.  You could snatch upto 15 or 20 goals and 10 to 20 assists per season which would really make you a Galactico.