Can Chelsea play with a false #9 like Barcelona?

[BOSS 372]

Can we play with a like Barcelona with a false #9? With Hazard being our false #9 we can IMHO. He (Hazard) has some of the same strengths as Messi : He has great balance,great dribbling,great passing. But one thing that we have not seen from Hazard is his shooting, can Hazard shoot the ball with power out of the 16m box like some of the European greats?

Well in Lille he has shown that he can here are 2 clips:

Here is how false #9 system works :

The False 9, in some ways, similar to a more advanced attacking midfielder/playmaker role, is an unconventional lone striker or centre-forward, who drops deep into midfield. The purpose of this is that it creates a problem for opposing center backs who can either follow him, leaving space behind them for onrushing midfielders, forwards or wingers to exploit, or leaving him have time and space to dribble or pick out a pass.

Key attributes for a False 9 are similar to those of a deep lying striker, dribbling ability to take advantage of space between the lines, good short passing ability to link up with the midfield and vision to play through team-mates making runs from deep.

One of the first examples of a False 9 system is Roma under Spalletti who used Totti, nominally a trequartista, up-front in an innovative "4-6-0" formation, this was met with a run of 11 consecutive victories. Messi was often famously used as a false 9 under Guardiola at Barcelona .Arsenal under Wenger utilised van Persie as a False 9, often partnering with Walcott who would move into the box from the flanks, in a false 4-2-3-1. At Euro 2012, Spain manager Del Bosque, although sometimes using a typical striker in Torres, used a false 9 in Fabregas in several matches, including the final.

Here is how we can utilize the false #9 with 4-3-3 formation like Barcelona :

Here you can see our players being similar to the Barcelona players as they have the same kind of qualities, i am not comparing these players ofcourse but they have the same strengths. You can start off by seeing Hazard as our false 9 he is our best attacking player in my opinion. He has the best ''attacking'' qualities in the club well thats what i think.

The players in this formation can perform Barcelona's tactic but again it is not easy. Here are the list of players that can be compared to Barca's players :

Hazard is our Messi (Ofcourse Messi is miles better but Hazard can be a false #9 like him)

Mata can be our Iniesta

Moses can be our Sanchez/Pedro because he can dribble good and pass good and he also is a good finisher like both of them.

Oscar can be our Xavi

Romeu can be our Busquets

Ramires is comparable to nobody in Barca but he can keep the balance between attack and defence very good.

Cole is ofcourse better than Alba so no point in saying ''he can be our Alba''

Cahill can be our Puyol/Pique

Luiz can be our Puyol/Pique

Azpilicueta can be our Dani Alves as he has many attacking qualities and IMHO thats what Chelsea needed in a rightback for a long time.

Well obviously Cech>Valdes

I made this thread because in my opinion Torres is finished and this kind of idea may well workout.

So their you go this is what i had in mind so yeh i am looking forward to what you guys are thinking.

[TorontoChelsea 4,064]

We could but we won't.

[Spike 12,049]

This is eerily similar to the article on WAGNH.

[dumps 284]

the only time RDM will ever try this: Torres, Sturridge and anyone else that can paly striker (maybe Moses) are all injured.mind you, even then he'd probably get a youngster in.

Under RDM i dont think this would work. just because of his defensive mind. and even if he did, he'd chose the wrong players.

nice idea though, and i could see it working maybe under a Manager that has experience using this tactic. but not with RDM.

[BOSS 372]

This is eerily similar to the article on WAGNH.

Yeh? Didn't know they had an article about this.

the only time RDM will ever try this: Torres, Sturridge and anyone else that can paly striker (maybe Moses) are all injured.mind you, even then he'd probably get a youngster in.

Under RDM i dont think this would work. just because of his defensive mind. and even if he did, he'd chose the wrong players.

nice idea though, and i could see it working maybe under a Manager that has experience using this tactic. but not with RDM.

I agree and Guardiola would be perfect but i respect RDM and i hope he does good

[Sheva. 5,373]

We could but we won't.

This.

I have always very been interested in the idea though.

[Hutcho 8,443]

0 chance of this happenning i think. It is an option i suppose and would enable us to play an extra AM considering we have a shit load of quality in that region.

Mikel Lampard

Moses Oscar Mata

Hazard

Looks good in theory, though mr assist up top would have to get a lot of help from behind otherwise thats a lot of goal responsibility on him... But as i said i can't see it happenning... Definately something to ponder though.

[TorontoChelsea 4,064]

This is eerily similar to the article on WAGNH.

To be fair, I think it's a natural thought when you have two strikers and one of them goes down and the other ones has been awful for almost two years.

[Madmax 9,219]

We're already playing with a false number 9.

[Jase 43,479]

This is eerily similar to the article on WAGNH.

Indeed. Here's the article.

http://www.weaintgotnohistory.com/2012/9/5/3290858/de-bruyne-hazard-false-nine

De Bruyne was even mentioned as a possibility for the role.

[CHOULO19 24,332]

I'd argue we have already been playing with a false number 9 and I for one have been moaning that we need a proper striker who makes runs in the box if we are achieve anything this season.

Besides, the playing style associated with playing a false 9, i.e. tiki taka keep the ball until tomorrow bullshit, first contradicts with Chelsea's identity and more importantly does not work in the PL. I would like to see Barca score against the like of Stoke, Westham...etc.

[manpe 10,861]

No. This formation needs fluid players, ours are anything but fluid.

[CHOULO19 24,332]

No. This formation needs fluid players, ours are anything but fluid.

Fluid? Great! Another football term that I don't understand

[manpe 10,861]

Fluid? Great! Another football term that I don't understand

Hmm... dynamic? mobile?

[Madmax 9,219]

Fluid? Great! Another football term that I don't understand

Jelly like. Like Torres' temperament. Very fluid and out of shape.

[OneMoSalah 8,778]

Interesting thread. I wouldn't like the idea of us playing it but we could tbh. I think Hazard is the right person to play as a false 9 but I wouldn't use him there. He'd be ideal on the left tbh, he would be better as a midfield runner rather than the man dropping deep to collect the ball etc. This sounds weird but I think Mata would be more ideal for the false 9 as he always seems to be dropping deep, also he doesn't have the greatest burst of place to run in behind defenses/defenders. Sturridge would be brilliant for one of the two wide men tbh.

In all fairness, Barca's false 9 tactic works more effectively though because all of the front three have the ability to drop deep and play in the more central role making it incredibly harder for it to be predictable. I'm unsure whether Moses would be ideal if he had to come inside every now and then to interchange positions tbh, Sturridge would suit it much, much better.

We're already playing with a false number 9.

Damn I wanted to say that!!

[Kieran. 6,317]

-----------Cech----------

Azpi--Cahill--Terry--Cole

------Luiz---Ramires----

Moses---Oscar----Mata

----------Hazard----------

Just gonna leave that here.

[DYC. 7,542]

@MM

The tap in of all tap ins haha.

We can't pull it off, we would struggle to score goals. We're actually deeply in need of a target man, someone who can hold up a ball and bring others into play. That alone would improve our game so much. Add a player who'll actually stay out wide and we improve even more.

Hazard isn't ready for a pure central role anyway so yeah. That's just my view of course.