Why we must play with 2 strikers

By drwinston001 (drwinston001)

When you get half way through this and believe it’s anti-vdV propaganda keep reading because it’s not at all.

In November last year I wrote about a theory that Rafael van der Vaart’s inclusion in our team was actually detrimental to it. Strange as that may sound because of his form, particularly in front of goal, and his all round performances that’s what I believed at the time. Don’t get me wrong, I loved watching the guy play. From the first time I saw him run his heart out on his debut at the Hawthorns, clearly lacking match practice but not being taken off, he ran until his legs would run no more. Since then we’ve been treated to some of the best flicks, tricks and displays we’ve seen in a long time at the lane from the Dutchman.

However, I still believe in certain things. One of those is my hatred of the 4411 formation or variation of. I don’t believe Rafa can play behind a central striker. He doesn’t really have a role or defined position in any team he’s ever played in and his style means a team playing around him which is why he never made it at a club like Madrid and wouldn’t at the United’s of this world. He’s just walked onto the field of play and performed like that kid we all knew at school, who’d never pass to you. Not that that’s a bad thing when that kid is better than all the other kids and can win games on his own of course.

However, is there really no smoke without fire? Whether van der Vaart should play all the time or not is a subject that can be heard in most pubs surrounding the ground before kick off. Nearly all of the time those conversations are much like this post, non conclusive on either side, but everyone agreeing how can you leave out a player of such enormous match winning ability? His reverse pass to set up Pavlyuchenko on Sunday was sublime and I don’t think it would be over the top to say it was Hoddle”esque”. A thing of beauty and what we as supporters pay to see, but his form and inability to play 90 minutes of any match is surely something that needs to be looked at?

More importantly though is how the team play as a whole. It’s something the annoyingly successful Alex Ferguson has often got right, leaving out the more talented to accommodate a lesser player that fits into the system better. How could you explain otherwise how the likes of Park have started some of their more testing matches?

I for one am an advocate of playing with 2 strikers. There are always nuances of any formation that might mean it changing from a 442 to a 433, 4411 or even a 4231 whether we have possession or not but the trouble with actively starting in the 4411 formation with vdV in the “hole” is he doesn’t stay there. He needs to be in the game constantly and as such will drift way too deep, leaving whoever is playing the lone striker role completely isolated. This has been perfectly illustrated in the last two games against Stoke and Sunderland. Both teams were more than happy playing with 2 banks of 4 and neither set of full backs pushing on. This meant Adebayor struggled to get into the game and their central defenders weren’t moved about enough. In both games, through tactical decisions and injury we reverted back to playing with 2 strikers which meant the opposition defenders had more than one player to worry about. This immediately released our more talented midfielders into space to create and “destroy” (in the case of both games it was more like slightly wound but you get the idea).

There’s probably no better finisher in our squad than Rafa with the exception of Gareth Bale so why doesn’t he stay up top? It would solve what I’m sure is a major headache for Harry Redknapp. When people think of vdV they don’t see a striker and why would they because he’s not one, which means when we consider playing with 2 strikers he doesn’t get a look in and the argument of Defoe v Rafa is automatically brought up. This is one of my favourite discussion topics because for the most part Rafa wins out all the time and rightly so when you’re considering the quality of each player. I’m sure even JD would admit to not being on the same playing field as vdV.

However, when JD plays (this could go for any other striker if we had one other than Pav), especially this season, the team has looked a lot better. This is mainly down to the movement up front as I’ve already highlighted. Our first choice midfield has been lauded as the best in the country and rightly so because it’s got everything but they only come into their own when they don’t have to fight through 8 players on front of them. With 2 strikers moving into channels, space opens up on front of the likes of Bale and Lennon and both Parker and Modric have been able to go on surging forward runs as opposition midfielders have been unsure whether to track them or the striker moving out to the side. Rafa on his day can do this too, but only when he stays in an advanced position.

The main argument for the inclusion of Rafa is his goal scoring record. One that can’t be argued with. 22 goals in 3,760 minutes since joining. That’s a goal every 171 minutes, not bad for a man who struggles to get past 70 minutes and spends half his time collecting the ball from the central defenders. In comparison Defoe has managed only 18 goals in 3,180 minutes since the start of last season, a goal every 177 minutes. Oh. That’s not that much different is it? Well Rafa’s assists must be a lot better then? He’s got 13 compared to Defoe’s 9. Again better but not as much as you’d think is it?

But this isn’t about individual performances. Personally I couldn’t care less about who scores what (with the exception of Bale, Adebayor and Walker who are in my fantasy team), it’s a team game and as such I just want the best combination of players that create the best performances and results. As such a final point I want to look at is how the team does when we play with 2 strikers and when we don’t.

For this I’m only going to look at this season because that’s all I’ve got time for. I’m sure like all stats I could find a way of making the opposite point, but so far this season (premier league only) we’ve played with the lone striker in 10 games and managed 1.7 goals a game and 1.9 points a game. I should add this does include the two games when we didn’t have Adebayor or Parker so these could be skewed slightly. On the other hand, we’ve only started with 2 strikers in 5 of our games so far and have managed 2.8 goals a game and have won them all. More than a goal a game more. This includes wins against Liverpool (who have the joint 2nd best away defensive record) and Arsenal. Without the two games against the Manchester sides the stats would read 2 goals and 2.125 points per game, still less than with two strikers.

So in closing, when someone suggests they believe we must play with two strikers it’s not actually a conscience statement of “van der Vaart should be dropped”, it’s more a plea to make sure we play in a style that best suits the team. That could mean Rafa playing up front alongside Adebayor and not dropping into midfield or if he can’t do that starting with Defoe who as shown actually has a fairly comparable statistical record over the last two seasons and better than vdV when alongside Adebayor this season.

We obviously want our best players on the pitch at all times, that’s a no brainer, but when we look back in 10 years time what will you remember, how many points we finished the season with or whether your favourite player got to play in his favourite position?