Lack of wingers...just FM or IRL?

Is it me, or are there less and less wingers with each new version of FM? For example, players like Adu, Joe Cole, Blondel, Bresciano...I could go on - they all lost their winger status at some time. The Joe Cole as centre mid one is the weirdest in my opinion.

Anyone else find this?

i havent really noticed a drop in the overal numbers of wingers, although i do seem to be able to find a hell of a lot more lefties than righties... i dont think it particularly helps the players when their managers keep either playing them out of position, or playing a non-winger in their position (think Benitez with Kuyt)

haven't noticed this...things seem balanced in my game. out and out wingers irl all have that as their natural position. take a look at joe cole irl...c'mon is he really an all out winger? natural amc..i agree with ability in wings as the game suggests.

I think generally speaking in FM, players shouldn't be pigeon holed to positions as rigidly as they are. This is especially the case early in their careers and towards the end of their careers. It's common for players to change postilions throughout their careers, as their physical and technical abilities increase and then decline as they get older. If this was the case the game would be far more suitable for producing your own wingers.

I realise there is a training feature for repositioning players but its far too long winded and liable to upset your players and/or effect their performances. It should be less complicated and players should be more flexible.

Is it me, or are there less and less wingers with each new version of FM? For example, players like Adu, Joe Cole, Blondel, Bresciano...I could go on - they all lost their winger status at some time. The Joe Cole as centre mid one is the weirdest in my opinion.

Anyone else find this?

Joe Cole has never been a winger. At West Ham he always played AMC/MC until the genius that is Roeder decided to play him on the left, but he's right footed. Sure he's a talented guy who can play anywhere in midfield , but his best/natural position is AMC. I wish England would play him there.

Mind you he joined Chelsea as a pure entertainer who's worth the ticket price alone to some sort of poor mans Fat Frank. Chelsea know how to ruin a player

Is it me, or are there less and less wingers with each new version of FM? For example, players like Adu, Joe Cole, Blondel, Bresciano...I could go on - they all lost their winger status at some time. The Joe Cole as centre mid one is the weirdest in my opinion.

Anyone else find this?

Joe Cole has always been a midfielder rather than a winger, the only reason he plays on the wing IRL is because he's better than the other wingers available and not as good as the other midfielders available.

I don't think there are that many out and out wingers these days IRL so it is represented in the game. When you look at some of the top teams in Europe they seem to play with wing forwards or attacking midfielders who can also get wide, the likes of Messi, Ronaldo etc are played as a wing forward rather than a winger. When you look at the top four in England they don't seem to use proper old fashioned wingers that much, Utd use Rooney on the left, Liverpool Gerard on the right, Arsenal Hleb on the left and Chelsea Cole on the left, IMO all those players are attacking midfilders rather than wingers.

Perhaps the modern footballer needs to be more adaptable, e.g. Ronaldo as winger, striker, attacking midfielder, yeah he's capabel of being a winger, but you can't really pigeon hole what position he plays.

Maybe to do with 4-5-1 / 4-3-3 being so prevelent now, this leads to formations where strikers play on the wing (kuyt for example) or for a very strong midfield core (chelsea playing essien/lampard/ballack/mikel/cole all in one team) only 4-4-2 really has specialised wingers and even then these players are becoming interchangable with the strikers (rooney/ronaldo). I would agree with OP that out and out wingers AML/R seem less but AMLC/RC & AMLR/SC seem more proliferate. This leaves the ML and MR positions with less accomplished/natural choices