The Role of The Striker

Eduardo Da Silva signed for Shakhtar Donetsk two days ago from Arsenal. He was the only striker at the club in the mould of a 'box player'. A player who specializes in finishing any oppurtunities that might present themselves in and around the penalty area. Arsene Wenger went on record as saying he wasn't in the market for another forward. This has made me wonder about the role of the striker in the present game.

If you look at the biggest teams in world football, their strikers perform several roles for them, sometimes not even including scoring the bulk of the goals. The perfect example would be Van Persie. He plays what some gunners called a 'false nine'. He would drop off the front into midfield and help the likes of Song and Fabregas in controlling possession. While we all know that Van Persie could easily score over 20 goals in a season, Wenger doesn't see this as his primary role. In fact I remember at the start of last season, when Van Persie had yet to get into his stride, the boss said it wasn't a concern because he was making goals.

Torres, while he scores nearly all Liverpool's goals, performs other roles as well. They play counter-attacking football and he's crucial to them in this. When opposition attacks break down he will run the flanks and provide an outlet for his team-mates. When Liverpool don't have the ball he will chase down and force defenders into kicking the ball long. Tevez also does this at Manchester City. That sort of work is what's expected of strikers nowadays.

In the present game, midfield is seen as the crucial area of the pitch to control, and the style of forwards in the modern game is reflective of this. They work backlines and supplement midfielders or simply run around, closing down the opposition. One thing that's for certain though, is that a striker can't simply be on the end of attacking moves, they have to be in the middle of them too.