It was slightly surprising to see Borussia Dortmund dominating the Bundesliga in the first half of the season.
Under Swiss coach Lucien Favre, Dortmund were not only successful but also played beautiful football, led by stars such as Paco Alcacer, Axel Witsel, Marco Reus, and the young Jadon Sancho.
Sancho is still playing to an extremely high level, while Reus is injured and Alcacer has stopped scoring.
However, another player who is important to Borussia Dortmunds success is the full-back, Achraf Hakimi.
The Real Madrid loanee had a great half year at Dortmund and looks like another highly talented prospect for the European champions.
Similar to the rest of the team he is fighting against a drop in personal form.
Nevertheless, it is time to take a look at Hakimi, but not because of his talent.
In this article I want to discuss the role of the full-back.
Hakimi is one of the only full-backs who can play on both wings without any problems.
Usually, the young Moroccan prefers to play on the right side due to the fact that he is right-footed.
However, Lucien Favre has used him as a left-back quite often due to injuries or a lack of quality in that position.
Playing on the left led to different challenges for Hakimi.
One of them was the fact that he had to use his weak foot more often in order to dribble down the line.
Although this is the classic role of a full-back and we actually saw it quite often, one action of Hakimi made me think: how can we use full-backs differently? Before we discuss Hakimis role, I will give you a quick overview of the different full-back roles.
The classic full-back
We all know the classic full-back who isnt the most creative in attack but is a defensively stable, quick and strong one-on-one player.
Traditionally, staying wide and overloading the wing in order to cross are the only tasks the classic full-back has.
In modern teams the winger moves inside, so the full-back is the only one occupying the wing.
Still, he can be dangerous after switches when he is able to deliver the ball perfectly into the box.
When the full-back pushes into the forward line, he participates in the build-up more actively and can then move with speed into the open space on the wing while receiving the ball.
This movement is a tremendous challenge for defenders because they usually focus on the ball and the players close to them.
Borussia Dortmund under Thomas Tuchel, for instance, used the full-back that way.
Ginter and Schmelzer were often able to surprise the defence and attack with speed against a defender who had to accelerate first.
This gave them the possibility to get behind the last line fairly easily.
Benjamin Mendy has had a similar role for Manchester City this season.
The inverted full-back
A slightly different role was introduced by current Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola during his time at Bayern Munich.
Although he didnt invent it, Guardiola was the coach who actively tried to use every advantage provided by them.
Again, there are dif
