What is the most crucial component of a football team?

Synergy? Sublime skill? A safe as houses goalkeeper? A towering centre back? A midfield general? A silky winger? A goal scoring striker?

None of the above, what every football team needs is a forward player who may lack the skill of those around him, but one thing is for sure, he will put in a shift. These players are important as they often feel like a fan on the pitch. Although their ability is suspect, they try 150%. They will cover every blade of grass but often they have a first touch that could leave the ball pressing charges for abuse. Their shots may be terrible, but they take so many that eventually some come off. Their passing is often hideous but you have to put up with the sour to get the sweet. The sweet is the fact that they are capable of exhausting the opposition defence.

These players are currently rife. These players never really let you down because expectations are so low. These players are like watching your son on the pitch. He may not be the best player out there but you can’t help but be proud. If we look at the two biggest disappointments in European Football this season; Arsenal and Barcelona. Both have one thing in common, they lack a player who will really “put in a shift”. Yes they may have a great striker (Eto’o/Adebayor), or a genius slash player (Messi/Ronaldinho/Hleb/Van Persie) but they lack a player willing to run around like a dog chasing his tail, that is what every team needs. Both these teams went below their expectations, and it could be because they lack a headless chicken running around like a dog chasing his tail to lift the team’s spirit.

Of course within this type of players, there are different classes. Manchester United have the most upper class shift player available in Carlos Tevez. He may lack the ability of his colleague Ronaldo but he will work his little socks off to make up for it. Sir Alex Ferguson is so enamoured with the idea of this shift player that he has tried to mould one of the world’s most gifted players, Wayne Rooney into one.  In Dirk Kuyt at Liverpool is one of the purest examples of this type of player. Lacking any nugget of skill, he remains an engine which compliments the skills of Gerrard and  Torres.

To hunt a little deeper into the phenomenon, teams must look to Rangers for advice on how to utilise this player. Rangers lull teams into a false sense of security and attempt to bore them to death, then at approximately 70 minutes, Nacho Novo is shot through a cannon onto an unsuspecting defence, that is often so tired that they can often make Nacho Novo look like a professional footballer.

The shift player is not a full proof concept however, a team cannot just acquire a shift player and then suddenly gain success. First there needs to be a solid football team. For example, Derby were so desperate for success that they gambled on the proto-type shift player, Kenny Miller to try and ensure the team’s safety. Unfortunately teams have to realise that there needs to be 9 talented outfield players to allow for the pure lack of ability of a shift player.

So Arsenal, Barcelona. This summer when you draft your shopping list, why not bid for a shift player. There are plenty around,  Gabby Abonglahor and Robbie Keane for example are shift players wasting away outside the bubble of the champions league. Somebody put them out of their misery, as these two upper class shift players are ready and waiting. Want something a bit more down and dirty?  Then it would be an insult for the proto-type Kenny Miller to be putting in a shift outside the bubble of the Premiership.