I’ve been too afraid to ask but this feels like the proper thread to do so.
What is the difference between a 10 and a 9? When I was a kid I just assumed that the 10 referred to the best player/goal scorer. But now most strikers are referred as 9.
10 is the one who pulled a string to score a goal. Usually most creative player with sense of scoring and final pass. Totti, Del Piero, Messi is the scoring type of 10. Meanwhile there also a no 10 that focus on being a metronome and elegant player like Zidane, Ozil, Hagi.
9 is your main spearhead. The one you expect to score in 1 on 1, the one who save your team and score the first in desperate 2-0 lose before half time, the one who dare to demand for the ball to score. They are usually strong, skilled in first time shoot, can smell the blood between spaces to kill the game. Prime example is Vardy, CR7, Haaland. Extra point to different breed of 9 from Brazil, Romario and R9 who also excel in dribbling and trickery. CR7 formerly on that category
As time passes, some 9 has the technical ability for last pass and playmaking like Kane and Giroud. But they are still no 9.
![[Adidas on youtube] Zidane to Messi: "It's true there are only a few No 10s left. Well, thank goodness you still play and the No. 10 still exists."](https://alien.top/pictrs/image/b3f3f3fc-2814-4428-ad40-5d4a855794cf.webp){kind=link}
I’ve been too afraid to ask but this feels like the proper thread to do so.
What is the difference between a 10 and a 9? When I was a kid I just assumed that the 10 referred to the best player/goal scorer. But now most strikers are referred as 9.
What does each number stand for?
10 is the one who pulled a string to score a goal. Usually most creative player with sense of scoring and final pass. Totti, Del Piero, Messi is the scoring type of 10. Meanwhile there also a no 10 that focus on being a metronome and elegant player like Zidane, Ozil, Hagi.
9 is your main spearhead. The one you expect to score in 1 on 1, the one who save your team and score the first in desperate 2-0 lose before half time, the one who dare to demand for the ball to score. They are usually strong, skilled in first time shoot, can smell the blood between spaces to kill the game. Prime example is Vardy, CR7, Haaland. Extra point to different breed of 9 from Brazil, Romario and R9 who also excel in dribbling and trickery. CR7 formerly on that category
As time passes, some 9 has the technical ability for last pass and playmaking like Kane and Giroud. But they are still no 9.
I agree with almost everything you said.
But CR7 was never a 9.
Cr7 has been a 9 for like 8 years now. His winger days have been long gone
He hasn’t been a proper “winger” during any of the 3 peat.
He played as more of an inside forward, arriving late into the box. He didn’t play for Madrid as a target man exactly.