Football is a beautiful game played and watched throughout the whole world. Football always has been the powerhouse of sports since the early age. Strikers are one of the most important roles in football as they are the one to score the goals and win matches.
But, with the advancement in football with better tactics, formations and playing styles the striker's value has become less than before throughout all these years. You might be shocked by this statement but I will explain why in this article below. And it can be all uncovered by the formations used throughout the history.
Early Formation | 2-5-3
When football just started most of the teams went with 2-5-3 formations with a lot of striking options. There were a lot of strikers and the one common goal was to score as much goals as possible and win the game. So, there were more than one strikers in the early formations.Defense Focused | 3-2-2-3
Soon Managers realized that they should focus on the Defense so they cut out the midfield and took one more defense in their formations. But, never the less strikers were always there and no cut off was made from the striker's part.The Popular | 4-4-2
As the first major step towards modern football 4-4-2 was introduced by the managers. This was the most popular and balanced formation. The defense included Right Back, two Centre Backs and Left Back and was never altered. Because of only two strikers managers had not much to do in the attacking section as well.But, this made managers creative in the midfield. The managers came up with different formations or the four Midfielders they were using. And midfielders were getting more spotlight than ever before and it finally looked like a team game. It was a balanced formation.
Midfield Focused | 4-3-3
Managers began to try new formations and focused on midfield. More role was given to Wingers in this formations. Winger's job was to use his speed down the flanks and get the ball inside the D-box so that the striker could score more goals. Only one striker was included in this formation.I still remember when Arsene Wenger sold Adebayor and introduced Robin van Persie as a lone striker. Pundits and commentators were calling it a bad formation. But, that changed over time as other managers were doing the same thing with different tactics. How can you forget Pep Guardiola's Midfield focused Tiki Taka with one striker.
Wing Back's Glory | 3-4-3
This is the most latest formation that the managers has to offer. With three Centre Backs in defense it looked like the defense is never going to last. But, the twist here is the Wing Backs as they drive forward to support the attack and lean back to help the defense.Antonio Conte was criticized for this formation as everyone thought Premier League will be too devastating for three Centre Backs. But, he went on to prove everyone wrong and used his Wing Backs very well and won the league. And managers are trying to adapt this formation as Arsene Wenger switched to this formation and even Pep Guardiola is trying to do the same this year.
Conclusion
This is only my point of view towards football as a Premier League supporter. But, football has changed over time and become more and more tactical. With new formations manager are trying to utilize each and every positions and involve in the goal.It was striker focused in the beginning but then included midfield in the attacking and defensive roles as well. And now they are including Wing Backs as well. The game is being more supportive and tactical and more beautiful than ever before. Let's see more coming in the future. May be we will be left with no striker. Who knows..