Number 6, number 8, number 10 etc.

[Smartie]

Where has this sort of nomenclature in football come from?

It seems to be used more than ever now.

I'm a bit confused about the specifics of what each one means - for example, when I played boy's football a number 6 would often play centre half. If Kenneh has signed seeing himself as a number 6, seemingly that's now a midfielder? Although I seem to remember Barry Ferguson wearing number 6 in midfield a lot.

Obviously a number 9 would normally tend to be a big, physical striker and the 10 sometimes a bit deeper or the wee, quicker one playing off the 9.

The numbers would have been different in an old fashioned 235, then in a slightly less old fashioned 442. But what do these number really mean as they relate to the modern game? And are they only ever really used to differentiate between the different roles that central midfielders will play?

[Nicho87]

I remember Brian Welsh wearing number 6

He was certainly not a holding midfielder

[CallumLaidlaw]

For me, 6 is the defensive mid, 8 is box to box, 10 is the attacking midfielder. 9 is the centre forward.

Think football manager has a lot to answer for tho [emoji1787]


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[04Sauzee]

Think they have always been around, when I think of a 10 I think of Platini

[Hibernian Verse]

1. Goalie
2. Right back
3. Left back
4 & 5. Centre Backs

6. Defensive Mid
7. Right Mid
8. Attacking Mid
11. Left Mid

9. Centre Forward
10. Secondary Striker/Centre Forward

IMO

[CapitalGreen]

Where has this sort of nomenclature in football come from?

It seems to be used more than ever now.

I'm a bit confused about the specifics of what each one means - for example, when I played boy's football a number 6 would often play centre half. If Kenneh has signed seeing himself as a number 6, seemingly that's now a midfielder? Although I seem to remember Barry Ferguson wearing number 6 in midfield a lot.

Obviously a number 9 would normally tend to be a big, physical striker and the 10 sometimes a bit deeper or the wee, quicker one playing off the 9.

The numbers would have been different in an old fashioned 235, then in a slightly less old fashioned 442. But what do these number really mean as they relate to the modern game? And are they only ever really used to differentiate between the different roles that central midfielders will play?

6 - predominantly defensive
10 - predominantly attacking
8 - a bit of both

[Brightside]

For me, 6 is the defensive mid, 8 is box to box, 10 is the attacking midfielder. 9 is the centre forward.

Think football manager has a lot to answer for tho [emoji1787]


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Yep - thats my thoughts. 4 & 5 are CBs, 2 & 3 are FBs.

[CentreLine]

Think they have always been around, when I think of a 10 I think of Platini

When I think of a 10 I think of Pele. I hope we are signing someone as good as him

In a Hibs sense I think of the great Alex Cropley. I hope we are signing someone as good as him.

[sauzeelegod]

6 - Matty Jack
8 - Pat Mcginlay
10- Scotty Allan

😀

[hibsbollah]

It annoys me. I know what it means but it annoys me. Especially since your starting eleven actually wearing 1-11 in reality never happens anymore.

[04Sauzee]

6 - Matty Jack
8 - Pat Mcginlay
10- Scotty Allan

😀
6 - Kenneh
8 - Levitt (10)
10 - Magennis (8)

😁

[Smartie]

Yep - thats my thoughts. 4 & 5 are CBs, 2 & 3 are FBs.

I'd more often have had 6 as a CB and 4 as a defensive midfielder.

[McSwanky]

I'd more often have had 6 as a CB and 4 as a defensive midfielder.

Me too. Think Yogi and Dennis were 5 and 6 IIRC.

[NC1875]

1. Goalie
2. Right back
3. Left back
4 & 5. Centre Backs

6. Defensive Mid
7. Right Mid
8. Attacking Mid
11. Left Mid

9. Centre Forward
10. Secondary Striker/Centre Forward

IMO

Yup, was a number 7 in my younger days then a number 8 when the legs went.

[OldEast]

1.goalie
2.right back
3.left back
4.right half
5.centre half
6.left half
7.right wing
8.inside right
9.centre forward
10.inside left
11.left wing

All the new terms confuse hell out of me. Wing back/full back 🤔🤔🤔

[Walter]

6 - Matty Jack
8 - Pat Mcginlay
10- Scotty Allan

😀


Thank you.....a language I understand!

[nonshinyfinish]

1.goalie
2.right back
3.left back
4.right half
5.centre half
6.left half
7.right wing
8.inside right
9.centre forward
10.inside left
11.left wing

All the new terms confuse hell out of me. Wing back/full back 🤔🤔🤔

Full back is not a new term – in the classic 2-3-5 formation the three 'lines' were full backs, half backs and forwards.

[DIXIHIBS]

6. John mcginn
8. John mcginn
10.John mcginn

[mcohibs]

What about the 'false 9':greengrin

[OldEast]

Full back is not a new term – in the classic 2-3-5 formation the three 'lines' were full backs, half backs and forwards.

Yes I'm well into my sixties and know all about full backs. I probably didn't word that very well. I get confused these days with the DIFFERENCE between full back and wing back. For me a full back was number 2 or 3 who could also attack. Then you had wingers, numbers 7 and 11 who attacked on the wing without necessarily having defensive duties. The term Wing back confuses me. It's just the old winger who now drops to midfield to defend? What is Doig's usual position?

[04Sauzee]

What about the 'false 9':greengrin

And the double pivot 😁

[Smartie]

1.goalie
2.right back
3.left back
4.right half
5.centre half
6.left half
7.right wing
8.inside right
9.centre forward
10.inside left
11.left wing

All the new terms confuse hell out of me. Wing back/full back 🤔🤔🤔

That's where I thought a lot of it came from - the old 235 formation. 2 and 3 at the back, 456 in front of them, then the front 5. That being why you'd normally recognise the right and left backs as being the 2 and the 3, the left winger as an 11 and the right winger as a 7, the 9 as being the centre forward.

The other players might vary a bit depending on how you're playing.

I find it weird that we seem to describe the central midfielders by number when some of the other roles seem so different from the traditional ones (wingbacks - are they 2s and 3 s or 7s and 11s?)

[Iain G]

What about the 'false 9':greengrin

In Hibs bingo it would be "Rowan Vine - False 9" 😁

[MikeyS]

It annoys me. I know what it means but it annoys me. Especially since your starting eleven actually wearing 1-11 in reality never happens anymore.

I'm the same, cannae be @rsed with all this number nonsense 🤣

If I was trying to explain it though, I'd use Barca as an example. 6 - Busquets 8 - Xavi & 10 - Iniesta

Probably never been a better 3 midfielders in the same side either. Well until McGinn, McGeough & Allan got together.

[nonshinyfinish]

Yes I'm well into my sixties and know all about full backs. I probably didn't word that very well. I get confused these days with the DIFFERENCE between full back and wing back. For me a full back was number 2 or 3 who could also attack. Then you had wingers, numbers 7 and 11 who attacked on the wing without necessarily having defensive duties. The term Wing back confuses me. It's just the old winger who now drops to midfield to defend? What is Doig's usual position?

Doig's position when we play with a back three (excluding the occasions when Doig is in the back three) is a standard example of a wing back. They'll generally have more license to attack than a standard full back, because there are three central defenders behind them, whereas a full back is normally part of a back four. A major difference compared to a wide midfielder/winger's defensive duties is that beyond tracking back, a wing back will often drop in to a back five. You don't often see wide midfielders or wingers in a 4-4-2 drop in to the back line unless it's an ultra-defensive approach.

Of course the attacking/defending balance can vary massively for any of these positions – Dani Alves at Barca, TAA and Robertson at Liverpool are all described as full backs but were/are more attacking than many wing backs (and even some wingers) because of the ways those teams played. It's a bit like the regular claim on here that one up front means a defensive setup – it might, but it doesn't have to. Positions and formations are just a starting point.

[Hibernia&Alba]

Aye, does it some to be happening far more in commentary. I remember when a number 9 i.e. old fashioned target man was used, but now it's sixes, eights, tens etc. Just say the position; it's senseless in the era of squad numbers.

[Bristolhibby]

I'd more often have had 6 as a CB and 4 as a defensive midfielder.

You can thank Steven Gerrard for that.

4&5 are my CBs.

2&3 my fullbacks.

J

[Bristolhibby]

Yes I'm well into my sixties and know all about full backs. I probably didn't word that very well. I get confused these days with the DIFFERENCE between full back and wing back. For me a full back was number 2 or 3 who could also attack. Then you had wingers, numbers 7 and 11 who attacked on the wing without necessarily having defensive duties. The term Wing back confuses me. It's just the old winger who now drops to midfield to defend? What is Doig's usual position?

Wing backs often play with a back 3. And have to bomb up and down the wing.

How Scotland play with Tierney and Robertson on the left. Both are traditional Left full backs, but they are allowed to overlap and push when needed and settle back in when the action is coming down their flank.

J

[Bristolhibby]

Having a debate with my kids (13 and 11). They insist that wingers are forwards, I see them as part of the midfield who join in with the front two (or one). My argument is that 9 & 10 are your forwards and the rest are just part of the midfield, albeit the wide men.

I wonder if it is an age thing? With my boys being FIFA addicts.

At the end of the day it doesn’t really matter. Do the players have gas? Can they beat a man on the outside and hit the byline? Is their cross into the box like a bullet?

J

[Iain G]

Having a debate with my kids (13 and 11). They insist that wingers are forwards, I see them as part of the midfield who join in with the front two (or one). My argument is that 9 & 10 are your forwards and the rest are just part of the midfield, albeit the wide men.

I wonder if it is an age thing? With my boys being FIFA addicts.

At the end of the day it doesn’t really matter. Do the players have gas? Can they beat a man on the outside and hit the byline? Is their cross into the box like a bullet?

J

So one of your kids is a winger and the other sub goalie? 😁

[beensaidbefore]

I'd more often have had 6 as a CB and 4 as a defensive midfielder.


agreed

[hibbyfraelibby]

To be honest if we want to be able to lick the opposition we'll need a cool 99 and possibly a 69 for cover😉

[OldEast]

Having a debate with my kids (13 and 11). They insist that wingers are forwards, I see them as part of the midfield who join in with the front two (or one). My argument is that 9 & 10 are your forwards and the rest are just part of the midfield, albeit the wide men.

I wonder if it is an age thing? With my boys being FIFA addicts.

At the end of the day it doesn’t really matter. Do the players have gas? Can they beat a man on the outside and hit the byline? Is their cross into the box like a bullet?

J

I'm sure I'm older than your kids and have never played FIFA and I've always thought of wingers as forwards. Starting to understand the midfield role assigned to them now though.

[OldEast]

Doig's position when we play with a back three (excluding the occasions when Doig is in the back three) is a standard example of a wing back. They'll generally have more license to attack than a standard full back, because there are three central defenders behind them, whereas a full back is normally part of a back four. A major difference compared to a wide midfielder/winger's defensive duties is that beyond tracking back, a wing back will often drop in to a back five. You don't often see wide midfielders or wingers in a 4-4-2 drop in to the back line unless it's an ultra-defensive approach.

Of course the attacking/defending balance can vary massively for any of these positions – Dani Alves at Barca, TAA and Robertson at Liverpool are all described as full backs but were/are more attacking than many wing backs (and even some wingers) because of the ways those teams played. It's a bit like the regular claim on here that one up front means a defensive setup – it might, but it doesn't have to. Positions and formations are just a starting point.

Very clearly explained. Thank you.

[Fergus52]

McGeouch, McGinn and Allan were a good example of what folk mean by a 6, 8 and 10.

Although McGeouch was more of a deep playmaker for us than a ball winning 6.

[McSwanky]

You can thank Steven Gerrard for that.

4&5 are my CBs.

2&3 my fullbacks.

J

Intrigued by your Steven Gerrard comment, Nobby Stiles and Graeme Souness may disagree!

[Dmas]

McGeouch, McGinn and Allan were a good example of what folk mean by a 6, 8 and 10.

Although McGeouch was more of a deep playmaker for us than a ball winning 6.


differing versions of '6' depending on the style of play, mcgeouch and bartley for example both recognised as number 6 players vastly different skill set though

[BSEJVT]

I look back wistfully to the days when a midfielder could do it all.

Doubtless someone will be along in a minute to tell me that :

Stanton 4

Blackley 6

O’Rourke 8

Cropley 10

were these modern incarnations

When Blackley 6 was a sweeper and O’Rourke 8 played off Gordon

How bloody fantastic were Stanton & Cropley

Apparently doing the jobs of 3 men and 3 different roles and doing them better than any 3 since!

[Groathillgrump]

Aye, does it some to be happening far more in commentary. I remember when a number 9 i.e. old fashioned target man was used, but now it's sixes, eights, tens etc. Just say the position; it's senseless in the era of squad numbers.

Agreed.

Football jargon invented by coaches and used by pundits to make football sound way more complicated than it actually is.

[BILLYHIBS]

I look back wistfully to do the days when a midfielder could do it all.

Doubtless someone will be along in a minute to tell me that :

Stanton 4

Blackley 6

O’Rourke 8

Cropley 10

were these modern incarnations

When Blackley 6 was a sweeper and O’Rourke 8 played off Gordon

How bloody fantastic were Stanton & Cropley

Apparently doing the jobs of 3 men and 3 different roles and doing them better than any 3 since!

Not forgetting #7 Mickey Edwards who was a winger but really one of the best midfielders I have ever seen that could hit a 50 pence piece from 50 yards with his precision passing

[jacomo]

1. Goalie
2. Right back
3. Left back
4 & 5. Centre Backs

6. Defensive Mid
7. Right Mid
8. Attacking Mid
11. Left Mid

9. Centre Forward
10. Secondary Striker/Centre Forward

IMO


This is the way.

I think it partly comes from Spanish football, where for example Guardiola played as a no.6 and the position is referred to as such.

Agree that 4 and 6 have historically meant something else in a British context.

[Bristolhibby]

Intrigued by your Steven Gerrard comment, Nobby Stiles and Graeme Souness may disagree!

I’m a kid of the 90s. Both before my time. Gerrard was the first midfielder that had the 4 (in my watching window) annoyed me he forced it upon England also.

J

[A Hi-Bee]

Not forgetting #7 Mickey Edwards who was a winger but really one of the best midfielders I have ever seen that could hit a 50 pence piece from 50 yards with his precision passing

:top marks or even onto a half crown.

[DC_Hibs]

Wouldn’t be surprised if this is being used here now due to the German influence in English “footy”. The 6er, 8er and 10er was commonly used - and probably well before I went over to work in ‘07 - when fans and media are discussing different types of midfielder.

The Fanboys are all over gegenpressing as well

[Fergus52]

Agreed.

Football jargon invented by coaches and used by pundits to make football sound way more complicated than it actually is.

Nah not for me, its a quick and easy way to briefly describe the role a player is playing, without having to fully say "the deepest ball winning midfielder", or "the furthest forward more creative midfielder"

[BILLYHIBS]

:top marks or even onto a half crown.

👍

[BSEJVT]

Not forgetting #7 Mickey Edwards who was a winger but really one of the best midfielders I have ever seen that could hit a 50 pence piece from 50 yards with his precision passing

Mickey was a tremendous player

Was greatly saddened by his troubles last year

[Irish_Steve]

One of my first football heroes was Steve Heighway, the Liverpool winger. He wore the no. 9!

[McSwanky]

I’m a kid of the 90s. Both before my time. Gerrard was the first midfielder that had the 4 (in my watching window) annoyed me he forced it upon England also.

J

Am I right in saying he only wore number 4 for England? Presumably because number 8 was already taken by Lampard?

[Inconsequential]

I look back wistfully to the days when a midfielder could do it all.

Doubtless someone will be along in a minute to tell me that :

Stanton 4

Blackley 6

O’Rourke 8

Cropley 10

were these modern incarnations

When Blackley 6 was a sweeper and O’Rourke 8 played off Gordon

How bloody fantastic were Stanton & Cropley

Apparently doing the jobs of 3 men and 3 different roles and doing them better than any 3 since! Me too! Look back wistfully that is. These players were great footballers. Stanton and Cropley had it all. The later stages of his Hibs career Pat Stanton was basically a forward and could score goals. Scored two against Glasgow Rangers to win 2-1 iirc. The good old days! :wink:

[Ringothedog]

1.goalie
2.right back
3.left back
4.right half
5.centre half
6.left half
7.right wing
8.inside right
9.centre forward
10.inside left
11.left wing

All the new terms confuse hell out of me. Wing back/full back 🤔🤔🤔

Mine was originally number 4, progressed to number 9 and then back to number 3, with the occasional number 11 and number 1 thrown in

[jacomo]

Nah not for me, its a quick and easy way to briefly describe the role a player is playing, without having to fully say "the deepest ball winning midfielder", or "the furthest forward more creative midfielder"


:agree:

[hibsbollah]

Nah not for me, its a quick and easy way to briefly describe the role a player is playing, without having to fully say "the deepest ball winning midfielder", or "the furthest forward more creative midfielder"

Matty Jack role Latapy role.

It’s all you need.

[Del Boy]

6 would be the centre half that could play a bit, even a sweeper. 5 the big donkey who attacks everything. 4 definitely the defensive midfielder for me.

[baker1959]

I loved it when Peter Cormack wore no.5 for Liverpool and played as an attacking midfielder.

[Spudster]

Noticed it a lot on here in the last week or so, find it very odd.

My most hated current trend? The word average rarely used without bang before it. “He is bang average” 🤢

[Haymaker]

I'd more often have had 6 as a CB and 4 as a defensive midfielder.

Which is the correct way to do it.

[Haymaker]

Am I right in saying he only wore number 4 for England? Presumably because number 8 was already taken by Lampard?

#4 is always a defensive midfielder in England line ups. They only use squad numbers at tournaments but always line up 1-11 in non-tournament games.

Declan Rice currently wears #4 for England. James Ward-prowse did last time he started recently.