Go back 10-15 years and the goal-poacher was an integral part of any team. The likes of Ian Rush, Gary Lineker, Ian Wright and Andy Cole were some of the game’s most sought after commodities. But today the demand for strikers who prod home from short distances is not what it was.
There are modern incarnations. The most successful of recent times has been Ruud Van Nistelrooy; and since his hamstrings rotted away Michael Owen has done little other than sniff around for goals; but the goal-poachers’ numbers are dwindling.
Why? Football has evolved. With more emphasis on training and preparation, technical advances and greater professionalism, defensive errors, the lifeblood of the poacher, have largely been eradicated. Strikers now need to have more strings to their bow.
The modern striker comes in two forms. The first is big, strong, fast, clinical, good in the air and able to hold up the ball. Someone who can work well alone as the focal point of a 4-5-1. For instance, Didier Drogba, Emanual Adebayor, Samuel Eto’o and Adriano.
The second mould that survives the modern game is the technically proficient forward. A player who is able to drop deep and link up play between midfield and attack. Someone just as likely to create a goal as to score one. Take Wayne Rooney, Thierry Henry, Carlos Tevez or Robinho.
At the elite, strikers now have to contribute more than just goals. However, at some level traditional goal-poachers will always exist. In the lower leagues there will always be a place for someone who can sniff out a goal. Only at the top are their days numbered - but they’re not over yet.
At 35-years-old, Fillipo Inzaghi has won every major honour there is, including the Champions League twice and the World Cup. Yet the ageing marksman has never offered anything more than an innate ability to prod the ball home from short distances.
On Sunday he bagged the ninth Serie A hat-trick of his career, as Milan beat Atalanta 3-0 at the San Siro, taking his career tally to 298.
The performance also had a large part to do with another pair of ageing legs, that good-man-you-just-can’t-keep-down: David Beckham.
Carlo Ancelotti played Milan’s new golden boy in the Trequartista role, behind the front two, giving him a license to roam and create. With his precise and incisive passing he pulled plenty of strings and was integral to the side’s victory.
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Inter’s Julio Cesar maintained the fine form that saw him single-handedly keep Manchester United at bay, by putting in another excellent shift against Genoa. Goals from Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Mario Balotelli sealed the victory for Mourinho’s side, but injuries to Nicolás Burdisso and Marco Materazzi took the gloss off.
Juventus also suffered an injury blow, losing their midfield engine, Mohamad Sissoko, to a broken metatarsal. His loss will be keenly felt and must rankle all the more seeing as he only came on in the 84th minute of his side’s 1-0 victory over local rivals Torino.
Roma didn’t escape unscathed either, as they lost Cicinho to a knee injury that will keep him out for the rest of the season. Manager, Luciano Spaletti, is also likely to be concerned at his side’s insipid display in the 1-1 draw at home against Udinese.
Results: Bologna 3–0 Sampdoria, Catania 0–3 Siena, Chievo 1–1 Cagliari, Fiorentina 0–2 Palermo, Genoa 0–2 Inter, Lecce 0–0 Reggina, Milan 3–0 Atalanta, Napoli 0–2 Lazio, Roma 1–1 Udinese, Torino 0–1 Juventus.