Player Focus: Is Playing Off The Last Defender A Useful Means Of Attack?

“That lad must’ve been born offside,” is one of the more memorable quips from former Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson. The veteran Scot was referring to Italian striker Filippo Inzaghi, the 39-year-old famed during his playing career for playing off the last defender as his means of attack, netting 288 times over his 21-year career.

Many have looked to replicate his threat on the frontline in order to hurt the opposition, but none have been fully capable of copycatting the exploits of Inzaghi, regardless of the best efforts of those following in his footsteps. Understandably, one of the more effective ways of netting is to look to break the offside trap, although this increases the likelihood of play being stopped as the linesman flags for offside against said striker.

Compatriot Antonio Di Natale has been penalised in the past as he looks to replicate Inzaghi in Serie A, having been caught offside 70 times over the past season - the most of any player in Europe’s top five leagues last year. However, the 35-year-old ensured he put this style of play to excellent use over the past 12 months netting 23 league goals, with only Edinson Cavani (29) scoring more.

His ability to harness an eagerness that has seen him flagged offside throughout his career was rewarded with a new contract at the Stadio Fruili, regardless of interest from AC Milan, having been caught offside 90 times over the 2011/12 season, again netting 23 in the process. While many would be critical of this facet of his game, it’s one that has evidently stood him in good stead judging from his goalscoring exploits. Not only has Di Natale profited from this approach, but so too has Olympique Lyonnais frontman Bafétimbi Gomis, having been flagged for offside 62 times last year and having netted 16 Ligue 1 goals.

Much like the Italian, Gomis looks to exploit an ability to hang on the shoulder of the last defender as a means of attacking the opposition, thus allowing him to get in behind the defence in order to score. It's an approach that is clearly worthwhile, as of the top 20 players to have been flagged for offside the most times across Europe's top five leagues, only four - Nikica Jelavic (caught offside 46 times), Papiss Demba Cissé (45), Grant Holt (44) and Emanuele Calaió (42) - failed to break into double figures in terms of goals last season. 

Furthermore, with both Zlatan Ibrahimovic (53) and Robin van Persie (46) finishing as the respective top scorers in France and England, the option of aiming to play off the last defender, especially when taking into consideration that Paris Saint-Germain and Manchester United won Ligue 1 and the Premier League, is a profitable one.

Either way, if the player in question has the ability to consistently find the back of the net hanging on the shoulder of the last defender, no matter how many times they’re caught offside, will eventually work in the favour of the striker. Of course, boasting an impressive conversion rate will also weigh heavily in the favour of the forward in question.

In that case, Nice’s Dario Cvitanich would’ve been the ideal frontman to have lingering as high up the pitch as possible without being pulled up by officials. The Argentine was called offside 53 times in Ligue 1 last year and while his goal return wasn’t nearly as impressive as Ibrahimovic or Van Persie, his chance conversion of 32.8% was far superior to the pairing - 19.1% and 18.4%, respectively.

In fact, when looking at the conversion rate of the top 20 players to have been caught offside in Europe's top five leagues last year, the closest to matching Cvitanich's conversion was Adám Szalai (22.4%). He netted 13 Bundesliga goals for Mainz 05 last season, having been flagged for offside 44 times over the campaign.

Nevertheless, it could be argued that Cvitanich would be the ideal frontman to replicate the style of Inzaghi, such was his ability to convert chances when not flagged offside, doing so 19 times in France’s top tier last year; only Ibrahimovic (30) scored more in Ligue 1. It’s further proof that a striker who is capable of scoring regularly would be wise to take the risk against an opposition backline, even if that meant being penalised from time-to-time.

While it’s unlikely that a player of Inzaghi’s unique ability is replicated anytime soon, a rational argument would be that hanging on the shoulder of the last defender in an attempt to find the back of the net is a highly effective technique for a striker to develop.