Why do some strikers succeed at some clubs and then suddenly fail at others? Have they lost their ability to score?

I doubt it, however, the system the team plays will ensure whether they succeed or not. Horses for courses……

Chelsea paid 50 million pounds for Fernando Torres, a record transfer fee in English football and Fernando Torres had scored many goals at Liverpool. Chelsea considered him a guarantee for goals – but he has never delivered.

Why?

A worried Fernando Torres in a Chelsea shirt

You may want to read two of my previous articles that are related to this one about tactical systems, which can easily suit certain players – and others not so much.  Have a look at Football Tactics and How not to Understand Them and an article I wrote about The Death of the Classic No. 9

Both may help for you to get a better idea of my thoughts on both topics, so are vital for understanding the following post.

The systems used at Chelsea and Liverpool are very different. Torres doesn’t fit in as well with Drogba as Anelka did. Anelka is happy to drop off to the wings and although he did this very well, he noticed it in his goal tally, but all the same seemed happy with this. Torres is not the same. Although he dropped off the right in a recent game to cross for Mata to score a decisive goal, he isn’t a happy man.

Torres body language is wrong. He is not happy with what he is doing and not happy with his surroundings.

A point often overlooked is that Torres is a direct player. His edge lies in power; acceleration to skip past defenders, leap to nod home crosses, strength to maintain balance whilst finishing. In Football Manager terms, he is a classic ‘advanced forward’ – unrivalled at breaking through defenses.

At Liverpool, Benítez understood this. To flourish, Torres needed to receive the ball at a point where space exists between the opposition defence and the goal – essentially meaning direct passes, quickly after the ball has been won.

Fernando Torres was a happy man at Liverpool scoring many goals.

Tempo needed to be high, enabling Torres to run at disorganised defenders with speed, denying them time to ‘double up’ or restrict space. Static football was the enemy. Long balls, counter-attacks and quick transitions are his bread and butter.

Torres scoring goals for Spain in the World Cup:

Torres finds it difficult to play with his back to the goal, to hold up the ball and play it through with Lampard, for example, or leave it for Lampard to score. However, Drogba fits this role perfectly.

However,  Chelsea play a more 4-3-3 system and their build up is slow and thus Torres’ power and ability to get between defenders is not used – when exactly the opposite happened at Liverpool. Liverpool play a more 4-4-2 system or even 4-4-1-1 and some say 4-5-1 but it suits Fernando Torres. Chelsea also play further up the pitch, whereas Liverpool defend deep and play with more space up front, which also favours Torres’ runs.

I’d even go to say that the same happens with Luis Suarez. The Liverpool system suits him, and if Suarez went to a team that played more like Chelsea, he’d have the same problems as Torres.

Liverpool were very clever to replace Torres with Suarez, they got it right. Barcelona, however, made a similar mistake to Chelsea when buying Zlatan Ibrahimovic, a forward who was scoring many goals, but in a team with a different system to Barcelona’s. Torres wouldn’t work either with Barcelona, although Rooney probably would work perfectly, as Alexis does.

Finally, although Liverpool has accommodated both Torres and Suarez very well, they themselves made their mistake by spending 35 million pounds (a UK transfer fee record for a UK player between UK clubs) for Andy Carroll from Newcastle.  Carroll is more of your traditional no. 9 as referred to in my article above. Carroll is more of a box striker, a finisher.

Andy Carroll playing for Liverpool FC

Many other strikers could also be included in this post, players that at one club are brilliant and score week in week out and who move to other clubs and then don’t get a look in.  Examples are Dmitri Berbatov at Manchester United and Diego Forlan when he was at ManU (he left to become Golden Boot of Europe at Villarreal – where he made a perfect tandem with Juan Roman Requelme).

The list is endless. However, what is clear is that within football statistics are but numbers and unless you know exactly what your game is, you must be very careful before spending record transfer fees!

Clive Jagger – Football agent

CRISTIAN LAGOS NAVARRO

Name: Cristian Lagos Navarro
Nationality: Costa Rica
Age; 27 (17/08/1984)
Height; 187.0 m
Weight 92.0 kg
Position; Forward
Club: Santos Costa Rica

Cristian Lagos is a centre forward for the modern game.

As another of the players Sportzone work with in Latin America, Cristian Lagos is creating big interest in Europe due to the great season he is having in Costa Rica.

With International experience, Cristian is one of the top goal-scorers in Costa Rica this championship. Towering at well over 6ft, Cristian is a natural no. 9 with an excellent work rate. Both attacking well and defending well. Excellent in the air, Cristian scores may goals from set pieces, and is also in the first line of his own team’s defense when defending form set pieces. Good pace, plays well with his back to the goal and great movement off the ball, makes Cristian Lagos an excellent option for any European club looking for a centre-forward who is a guarantee for goals and suits the modern game ideally.

We have a very special relationship with Christian’s club, too, Santos in Costa Rica. The Uruguayan manager, Eduardo Mendez is a close friend of mine and have worked on various projects in the past.

Some of the future plans include developing young players at the club from different nations.

Damian Comolli, wearing his clever glasses, was sacked by Liverpool this week

You may well have seen (and enjoyed) like me, Leonardo di Caprio’s brilliant interpretation of Frank Abagnale Jr., in Steven Spielberg’s box office hit, “Catch me if you can”.

Football has its very own version!

Damian Comelli has managed to bag top jobs at numerous big clubs, without actually ever having ever proved he knows anything about football at all! He certainly knows how to sell himself, though.

In 2006 I was working for Tottenham Hotspurs as an advisor on Spanish, Central and South American football. I loved the job, as I worked for a marvellous character, Eddie Presland.  Mr. Ed, we called him, and he was the Chief Scout and the manager made the decisions. One of the last of his kind, Mr Ed; a man who had played both professional football and Cricket at the same time, well, almost – one in the summer and the other in the winter. Eddie played his soccer at West Ham United at the beginning of the sixties with a number of the world cup winning England team from 1966, which included the likes of Bobby Moore and Geoff Hurst.  Harry Rednapp and Frank Lampard (Sr.) were also his team mates.

Back to 2005, Martin Jol was manager of Tottenham at the time and, within their possibilities and budget, were doing pretty well.

Frank Arnesen, director of football at Spurs, was signed by Chelsea and Daniel Levy, Chairman of Spurs, brought in the completely unknown Damian Comolli.

The signing was unusual, a little known scout from France, who worked for Arsenal suddenly found himself in a 3 figure salary job. The main highlight in his CV was claiming to have discovered Thierry Henry for Monaco and subsequently Arsenal. However, when Mr. Ed and I did very simple straight forward maths, we worked out that Comolli must have been about 25 (way before Comolii’s Monaco days) when Henry was already an under-20 French international!

Once at White Hart Lane, one of the first decisions that Comolli made was to sack the manager – Martin Jol – he brought in a Spanish manager, as it happens, and not under by recommendation, either! Juande Ramos became probably the most unsuccessful manager during the history of Spurs, winning a total of about 5 games in 6 months!

Next to go were both Mr. Ed and myself.  Amongst the targets we had been following till then was the outstanding player David Silva, who was then just 18 – however, Mr. Comolli thought he was too small and fragile for the English game….. so, I already knew how successful he was going to be. Mr. Ed and myself had many a good laugh at the expense of D.C., as you can imagine.

At the same time, Juande Ramos was sacked in 2008, so was Comolli. However, he officially announced that he was leaving by mutual consent due to family reasons. Well, I can assure you he was sacked!

He went back to his native France and worked for St. Etienne before, once again, very surprisingly, in 2010, he landed the top job at Liverpool FC!

Never before in all my life have I ever seen or read about a person who knows so little about something, yet goes so far. It really is a magnificent Spielberg script and I wouldn’t be surprised to see it come out of Hollywood one day!

Most recently, Damian Comolli announced on 12th April 2012 he was leaving Liverpool FC by mutual consent.  He stated that he left due to family reasons…however, rumours have circulated that he may have been sacked as a result of failings in the transfer market!!!

Despite ‘wearing ‘clever glasses’ Comolli failed to spot that five good games for Newcastle didn’t make Andy Carroll worth £35m; a few good crosses for Villa didn’t make Stewart Downing: Steve Guppy; and being fat didn’t make Charlie Adam:Matt Le Tissier.

Clive Jagger

Roberto Mancini

“I will never say we can’t win the league if there is still a chance. That is not my life, never” – Roberto Mancini, Tuesday 10 April before Manchester City face West Brom and Manchester United face Wigan

“The title race is finished … five points is too much” – Roberto Mancini, Wednesday 11 April after Manchester City beat West Brom and Manchester United lose to Wigan.

Well done, Roberto!

Clive Jagger

As usual, ‘down to the wire’ title battles in Spain narrow down to Barcelona and Real Madrid. With midweek fixtures this week and the ‘Clasico’ between Real and Barsa less than 2 weeks away, there is still everything to play for.

Barcelona won their match last night at home against an always very uncomfortable Getafe.  In fact, Barsa eventually won comfortably 4-0, and introduced, once again, a seemingly revolutionary formation, which looked a little like a 1-3-3-1-3.  However, if you look at a previous post of mine, you will see exactly what I think of that (Football Tactics – and How Not to Understand Them!)

Real Madrid have a much more difficult game ahead, playing their local derby away to Atletico Madrid. If Real lose, which is highly probable, they’ll be one point ahead of Barcelona and still have to face an away trip to the Nou Camp – to play an unbeatable Barcelona. So, from having a 10 point lead over Barsa just a few weeks ago, Real could lose the title, having had already virtually proclaimed themselves Champions!

Is the pressure getting to Morinho??

This would be just too much for Jose Mourinho to handle and would see him, without doubt, resigning from Real and returning to Chelsea (another ship without a captain!) although Roberto Di Matteo has been doing an excellent job, under the circumstances, after Villas-Boas was dismissed.

So, who is your money on for the Spanish title?

Clive Jagger 

Any follower of the English game may automatically associate Alan Shearer as a typical no.9. A strong physical player, over 6ft tall, who incidentally scored 49 of his 283 league goals with his head, and was obviously a prolific header of the ball.

ALAN SHEARER - THE DEFINITION OF A CENTRE FORWARD

Shearer’s maximum tally for a season stands at 37 goals, and he was maximum goal-scorer in the English Premiership with 34 goals in Blackburn’s title winning season of 1994/95.

The two top goal-scorers in Europe this season have totals of 60 goals, neither are number 9’s and neither are centre-forwards.

With the two goals Messi scored against Zaragoza last night. Messi took his total for the season in all competitions to 60.  Meanwhile, Cristiano Ronaldo is close behind with 37 goals in the Spanish league – to Messi’s 38.

LIONEL MESSI - 60 GOALS SO FAR THIS SEASON

Neither Messi nor Ronaldo are centre-forwards, or number 9s, by number or position. Both footballers are players that come from behind. They attack defenses and play from space. Both players are very difficult to tackle, thus finding openings easily. Not only do these two players score goals, they also assist their team-mates.

So, is the classic no. 9 obsolete?

Not necessarily. Many teams still find “route one” as an option to goal, when things get complicated and an opening cannot be found. Stoke City, a successful team in the English Premiership play a very direct game and have a number of recognised centre-forwards in the side with, Peter Crouch (standing at 6ft 7inches) the local hero at the Britannia Stadium.

PETER CROUCH - A FAVOURITE AT BRITANNIA

Football is an ever changing and evolving sport. Managers and strategists constantly strive for better performance and results.

The most important contribution that Barcelona and Messi have made to the sport, in my opinion, though, is that not only have they made it more efficient – they have made it more beautiful.

FC Barcelona is the favorite to become European Champions League winner again this season, and unless Cristiano Ronaldo can stop him, Messi will be maximum goal scorer, possibly of all-time. There again, Real Madrid could also stop Barcelona, thanks to CR7.

CAN CRISTIANO STOP MESSI AND BARCLONA SINGLE-HANDEDLY?

Barcelona – Unbeatable or not?

After a 0-0 draw with Milan in the first leg of Champions’ League quarter finals, both Barcelona and Milan have everything to play for in the return leg.

Tactical systems, as you all know, are something I am very skeptical about. I am a believer that formations change, depending on the moment and, undoubtedly, the opposition.

Take a flying formation; wouldn’t that also change, depending on how the enemy attacked? Or a chess game? Undoubtedly, both your tactics and formation will (and must) change, depending on your opponents tactics and ability.

As I have been taught by my mentor, Benito Floro, chess is an excellent strategic game to play and one to compare with football. Indeed, Benito’s interest in rugby has flattered me, and his keenness for me to teach him rugby tactics. Incredibly, Benito first thought there were few tactics involved in rugby, until he discovered there were at least as many as those of football!

Regardless of the result tomorrow, 90 minutes of football also depends heavily upon luck – and I am still amazed by the tactical lessons people try to teach us, which exclude luck.

In any event, Barcelona have made a 4-3-3 system famous. However, when I read tomorrow’s line-up, I’d argue that their system is not really 4-3-3 despite the fact that, nominally:  Puyol-Macherano-Pique-Alves are in defense, Busquests-Xavi-Inisesta are in midfield and Cesc-Messi-Alexis are in “attack”.

In fact, to start off with, all three “forwards”, for me, are midfielders, thus making it a 4-6 formation. On top of that, any of the 6 (or 10 for that matter) can suddenly take the role of centre-forward, with even Pique or Puyol tearing forward on occasions – which would make any “traditional” football manager lose his hair…

The fundamental and unique success of Barcelona is that all 10 players defend – and all 10 attack. Guardiola has found 10 players whose work rate is such that they are capable of fulfilling roles, making the Barcelona system or formation, in reality: 1-10. The essence of modern football is exactly this. No player has a defined position or role. All must be prepared to adapt as the script, luck and score dictates.

Clive Jagger – Spanish Football

The Santiago Bernabeu Stadium, Madrid. Real Madrid don’t want Barcelona winning the Spanish Cup there!

I have been saying for a long time that Spanish football needs a major overhaul. If you read my previous article about TV rights in Spain, you will know that the “big” two, Real Madrid and Barcelona, take most of the TV revenue (300 million between the two of them) – leaving the rest of the clubs in La Liga with the crumbs to squabble over. Meanwhile,the lower divisions in Spain are in financial turmoil, with no help from La Liga, and a league structure that makes no sense whatsoever.

Well, the latest example of just how badly Spanish football is run has been demonstrated by the organization of the forthcoming 2011/12 Spanish Cup final. I say organisation, when I should probably be saying lack of organisation.

We have the final. Barcelona (who else) versus…wait for it…not Real Madrid (they were eliminated by Bracelona) but Athletic Club Bilbao. Without doubt, a great final. Marcelo Bielsa has turned Athletic Club into a team to be reckoned with and considering they are improving as the season progresses, they could well give Barcelona a fight.

So, no problems with the two finalists, and the final is looking to be a fantastic game of football, so what else could go wrong?

Well, one very small detail – the venue!!!

Can you believe that the Spanish Federation do not have a venue? Well, they haven’t!!!

Unfortunately, Spain has no “neutral” national Stadium, like Wembley, for example.  However, when Wembley was being refurbished, the English F.A. named the venue at the beginning of the season with a substitute stadium in the event the home team reached the final, i.e. Man United reached the final and Old Trafford was the original venue, which was subsequently changed to Villa Park so ManU did not have home advantage – but this was clearly specified before the competition began, to avoid the very problems the Spanish Federation now have.

Both clubs would like the Santiago Bernabeu Stadium in Madrid, however, Real Madrid don’t want their arch rivals Barcelona winning a trophy in their own back yard! Real Madrid has also reminded Barcelona that in 2004 Barcelona refused to allow Real Madrid to play the final at their Camp Nou.

Also, the option of Barcelona’s Nou Camp (which has been considered) isn’t a fair option as it would give the Catalans home advantage over the Basques.

So, the two other options seem to be Mestalla in Valencia or the Romaneda in Zaragoza. Both are much smaller stadiums and mean less revenue for both clubs. Hiowever, the situation is so desperate that even Wembley Stadium in London has been suggested as a possible venue!!

Geographically the most sensible option is the Romaneda, as Zaragoza is about half way between both cities and has excellent motorway connections.  It would also mean leaving less of a carbon footprint, as it saves over 40,000 people covering double the kilometers to say Valencia.

How simple would it have been to declare the Santiago Bernabeu venue for the final in August before the competition began, like any other “normal” football association?

Then absolutely no one could have complained…

Clive Jagger – Spain Football

PEDRO FRANCO

Name: Pedro Franco
Nationality: Colombian
Age; 20 (Bogota, 23 April, 1991)
Height; 1’87m
Weight 78kg
Position; Centre-back
Club: Millonarios FC

Pedro has been playing first division football from the age of 18 at Millonarios. As a centre-back, his most notable virtue is his maturity. Pedro is an incredible mature player on the pitch and also off the pitch. Technically good on the ball, excellent long and short passing ability, excellent in the air, strong on the ball and marking. Pedro is captian of the Colombian under-20 squad, and a future member of the full Colombian international squad imminently, without any doubt.

ERIK MORENO

Name: Erick Moreno
Nationality: Colombian
Age; 20 (Chocó 24/11/1991)
Height; 1’85m
Weight 80kg
Position; Centre-forward
Club: Millonarios FC

Erick Moreno, Millonarios FC, Bogotá, Colombia. Erick was born in Chocó, Colombia 24 November 1991 and is just 20 years old. Erick is a strong centre-forward who stands at 1’85m and has excellent pace. He made his first team debut with Millonarios last year and has been a constant member of the starting 11 ever since. His 6 months as a professional footballer saw him score 7 goals.