The Full-Back Who Stays High

Take the recent Napoli-Genoa opener. Allegri’s changes got the headlines, but watch the space Napoli’s full-backs left behind in the first half. They were high, pinning Genoa’s wing-backs back. That forced Genoa’s centre-backs to cover wider areas, opening the central corridor for Napoli's midfield to control the second balls -12.

But a high full-back always leaves space in behind. When Genoa won the ball, they looked for that channel immediately. That’s the trade-off. The full-back’s position tells you where the counter-attack will go before the pass is even played. The first ten minutes often expose a bad pre-match assumption.

The space a full-back leaves is more important than the ball he plays.

Question: When you watch a team with attacking full-backs, do you check if the defensive midfielder is dropping to cover the space behind them?