“It’s now about having a reliable system, rather than one reliable player”- A deep-dive into the evolution of the Premier League striker

Every position in football has evolved in some way or another, with full-backs now influential attacking options and goalkeepers having the passing range of central midfielders. The role of the striker seemed to be immortalised into the game, but due to a number of factors, the last decade has seen a radical change in the DNA of the Premier League number nine.

Darren Bent optimises the classic nine, scoring 106 Premier League goals across his career. Bent believes there has been a distinct change in the role of centre forwards since his prime playing days just over a decade ago.

“There were some absolutely fantastic centre forwards in that era.

“The guys I was up against were all out and out centre forwards, nowadays there isn’t too many knocking about, or at least ones who were hitting the figures we were hitting.”

He added, “I do think the role of the nine has changed, now you’re expected to get goals from the wide areas and not just the centre forward.”

In the 09/10 season Bent finished 3rd in the Golden Boot race, with 24 goals for 13th placed Sunderland, a tally that would have secured the golden boot in each of the last four Premier League seasons prior to 22/23. These kinds of statistics demonstrate the reliance on strikers for goals during this era, something the league has slowly moved away from, as well as the prolific nature of strikers across all teams in the league.

“It didn’t matter that I was playing at Sunderland and these guys are at the Chelsea’s and United’s, I backed myself against them.”

The Atheltic’s Rueben Pinder believes the decreased output from strikers over the last decade is due to manager’s preference for attacking threats across the entire pitch, as opposed to one or two central strikers.

“It’s now about having a reliable system, rather than one reliable player.”

“It used to be a cliché that if you had a decent finisher up-front, you’d be fine, because they would always score goals, now with more sophisticated tactics across the board it’s not that simple.”

Tactics in football are often cyclical, but Pinder thinks the evolution of the striker’s role will linger and be consistent in the Premier League for some time.

“Every tactical innovation is trying to undo the last one or find a weakness in the system everybody uses.

“However, I don’t ever think the role of the striker will go back to what it was, strikers were brilliant at what they did but they were very one dimensional.”

One of the main reasons for this is the collapse of the 4–4–2 formation, Bent is of the opinion that the heightened role of the wingers has contributed to this.

“Two strikers up front seems to be a dying breed, nobody really does that anymore.

“Liverpool had a major part in it, with Firmino down the centre and Salah and Mane out wide, you saw that role of the traditional nine take a backwards step.”

The 4–3–3 Liverpool were using was nothing new to the Premier League, but the way they used it was.

“People had been playing 4–3–3 since Mourinho’s Chelsea in the mid-noughties, but those teams were built for the wingers to supply the striker, but with Liverpool it was the opposite.” Pinder explained.

Whilst the inverted winger role is certainly connected to this, Pinder believes another major tactical change was the catalyst for these drastic changes at the top of the pitch.

“Everything has a knock-on effect.

“This all stemmed from managers wanting to play three midfielders, as Premier League football has become so possession based.”

Pinder added, “With two strikers one could be good at one thing, and one could be good at the other but this change means the number 9 has to be very complete.”

As usual in football, these tactical innovations came from the top teams, with Liverpool and Manchester City being the first Premier League teams to prioritise their wide players in attacking positions.

“Pep Guardiola didn’t invent the false nine, but he did make it mainstream.” Pinder explained.

He added, “We saw Messi and Totti, but the first to do it in England was probably Firmino, he got criticised, but his job was never to score the goals, it was to supply the wide forwards with opportunities.”

Bent debated whether that this style of play could be described more as an overhaul of two up-front, rather than the death of it.

“You could argue it is a two, because a lot of times those wide players are the most dangerous at the top of the pitch.”

However, the two teams that started this trend could be about to end it, with both Liverpool and Manchester City adding central strikers to their roster last summer with the introduction of Haaland and Nunez.

Whilst Pinder recognises Haaland’s introduction in particular has resulted in a change to Pep’s usual style, he insists this won’t by any means undo most of the changes to the striker’s role in a modern-day Premier League side.

“The demand of a centre forward to be a well-rounded player will never go away.

“You can see how much Haaland has improved his link up play as the season has progressed which is absolutely terrifying.”

A lot of people can let nostalgia cloud their judgement, and when looking back at the likes of Bent and his attacking competitors it’s easy to see why many miss the old school number nines. However, the European influence on the Premier League has manufactured a division where strikers are play-makers before goal scorers, and the ones that are the main goal threat can’t survive as a one trick pony.

A position that has evolved more than many believed it could, but with the level of the Premier League improving all the time, so must the players, by any means necessary.