The Downfall of the Poacher

Throughout his career, Darren Bent has hit the back of the net 149 times in 355 matches, that is one every 2.4 games or one every 202 minutes. Wayne Rooney on the other hand, has a record of 146 scored in 325 matches, at one for every 2.2 meetings or 200 minutes. When you purely look at those figures, it seems very strange that one plays for a team amongst the most successful in England, whereas the other's highest Premier League finish was 8th, but this is another example of how a single stat will never tell you everything.

In the modern game, strikers are relied on for much more than just goalscoring, no position on the field has just one role anymore, not even the goalkeeper. The man up front is now needed to get involved in the build-up play more than ever, especially since forwards have been so effective when dropping to get more involved in the build-up play. There are only a few strikers in the 'poacher' mold at top clubs now, and most of them are usually out-of-favour to others, such as Javier Hernandez at United.

Despite their goalscoring records, poachers just don't offer anything but goals, which can have a very big effect on the rest of the attack, if one player refuses to do any work with the build-up. Take a look at this chalkboard on the right, this depicts the passes Darren Bent made against West Ham in the opening match of the season, it may look like he came on as a substitute, however he actually played the full 90 minutes. Only two passes were forward, and those two were both very short, which shows how he rarely if ever does anything with the ball anywhere outside of the box. To emphasise how little effect he had on his team's build up play, I would show you the influence board, however Bent's name is barely visible due to it's minuteness behind the prevalent figures of El Ahmadi and Stephen Ireland.

Luis Suarez is similar to Rooney in how he spends a lot of time in midfield, which results in the Uruguyan being much more involved in the build up play than a poacher, as you can see in the passing stat. Suarez made over 300% more passes than Bent, and many more which advanced the ball up the field, which supports his teammates who are also aiming to get their name on the scoresheet, he did this successfully as you can see, with the yellow arrows showing the assist he made.

As a result of his willingness to work in order to help his teammates and not just himself, Suarez also received considerably more passes, 380% more than Bent who picked up just 15 passes throughout the whole 90.

If one attacker doesn't work during build-up play, then as a result of his laziness, every other player has to work harder to compensate for a lack of his presence. Players, who would not be needed if the striker was in a similar mold of Suarez, have to move into the attack and get involved with the play in the final third as well, which could leave the side open to a counter-attack.

Say if a side needs every player to put in around 80% effort in both defensive and attacking work for the whole 90 minutes, and the striker puts in just 30%, then his teammates in the vicinity (wingers, attacking midfielder, other striker) will have to put in a combined 50% effort, which results in them becoming very tired in the latter stages of the match, and the opposition will be less fatigued since the striker will have put more pressure on your holding midfielder, or made more movement through the channels, so they will have the upper hand over your players.

You may have to field another striker alongside the poacher, as Lambert does with Villa, since with just a 'fox-in-the-box' forward, there will be no one to be the spearhead of the attack without someone coming in from the flanks, or an advanced midfielder to play very high, and even if they do so, it won't be as effective.
A lack of a frontman who can lead an attack will leave a side much less threatening on their advances forward, as the supporting players have no-one to play off of, and also, the poacher often needs to play off of a teammate, looking to get on to the end of flick-ons, his usual partner is the target man, such as Jermaine Defoe and Peter Crouch.

These are the reasons as to why Darren Bent has never played for a top four side, despite his brilliant goalscoring record with mid-table sides. It is also an indication as to why the poacher is becoming a less and less common sight in football, as players are now needed to be more all-rounded with various talents to compete with the modern game's demand for greater talent.

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