Inverted Full-Backs: Brilliant. Also, Not For You Yet.

The inverted full-back is one of the cleverest ideas in the modern game, and I'm going to talk you out of using it. Mostly.

The concept: instead of the full-back staying wide, he steps inside into midfield when you've got the ball. Suddenly you've an extra body in the centre, you control the middle, and you can play through the lines easier. Pep did it with Lahm, then Zinchenko — full-backs with the brains to be defenders one second and midfielders the next.

And there's the problem for your lot. It asks one player to understand two completely different jobs and switch between them based on who's got the ball. Most under-13 full-backs are still mastering the one job — staying goal-side, not diving in. Give them a second, opposite job and you'll get a kid stood in the middle of the park with no idea whether he's defending or attacking, and a great big hole where he used to be.

The trade-off isn't subtle: get it right and you dominate midfield; get it wrong and you've gifted the other team your flank and left your defence a man short through the middle. High reward, high punishment, and grassroots kids usually aren't ready to bank the reward.

Monday, the safe version if you're itching to try it: not "invert," just "tuck in" — when we've clearly got control in their half, the full-back slides a few yards infield to give a passing option, then gets straight back out when we lose it. One simple trigger, one simple recovery. That's all the inversion a young team can carry.

Honestly, the overlapping full-back gives you more for far less risk. Start there. Ask the Gaffer if your full-back's brain is ready. We go again.