Halfway through your first season at the club you support, and things aren’t going great. You have one task to address the goal-scoring drought – sign a winger or a forward.

Let’s paint a hypothetical situation. It’s halfway through your first season at the club you support, and things aren’t going great. In fact, your team hasn’t scored in the past five games and the fans’ patience is wearing thin.



The board calls you in for the all-important meeting. After a thorough deliberation, you’re provided the following task: You can make one signing of your choice. Addressing the goal- scoring drought directly is a priority for the club, so it must be either a forward or a winger.



So that begs the question, what do you choose? Sure, it all depends on the club you work for. All over the world clubs vary greatly in their general styles of play, let alone bank account size.



Will you seek to follow the clubs’ traditions or feel that a change of style is due? It’s important that the focus is less on specific players when making the decision. The world soccer market has continued to make less and less sense as time continues, so crunching transfer values seems off-putting.



Taking a look at your club and its attacking landscape, the decision lies in which position earns the investment. Does your club benefit from investing in a high producing forward or winger?



There are cases to be made on either side. However, forwards have influenced attacks for much longer than wingers. The first winger to win the European Golden Boot since its inception in 1968 was Cristiano Ronaldo in the 2007/08 season.



Cristiano Ronaldo – 07/08



31 goals

6 assists

37 G+A pic.twitter.com/2Ap637KR7c — ‎ㅤㅤㅤً (@greezxy) November 11, 2018

Teams relied heavily on their forwards for the production of goals. This was pretty much common sense, as the primary job of the forward is to score goals. But soccer is an ever- evolving game, with the changes now happening faster than ever.



One of the recent changes within the tactical side of the game is the emphasis in attack. After years of dominance from forwards, teams were finding success through the wings. Fifteen years ago the top teams boasted players like Ronaldo, Henry and Figo. Now, we see the relentlessly successful teams fielding attackers like Sterling, Salah and Sancho.



The Results

With the question geared toward goal production, we analyzed the top five wingers and forwards in this seasons European Golden Boot race. To keep the consistency of difficulty of leagues, the 10 selections consist of players from Europe’s top five leagues.



First and foremost, forwards still hold the individual advantage in pure goal production. Leading in goals, expected goals and percent of direct involvement in a teams total goals, forwards are still the pacemaker in the stats that align exactly with their position.



The Case for Forwards

In the context of the situation, the goal drought could simply call for a forward with a hot foot. Some teams are well built in most regards, and a prolific scorer might just be the final piece to fulfil the team’s potential.

Case in point, AC Milan did just that over the winter transfer window. Milan had only won three of the nine games prior to signing then Serie A top scorer Krzysztof Piatek from Genoa, averaging 0.77 goals per game. Ever since January 23rd, Milan have lost only once in 11 games. The goal rate nearly double as well, with the team averaging 1.55 goals per game then.



Genoa’s top scorer in Serie A this season: Krzysztof Piatek (13)



Milan’s top scorer in Serie A this season: Krzysztof Piatek (7) pic.twitter.com/9YBiXegGNG — B/R Football (@brfootball) April 2, 2019

Piatek filled the void left by Gonzalo Higuain following the Argentine’s move to Chelsea. The Polish forward brought with him more athletic ability and a heightened sense of awareness in front of goal. After signing a player notably in good form, Milan were bound to start targeting the forward more and it has worked out for the better.



The Case for Wingers

On the other hand, the argument can be made that a heavy winger influence in the attack leads to more higher overall success. Edging the forwards in assists and expected assists, the wingers had sizable advantages when it came to their team’s wins and losses.



Fast paced, high pressure styles have been around since Cruyff. The recent resurgence has been marked by the growing popularity of wingers. Teams are pairing their forwards – who perhaps hold their spot rather than blow people away in numbers – with world class, expensive wingers.



Wingers have evolved in their style along with their influence. Traditionally, wingers would stick primarily to wide position on their side of the field and provide for the center players. As players of higher quality dedicated their time and craft to the winger position, the wide position is used more as a springboard for creativity heading towards goal.



The most prominent example for the change quality wingers make nowadays can only be Liverpool. Considering they have two wingers in the table, it’s fair to say the Reds attack is heavily influenced from the wing. At least 58% influenced this season, as evident by the table.



☄ | 4️⃣9️⃣% shooting accuracy in the @premierleague.



? | 4️⃣0️⃣ league goals for the Reds.



? | 1️⃣1️⃣ goals scored in his last 11 appearances.



⚡ | 9️⃣ PL goals scored in 2019 so far.



Sadio is on FIRE! ? Mane's incredible #LFC form in numbers: https://t.co/kXqQOtQPpQ pic.twitter.com/jFWQGjbxXe — Liverpool FC (@LFC) March 18, 2019

Liverpool has been virtually resurrected by the Klopp era headed by Salah and Mané. Liverpool failed to qualify for six of the seven Champions League seasons before the two wingers formed their duo. The Reds progressed to last years final, and are favorites for this years UCL.



Klopp’s squad is also on the advantageous side of a tight Premier League title race this season. Liverpool has been famously ridiculed for not winning a top tier English title since the 1989-90 season.



Mané made his way to Liverpool a year before Salah in the summer of 2016. Coming soon after the Reds lost Raheem Sterling to Manchester City, Mané provides another element to an attack consisting mainly of the Brazilian duo of Firmino and Coutinho. The Senegalese forward tended to attack directly towards goal from the wing.



His pace allowed him to get the better of most defenders and infiltrate the box from wide to either score or provide. This differed from the approach before the arrival of Mané. Along with taking advantage of Coutinho’s insane long distance shooting, Liverpool tended to build up opportunities by exposing pockets of space between the lines of their opponents. Adding this new approach to the attack made Liverpool less predictable and sprung their newfound revolution.



Salah etched his name into the Merseyside history books during his first season. After signing from Roma, many erred on the side of caution due to Salah’s disappointing Chelsea stint. The Egyptian then became the focal point of the attack from the right wing and the pride of the Kop end.



Klopp had already built a competitive squad, but Salah unlocked an abundance of extra potential. Salah’s attacking game left defenses confused because he was equally good at different approaches. At times, Salah would drift centrally and sit just behind Firmino. In these games Salah would pull the strings with his advanced passing vision and quick, unpredictable movements.



Other times, Salah used his famous blistering pace. What made Salah’s speed even more of a weapon was his ability to anticipate the movement of the defense and time his runs in behind the back line. Topped off with composed finishing, Salah became a cult legend.



Of course, with every take in sports there are exceptions. Roberto Firmino has an immense presence within the Liverpool attack despite not having the best numbers in Europe. Eden Hazard has been directly involved in 46.1% of Chelsea’s goals, but the Blues have been far from reaching the heights of success they expect from the level of investment.



But we’re trying to get deeper here, people. It’s about the emergence of new perspectives on the philosophy of soccer. Change directly correlates with the willingness to catalyze it. The ongoing battle of balancing the new and the old holds its place well in the soccer world, and it’s our job to carry on the discussion.



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