Im confused, how did it take so long for long ball to become so irrelevant? When I watch games from 2003 every team just lobs the ball up over and over.
Im confused, how did it take so long for long ball to become so irrelevant? When I watch games from 2003 every team just lobs the ball up over and over.
So would it be fair to say that Haaland is a very old school striker? Considering how he doesn’t get involved in the play too much and is often used as an anchor like you described.
Despite being so tall and big, he’s also ridiculously fast for his size so he actually makes loads of runs in behind rather than playing with his back to goal and being a target man involved in the link up.
He is a target man in the sense that he is a tall body to cross the ball to though.
Nah he’s too quick, too technically good to be old school and doesn’t play with his back to goal all that much, because City don’t need him to. If anything Haaland is most lethal as a counter attacking player because of his pace and power or just as a pure instinctive finisher in the box.
True old school long ball football has two strikers, a big man and little man in a 4-4-2. Big man plays back to goal, the team launches diagonal balls to him and he holds it up so everyone else can get forward. Little man, who is quick, plays off him and finishes off the chances. Kevin Phillips and Niall Quinn are about as good an example of this as you’ll see.
I think what happened was that having two guys up top with little defensive responsibilities stopped working against teams with an extra man in the middle, so everyone evolved towards a 4-3-3. At the same time, everyone got technically loads better and much fitter and stronger, so suddenly you have a generation of strikers who can do both things - finish, play on the counter and also hold up and distribute the ball.
Your typical ‘forward’ of 2023 - quick, technical guy who isn’t an absolutely lethal finisher but can create and play anywhere across the front 3 - didn’t really exist as a prototype 20-30 and certainly 40 years ago, you were either a striker or a winger. Now everyone is a Marcus Rashford type.
I see a little bit of old school in Ivan Toney and before that, Jermaine Defoe. Wout Weghorst is definitely old school.
I like the big man big man combo like Dyche’s Burnley side. Chris Wood and Ashley Barnes together
Funny to mention Weghorst since he’s Dutch and 4-4-2 has never really been been a thing here. 4-4-3 has been the default formation at every amateur team for decades.
todd boehly should have purchased ajax
This is how Wrexham play. Mullin the little guy and Palmer the man mountain.
Defoe and crouch
Giroud fits the bill of an old school target man the most, but he was also a great passer and had amazing link up play