Tactical theory: The use and evolution of the false 9
By NS
The “False 9” is without question one of the most important tactical innovations of the 21st century, as its implementation led to tremendous amounts of success for teams in both club and international competitions. From Lionel Messi to Roberto Firmino, many dominant teams in modern times have been built around a false 9, rather than a traditional center forward. In this piece, we are going to dive into the tactical details of how this role is used, as well as trace back its origins in the history of football.
INTRODUCTION:
Before we go into the details, let’s define the role. The false 9 is a different type of center forward, one who tends to drop deep and joins the midfield in possession, rather than lurk around the box for goal-scoring opportunities. While dropping forwards are a usual sight in front 2s, the false 9 is employed as a lone center forward, usually in a 4-3-3 or in other variations such as a 4-1-4-1.
While the conventional role of a false 9 is a playmaker who looks to bring others into play, there are many functions that players in that role can perform. The most common one is opening up space for others to attack. When the center forward drops, two things are likely to occur: Either one of the center backs will follow them, thus opening up space in the back line, or no one will follow them, in turn leading to a numerical overload in midfield, plus space to attack in front of the back line. Due to these possibilities opening up plenty of space, a great false 9 is the most difficult player to defend in football, as defenders have to pick their poison.
HISTORICAL ORIGINS:
While many refer to the false 9 as a tactical innovation of the modern era, truth is the use of it can be traced as far back as the early 20th century.
Matthias Sindelar, Austria 1931-1937:
The first implementation of a false 9-like role was observed as early as the early 1930’s. It was Hugo Meisl, the coach of an Austrian national team that was nicknamed “Wünderteam”, who opted for the use of playmaking forward Matthias Sindelar instead of a more traditional physical number 9, Josef Uridil, in order to fit the fluid type of football he wanted to play. Sindelar was a center forward of Jewish origin who spent his entire professional career at Austria Vienna and was well known for his ‘etheric movement’ and intelligence on the ball. Due to his creative skills and slight structure, he was instructed to drop deep to link up play and create opportunities for himself and others. He was the focal point of Meisl’s 2-3-5 and the Wünderteam’s star man.
Austria 1934
• Nandor Hidegkuti, Hungary 1952-1958:
The first rather famous implementation of a deep-lying forward, was seen in the “Golden Team” of the Hungarians in the 1950’s, by coach Gusztáv Sebes, who reached the 1954 World Cup final. The man for the role was Nandor Hidegkuti, a player who had spent the majority of his career up until that point playing as a winger or an inside forward. However, Sebes decided to use Hidegkuti as a dropping number 9 to counter the ‘W-M’ formation, a 3-2-5 that was the favored tactical set-up at this point of history. In what was marketed as the ‘Match of the century’ for English football, Hungary demolished England 3-6 at Wembley on 25/11/1953. After the game, the English center-half Harry Jonshton, who operated in the middle of the back 3, admitted that he simply had no idea how to defend Hidegkuti. If he stepped up, a gap would appear in the defensive line, which was easily exploited by the quality of the Hungarians, for example legendary inside forward Ferenc Puskás. If he stayed deep, that gave Hidegkuti plenty of space to receive between the lines and wreak havoc with his playmaking qualities. This is regarded as the birth of the false 9 role.
Hungary 1953
•Johan Cruyff, Netherlands/Ajax 1964-1977:
Arguably the most influential tactical style to ever grace the beautiful game was “Total Football”, a style synonymous with the Netherlands national team and Ajax in the 1970’s, and also the “Dream Team” of Barcelona in the early 1990’s. It is associated with legendary Dutch coach Rinus Michels. The principles of Total Football have influenced many modern-day coaches, such as Marcelo Bielsa and Pep Guardiola and are observed in many successful sides in the current game. High pressing, possession-based football, with an emphasis on using width when attacking and compactness when defending, as wells as a high defensive line, offside trap, verticality, overloads and positional switches. The fluidity of these sides required a false 9, a technical center forward that would move all over the pitch to receive the ball, rather than a static poacher. Johan Cruyff, one of the greatest players to ever play the game, was perfect for that role and was the focal point of Netherlands and Ajax, as well as the coach of the Barcelona Dream Team. He was the number 9 in the 1-3-3-3, that would turn into a 3-4-3 when the sweeper, Barry Hulshoff, joined the midfield to create positional and numerical overloads. It was a tactical set-up depended on the movement of players off the ball to perform positional switches, as well as superb fitness levels, to maintain a high pressing defense.
Ajax 1972/73
MODERN DAY USE:
•Francesco Totti, Roma 2006-2008:
The first modern-day interpretation of the false 9 occurred due to an injury crisis, when Roma manager Luciano Spalletti, was left without any fit center forwards in January 2006. Simply due to a lack of other options, the Italian turned to his world class trequartista (attacking midfielder), Francesco Totti and used him upfront. However, his role did not change that much, still playing similarly to a number 10, but with no center forward ahead of him. He simply joined the midfield and as a result, the 4-1-4-1 turned into a 4-1-5-0. Roma dominated possession and Totti was the focal point, being the side’s primary creator, as well as its top goal scorer, in fact winning the Golden Boot in 2006/07 with 26 goals scored. Opposing teams faced the familiar issue, to follow the false 9 or not to follow him. The space opened up was attacked by the central midfielders bombing forward from deep, in addition to the wingers who cut inside towards the middle from wide areas. While that Roma side was not dominant or entirely successful, they certainly played some entertaining football and Spalletti is now known as the coach that revived the role of the false 9.
Roma 2007/08
•Lionel Messi, Barcelona 2009-2012:
Pep Guardiola’s Barcelona is arguably the greatest club side of all time. In his tenure (2008-2012), the Catalan side won 14 trophies. Not only were the results exceptional, that side played some of the most entertaining football we have ever seen. Influenced by Total Football, Guardiola implemented Cruyff’s Juego de Posicion, creating a team that dominated possession and downright demolished opponents, with their eye-catching short passing play, featuring players of supreme technical quality and intelligence on and off the ball. One of these, Lionel Messi, established his ranking as one of the greatest players of all time, operating as a false 9 in Pep’s 4-3-3 and winning 4 consecutive Ballon d’Or awards from 2009 to 2012. Originally a right winger, Messi used his slight frame and low center of gravity, along with his elite dribbling and playmaking abilities to not only become the greatest playmaker of his era, but arguably the best goal scorer as well. In 2/5/2009, Barcelona visited arch rivals Real Madrid in the Bernabeu for a pivotal league game, and to the surprise of the hosts, Guardiola in the 9th minute signaled right winger Messi and center forward Samuel Eto’o to swap positions. Once again, the opponents did not know how to defend the false 9. Messi’s role resulted in two things: Firstly, he dropped into midfield and created a 4v3 numerical advantage and so Barcelona could easily play around Madrid’s middle 3.
Secondly, Messi’s movement caught the attention of the Madrid center backs and that opened up space for the dangerous wide forwards, Eto’o and Thierry Henry to attack the channels and get in behind the back line.
In the example above, the center back has stepped up to defend Messi, however, the right back was not quick enough to close the space and Messi was able to find Henry running in behind the defensive line.
Throughout Barcelona’s best year under Guardiola, 2011, when they won an unprecedented 6 trophies, they lined up the following way:
Barcelona 2010/11
•Cesc Fàbregas, Spain Euro 2012:
With the Spanish national team going into the 2012 Euros without a reliable center forward (injured David Villa and out of form Fernando Torres), coach Vicente del Bosque decided to use Cesc Fàbregas, a natural central midfielder as a false 9. Spain’s gameplan revolved around their aim to maintain possession of the ball for the majority of the match, in order to not find themselves in defensive situations too often. To do that, del Bosque fielded a line-up that at times looked like a 4-6-0, as the wingers, Andres Iniesta & David Silva, were natural central players, as well. While Fàbregas made some traditional number 9 runs, his movement was similar to a dropping false 9, due to his relative lack of mobility. Spain relied on their full backs, Jordi Alba and Alvaro Arbeloa to provide width and looked to dominate the midfield. Their approach proved fruitful, as they wound up eventual winners, beating Italy 4-0 in the final, in a game that they were brilliant tactically.
Spain 2012
•Roberto Firmino, Liverpool 2016-2020:
Jürgen Klopp has found tremendous success in England, with his intense high pressing style of play having carried over excellently from the Bundesliga. His Liverpool team won the Champions League in 2019 and has dominated the English Premier League this year. When Klopp joined the Merseyside club, he inherited a very talented Brazilian attacking midfielder, Roberto Firmino. Familiar to our theme, he decided to convert Firmino into a false 9 for his 4-3-3, however with a slight twist. Just like all other false 9s, he is still a playmaker and a space creator, however, one can argue that his most important function for Liverpool is actually his role to lead the press. Having taken the label ‘defensive forward’, Firmino has superb fitness levels and is the main cog in Klopp’s counter-pressing machine.
His intensity and ability to cover ground allows him to not only pressure the center backs, but also cover the defensive midfielder as well, as can be seen in the example above, with his cover shadow on Fernandinho.
On the ball, his role is equally important. Liverpool’s main goal scoring threats are their two prolific wingers, Sadio Mané and Mohammed Salah. Firmino drops deep to link up play and allow the two wingers to come inside and receive the ball in the half space or running in behind.
Actually, Liverpool’s structure when on the ball looks more like a 4-4-2 diamond with Firmino as the number 10, the two wingers as the center forwards and the full backs providing width.
Liverpool 2019/20
CONCLUSION:
Despite the false 9 being an ‘ancient’ tactical concept in football as we saw, it is clear that it still has to play an important role in the future of football, as it has in recent years. Essentially, it has replaced the traditional number 10, which seems to be on the verge of extinction, due to the newly required physical and tactical demands of the game. Whether the norm will become 5’7 dribbling demons or physical pressing machines we cannot know for sure, but whatever it is, it will definitely be fascinating to see how the role of the false 9 will further evolve in the future.
NS
Note: Many special thanks to Jonathan Wilson and his book “Inverting the Pyramid”. It was extremely helpful in my research for the ‘Historical Origins’ section of the piece. A must-read for anyone interested in football tactics. I highly recommend it.
