Asunto: u21 friendlies

I can't load the match now..but looking at the result and espeically another injury for Maselesele..tough time for you and our U21 squad..

well we didn't expect miracles with a squad like that. they aren't a patch on our previous squads... especially in the 'keeper department.

South Africa U21 - : - Al Maghrib U21

Al Maghrib is our next opponent. The game should be more balanced than last weeks game.
Al Maghrib U21 likes to play very defensively, often with 5 defenders or with 4 + 2 very defensive def mids. And their keeper is much better than ours...

After having tried several times, the winger tactics don't seem to work with the players we have and with Doxakis inured. We'll go with a tactic similar to the one in the first half against Germany, that wasn't that bad. With Maseleseles injury Nyathi will have to play in defense instead of him.

In midfield, Lethsoloyane will make his comback after his injury, taking the central spot in the defensive midfield next to Nomvete and Gqosha. Winstanley will play offensively, replaced by Johnson after 60 minutes.

In attack with Doxakis injury, Devine will play again next to Pitakathi. I'll try Mabalane (Spandeel in terrible form) for a change replacing Devine after 70 minutes:

1. Ntsu Moeti GK
2. Phillip Mxaka DEF
3. David Netshivhazwaulu DEF
4. Musawenkosi Ngwenya DEF
5. Wilfred Nyathi DEF
6. Winston Nomvete MID
7. Ricky Winstanley MID
8. Louis Gqosha MID
9. Arthur Letsholonyane MID
10. Pierre Pitakathi ATT
11. Granwald Devine ATT

12. Jan Walker GK
13. Charles Raselemane DEF
14. Vincent Johnson MID
15. Andre Lutumba MID
16. Brad Mabalane ATT

Set pieces
Free kick: not specified
Penalty kick: Pierre Pitakathi

Conditional orders
1' red card or no player Ricky Winstanley on position 1
1' red card or no player Wilfred Nyathi on position 2
1' red card or no player Wilfred Nyathi on position 3
1' red card or no player Wilfred Nyathi on position 4
1' red card or no player Wilfred Nyathi on position 5
60' always Vincent Johnson on position 7
70' always Brad Mabalane on position 11

In midfield, Lethsoloyane will make his comback after his injury

There is still a Cup match ahead of him..:-)

damn, bad luck indeed doesn't stop, Nyathi out for 16 days now...just after I got the updates from his coach (up in pace and tech)

Unbelievable..we are cursed this season..

and another very frustrating defeat. The opponent wasn't stronger overall, we even had the better tactics I think, creating more and better occasions (multiples 1:1 against their keeper), but with our keeper letting in too many and our forward not being able to score it's very hard. and the 3 key players missing didn't help.

I guess with that squad we'll lose every match this season. sorry guys, there's not much to do.
I spend a lot of time figuering out the best tactics, they also seem to work not too bad during the game, but we still get goal after goal at almost any occasion and we don't score, despite many chances.

Tough times for South Afrcia these days..You can't do miracles with this squad..and unfortunately it's gonna be even worse in upcoming seasons ..

indeed, including still no decent keeper on the horizon....

South Africa U21 - : - Makedonija U21

This week we face a strong opponent with Makedonija.
They play offensively with quite some Forward-Power.
Unfortunately, they don't really have any weak spots.But analizing their matches showed, that the defensive lines move far to the side. So we'll try again something new. this time with Winstanley as semi-offensive winger. He's in devine form and maybe he manages to go around their midfield and def line to serve some nice passes to our forwards.
On the other hand, there's not many possibilities for us in defense, we'll have to pray to not get too many goals...

Concerning the avalable players there's nothing much new. Maselesele is still +4 on friday, so he'll only be on the bench. Doxakis is still injured and Nyathi as well. Thus, she same players will play as last week.

1. Ntsu Moeti GK
2. Phillip Mxaka DEF
3. David Netshivhazwaulu DEF
4. Musawenkosi Ngwenya DEF
5. Charles Raselemane DEF
6. Winston Nomvete MID
7. Ricky Winstanley MID
8. Louis Gqosha MID
9. Arthur Letsholonyane MID
10. Pierre Pitakathi ATT
11. Granwald Devine ATT

12. Jan Walker GK
13. Louis Maselesele DEF
14. Vincent Johnson MID
15. Andre Lutumba MID
16. Brad Mabalane ATT

Set pieces
Free kick: not specified
Penalty kick: Pierre Pitakathi

Conditional orders
1' red card or no player Ricky Winstanley on position 1
1' red card or no player Louis Gqosha on position 2
1' red card or no player Louis Gqosha on position 3
1' red card or no player Louis Gqosha on position 4
1' red card or no player Louis Gqosha on position 5
60' always Vincent Johnson on position 7
70' always Brad Mabalane on position 11

Andre Lutumba is not better than Nomvete?

Lutumba has much lower def, lower stamina and lower form. i weighted that higer than Pass/PM

I asked for couple of updates, some U21 boys were bit outdated.

+1 passing and stamina for Arthur:-) Shame he missed 3 weeks of training..Considering I bought him for almost nothing, he will be a decent player at 21.
I will probably sell him next season, cause I won't train pace..so if you'll be interested ;-)

Arthur Letsholonyane, Age:20
club: Hustlers, country: South Africa
Value: 270 750 $, Wage: 2 375 $
unearthly (16) Form, solid (8) Tactical discipline
height: 181

adequate (6) stamina, tragic (0) keeper
very good (9) pace, solid (8) defender
formidable (11) technique, solid (8) playmaker
very good (9) passing, good (7) striker

(editado)

Gqosha had an up in Tech:

Louis Gqosha, Age:20
club: DoGlorios, country: South Africa
Value: 200 000 $, Wage: 1 950 $
brilliant Form, solid Tactical discipline
height: 173

adequate stamina, tragic keeper
very good pace, very good defender
adequate technique, formidable playmaker
adequate passing, unsatisfactory striker

I don't plan to train pace this and next season, so he'd be in better hands elsewhere I guess.
I'll probabely sell Maselesele later this season as he's 21 now and he almost certainly will never make it into my main team

another defeat which illustrates our main problems:

the tactic fitted quite good, we could creat a balanced game with chances on both sides as well as similar possession. but...weak strikers and a terrible keeper (every 1:1 was a goal and the 1:0 was the keeper dropping a ball) on our side made the 4:0 difference. not much to do there.

really a pity as I was really happy with the tactic that worked quite well in midfield and defense at least.

at least next week the 3 jnjured ley players will be back in the team and we had no injuries today...
(editado)

yeah, tactics worked well. class was the difference.