Article: Could we play the Barcelona formation and would it affect where we need to strengthen? | Football, Tottenham

But where does those players line up when the teams are about kick off? If Villa is on the touchline, how the hell can you call him a CF?

 

False 9 is just a totally made up position.
Unless the lone striker is an old school, relatively immobile target man, then they'll always drift wide, drop deep and try to pull the centre-halves out of position.

The inside forward description that you're applying to Villa is simply a winger.
What's the difference between what you're saying that he does and how Robben plays?

 

Thats why Messi is a false 9. Because he drops deep and meaning the CB's have no player to mark. A target man is there to hit and he should be high up the pitch. Messi plays in the midfield therefore he should be a false 9. Wingers tend to hog the touchline and cross but Villa does not do that. He makes runs from out to in like a forward. But because he startS from wide you can't call him a CF.

 

They both line up in a rigid 2-5-3. Villa is one of the front three, I'm not sure whether he would be on the blue or the red team though as Barca play in blue and red, although you'd probably describe it as maroon and light navy.

 

Forwards dropping deep or going wide isn't new and has never needed this false 9 description before.
It's bollocks, frankly.

Wingers that cut in aren't new, either.
They're still wingers and not inside forwards, who actually were part of a 2-3-5 formation, ironically.

What positions do Iniesta and Pedro play?

 

I disagree with you slightly, PNP. False 9 is a position but it's invariably used by people that don't understand football well enough to use it. I certainly wouldn't use it, just as I wouldn't use, inside forward, deep lying forward or whatever it was I said Duff plays in.

 

Forwards do that but not how Messi,Tevez and Totti have. These teams more often then not do have a forward to actually hit when looking up. Dropping and staying as long as Messi does in midfield is new. Hence you can name him as a false 9. Barca play a flat front 3 hence you can all of them all forwards. Perdo is also an inside forward. Andres Iniesta is an attacking midfielder.

 

So Jonathan Wilson does not understand football?

He calls Messi a false 9 and when it comes from someone like him then you listen.

 

So you're saying that Barcelona play a 4-3-3 and that Villa, Messi and Pedro all play as forwards, then?
I guess that doesn't sound as 'unique' as a 2-2-3-1-2 with inside forwards, false 9s and deep-lying outside-rights though, eh?

I'd love to hear what some people would make of the Dutch total football side!

 

Barca do play 4-3-3. Messi is the false 9 in the middle with Pedro and Villa making runs into the box from out wide.

 

Piskie, I'm going to make this as simple as I can for you. You play on the wing, you're a winger, whether you cut inside more than normal, trackback more than normal or stop to tie your boots more than normal. You play upfront, you're a centre forward again, tracking back, tying boots, etc is all accounted for. Rooney and Hernandez have different styles but they're both still centre forwards, just as Vidic and Rio are different players but play the same position at the back, I don't hear anyone denying Rio is a centre back. Messi is a forward that plays in the centre, he's a centre forward, your attempts to pove otherwise, prove that most people that use "false no.9" don't understand what they're talking about.

 

Again, according to you Jonathan Wilson does not know what he is talking about,

http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/blog/2009/oct/27/the-question-false-nines-jonathan-wilson

Read the article and then tell me why i should not call Messi a false 9, also a forward the plays out wide can't be a CF because he does not play in the the centre. Thats very simple even for you, Schteffen Freund's Top 10 Greatest Goals.

 

Is van Persie also a false 9?
There are so many of them that they may as well be called 9s.
Oh, wait a minute, they actually are, aren't they?

 

Not really. I thought he would but the way he plays now is like a proper forward. He stays in the box a lot now. Hardly drops deep anymore. That is one of the reason he was scoring a lot more. Also Cesc plays off him and we play a more 4-2-3-1 formation these days. So Van Persie has to stay forward more.

 

I should've known exaggerating with the use of "invariably" would confuse you

Just becase the Guardian journalist hasn't given you a different name for the way Alves plays, it doesn't mean Alves plays the same as Gary Neville, another right back.

I tell you what, show me where I've said a player not playing in the centre is a centre forward.

 

Is Messi a forward? Does he play in the centre?

 

You kept calling David Villa a CF,despite him actually playing out wide.

 

Messi is a false 9.

 

...