One of the truisms of football is that we must write down the formation, pre-match, in a symmetrical shape. It doesn’t matter if it’s 4-4-2, 4-3-3 or 3-4-3 – the wing-backs and central midfielders must be level with each other and so must the two forwards.
The reality, of course, is nothing of the sort: one forward tends to drop deep, one midfielder tends to protect and the other roam, one winger might tuck inside and the other stay wide. Sorry if this offends but football is asymmetric.
I thought about that a lot while watching Fulham vs Crystal Palace because I don’t think there is a better example of asymmetry in the Premier League than Oliver Glasner’s full-backs and there may have been no more appropriate match to show it off.
Tyrick Mitchell and Daniel Munoz are, according to the teamsheet at least, both full-backs. On Saturday, Munoz touched the ball 19 times in the opposition final third, a total only Eberechi Eze could surpass (and even then only by one). Munoz tried to dribble past a player three times (again, only Eze could beat that).
The best sign of how high Munoz got up the pitch: he received six passes that had travelled at least 10 yards towards goal to find him. That was more than anyone else.
What makes this Palace team so interesting is that Munoz’s role is not as the typical attacking full-back. He didn’t attempt a single cross against Fulham, so it’s not a case of bombing forward to deliver.
Instead, he’s trying to get into the penalty area to find space and take shots. He only ranks behind Eze, Ismaila Sarr and Jean-Philippe Mateta for shots at Palace this season. It’s super fun, it’s super imbalance and it is super working for Glasner.
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