Forwards "Backing In"

It's The Little Things That Count

Forwards' Other Jobs

As with any position, the success of a player often lies in his or her ability to do the less-glamorous tasks at a consistently high level.  For a front runner, being physical with a defender (most of whom will be bigger/stronger - in the lucky few cases, "only" as strong or big as the forward!), sprinting hard when asking for the ball (over and over and over) and understanding a nuanced role in the defensive phases of the match are among the jobs required that too few understand.  Now, scoring goals is surely the reason forwards continue to be selected to play...but if they don't do these type of jobs, the ball won't get to the goal mouth to be finished.

Anyway, in these cases, we see forwards battling for position with a defender as a ball is played into them.  Many of these are high, long passes, but we'll see instances where the ball is on the ground as well.  Bottom line, the forward must be a target, and must do everything possible to secure the ball and keep possession.  Hard work...but perhaps in a later post we'll look at some off-the-ball running these guys have to do, and it might not look so bad.



Anichebe uses his strength twice in one attacking move:

Victor Anichebe is a classic, powerful striker.  In this movement, he bodies off a defender twice, once at midfield to advance the play into Villa's half, then again inside the 18 to turn with the ball and score.

Anichebe for Everton receiving a pass to his feet.  Note the defender is fully leaning on Anichebe; he overpursued, and Anichebe turned on him to score.

Earlier in the same attack, Anichebe performs the same task, with a defender shoving away at him, in the middle third.  If he can't hold the ball in here, the goal depicted above never happens.

Carlton Cole engages Brede Hangeland

Carlton Cole stands his ground as a ball is lofted toward him.  Note the arm-holding both players are doing in seeking to exert control of his opponent.  

A defender shows he can give as good as he gets!

Guy Demel, who is a defender for Villa, can be seen here locating the defender for Everton even as the defender watches skyward as the ball is already in flight toward them....

...Demel then wraps the arm around Heitinga and begins to prepare to take his first touch (now we can see both pairs of eyes are tracking the ball.)  That Demel takes his eyes off the ball shows how important it is to physically engage the opponent.  

From The Brazil/England Friendly:

Ronaldinho, receiving a kick from GK Cesar after an offside call, backs toward the England defender...both are trying to get under the ball in order to have the first touch and force the other to either concede the touch, or foul.  England have done very nicely in surrounding the play (white lines) and no matter who touches the ball first, it seems likely they will take possession.

A fraction of a second later, the two players have come together, and are battling for the touch.  Ronaldinho has gained position...Glen Johnson reached his right leg around the Brazilian and got the first touch, but it bounced off him into touch, so Brazil got the throw.  Of course, had Johnson not stretched to get the first touch, Ronaldinho is more than capable of settling this ball and initiating an attack.  

Ricky Lambert

Southampton sit a skinny 3 points out of the relegation zone in their first year in the EPL after promotion.  Forward Ricky Lambert is a similar player to Anichebe or Cole (Grant Holt at Norwich, Pavel Pogrebnyak at Reading, Giroud at Arsenal and Peter Crouch at Stoke all offer similar approaches as classic target-style forwards) and his hard work may well keep the Saints in the EPL for 2013-14.

Here he battles for a ball from a free kick taken from near midfield on the touchline.  Clearly Wigan know about him, as they double-mark him, front and back.  He loses this ball...but did enough on the day to ensure a 2-2 draw, including scoring a goal.

The ball has been delivered, and the Wigan defenders (blue) collapse on Lambert, quite clearly the target.

Lambert loses here, as the midfielder heads the ball back toward midfield.  But if he had won it, note the two Southampton teammates running upfield of Lambert's position, into the space behind the back challenging Lambert.  There's a lovely pocket of space for an opportunistic forward to sneak into and find an easy shot should Lambert flick the ball on.