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| How modern football has made the fox in the box an endangered species | How modern football has made the fox in the box an endangered species |
| (about 3 hours later) | |
| Poor Lukas Podolski. World Cup winner, in the centurion’s club of international caps, possessor of a left-footed shot powerful enough to smash through a pile of bricks like a footballing superpower, cult hero for his affable humour on social media … Yet all is not well in the world of Poldi. | Poor Lukas Podolski. World Cup winner, in the centurion’s club of international caps, possessor of a left-footed shot powerful enough to smash through a pile of bricks like a footballing superpower, cult hero for his affable humour on social media … Yet all is not well in the world of Poldi. |
| The man with a heavyweight 121 appearances for Germany (before his 30th birthday) is struggling to play enough football to bring him fulfilment. “I’ve had to wrap myself up warm in my winter coat with my hat and scarf on to watch the others playing,” he laments. The Podolski question has come up over the international break as Joachim Löw noted the difficulties that come with irregular football. In order to find the rhythm and sharpness to be effective he needs games, said the Germany coach. | The man with a heavyweight 121 appearances for Germany (before his 30th birthday) is struggling to play enough football to bring him fulfilment. “I’ve had to wrap myself up warm in my winter coat with my hat and scarf on to watch the others playing,” he laments. The Podolski question has come up over the international break as Joachim Löw noted the difficulties that come with irregular football. In order to find the rhythm and sharpness to be effective he needs games, said the Germany coach. |
| “At the moment you have to say, unfortunately, he hasn’t had that in almost half a year. Ultimately we need to consider, and he also, what happens in the next year for him,” Löw added. | “At the moment you have to say, unfortunately, he hasn’t had that in almost half a year. Ultimately we need to consider, and he also, what happens in the next year for him,” Löw added. |
| “He is not for sale and there is no offer,” replied Arsène Wenger. It is a conundrum for Podolski, who is not the kind of person content merely to pick up a handsome salary. He really wants to play more football. But how? | “He is not for sale and there is no offer,” replied Arsène Wenger. It is a conundrum for Podolski, who is not the kind of person content merely to pick up a handsome salary. He really wants to play more football. But how? |
| Podolski’s problem, arguably, is that he has no obvious position that fits in with the way so many modern teams play. That’s certainly the case at Arsenal. Wenger dislikes playing him at centre-forward because he does not have the physical qualities to lead the line solo. He does not trust him as a winger either, with the discipline ideally required in that role. A generation ago, as part of an old-fashioned front two, lurking to unleash one of his thunder-blasters after a striking partner teed him up? Now that would have been perfect. | Podolski’s problem, arguably, is that he has no obvious position that fits in with the way so many modern teams play. That’s certainly the case at Arsenal. Wenger dislikes playing him at centre-forward because he does not have the physical qualities to lead the line solo. He does not trust him as a winger either, with the discipline ideally required in that role. A generation ago, as part of an old-fashioned front two, lurking to unleash one of his thunder-blasters after a striking partner teed him up? Now that would have been perfect. |
| It is not just a problem for him. Roberto Soldado is another centre-forward who has become lost because he doesn’t have a very workable role for Tottenham. These strikers – not robust enough to play alone up front, yet denied the chance to be half of a front-two partnership – are suffering because they have become square pegs for round holes at their clubs. | It is not just a problem for him. Roberto Soldado is another centre-forward who has become lost because he doesn’t have a very workable role for Tottenham. These strikers – not robust enough to play alone up front, yet denied the chance to be half of a front-two partnership – are suffering because they have become square pegs for round holes at their clubs. |
| It makes you wonder how some of the top-pedigree forwards from even one generation ago would have managed in today’s game. Michael Owen on his own up front? Filippo Inzaghi? Raúl even – the record scorer of Champions League goals until two phenomenal maestros in the shape of Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi came along – was wonderfully effective in tandem with Fernando Morientes or the Brazilian Ronaldo. But by himself? A wiry player known more for his instincts than his muscle? It is hard to say. Would a Raúl, Owen or Inzaghi have been shoved out wide, where they would never be as productive and would struggle to offer defensive cover? | It makes you wonder how some of the top-pedigree forwards from even one generation ago would have managed in today’s game. Michael Owen on his own up front? Filippo Inzaghi? Raúl even – the record scorer of Champions League goals until two phenomenal maestros in the shape of Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi came along – was wonderfully effective in tandem with Fernando Morientes or the Brazilian Ronaldo. But by himself? A wiry player known more for his instincts than his muscle? It is hard to say. Would a Raúl, Owen or Inzaghi have been shoved out wide, where they would never be as productive and would struggle to offer defensive cover? |
| With so many teams building their teams around one central striker – often as part of a front three – the expectancy is for that man in the middle to be an imposing specimen. The prototype is a Robert Lewandowski, a Zlatan Ibrahimovic, a Karim Benzema (whom Real Madrid put considerable work into bulking up and giving the positional power to play the role he now does with such aplomb). | With so many teams building their teams around one central striker – often as part of a front three – the expectancy is for that man in the middle to be an imposing specimen. The prototype is a Robert Lewandowski, a Zlatan Ibrahimovic, a Karim Benzema (whom Real Madrid put considerable work into bulking up and giving the positional power to play the role he now does with such aplomb). |
| Even the smaller, stockier players who excel in that role mix their supreme skill with fiery toughness and physical resilience, in the mould of Diego Costa, Luis Suárez or Sergio Agüero. As Wenger argued recently, it seems not to be a coincidence that South America is the prime producer of striking talent that plays with a burning compulsion to score regardless of sometimes being on the short side. (Agüero usually plays with a partner, too, which helps to bring the best out of him.) | Even the smaller, stockier players who excel in that role mix their supreme skill with fiery toughness and physical resilience, in the mould of Diego Costa, Luis Suárez or Sergio Agüero. As Wenger argued recently, it seems not to be a coincidence that South America is the prime producer of striking talent that plays with a burning compulsion to score regardless of sometimes being on the short side. (Agüero usually plays with a partner, too, which helps to bring the best out of him.) |
| Gary Lineker, a classic box player who worked best when he was paired with an attacker with a different and complementary skill-set, suggests it seems to be an imperative now to have more strength than he had. “The physicality of players means they are getting bigger and stronger and better trained, with better diet anyway,” he says. “They do a lot more physical weight training. When I first started playing we were warned off weight-training. They said you would get too bulky and immobile, which is a nonsense. I’m slightly irritated by that as I think I would have been a much better player if I was stronger. I was sometimes knocked off the ball a bit. | Gary Lineker, a classic box player who worked best when he was paired with an attacker with a different and complementary skill-set, suggests it seems to be an imperative now to have more strength than he had. “The physicality of players means they are getting bigger and stronger and better trained, with better diet anyway,” he says. “They do a lot more physical weight training. When I first started playing we were warned off weight-training. They said you would get too bulky and immobile, which is a nonsense. I’m slightly irritated by that as I think I would have been a much better player if I was stronger. I was sometimes knocked off the ball a bit. |
| “If you are just going to be a box player now and not contribute and not hold the ball up and be very strong, to play up front on your own is actually quite difficult. | “If you are just going to be a box player now and not contribute and not hold the ball up and be very strong, to play up front on your own is actually quite difficult. |
| “There are plenty of examples of players who can play that way. Alexis Sánchez is an interesting one because he is not really a striker but he probably could be. But you’d wonder about losing other attributes because he’s good at running at players. | “There are plenty of examples of players who can play that way. Alexis Sánchez is an interesting one because he is not really a striker but he probably could be. But you’d wonder about losing other attributes because he’s good at running at players. |
| “That’s more of an emergence. These diminutive, stocky and strong players who can run at people but who don’t actually like being the front man because a lot of the time when you are playing up front on your own you have to play with your back to goal. It is interesting how players have developed. A lot of players like those roles where they can run in. I see Daniel Sturridge as one of those who can play up front on his own and score a lot of goals in the box. He’s an obvious example.” | |
| While Lineker worked with a more authentic target man in Graeme Sharp at Everton or Alan Smith at Leicester, interestingly his favourite spell came playing with Peter Beardsley, who gave him the freedom of the box. “I used to particularly enjoy playing with Beardsley because he didn’t like going in the box much,” says Lineker. “He used to do all sorts of brilliant work outside it and was hugely creative and unselfish. I used to like the box to myself. A lot of players don’t actually know how to play in the box and get in your way. The less players of your own team you have in the box, the more space there is.” | |
| If you are an aspiring footballer growing up and you happen to be a small, predatory, slimline bundle of striking talent, it must be harder than ever to work out quite where you fit into modern football. The fox in the box is an endangered species. |