On Football and Faith
Frequent viewers of the Premier League will notice a peculiar trend that has emerged of late involving many teams’ fullbacks. When in possession, one of the fullbacks will push forward and create an overload in the midfield while the opposite fullback will tuck in and create a ‘back three.’ Guardiola acolytes Enzo Maresca and Mikel Arteta have embraced this tactic at Chelsea and Arsenal, respectively. Indeed, it is not uncommon to see Chelsea’s Malo Gusto and Arsenal’s Ricardo Califiori darting through the midfield and attacking the opponent’s back line. Ladies and gentlemen, behold the inverted fullback.
There is a singular audacity, however, to the manner in which Pep Guardiola employs the inverted fullback. Sure, Liverpool’s Trent Alexander–Arnold and Tottenham’s Pedro Porro may step into midfield to play a long ball from time to time. But is there anything as remarkable as watching Manchester City youngster Rico Lewis playing alongside striker Erling Haaland while in possession? Perhaps equally remarkable is how far Guardiola’s influence has spread down the Premier League table. Despite being second-to-bottom in the table, Russell Martin’s Southampton have insisted on playing their brand of possession-centric football. In fact, it is not uncommon to see Yukinari Sugawara step into midfield as an inverted fullback and contribute to Southampton’s possession retention.
Suffice to say, this rumination on the destiny of the inverted fullback has led me to broader meditations on the relationship of faith and reason. I recall fondly a Boston College professor lecturing on how Thomas Aquinas instructs us to employ faith in order to transcend reason’s natural limitations. Simply put, we must exercise faith in order to achieve salvation. At the risk of blaspheming, I reckon that Guardiola and his disciples exercise their own secular faith in their use of the inverted fullback.
On paper, the inverted fullback makes no sense. Fullbacks are traditionally intended to provide the width for the offense. Bringing them into midfield, then, leaves the wide areas bereft of personnel and open to exploitation by the opponent’s counterattack. Guardiola’s secular faith, however, lies in his unyielding trust in his team’s ability to retain possession. Whether facing Klopp’s gegenpress or Arteta’s sleek brand of tiki-taka, Guardiola maintains his faith that Rodrigo or Mateo Kovacic will dictate the game’s pace and ensure Lewis isn’t caught out of position. Whether or not this secular faith will lead to salvation or damnation for Martin’s Southampton, however, remains to be seen. The two sides face off this weekend and Guardiola’s men are unlikely to afford Martin’s men any clemency.
