To Become A Better Winger 1) Up your stamina and fitness As a winger, you will be doing a lot of running up and down the pitch in attack and defence hence it is imperative that you have great fitness and stamina. Wingers, unlike other positions on the pitch, have a lot of responsibilities. Build your fitness with cardio exercises as well as well as a lot of jogging to gradually build up stamina. 2) Increase Your Speed Most wide players need to have speed and great acceleration to get past opposition defenders. While everyone is not gifted with pace, you can train to be good with running with the ball at your feet and using your energy where required. Time yourself running with and without the ball, and improve steadily by training hard every day. There is no substitute for hard work. If you aren’t the fastest, you could train yourself to be a yard quicker by anticipating balls that come to you and getting a head start on the defenders. 3) Dribbling and Technical ability Another important facet that every good winger should have is dribbling ability. As a winger, you are required to beat the defender and pace isn’t the only way that you can go past a defender. It is also important that you use the right tricks, feints and flicks when you have the ball. Too many tricks with no end product will frustrate your teammates, while dribbling from your own half can be a risky thing, too. A one-two with your teammate, or a step over, can be sufficient to get past a defender; mixing things up by using different tricks at different times is also a good tactic to use. 4) Shoot and cross better You could have all the tricks and flicks in the bag, but if you cannot cross or shoot, you might as well become a freestyle footballer. A good crosser of the ball, like David Beckham, need not even require pace or dribbling skills as a deadly cross can bypass the opposition’s midfield and defence. Always keep an eye out for runs from forwards and look to cross or pass it the first time. Wingers are the link between the midfield and the strikers; hence you will have to be inch perfect with your passing and crossing. Train yourself to shoot from distance as well, from various angles. A good dribbler combined with a fierce shot can be a deadly goal threat.