Asunto: u21 friendlies

Another version, this time I've tried to put more order to the reckless running of the strikers, they are not moving back, instead when crossing each other, one is moving to the side as a decoy, while the other one is running forward at the same time..
n.10 was moved closer to the center. Strikers are aslo not as close to the goalie around penalty area..

edit - updated version:-)
(editado)

A close victory in the game against al-Jazā’ir U21! Congrats anyway!

4 observations:
- the tactic was basically good, I liked the MID-positioning in particular.
- I still would place the defenders a little closer together, the opponent had sometimes too much space
- main problem in my opinion: the forwards were too low: they run into the defense, tackling easiliy from the front and us losing the ball
- as a result: the crossing forwards are somewhat hard to evaluate. mut I still liked the movements of the forwards and the 2:1 a few minutes from the end is exactly what the crossing forwards intend: 1 picks up the ball from the othe having more space to shoot because the defender can't cover 2 atts at the time :-)

Once again thanks for your remarks, they are appreciated!

- I still would place the defenders a little closer together, the opponent had sometimes too much space

the autocovering should take care of that and I don't want to leave room for wingers, especially playing with 4 DEFs..even though pretty much nobody use wingers on U21 anyway so may be puting them closer together is a good idea..Our DEFs are also very slow and weak so they will leave room no matter what :-) The smaller stadium (will play on Marc's this time) should also help..

main problem in my opinion: the forwards were too low:

Yeah they played the defense really low, but i wanted to leave a bit space for the strikers so they could accelerate against the defense. I didn't want to leave them standing around the penalty area the whole time as that would make the switching tactic irrelevant. Nevertheless that's what happened anyway..it is not as effective against low defense..
But I think with better MIDs it could possibly work, the defenders seemed confused few times:-) But we don't have MIDs with this generation who could make good through passes. I'll may be try to fix Matsau's and Methula's birth cerificate, so they can play for us again:-)

Thanks again

(editado)

hehe, no naturalizations possible either, unfortunately ;-)

So Kenya plays the same tactic all the time, which makes it easy to prepare.
Finally there is a team that plays higher defense, so may be our switching attackers we'll have a chance for some break aways.
They have a monster defender John Odhiambo on the right central defense, so we'll use Ledwaba as a bait to lure him away and their left defense is much weaker so our best strikers Serola and Masenia we'll try to expoit that area with their movement.
They also place their strikers very low on their own half which makes it easier for our defenders and allow us to play higher defense. They have a nice striker Njata Barmasai, I'm sure he will score a goal aginst us, but hopefully we will be able to outscore them.

Here is the TACTIC. Again with the typical positioning of the strikers and minimal movement from MIDs

Our Squad:

1 Fabien Lechesa GK
2 Granwald Mabedi DEF
3 Sibusiso Fredericks DEF
4 Austin Sibaya DEF
5 Musawenkosi Ngwenya DEF
6 Paul Kalaka MID
7 Burton Felix MID
8 Marco Lingard MID
9 Arthur Serola ATT
10 Thabiso Ledwaba ATT
11 Granwald Masenia ATT

12 William Matshitse GK
13 Kelvin Lekgwathi DEF
14 Valentine Methula ATT
15 Bheki Lingard ATT
16 Nasief Chelin MID

Set pieces
Free kick: Granwald Masenia
Penalty kick: Granwald Masenia

Conditional orders
Min. Condition / Action
1' red card or no player
Granwald Masenia on position 1
1' red card or no player
Paul Kalaka on position 2
1' red card or no player
Paul Kalaka on position 3
1' red card or no player
Paul Kalaka on position 4
1' red card or no player
Paul Kalaka on position 5
55' always
Valentine Methula on position 11
70' always
Bheki Lingard on position 10

With Burton Felix on Lehoko's place, I don't know what should I do with Marco Lingard..he has hopeless form..but we really don't have anybody else..plus he is one of the few MIDs with high stamina. The other best MID is probably Ramulondi, who has average form and I want to use him as sub for Fredericks who has only weak stamina. We have no other 20-21 year old MIDs.. are next best MIDs are our very promising 19 year olds (Winstanley, Lutumba, Nyathi and Johnson), but they are not quite good enough yet..

Any ideas?

Funny we have 5 superb strikers and 2 MIDs :-)

How about using Shingayi Kalaka instead of Marco Lingard?

When you factor in magical form versus hopeless form, Kalaka doesn't look too bad.
He doesn't have any defensive capability, but should be okay otherwise.

Sorry I read it too late:-)
I was also thinking about him, he should be our starter next season..
I also have to take into consideration the difference in stamina..so he'll play worse in last 20 minutes. But may be I'll give him shot next time.

Anyway Lingard was actually ok today, played better than expected..

So the question for next match is Lingard, Shingayi Kalaka or Lehoko with +5 injury:-)

Ryan Lehoko, age: 21 , sum(56)

club: World Masters, country: South Africa,
value: 11 422 529 Kč, wage: 100 501 Kč,
superdivine (18) form, very good (9) tactical discipline,
height: 182 cm, ·weight: 82.5755 kg , BMI: 24.93

Last update: 2012-10-04
average (5) Stamina tragic (0) Keeper
excellent (10) Pace adequate (6) Defender
formidable (11) Technique excellent (10) Playmaker
formidable (11) Passing poor (3) Striker

injury: (12 days)

Shingayi Kalaka, age: 20 , sum(50)

club: FC Lurich, country: South Africa,
value: 5 302 514 Kč, wage: 54 751 Kč,
magical (15) form, excellent (10) tactical discipline,
height: 180 cm, ·weight: 85.3229 kg , BMI: 26.33
bookings:
Last update: 2012-10-08
good (7) Stamina tragic (0) Keeper
formidable (11) Pace average (5) Defender
good (7) Technique good (7) Playmaker
excellent (10) Passing poor (3) Striker

Marco Lingard, age: 20 , sum(56)

club: FC MTG, country: South Africa,
value: 6 592 517 Kč, wage: 102 751 Kč,
hopeless (1) form, excellent (10) tactical discipline,
height: 181 cm, ·weight: 79.2728 kg , BMI: 24.20

Last update: 2012-10-04
excellent (10) Stamina tragic (0) Keeper
excellent (10) Pace good (7) Defender
average (5) Technique solid (8) Playmaker
incredible (13) Passing poor (3) Striker

Lehoko is probably out of question, I don't want to risk another injury..

So far Lingard has 2 votes: myself and ostulc:-)

And there is no way you can use both? ;-)

Well probably not, 2 striker substitutions are no brainer and I want to save the 3rd one for DEF Fredericks who has only weak stamina..so there is only one MID spot next to Paul Kalaka and Burton Felix

Hard to predict the form influence on Lingard.. Considering the whole package, I'd take Lingard aswell.

hmm....not easy

I guess I wouldn't take Lingard but rather one of the others, probabely starting with Kalaka, replacing him with Lehoko during the game

As I said I don't have a substitution for the MIDs, so he has to play the whole match and I don't want to risk another injury for Lehoko..
Which means 1 vote for Kalaka and 3 votes for Lingard.. Lingard is the winner:-)

And thanks for all your comments, at least I sparked a little debate here :-)