INSIDE FORWARDS
— Andy Ducat | 22/08/1931 —

The opening of the season is marked by a dearth of good inside forwards.

Clubs that are seeking them cannot find them, and clubs that have them are not letting them go.

The reason is not so much that inside men have suddenly become a rarity, as that clubs seem only now to have discovered that an inside man of constructive skill can be the making of his side. Perhaps it is that the successful scheming of Alec James in the Arsenal front line has brought new ideas about the possibilities of inside forward play. 

Centre half-backs in recent seasons have taken to playing further back. This defensive move was forced upon them by thepenetrative" tactics of the modern high-speed centre forward.

THIRD BACK PLAN.

A sturdy centre half-back can strengthen the defence of his side immensely, but, unfortunately, he can hardly be expected to devote maximum attention to feeding the attack at the same time. Team-builders have lately come to the conclusion that a defensive centre half-back can be an asset to the team, so long as there is constructive ability in the inside-forward berths.

That is why more is now being asked of inside men, and why players who can meet the need are not easy to find.

Inside men themselves are in two minds about their work.

There are some who play as though they were half-backs, and do it very successfully. There are others who have tried the exaggerated "W" formation and given it up in favour of a more aggressive forward position. The truth is that no forward line to-day can succeed with only a single marksman. If the wing men can shoot with the same ability as the centre-forward, then the inside forwards can hold back to draw the defence. If there is not first-class shooting power on the wings, then the inside men must keep well forward in a shooting position.

WING FORWARD MENACE.

The scoring wing forwards came into prominence last season, and compelled a lot of thinking among the backs.

The highly-ingenious tactic of marking the man to whom the ball would be centered no longer proved succesful, because, possibly, the ball might not be centered. The wing forward might cut in and take the shot. Backs dealing with wing forwards of this type found themselves compelled to get over to the touchline to hem them in. That, in turn, gave the centre forward added scope.

Sharp-shooting wing forwards have come to stay, and we are likely to see more of them this season.

Though the scoring angles is difficult, calling for a keen understanding of the effect of kicking with the appropriate foot, the swerve that may come into play in the flight of the ball makes it correspondingly difficult for the goalkeeper to deal with, especially when it is slippery.

BEATING THE DEFENCE.

Everton's experience revealed that "Dixie" Dean was the most successful of the "penetrative" forwards when the new offside law was introduced. Then backs and centre half-backs found a way to peg him down, and catastrophe came to Goodison Park.

The answer was to find other scoring forwards, opening up new angles of attack, and so preventing the defence from concentrating on stopping the thrust down the middle.

Everton did this, and Dean came back to his finest Dean, Everton and England shooting form.

It is only fair to the centre forward, as well as to the team as a whole, to provide more marksmen in the front line. The more forwards there are who can trouble the defence, the more are the defenders compelled to spread, and the better opportunity does each individual attacker have to score.

WHERE STRATEGY ENTERS.

More and more teams seem to be coming round to the idea of exploiting "open" tactics. 

Notts County won their way back to the Second Division by strategy. Their game, so far from becoming more robust when they went down a grade, was overhauled drastically, and they showed a new appreciation of scientific methods.

The work of creating strategy tends to devolve to an ever-increasing extent on the inside men, for, try as they may to support the attack, there will always be times when the half-backs are forced on the defensive. If an inside man plays well back. he has better opportunities for drawing the defence, but his forward passing — because of the greater distance to be covered — must take on added deliberation and accuracy.

APPRECIATION OF SCIENCE.

Inside forwards of accuracy and constructive ideas must be developed as well as "found." 

That is why more and more clubs are inclining favourably towards blackboard and chessboard tuition, to team talks-to anything, in fact, that is likely to produce inside forwards who will show appreciation of the higher science of the game.

Ted Sandford, of West Bromwich Albion, is a typical Hawthorns" discovery and already an inside left of class. He has been carefully brought along in the inside berth, after starting as a half-back, and he proved good enough to figure on the winning side in a Cup Final, after only half a season of big football."

Is there a hint here to managers that the forwards they are seeking may be playing in junior football within half-a-mile of the home ground?