The false nine, Inverted wingers and three at the back – 2010/2011 football season’s prominent tactics (Part 2)
Expanding on our tactical discussion from the first part of this article about tactics in the 2010-2011 season in club football, it is easy to see the trend with regard to the use of false nine. In the 2009-2010 season at Manchester
United, http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Wayne-Rooney-c36736 perfected the false nine role. Playing as a solitary striker Rooney netted more than 30 goals throughout the season with Manchester United until his ankle injury in March of 2010. However the false nine role has now entered into the mainstream
of footballing tactics.
http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Barcelona-c38604 in their 4-3-3 formation. The beauty of the false nine position is that it creates space for others to function in a setup where the play is focused around a false nine striker.
Playing as a striker, the false nine man drops deep to connect with his midfielders. In doing so, he creates space for the wingers to make inverted runs or for his strike partner to exploit space at the back which will be left when his marker chases him to
the central midfield area. If that doesn’t happen, the false nine striker will be allowed time and space on the ball which can be used to wreak havoc.
Messi performed this role to a brilliant effect for Barcelona this season playing as a false nine for Barcelona in their 5-0 destruction of http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Real-c30728 Madrid at Nou Camp and then their 2-0 win over them at the Santiago Bernabéu in the
first leg of their UEFA Champions League final against Los Blancos. At Real Madrid, Jose Mourinho used a 4-2-3-1 system based on what http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Sami-Khedira-c32325 and Ozil in the summer
transfer window of 2010 but this system was not able to act as a counter against Barcelona’s possession oriented system in the league.
Andre Villas Boas used http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/England-c749, Wayne Rooney and Manchester United shifted away from the false nine
mantra and went more conventional with Rooney being deployed in an auxiliary striker’s role. The Englishman dropped deep to link up play for the speedy Javier Hernandez and also to provide Manchester United an extra option in the midfield region when their
4-4-2 formation came up against a three man midfield.
This means that United’s formation was a 4-4-1-1 formation for most part of the season. In Italian football, width and wingers remained a rare commodity. For A.C Milan this was evident when they failed to stretch open the Tottenham
http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Defence-c38904 on their trip to White Hart Lane following their loss to Harry Redknapp’s men at San Siro in the UEFA Champions League round of sixteen. Thus the 2010-2011 season was portrayed a further rise in popularity for the false nine role and Italian option’s
obsession with playing down the middle. It also provide once again that Barcelona are the team to beat with their fluid yet possession obsessed style of play as exhibited by their success in the UEFA Champions League and the La Liga.
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