Please can someone explain

I realise that every manager knows far more about football tactics than I know, so I must be wrong.

SO

in short words that I can understand, will someone please explain to me the advantage of playing one man up front who always has his back to goal.

I really want the summer to learn this so I don't spend yet another season becoming increasingly grumpy due to ignorance. I have sufficient other reasons to be grumpy.

Thanking you all in anticipation.

It's so he can watch the opposition score.

Well, what else are they going to do? We don't have a striker...

Having the guy facing away from the goal makes it easier for him to be caught offside. CMS was particularly good at this.

The one up front should be supplemented by two players out wide and an advanced midfielder/deep lying forward with instructions to roam around into any space they can find. The lone forward will work across the line and play in the advancing three who if they are moving around too will make the opposition defence work harder in organising who picks up who. The lone forward will be picked up by one of the centre backs with the other looking out for the advanced midfielder/deep lying forward. However, this becomes problematic for the defence if that player is roaming about in space as the CB has to make a decision to either follow or keep the team's shape. To add to this the wide players will often be supported by the full backs and will be encouraged to move inside if the latter are advancing. The opposition FBs then have a decision to make whether to follow the wide player inside org stay in their shape and deal with the advancing full back and if the wide player moves inside without the FB following him the question becomes who picks that player up. Baldock was beginning to get good at this before his injury as his forward instincts meant he often moved inside between the opposition FB and the spare CB and if they weren't communicating properly he would be left free.

The one up front system breaks down if the forward is isolated as it allows both opposition CBs time to deal with the threat, in effect the 4-3-3 in attack becomes 4-5-1 when defending, so if the change from the latter to former is slow your offensive threat is easily nullified. It is a system that was very effective when Zamora played that roll supplemented by a combination of two of Brooker/Jones/Hart on the flanks and Chippy playing the advanced midfielder role.

Eggmundo said:

It's so he can watch the opposition score.

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and he then doesn't have to waste energy by turning round to walk back for the restart

ringmerseagulltoo said:

I realise that every manager knows far more about football tactics than I know, so I must be wrong.

SO

in short words that I can understand, will someone please explain to me the advantage of playing one man up front who always has his back to goal.

I really want the summer to learn this so I don't spend yet another season becoming increasingly grumpy due to ignorance. I have sufficient other reasons to be grumpy.

Thanking you all in anticipation.

Click to expand...

So he can spot the rest of our supporting players every time we attack (all 40+ yards away)