Attacking midfielder
The attacking midfielder plays further up the pitch compared to the central midfielders and primarily carry an attacking responsibility. These players are generally the playmakers, the usual custodians of the number 10 jersey and are tasked to create goals using their superior ball control, vision and ability to split open defences with their runs/passes.
Some of the attacking midfielders are adept in scoring goals as well and rack up scoring statistics on par with the forwards along with their assisting numbers making them a complete package.
Another term used for attacking midfielders is Trequartista (in Italian it means three-quarter specialist referring to the position on the pitch) and they are known for their passing range, long-range shooting and dribbling ability. One of the best no.10s of recent decades was Brazil and Barcelona’s Ronaldinho and Real Madrid’s Zinedine Zidane, whose tricks and skills wowed everyone. Some of the famous players in this position are Manchester United’s Henrikh Mkhitaryan, Manchester City’s David Silva, Arsenal’s Mesut Ozil and Real Madrid’s James Rodriguez.
There is another position with roles a mixture of the central midfield and attacking midfield ones, generally used in 4-3-3 or any formation using 3 central midfielders. Here out of the middle “3”, one plays anchor while the other two play higher up the pitch with more emphasis on attack and yet retaining the box-to-box aspect. Some of the current players in this role are Barcelona’s Andres Iniesta and Liverpool’s Adam Lallana.
Wide midfielder – Left and Right
A role that is slowly becoming defunct with the preference for wingers, a wide midfielder is essentially a central or attacking midfielder playing on the sides either due to his pace and dribbling ability or because of their crossing ability. These players normally have good work-rate to contribute defensively as well.
However, with the type of attacking midfielders in 4-3-3 who are positioned wider than a normal midfielder, therefore providing width when necessary and also due to recent tactics preferring wingers who are more attack-minded, the wide midfield role is slowly losing its relevance. Manchester United duo David Beckham and Ryan Giggs were a couple of the finest wide midfielders the game has ever seen.
