The current generation of hybrids
By the mid-2020s, the role had branched further. At Arsenal under Mikel Arteta, Kai Havertz was deployed as a false nine or advanced number eight rather than a fixed striker, dropping deep to link play and press from the front while wingers Bukayo Saka and Gabriel Martinelli attacked the space his movement created. Havertz recorded fewer touches inside the penalty box than a conventional striker but a far greater share of involvement in build-up play, a profile that would have made little sense to a coach in the 1990s and makes complete sense to one now.
The tactic has a clear limit, though. A false nine causes the most damage against a defense that man-marks, because a marker must choose between following the forward out of position and leaving him free, and either choice benefits the attacking side. Against a zonal back line that simply holds its shape and lets the false nine drop into an area nobody is responsible for, the trick loses most of its bite.
