The target man: football tactics explained

Ah, the target man. When is football at its most beautiful? For some, it is a gently weighted pass rounding off the ultimate team goal: think Carlos Alberto scoring Brazil’s fourth in the 1970 World Cup final against Italy.

For others, it might be an incredibly precise, perfectly executed volley, à la Zinedine Zidane for Real Madrid against Bayer Leverkusen in the 2002 Champions League.

Then there of those of us who get the most joy in this sport from seeing a 6’7 striker get on the end of a floating cross, hung up to the back post. Ideally, the striker, opposition goalkeeper and ball all crash into the net. This is the work of the target man. In 2024, they are supposed to be a dying breed, but there will always be a place in football for the big centre-forward.

What is a target man?

A target man doesn’t necessarily have to be huge in size, although it does help. As the name suggests they act as a target for their team.

Their aim is to win high, aerial balls, hold up the play to bring other teammates into the attack and generally unsettle the opposition defence. It is a simple enough role to understand, but in the modern game it is not an easy tactic to carry out effectively.

Forwards in this mould have to be particularly strong, yet still be agile enough to cover a huge amount of turf. This is particularly true if you’re a target forward playing for a team who play in a low defensive block and aren’t particularly interested in the possession battle.

That means your team will probably spend the majority of the game defending, backs against the wall style. In this scenario the target forward will have to run the channels and utilise whatever space is available. At least if they are to offer a genuine outlet for their team and ease pressure on the defensive players.

The target forward won’t look to run in-behind the defence, at least on a regular basis. Instead they will spend the majority a large proportion of the game with their back to goal, keeping praying defenders at bay.

At the top of the game, where most centre-backs seem to resemble super middleweight boxers, that is not an easy task.

Who are the best examples of target men?

A common misconception is that a target man can just be any physically imposing forward. Strictly speaking that isn’t true. Standing at 6'3 and playing up front isn't enough.

Romelu Lukaku is one example. In the early part of his career at Anderlecht, Chelsea (first time) and West Brom, the Belgian built his game around winning aerial duels and encouraging a physical contest with the defender.

But Lukaku 2.0, on display during his time at Everton, Manchester United, Chelsea (second time) and Inter, preferred running into the channels and poaching between defenders. He was still clearly a broad, physical forward, but didn’t build his game around that and wasn't a target man in the classic sense.

It’s a similar story for Erling Haaland, although as well all know there is very little the Norwegian can’t do. Better examples in recent years are Olivier Giroud (notably at the 2018 World Cup for France where he was hugely influential despite not scoring), Wout Weghorst, Darwin Nunez, Victor Osimhen and going back a little further, Didier Drogba.

Any budding target forward’s initiation should be to watch Drogba’s performance in both legs of Chelsea’s Champions League semi-final triumph over Barcelona in 2012. Simply put, it was one of the greatest displays by a target man in the modern era. His touch, physicality and intelligent hold-up play, almost single-handedly disrupted the Barca backline, giving his team a foot in a very tough fight they eventually won.

Of course the British isles have also produced a number of great target men down the years like Alan Shearer, Les Ferdinand, John Toshack and going back further, John Charles. From the women's game, one of the best strikers in the sport's history, American Abby Wambach, was a powerful target forward.

What are the pros and cons of using a target man?

If your team regularly play long, direct passes and primarily focus attacking output on crosses, a target man is almost essential rather than optional. Even in the top leagues across the world, where goalkeepers are given greater protection from referees, a physical target forward can prove highly effective.

One of the main pros these days is directly linked to the target man becoming something of rarer beast. Defences simply come up against them as often in 2024, certainly at the highest level of football.

Therefore centre-backs aren’t as accustomed to facing physical strikers as they perhaps were 20 or 30 years ago. Playing as a defender against a high quality target forward is something you can’t really practice in training matches.

If the big target man is facing the threat of extinction it could conversely be a benefit to those still around. The main disadvantage is that your team can very quickly become overly reliant on hitting the target forward. Should the player in question, not be mobile enough to offer variety, a team can very quickly become all too predictable.

Basically, if you’re playing with the big man ensure you aren’t one dimensional. Unless that particular dimension happens to be a bulldozer like Drogba.

More tactical explainers

We have several tactical explainers to help you understand more about football. 

When it comes to midfields, we have pieces on what a box midfield is, how double-pivot midfields function and explainers on the No.10 and the No.6, as well as attacking and defensive transitions.

We also have explainers on what gegenpressing is, what target men are how inverted full-backs work and what ‘between the lines’ means, along with explainers on overlaps and overloads.