All soccer teams have at least one player weaker than the others. Sometimes, opponents take advantage of that in their strategies. But, where is the weakest soccer player on the pitch? Or where should the weakest player in a team play?
Maybe you are trying to play a tournament or just a Sunday league game with your friends and would like to know where your weakest player can be positioned on the pitch.
Well, you are in the right place.
In this article, I am going to tell you where the weakest player should be positioned and not penalize the team.
Where Is The Weakest Soccer Player?
The weakest player should be positioned based on their strengths and weaknesses. There is no specific position to put your weakest soccer player in. It is a matter of what they are good at and not good at, but also looking at the strengths and weaknesses of the opponent.
For example, if your weakest player cannot dribble and is not fast enough but he is good at defending and has physical attributes, you should put him as a centre-back. Not only that, but you should also analyse your opponent’s strengths.
If the opponent has a fantastic striker that can easily pocket your defender, then you should think of using a specific strategy to avoid that.
Note that in amateur or no professional games, it is common to see teams using their weakest player as a goalkeeper.
This is because playing as a goalie is not as hard as playing as a midfield for instance.
You can just leave someone in the goals and tell them to catch and stop every ball that arrives at them.
Of course, playing as a goalie is not easy, but it is not as difficult as it looks. The main reason that scares people to play goalkeeper is the scare of being hit by powerful shots.
Yeah, imagine being a goalie and having to stop a shot from Roberto Carlos.
Let’s see some of the common weaknesses in every soccer position.
Common Weaknesses In Each Position
Let’s start from the goalie to the striker.
1-The Goalie
The main common weakness we see with the majority of goalkeepers is ball control.
Although this is not a huge deal from a goalie’s perspective, it is important to master this skill. There have been goalies scoring OWN-GOALS because they could not properly control a ball.
Ball control is one of the most basic skills to learn in soccer. So, every player should master it regardless of their position on the pitch.
==>Also read, the slowest position in soccer.
2-Centre-Back
The main common weakness we see with the majority of centre-backs is “clearing the ball properly”.
Most centre-backs are scared to clear the ball with simple short passes. Instead, they shot the ball away. Although this is a safe strategy, especially when your team is being dominated, clearing the ball that way makes a team powerless and this only boosts the opponent more and more.
This is why we rarely see big teams like Real Madrid, Barcelona, Bayern Munich, and Man City clearing to ball away. They always try to get out of the defense with simple short passes.
3-Full-Back
The main common weakness we see with the majority of full-backs is their support with crosses in the attack.
Playing as a full-back requires a lot of speed and stamina. A full-back is expected to run the whole flank from defense to attack the entire game.
So, this requires some great crossing abilities.
Many full-backs have to train their crosses because it is very important. A full-back with great crossing attributes can be very dangerous for the opponent.
Some of the best full-backs that are good at the crossing are A.Arnold, Carvajal, Dani Alves and Hakimi. This is why they have many assists in their statistics.
4-Midfielder
The main common weakness we see with midfielders is “not attempting to shoot”.
When you are playing as a midfield, a lot of times you are going to be 30-40 meters from the opposing goalie. So, instead of always trying to search for a striker to pass the ball to, you have to try to shoot.
Unfortunately, not many midfielders do not do that.
A great example is Marco Verratti. He is one of the best midfielders in the world but he doesn’t like to shoot from distance, hence why he rarely scores goals.
5-Winger
The main common weakness in wingers is their incapacity to go on a one-on-one with the defender.
Although many wingers go on a one-on-one with defenders, many don’t do it as well.
Playing as a winger requires speed and dribbling attributes to get rid of defenders. But many wingers do not take advantage of that and always try to playback with a pass to the midfield or the full-back.
A winger should take responsibility and always go to provoke defenders one-on-one.
6-Striker
Although it is difficult to find some weaknesses in strikers, the main common one we see is knowing where the ball is going to land.
Yes, you heard that right.
Many strikers receive different types of balls in the box area but do not usually manage to be in the right place to get it and score.
People think it is easy to play as a striker and all you need to do is wait for the ball and score.
Well, you are wrong if this is what you thought.
There is a reason why some strikers score more goals than others. Sometimes, it is not just a matter of having the right midfielders to pass you the ball.
CR7 is the perfect example. Many people think he scores easy goals and taps in. But what they ignore is that you have to read the game, know your teammates very well, and be there at the right time.
Final Word
The weakest player can be positioned anywhere on the pitch based on their strengths, weaknesses and opponent.
Plus, do not just focus on a player’s weakness, but mostly on their strengths. Put their strengths at the service of the team.
I hope you have gained value from this article.
If you have any questions, leave them in the comment section below and I will get back to you ASAP.