What to do When: Defending Against a False 9

The false 9 has been causing even the top defences problems after it's creation in 2007, when Luciano Spalletti invented it for Francesco Totti at Roma. Players such as Totti, Messi and Fabregas have proved to be very effective in this role as he drops deep into the midfield from the position of a central striker's, as he leaves the opposition defence with a big dilemma, which can result in a lose-lose situation in most cases.

When the false 9 drops deep, the defender has two options; one, he could go with him and leave his defensive line but reduce the effect the deep striker has in the attack, but leave his teammate isolated as the only centre-back for the time. Or two, he stays where he is and keeps the shape but gives the opposition false 9 a great amount of room to work with, in which he could destroy the defence by orchestrating his side's attacks from in between the lines.


There are a few things however, that can curtail the effect and prevent you getting into this situation should you come up against a false 9...

Compact the Midfield

When the false 9 drops deeper, he utilises the space in midfield and gives his side a numerical boost to help win that all-important battle in the midfield park. Therefore to counter this, you need to pack the midfield and reduce the space he has in the centre to work with, making sure he has little time on the ball to create chances.

To do this you could do a number of things; playing with a high defensive line reduces the space between the defence and the midfield which the false 9 needs to be effective, another thing would simply to play a formation which congests the centre of the pitch with men, such as a narrow 4-1-2-1-2 or a 4-2-3-1. A holding midfielder playing in between the lines is crucial to reduce the space he has to use in a deeper position.

As you can see in the diagram, the defending yellow team are playing with a high line and a 4-1-2-1-2 formation against the white side who are using a false 9. The midfield diamond in the 4-1-2-1-2 is very compact which restricts the space the the false 9 has greatly, and he is also being marked by the defensive midfielder (CDM) so it will be difficult for him to even receive a pass in the first place never mind unlocking a defence.

 

Contain his Teammates

Like the target man, the false 9 is a striker who doesn't just focus on scoring goals, and his team needs goalscorers in other positions to get goals as well, such as the inside forward (at the time) Mirko Vucinic in the AS Roma side which saw Totti drop deep under Luciano Spalletti. Therefore you need to do the same as the target man and nullify the threat of the players around him, whether it be through marking them or another way.

Fielding a compact midfield will help in this as if the false 9 gets the ball in the first place, most passing options will be cut out should he be positioned in the midfield diamond and along with good closing down, the forward will find it difficult to contribute to his side's attacks.

 

 Reduce his Time on the Ball

Every player finds it difficult to produce good passes when faced with an opposition defender coming towards him, so if you press the false 9 as soon as he gets the ball (with midfielders, not defenders) then he will be rushed into making a decision which will usually be the wrong one.

Be sure to press intelligently however as a tricky player in the mould of Messi would easily dribble around reckless closing down and then exploit the gaps left behind by the players who have pushed forward to attempt to tackle the forward.

Before taking a risk in moving forward to meet him, check behind you to make sure that you don't leave a great hole in the defence, and make sure you communicate to your teammates that you're going in, as if 3 all go in at the same time, then numerous opposition players will be without a marker and will make for an easy pass.

 

Further Reading

My first ever article (recovered from when all articles were deleted around two months ago) was actually on stopping the false 9, after Messi had such a great season for Barcelona. My idea was to play with an aggressive stopper in the CDM position with the playmaker at centre-back, this allows the stopper to mark the false 9, whilst you keep a playmaker at the back to distribute the ball from deep. Here is the article for a more in depth piece on it.

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