The Question: what is a centre-forward? | Jonathan Wilson

Nov 03, 2016

Pep Guardiola’s demands that Sergio Agüero contributes more towards winning the ball back – and it is the same for Diego Costa at Chelsea – shows that the role of the striker is no longer confined to scoring

What is a centre-forward? It is a question that is far harder to answer now than it used to be. The suggestion that Pep Guardiola may not be entirely happy with Sergio Agüero seemed at first bizarre. How, realistically, could a player of his ability, his goalscoring capacity – 109 league goals in five seasons at City, despite injuries – be doubted? For a modern striker, though, goals are only part of it.

“It is not about how many goals he scores because we’re happy with the scoring,” Guardiola said this week. He wanted more all-round contribution. Guardiola may be a unique manager but this is not a unique quirk. Jürgen Klopp has made it fairly clear that goals (not that there have been huge numbers of them recently) are not enough to keep Daniel Sturridge in his Liverpool team. Antonio Conte insists Diego Costa should start the process of winning the ball back. This is the nature of the modern vogue for pressing: scoring goals is no longer enough.

Tags: Football Football tactics Manchester City Sport