Rarely have there been so many good left-backs, especially from an attacking perspective, and statistics show their worth
Jerry Seinfeld tells a joke – indeed it’s the first joke he ever told – about the plight of left-handed people. “So, I am left-handed,” it goes, “and left-handed people do not like that the word ‘left’ is associated with negative things. Left feet. Left-handed compliment. ‘What are we having for dinner? Leftovers.’ You go to a party, there is nobody there. ‘Where did everybody go?’ ‘They left!’”
As they say, it’s funny because it’s true. But turn your gaze from the
comedy stage and towards that of top-flight English
Football and something rather different comes into view. Because, right now, being left is not a negative, specifically in regards to left-backs. Every team has always had at least one but rarely has it been the case that so many have been so good at the same time, from an attacking point of view especially.