Asunto: u21 friendlies

Guys I'm going to coach Czech senior NT in a match against Ukraine. (I'm assistant there, but for 1 match I'm taking the control:-) They play the same tactic all the time, so this is what I came up with. It is set exactly for their tactic. I'll try 2 tactics

1st half

2nd half

n. 11 is a secondary striker (offmid with striker skill, played with att order), n.8 in both tactics is winger (there might be another mid with bit striker skill)

What do you think about those tactics?

I am pretty sure 1st half works better. Nr 9 is not enough in front of the goal and wingers don't work with the new engine as it seems. in both half I'd put the lateral defenders (4 and 5) one field more to the middle, especially in defense.

n.9 OK may be i will put him bit further..although in the new ME the goal keepers are much better at catching the high balls in front of the goal (they run from the goal more i think)

Wingers..they have a space on the side defense..I want to try it at least for 1 half.

defenders 4 and 5 are there for a reason, they play 2 wide wingers..it is set for their tactic. I hope they won't change it, but since they are playing it for like 2 seasons in a row, I don't expect that..

thanks for the reply:)

indeed the keepers are better catching, but the central poisition is especially important for the passes fom the central mids (straight and closest way to the goal).

about the defense: if you're playing at home, adapt the arena width ;-)

1st half is the better tactic indeed..

I have my doubts about nrs 6, 7 and 8 in the 2nd tactic.. They aren't moving enough if you ask me. There is too much space between 10 and 7 which makes your midfield rather easy to overcome. Same story for the enormous space between your backs and those 3 central defenders, And if your number 8 hasn't got much space due to well positioning of your opponent he won't receive any pass since he won't be free at any time.. You should try to move him a bit more up- and backwards to create more space. You're playing seniors now, don't be afraid of your players getting tired fast, they are all monsters ;)

I agree with you and understand your points..but..as I said the tactic is set exactly for Ukraina's tactic, that plays the same way for 2 seasons! They play the defense very low, therefore the winger and strikers are also very high. n8 winger should have lots of free space to operate, they play with only 3 defenders (and 3 defmids in front of them so if n. 10 beats the one on the left, he should be wide open there) I know that to position mids like that is bit risky, but they have lots of space in midfield also, so it shouldn't be a problem. The side defenders are there for purpse also, they are covering their side wingers.

Hmm May be I should have moved n. 6 a little more on the field though..

Funny think is both you guys like the 1st tactic much more, yet 2 Czech NT managers like the 2nd one:-)

Anyway thanks a lot for the comments

You're welcome. And yeah, sometimes opinions are different.. for sure in a situation like this one. Anyway, you have 2 different tactics set, so we'll see the outcome after the game ;)

Yeah i'm also very curious:-) Hmm I'm kinda uncertain now, you made me doubt the tactic:-)
May be there should be more movement of the mids:-) You think I should move the winger up and down more even if they play low defense (and stay low)?

Nigeria is our last African team this season and the match is more interesting for me because it is coached by fellow Czech mate glum. Even without injured Sibaya it should be easy win for us, although they have some nice briliant defenders.
All our strikrs are in superb form, 3 of them have divine and Serola superdivine form, so I expect they are gonna hit net instead of posts:-) Hopefully they will be able to keep their form for next season's WCQ..

Squad:

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

12 Jeffrey Tavlibudine GK
13 Shaun Ramulondi DEF
14 Valentine Methula ATT
15 Bheki Lingard ATT
16 Ryan Lehoko MID

Set pieces

Free kick: Granwald Masenia
Penalty kick: Granwald Masenia

Conditional orders

Min. Condition / Action
1' red card or no player
Sibusiso Fredericks 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
46' always
Ryan Lehoko on position 7
75' always
Valentine Methula on position 9

You think I should move the winger up and down more even if they play low defense (and stay low)?

Well yes, I honestly think you should try to put some more movement in there.. You've scouted Ukraine, so normally your winger should get some freedom to throw these crosses, but if not, some movement could be helpful when fully covered by the wingback..

1:1 against the Ukraine..and pretty bad match..they changed the defense after 2 seasons obviously..:-)
Czech team has terrible results last couple seasons, no matter who is coaching it..

and which halftime was better...?

I'm not sure, they changed the defense after 2 seasons of playing with 3 DEFs and than put high defense in the 2nd half, which helped our tactic a lot and opened the game..Overall I'm very dissapointed from the performance and result..We hit 2 posts and missed a penalty, but still..

that's simply bad luck, you couldn't know!

Next week we are facing quite strong opponent in Guatemala, it would be our toughest match of the season so far. Their U21 is stronger than ours, especially defenders..they have 3 times the value of ours.. I don't know the strenght of their U20, but let's hope they are not as good:-)

We will again heavily rely on our great strikers, hopefully our inferior mids will supply them with some passes:-)

I don't think Guatemeala's tactic is very good and I think it could fit our style well..

this is the line up:

Squad
1 Jeffrey Tavlibudine GK
2 Louis Maselesele DEF
3 Musawenkosi Ngwenya DEF
4 Sibusiso Fredericks DEF
5 Granwald Mabedi DEF
6 Marco Lingard MID
7 Ricky Winstanley MID
8 Shaun Ramulondi MID
9 Valentine Methula ATT
10 Arthur Serola ATT
11 Thabiso Ledwaba ATT

12 Jan Walker GK
13 Lerato Morris DEF
14 Andrew Parker ATT
15 Bheki Lingard ATT
16 Shingayi Kalaka MID

Set pieces

Free kick: Arthur Serola
Penalty kick: Arthur Serola

Conditional orders

Min. Condition / Action
1' red card or no player
Louis Maselesele on position 1
1' red card or no player
Shaun Ramulondi on position 2
1' red card or no player
Shaun Ramulondi on position 3
1' red card or no player
Shaun Ramulondi on position 4
1' red card or no player
Shaun Ramulondi on position 5
65' always
Shingayi Kalaka on position 7

We will play U20+4 U21 (marked bold in the line up) players against El Salvador and since both Serola and Masenia are injured and Bheki Lingard is only in good form, for the 1st time in the season we can try something else than 433, this will be our tactic. It's also a good way to confuse jonkacz before our match with the Czech team:-)

I put the left wingback bit on the side to cover the Salvador's winger, assuming they'll use the same tactic..Not sure about our tactic, I don't usually play this way and may be there is too much movement, but I wanted to try something different..

Squad

1 Jeffrey Tavlibudine GK
2 Musawenkosi Ngwenya DEF
3 Austin Sibaya DEF
4 Sibusiso Fredericks DEF
5 Granwald Mabedi DEF
6 Paul Kalaka MID
7 Ryan Lehoko MID
8 Marco Lingard MID
9 Thabiso Ledwaba ATT
10 Burton Felix MID
11 Valentine Methula ATT

12 Fabien Lechesa GK
13 Louis Maselesele DEF
14 Bheki Lingard ATT
15 Shingayi Kalaka MID
16 Ricky Winstanley MID

Set pieces

Free kick: Burton Felix
Penalty kick: Thabiso Ledwaba

Conditional orders

1' red card or no player
Marco Lingard 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
(editado)