Top 10 incredible tactical innovations that revolutionised football

#2 False 9 (Barcelona)

Lionel Messi popularized the False 9 tactic in modern football

In modern football, False 9 has gained tremendous popularity thanks to its perfect demonstration by Barcelona's legendary hitman Lionel Messi. However, False 9 is a technique that, like so many other tactics, has its roots in the 1930s.

The false 9 is completely opposite to the traditional no.9, a player who plays on the back of the defenders as a centre-forward, tasked with the duties playing on the back of opposition defenders, making runs for through ball, getting at the end of crosses and scoring goals. In contrast, the false 9 is a player who actually drops deeper to create and exploit the space between the midfield and defence lines of the opposition.

The false 9 creates an uncertainty in the defence, as the defenders get bamboozled over the idea of following the striker deep into the midfield. Should that happen, the void that gets created in the opposition defence is exploited by the attacking wingers, who move inside and score goals.

Dropping deep also means the forward provides extra options for the midfielders to form triangles in the centre of the park - precisely the duty Messi was tasked with by Guardiola in the tiki-taka system at Barcelona.

False 9 was first used by striker Matthias Sindelar for Austria in the 1930s. Hungarian forward Nandor Hidegkuti was deployed as a false 9 later in the legendary team of Hungary, the Mighty Magyars of the 1950s. It is important to note that this tactic usually uses players that aren't physically fit to be a traditional no.9 due to their stature and strength.

As the finest enforcer of the tactic, Lionel Messi has developed into an immensely talented playmaker as well as a brilliant goal-poacher, bagging an insane number of goals and assists throughout his glorious career.