5 greatest false 9s of all time
Who is a false 9? The traditional number 9 is a team's primary goalscorer. He is the fox-in-the-box who is waiting to snatch at anything that comes his way and finds the back of the net. But over the course of history, like several other positions, the centre-forward has also undergone massive changes.
Plenty of teams use false 9s today
The days of the burly and belligerent strikers are long gne. More and more managers are going for technical finesse over brawn. This had a lot to do with the emergence of false 9s. A false 9 contributes heavily to build-up play and helps his fellow forwards get into dangerous positions.
The false 9 drops deeper than a traditional number nine. This makes it difficult for the opposition defenders to mark him as they will need to leave the backline in order to stay close to him. This in turn opens up space for other attackers to run into and exploit.
Without any further ado, let's take a look at the greatest false 9s of all time.
#5 Roberto Firmino
Liverpool's resurgence domestically and in Europe in the late 2010s had a lot to do with their incredible frontline consisting of Roberto Firmino, Sadio Mane and Mohamed Salah. They were arguably the best attacking trio on the planet for a few years as the Merseysiders won the Champions League and the Premier League.
Liverpool were deadly on the counter. If they are afforded a lot of space to run into, Mane and Salah are unstoppable. Firmino's task was to facilitate this and he did his job to perfection. The Brazilian international is one of the most intelligent forwards in Europe.
He also acts as Liverpool's first line of press and doesn't mind dropping deep to get the ball back. Once he receives the ball, he has all the technical abilities needed to release his fellow forwards into dangerous positions.
Firmino's skillset is replete with tricks, flicks, no-look passes and shots and he is simply a joy to watch. At his best, he is easily one of the best false 9s of his generation.
Bobby Firmino // Logic - Perfect (False 9) https://t.co/am3YcBFWCf
#4 Dennis Bergkamp
Dennis Bergkamp is one of the greatest players of his generation and is a bonafide Premier League legend. Bergkamp was one of the most technically astute players to have ever graced the game.
The Dutchman started out as a wide midfielder and then excelled as a striker before playing the role of support striker to perfection in his latter years. Thierry Henry is regarded as one of the greatest strikers of all time.
His goalscoring exploits for Arsenal in the Premier League were well aided by Bergkamp's brilliance.
He played further up than the traditional number 10s but he was extremely creative with the ball at his feet and always had an answer no matter how tough the situation looked. That was largely down to just how good he was technically.
Credit has to go to Arsene Wenger as well for unlocking the true potential of Bergkamp by playing him as a false 9. In 410 appearances for Arsenal across all competitions, he scored 113 goals and provided 94 assists.
Just how good was Dennis Bergkamp!?
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