Forza Ronaldo

2011/2012 SEASON GOAL SCORING RATIOS: The Modern Center-Forward

Unsurprisingly this list (which I picked up on twitter) is headed by one Leo Messi. He averages a goal pretty much every hour of play he is involved in, a phenomenal return for a player who cannot really be seen as an out and out striker or center-foward. Following closely behind is Ronaldo, again a player of immense quality, yet he is by no means a 'striker' or your big, bustling number nine. Both players tend to play off the wings, right and left respectively, coming into the pitch, playing into positions which enable them the use of their stronger foot to come in dangerously on goal. Is their success down to their startling abilities, or a change in the way modern managers and coaches apply their tactics and build their teams?
  The role of the center-forward, the no. 9, the leader of the team, your Alan Shearers' and Drogbas', on the surface seems to be changing in the use of successful modern teams. We see this in many cases, with the tactical mess that AVB created at Chelsea in trying to create a more 'exciting' team and rid of the center-fowards, and of course at the likes of Barcelona and Spain who are arguably the best two teams in their classes.
   Euro 2012 proved the use of a center-forward, or a striker, was unnecessary if you adopted a style of play that relied on the possession of the ball at all times, leading to brief moments of superb skill or a killer pass to put through a player. This tactic of course is dependent on a select group of players who's touch, vision and pass are at the top of the game. Spain seem to have this in abundance.
   Craig Foster, a Ballon D'Or Australian representative judge recently tweeted the following:

"Barca say 5,600 hours of structured learning necessary to reach this level. That's 8 hrs a week, including games, 48 wks a year, from 10-24"

This is just a brief indication of the level Barcelona believe their La Masia trained players are at, and 6 of those were in the starting line up which embarrassed Italy (if you include newbie Jordi Alba).
   Barcelona do not play with a center-forward, but more of a striker in the form of David Villa (when fit). Their approach is almost identical to that of the Spanish national side. 4-3-3. However, Real Madrid differ quite significantly. They play closer to a 4-5-1, with either Higuain or Benzema alone up front acting as the center-forward/striker. In this set up, Ronaldo is put on the left wing more often than not, allowing him the space for creativity, crossing and shooting that he craves. This set up works due to the fact that Ronaldo is pretty much the ultimate player. He is fast, can shoot, pass, header, track back, dribble etc etc. He is the key man, yet unlike Barca, Real Madrid also have the likes of Higuain to score goals. He managed a total of 22 at a rate of a goal every 107 minutes during what was an injury blemished season. Similarly Benzema reached 21 goals pretty much from the bench. Real Madrid ended the season league winners, scoring 121 goals and leading Barca by 9 points.
 Does this say something about the role of the center-foward? The team that chose to include the more traditional attacker came through Spanish Champions, as did the team that deployed a center-forward in the Champions League final in Didier Drogba. In fact their opposition, Bayern Munich, have also developed a leading traditional attacker in Mario Gomez. Both Gomez and Drogba were in the Champions League final, Messi and Ronaldo were not.
   I would argue that Spain's refusal to play a striker, and Barca's approach which relies so heavily upon wingers are not changing the way football is played. Football as a whole is still successfully adapting the use of traditional center-forwards world over. There are cases such as Swansea where then manager Brendan Rogers had obviously been influenced by the likes of Spain and Barca, but such a tactic in no way eliminates the use of a traditional center-forward (Danny Graham). Spain know that nearly all of their midfielders have the ability to finish, so therefore felt more comfortable including Cesc Fabregas who could do two jobs at once, contain the ball along with the rest of the team, yet also finish when necessary. Jordi Alba's goal against Italy showed that defenders can do just as well in front of goal as strikers. They are professional footballers, it is their job to play football and this Spain team are the best in the world. You would expect most of them to be able to finish when required.

So if the center-forward still seems to be important in today's game, then why do these MID/FW/ST/CF/RW/LW players in Ronaldo and Messi score so many goals? Honestly, they are just the best players in the world. It seems an easy answer, but having talked about goal scorers for so long it seems to make the most sense. They are better than everyone else out there, they play in positions that are of their own making, free-roles provided to them by their managers. They cannot really be defined, only that they are the most important player their team has. There's a nice quote from Alan Pardew in reference to Hatem Ben Arfa's goal against Bolton last season and his performances at that time; 

"I don't give him too much information offensively. Somebody like Hatem, you have got to let them have their world - it's his world when he has the ball. My world is when he hasn't got it, and that's really where I have focused on him and given him the freedom to go and express himself."

In a way this sums up the role of the footballing mavericks. They do not get told to do the unimaginable, it is of their own making. 

Jesse

@JesseRivers11

 

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