Player Focus: Is A Target Man The Favourable Striking Option?

There are teams across the continent that rely heavily on the burly ‘number nine’ to be the focal point of their starting XI. The striker that will hang on the last defender and provide the physical threat to the opposition, while bringing team-mates into play and look to capitalise on any mistakes. 

However, in the current state of the game, managers are relying less on the powerful front-man and more on the diminutive striker to lead the frontline. This has seen the onus switch from two strikers to one and, as Spain proved in the European Championship, even utilising six midfielders and four defenders, with Cesc Fabregas the man to provide the attacking threat under Vicente Del Bosque last summer.

Naturally, the improvement in technical ability has seen the likes of Manchester United and Manchester City flourish, with Robin van Persie and Sergio Aguero - neither of whom are natural ‘number nine’ strikers - enjoying prolific campaigns for their respective teams.

Yet, without the financial riches of the two Manchester giants, there are teams that will continuously bring in a big forward as they look to secure glory with a striking option that is  more readily available to them.

As a result, we have seen the likes of Stoke City rely on the heading ability of Peter Crouch and Kenwyne Jones, while West Ham United, for example, will look to Andy Carroll to act as the battering ram to break through the opposition defence. Carroll has gone on to help himself to seven goals and two assists in 21 starts for the Hammers, directly contributing to 21.9% of West Ham’s 41 goals this term.

The impact the England international has made over the course of the season is evident, especially in the system Sam Allardyce employs, with West Ham winning 33% of the games Carroll has started compared to the 25% without him. Furthermore, with the 24-year-old in the starting XI, West Ham have been both scoring and conceding 1.24 goals per game, a vast improvement on the 0.94 and 1.56 in each respective category when the striker has been on the bench or unavailable. 

Not only does this highlight his attacking contribution to West Ham, but his defensive capabilities as well, with Carroll making an extremely useful 2.5 clearances per game.

Unsurprisingly, the on loan front-man is winning the most aerial duels per game (9.4) of any player in the Premier League. It might not be pretty, but it is undeniably an effective style of football. 

Having played only 23 times this season, it isn't all that surprising to find that Carroll's total of 220 aerial duels won isn't the most in the Premier League. Impressively, though, it is fewer only than Stoke City’s Peter Crouch (270) and Aston Villa striker Christian Benteke (269).

Resultantly, West Ham, Stoke and Aston Villa have won the most aerial duels of all teams in the Premier League. While Stoke have contested the most (1824), West Ham fall behind Reading (1609) in the rankings on 1451 and Villa are behind Sunderland (1403) as the fifth highest ranked side on 1388. While Stoke and West Ham place first and second for aerial success rate, with 58.9% and 54.3%, respectively, Villa’s 51.4% places them eighth against their Premier League counterparts.

Stoke may well top the aerial success in England’s top tier, but the Potters fail to do so on the continent, with Paris-Saint Germain (61.3%) and Bayern Munich (59.2%) both ahead of Tony Pulis’ side in terms of aerial success. 

Although at the Ligue 1 and Bundesliga sides, it’s not a striker that has won the most individual headed battles, with Mamadou Sakho (83) and Javi Martinez (84) the best in the air for the respective teams. However, Sakho’s 83 only makes up 16.8% of the French side’s 492, while Martinez’s percentage is marginally lower at 16.7% of Bayern’s 501.

Crouch, on the other hand, accounts for 25.1% of Stoke’s overall aerial duels won, highlighting his importance to their system. Carroll, in fact, tops his compatriot for West Ham with 27.9%, while the figure is considerably higher for Benteke, who currently wins 37.6% of Villa’s successful headed battles. Furthermore, Benteke also accounts for 70.5% of Villa’s total flick ons this season, highlighting his significance to the Villains, while Crouch only amounts to 43.6% of Stoke’s. 

When it comes to retaining possession, it’s Benteke who is ranks the highest of the three players in terms of giving it away due to a poor first touch, having done so 76 times this season - significantly more than either Crouch (47) or Carroll (44).

This could indicate that boasting a solitary target man and utilising his capabilities isn’t the correct path to follow, with Benteke sacrificing possession 2.3 times per game, Carroll doing so, on average, 1.9 times per game and Crouch 1.4.

However, with Villa netting 45 goals and both West Ham and Stoke having guaranteed safety in the Premier League for at least another season, the pros of capitalising on the attacking capabilities of a target man appear to be sufficient to ignore any criticism for a rather ugly approach to the game.