The False 9

A fascinating piece by the excellent Jonathan Wilson. I agree with a lot of his comment here and have often wondered how best to counter the False 9 (which is a good name but not one that will stick as it isn't, well, sticky enough). In his wonderful book ‘Inverting The Pyramid’ and elsewhere.

That said... Look at the players he picks out. Ronaldo, Tevez, Messi, Totti, Bergkamp, Zola, Cantona. All fantastic players. A good British example is Gerrard who has become something akin to the role of a False 9 and was at his most effective in the game against United where Ferdinand and Vidic simply didn't know whether to stay with him and drift into midfield (leaving lots of space) or allow him lots of space in central midfield to ping passes around. In the end, Ferdinand tended to go with Gerrard leaving Torres up against Vidic... the ideal combination as Torres + Space + Vidic = goals.

A question that Wilson does not ask is this: Why don't bad teams utilise the False 9 more often? Surely, if it causes the disruption that he suspects that it does surely teams lower down the divisions would be best served by introducing it?

Perhaps, the system only works with excellent players? Or, perhaps, it only works when there is excellence around them - the Barcelona system worked so well last season not because of the False 9 but because of Xavi's brilliance. Bergkamp was feeding Henry, Cantona had Fergie's Fledglings around him and so on.

I think it might be a little bit of all of these factors that make bad teams not adopt the strategy and, furthermore, the fear that False 9s don't tend to score as many goals as, well, 9s. We should also note that none of the False 9s Wilson mentions are British. I think Gerrard, Rooney and, occasionally, Joe Cole could fill the role but these are all exceptional players.

Other than these three I can't think of any and certainly not outside the ''Big Four''.
Why don't we produce more of them and why don't teams like the system? I’d guess that it is a combination of tactical naivety throughout the youth system and the focus on speed and strength rather than ball control and thinking.

From a young age we in the UK are told that 4-4-2 is the only possible formation to play and, therefore, no one grows up playing as a False 9. Our focus on speed, strength and stamina over technique, ability and insight (Note that Ajax have long focused on TIPS) which, again, doesn’t facilitate the development of False 9s. You need exceptional ball control and insight to be a good False 9... our players don't tend to do insight. Wilson is right that England's rigid and simplistic structure, and dogmatic adherence to 4-4-2, that means False 9s can excel in the game against us.

On, how to stop the the False 9, I disagree with Wilson. I think the best way is to play a 4-2-3-1 and detail a midfielder to man-mark the False 9 (this doesn't need to be a deep-lying midfielder). Fabrice Muamba was excellent against Liverpool (until his sending off) and totally nullified Gerrard. Indeed, playing a 4-2-3-1 gives teams that option. If one of the '2' becomes roving, the team still has a lot of solidity in defence.

Of course, a lot of Wilson's argument is obvious and goes back to a very simple premise about football - the team that manipulates space better will usually win.

His point about the False 9 (or floating 9, which sees a striker play in a multi-position role during the game) highlights a wider development in recent years of players who can play in multiple positions in the same game.

Now, admittedly, this is not a new thing (all roads in footballing excellence lead back to the Dutch Total Football Team of 1974 where players could switch into almost all positions at will ) but players like Sergio Ramos and Dani Alves are so skilful and fit that they can, essentially, become both the full-back and wingers at the same time. Madrid, for a while, didn’t play with a right-sided midfielder because Ramos could fill both roles. This meant that Beckham, on the right-wing, could play there or drift in-field to become a ''quarterback''. Those two links go into greater depth (please do read).

Elsewhere, Dirk Kuyt seems to do the work the work of a winger, midfielder or (in old-fashioned lingo) inside-right.

I think this is the future of football. Players who can swap positions and who can adequately play a number of roles - strikers or wingers like Kuyt and Rooney who can tackle and track back, midfielders like Essien who can also be surging wing-backs or centre backs when needs be, central defenders like Agger who can score goals and pass the ball beautifully and the likes of Ramos and Alves who can dominate games from the full-back position.

RCM