In world football, there is only one constant: change.
These past few years have seen a drastic change in the way the game is played.
If you compare today’s game with the game in the 90s or early 2000s, it is barely recognisable.
One position that has seen the most dramatic change over the last couple of years is the full-back position.
Looking back to 20 years ago, the worst players on the team were usually the full-backs.
No coach wanted his fullbacks to do anything but run fast, defend in 1v1 duels, and maybe go forward for a cross a couple of times a game.
But this obviously was an open invitation to punish those players lack of technical ability.
In the late 80s and early 90s, an upcoming coach in Italy was abusing these flaws in the game: Arrigo Sacchi.
Sacchi was one of the first coaches to actively use a press with his incredibly successful AC Milan side.
The goal of the press was to force a ball out to the full-backs and pressure them because they were not able to play the ball out of these situations.
Sacchi and AC Milan won the Scudetto and two European Cups; after becoming the Italian national team manager, he finished as the runner-up in the 1994 FIFA World Cup.
As we all know, pretty much every other coach was influenced by Sacchis tactics and tactical measures, such as zonal coverage and pressing, which have become staples in todays footballing world.
Obviously, teams had to adapt, and they did so by producing more technically sound players at the full-back position.
No other position has a variety of roles like full-backs do.
In addition to defensive and offensive full-backs, you also have wing-backs and inverted full-backs.
The most successful coach of our time, Pep Guardiola, and his disciples are even starting to use centre-backs as full-backs, as seen in the Premier League title race between Manchester City and Arsenal.
In this player-focused tactical analysis and scout report, we will analyze three emerging talents at the full-back position in Liga Portugal and their first couple of games in the 2024/25 season to determine how their futures will work out.
Álvaro Fernández Carreras Scouting Report – The Return Of The Traditional Full-Back?
The first player we will take a look at is Álvaro Fernández Carreras, currently playing for Benfica Lisboa.
Carreras has an interesting past.
As a teenager, he left Real Madrids academy to join English giants Manchester United.
While he never made his breakthrough into Uniteds first team, his time there was still somewhat successful.
Álvaro Carreras went out on loan three times, being a regular starter for Preston North End in the Championship during the 2022/23 season and being a regular for FC Granada in La Liga during the first half of the 2023/24 season.
In January 2024, Carreras went on to join Benfica on loan, which was made permanent in the summer of 2024.
With Jan-Niklas Beste struggling due to injuries, Carreras quickly became Roger Schmidts starter at left back during the first couple of games of Primeira Liga this season.
Álvaro Carreras Data Profile
We can see a couple of interesting tendencies if we examine the data from his stints at Preston and Benfica.
First of all, Carreras is very involved in the game.
He is playing and receiving a de
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