TFA Exclusive Interview: St. Pauli’s Daniel Sinani On How To Be A False Nine – Player Analysis

The term false nine has become really popular in football since Pep Guardiola put Lionel Messi in that role during their time at Barcelona.

The idea of making Messi receive the ball between the lines, sometimes unmarked, and allowing him to create spaces for the wide forwards to run into works very well.

That way of using Messi as a number nine (or a centre-forward) who dropped deep to receive the ball, control it and decide the direction of the attack in the final third, made Barcelona unstoppable.

This role has become pretty common in football.

Cesc Fàbregas played it for Spain at Euro 2012, and Roberto Firmino is often seen as one of the best at it for Liverpool when Jürgen Klopp is managing the team.

Firminos approach was pretty similar: He dropped deep, tried to link up with the midfield, and created spaces for Sadio Mané and Mohamed Salah to move into.

The unselfishness that helped Liverpool to glory.

Today, the role is not as popular in football as it once was.

This is because the conversation about the number nine is now centred on tall, physical players who are more conservative and are often referred to as monsters in the box, such as Erling Haaland, Alexander Isak, or Viktor Gyökeres.

But its not a thing of the past, is it?

In the top four European leagues, there are still teams that use this role.

Take Daniel Sinani at St. Pauli, for example.

Total Football Analysis was fortunate enough to have a conversation with Sinani about how to play as a false nine and what the coach expects when instructing a player to fill that role.

Danel Sinani: From Bench Warmer To False Nine Starter

Danel Sinani wasnt Alexander Blessins first choice to be a centre-forward for St. Pauli until the beginning of March; Johannes Eggestein was the previous centre-forward.

Sinanis role on the team was pretty minor.

He mostly came off the bench or played for a few minutes when some of the regular starters got injured.

From the beginning of the season in August to the winter break in December, he started only two games, and in both, he played as a wide forward.

Things started to change when Eggestein wasnt performing consistently.

Hes also well-known on the team as a centre-forward who has smart movement, and hes good at holding the ball.

He can drop deep to create space or link up play with the midfielder, and he was one of the key players in St. Paulis promotion to the Bundesliga under Fabian Hürzeler last season.

But Blessin needs to step up his game.

Eggesteins not really hitting the mark as a centre-forward, either because hes not scoring enough or dangerous enough as a threat in the final third.

Furthermore, as a facilitator in a false nine role, hes not creative enough.

And heres Sinani—since the game against Wolfsburg in early March, hes started every game for St. Pauli.

Up until last weekends game against Bayer Leverkusen, hed started six games in a row as centre-forward with the false nine role.

Danel Sinani Heatmap 2024/2025

Sinani knows how to be a professional: He is patient when his time has not yet come, but consistently demonstrates the quality he possesses in every training session to convince the coach that he can contribute to the team.

“For me, it was just to be patient and to be there when the team needed it.

Now my time is coming, I try to give my best for the team and try to keep our target,“ he said.