Despite Welbeck, Rooney and Sturridge's talents, do England still require a number 9?

Since the days Gary Lineker and Alan Shearer, England haven’t possessed a true, traditional number 9 regularly. This isn’t down to England as a country not producing any number 9?s, Grant Holt and Rickie Lambert are two examples of many England-born strikers that can and do successfully play in the number 9 role for their club sides. England don’t play the traditional out-and-out striker – they prefer two or three versatile forwards like Daniel Sturridge, Wayne Rooney and Danny Welbeck who can play up front; behind the main striker, in the ‘number 10? role or on either wing, giving Roy Hodgson and previous managers versatility with their forward line. Sturridge, Rooney and Welbeck have all played as the main striker at some point in their career but lately all three have played in various parts of the forward line for their respected club.

Daniel Sturridge is extremely underrated in terms of his versatility. Although at Liverpool the 24-year-old appears to play as an out-and-out striker, you can see from the Action Heat Map below, Sturridge provides a lot more to the team. The former-Chelsea forward played mostly on the left-hand side of the midfield making key passes and running at defenders. This exemplifies the point that Sturridge is very versatile and although being The Reds’ top goalscorer so far this season, he still doesn’t play as a traditional number 9.

Sturridge’s on-ball actions against Palace

Wayne Rooney‘s position is slightly different to Sturridge, the Manchester United forward hasn’t played as an out-and-out striker at Old Trafford since 2011/12. He is now most often positioned in the number 10 role and statistics show Rooney has excelled in that position so far this season with three goals and two assists from the six games he’s featured in. If you take a look at the graphic below, it shows the 27-year-old touched the ball only 6.19% of the time against Manchester City in the opposition box, further proving Rooney doesn’t play in the number 9 role anymore.

Wayne Rooney’s action areas vs Manchester City

Strangely enough, Danny Welbeck is arguably the most natural number 9 of the current England squad. The Manchester United forward mainly plays as an out-and-out striker when he features for United. However on Friday, Roy Hodgson played the 22-year-old on the left-hand side of an attacking-midfield three, this further shows how Hodgson wants his attackers to be versatile able to play across the front line. Welbeck showed signs of developing his game to be more versatile early on in the season against Swansea. As you can see below, the former Sunderland man touched the ball less than 6% of the time in the Swans’ penalty area and nearly 30% of his game in a more creative area, behind the frontman.

Welbeck’s action areas vs Swansea City

You sense that should they qualify for the 2014 World Cup, England will benefit from having a definitive number 9 who can score goals. That said, at the moment the fluency and movement that Sturridge, Rooney and Welbeck provide gives you a front three who are versatile and mobile without necessarily needing to an attacking figurehead.