History has everything to do with it, no one has ever played this system with two wingers because it just wouldn't work, it's too attacking. You'd get joy against smaller teams who sit back, sure, but against top level opposition there would be acres of space.
It's the complete opposite. Coaches do not think in terms of bigger or smaller teams - since everyone is a threat. They think in terms of flexibility, mobility, what roles need to work out to win this game or to give us the best shot of winning this game.
The 32 formation and style of play is flexible --- you either dominate the middle of pitch, dictate tempo with a numbers of advantage, make your opponent work or you can try to find the feet of your AM or targets in 1 v 1 battles where second balls are important. It depends upon matchups.
All coaching innovation starts with the idea that it cannot be done. And then someone tries it out, makes mistakes and eventually finds a way to solve it --- the team does it, and people shut their mouths. Others start to copy it and then it becomes a norm.
And based upon some of our previous conversations mate, I am not sure you'd understand the importance of some of these ideas until you took a formal education/licensure course and started coaching a real team of players versus an imaginary grouping of the best players to have ever played the game. I think this criticism includes me and other drafters here as well - because we all can learn from the game, get better and find new ways to think about a sport that is still evolving. For example, traditional wingers are almost obsolete as are traditional DMs of the 70s/80s area.
The modern game is now more in love with hybrid players --- flexible ones who can play multiple positions, perform multiple functions/roles for the team in the game, and bring the team extra juice in their position not only to win their individual matchups but to influence the individual matchups of others.
And in our drafting game we have here --- we are stuck in the past, fixed positions, the delusion of balance being the epitome of team construction across leagues, decades, eras, and coaching. This drafting game is about creating certitude instead of learning more about what we don't know imo. And it plays into our culture of FIFA video games, and second guessing managers and the whole media derangement associated with an individualistic emphasis with a team game.
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