What are the things missing in St George from the past 5 matches?

St George has played 5 games with in the EPL's 7 weeks. It was able to win 3 out of the 5 and draw the rest 2. It was able to collect 11 points out of 15 and sit 2nd on the table.

Yeferesegnochu Gets / የፈረሰኞቹ ገጽ/ tries to make an analysis based on the last 5 matches to identify weak sides and point out possible solutions.



It is visible that coach Vas Pinto's team is on a transition compared to St George’s previous football philosophy. Especially 5 players among the standing starting 11 are new signings. Abdulkerim Mohammed, Mulualem Mesfin, Ibrahim Fofona, Gadissa Mebrate and Ame Mohammed got to play repeatedly in the past matches. It is expected there will be gaps as these players are new, and as it needs time while the coach is trying to incorporate new play in the existing team, and as the new players has to get along well with the existing team. Coaches keep building their team on matches too with no less than on training fields. It is necessary to fill the gaps by altering players in different positions and roles of the players on the pitch from game to game to come to a favoured play. Yeferesegnochu Gets /የፈረሰኞቹ ገጽ/ believes St George is on such transition.


In spite of St George being on a transition period and trying out a new style, still we think it is better to discuss our team weakness.



St George has implemented 4-3-3 tactical formation in the past 5 games. The one time it altered this 4-3-3 was at Yirgalem stadium when playing against Sidama Bunna, in the 2nd half of the match. It was changed to 4-2-3-1, otherwise all the other matches were played by 4-3-3.





Like most St George fans knows it, St George’s prominent problem is when balls reach opponents, field built from the goalkeeper via the midfielders. The team is not pressed much when initiating an attack and getting in the opponet field, but on the passes made against midfielders and defenders inside opponents’ final third field. The passes get interrupted now and then and most of them are weak to lead to goal opportunities. What are the main culprits here?




1.Unbalanced roles of attacking midfielders! 



St George coaches' first move when changing the team's playing philosophy is to infuse into the team the way the ball should be passed in a chain manner from the goalkeeper to inside the opponents’ field. We can say they took time and worked on this. On the trainings Yeferegnochu Gets /የፈረሰኞቹ ገጽ/ watched, the coaches have been focussing on building the ball inside our field when transitioning from defence to attack. The goalkeepers, the defenders, holding midfielders have been getting guidance repeatedly on assuming positions during attacking. The majority of the time this particular training spent was on defenders. These players were working on the way to relieve themselves from opponents’ forwards pressure and deliver the ball into the opposite field with short passes. This is to enable defenders pass the ball by reducing players and not to make mistakes.



It is Yeferesegnochu Gets's /የፈረሰኞቹ ገጽ/ belief that the defenders were not successful in contacting the players further than the half line as to the training they were having. This shows the team's weakness while trying to get in opponent’s field. This is magnified on attacking midfielders. May be the coaches have identified this problem and are working on it or plan to improve it. The fact remains this gap is visible on this position.



In 4-3-3 formation, a team's key weapon during attacking are the attacking midfielders,  the heart beats in the process. These players have major part in successful passes and goal opportunities. It is known that St George’s gap in the past years was on this and the gaps we are observing now are similar to this as there are no change of the players.


St George, using 2 attacking midfielders, have altered players in these position in the current EPL season. Abdulkerim Nikima, Mintesinot Adane, Alula Girma, Adane Girma and Gadissa Mebrate have played in this position. Except for Gadissa Mebrate, who only played once, they had the opportunity to play repeatedly.




This attacking midfielder position requires one discipline. It needs timely and accurate positioning. It is mandatory for attacking midfielders to find space between opponent’s defenders and midfielders, which is the right place for attacking midfielders. They must make themselves ready to receive passes between the lines. Especially, when balls are passed from defenders and holding midfielders, they should find a space between opponents' defenders and midfielders to receive the ball. But, we could not observe such play as much so far.




If attacking midfielders receive the ball standing between midfielders and defenders facing 45° to the defenders, they will be able to push the ball towards the defenders. And when they do that, they will have different options; pass the ball to wing players who ready themselves for diagonal run, perfect assists to strikers between the lines and push the ball near the box to shoot the ball themselves. It will be good to mention Abdulkereem Nikima when we talk about shooting from just outside the box. Abdulkareem is not seen shooting much in the past games. This is as a result of not being on the right position. Abdulkarim receive the ball mostly giving his back to defenders and this leads to being pressed by opponents. Despite this, he was able to score 2 goals shooting directly to the net.





Attacking midfielders should be in the right position so that balls that come built up from the goalkeeper be successful. This is a good solution, not only to keep the tempo but also to create goal opportunities. It is obvious that the position of attacking midfielders is a stressful one. Since the place is in-between two opponent players, they get immediately pressed the moment they get the ball. In addition to this, the fact that it is more populated position than the other areas of the field, the chance to lose the ball to opponents increases. This may affect players not to receive balls in this position. But the responsibility to prepare these players for such circumstances rests on the coaches. There is a reason that forced us say this.





Horsemen who had the opportunity to play attacking midfielders were noticed playing pulled back leaving their position. Drawing themselves out of the position where an attacking midfielder should be, they approach holding midfielders to receive the ball. In few games, we even saw attacking midfielders assume holding midfielders' role repeatedly. This is totally unacceptable action by their part and it destroys the team's plan as a whole. It’s obvious attacking midfielders leave their position retreating from the pressure in their position and to try find stress free space to receive a stable ball. And this totally demolishes the team's attacking plan and becomes an obstacle for the team not to create goal opportunities. 





In Yeferesegnochu Gets’s /ፈረሰኞቹ ገጽ/ view, comparatively the better player as an attacking midfielder being found on the right position so far is Mintesinot Adane. Mintesinot is good in regards to receiving a ball standing between opponent’s defenders and midfielders. But the way he pushes the ball towards the midfielders after getting the ball is not that fruitful.


Mintesinot usually immediately passes the ball he received directly to the right or left forwards or fullbacks. We observed majority of Mintesinot’s passes are diagonal. But the position in the box he rapidly assumes after passing the ball to the side is remarkable. He is a player who knows where and when he needs to be. It is known he is able to score goals by such movements. Although Mintesinot Adane is a better attacking midfielder, he has a weakness in passing diagonal balls to right or left forwards or a last ball to center forward. And this needs to be resolved in the coming matches. 






2. The slow transition and passes in the possessing play St George is trying to implement! 


One of the few things that defined St George in the past years was the fast transition from defence to attack. It's well known that the Horsemen were able to score many goals with this fast transition. This fact was clearly visible in the past season. But we are not seeing this strength on the field in the few matches they had this season. The passes the Horsemen had were not accompanied with speed and they buy time for opponents and allow them be in position. 



 


St George is unusually playing a slow football. Passes that start from the goalkeeper, slowly reach the opponents’ field. This slow pass continues inside opponents’ field too. This even lets opponents get time to amend mistakes when there is one. In a premier league playing with rather many defenders, we believe slow passes present opportunities to opponents. Therefore attacking balls that are built up in one's own field should be accompanied with speedy passes and transitions. 

   




3. Attacking plan based on opponent's will! 


St George, in the current season, played better against Ethio Electric. There were better goal opportunities and better movements. This was because Ethio Elecric's target was not only 1 point and put up a challenge to St George. On this game, both St George and Ethio Electric played in 4-3-3 formation. Ethio Electrics' players’ motivation, on the 3rd part of the field to attack was remarkable. And this was suitable for St George.





Mekelle Kenema and Arbaminch Kenema (in the first half) preferred to play completely defending. These teams placed 10 players behind the ball and this was really challenging for St George. We observed St George players when possessing the ball being pressed by opponents’ players who mark them closely. 





For one who watches the Ethiopian Premier League closely, it’s obvious many teams come with such game plan while playing against St George. Therefore St George coaches should come up with a plan to counteract these teams' plan. In the past matches, St George played better after scoring a goal that was a result of opponents’ will or certain accidental circumstances. We observed without such incidents, it was difficult for them to create goal opportunities. 





If opponent’ team chose to play attacking football, St George plays good and creates goal opportunities. Otherwise if they play only defence, St George will have a difficulty. It's worrisome that St George bases it’s play and attempts to create goal opportunities opponents. If an opponent team does not open up after possessing the ball for long, it may not be a bad idea to give the ball and make them come out of deep defence in their field. This will help to create goal opportunities using fast transition.   






4. Usage of inverted wingers!  


We observed that St George coaches are using the left and right forwards in similar way in all the matches. We noticed the right foot players Ibrahim Fofona, Abubakar Sani and Behailu Assefa playing on the right side of the field and the left foot player, Gadissa Mebrate on the left. In contrary to this though, there were times where right foot players were playing on the left while Gadissa Mebrate was on the bench.





There are expected things of left and right forwards when playing on their respected positions. Passing the ball from the side to inside the box to the center forward, getting inside the box with ball, passing the ball between the lines to diagonally running attacking midfielders, and with the fullbacks reducing the right or left defenders are expected of them.     





Let's mention a point here. Gadissa Mebrate played as inverted winger when he was at Hawassa Kenema. We were able to observe him playing better when he played as a right forward although he played as a left forward in few games as well. And Ibrahim Fofona at Ethio Electric was at the left when he is the right foot player. This helped these two players have speed and be good in reducing players.





There are advantages when playing the right and left forwards as inverted wingers. Especially if the players decide to push the ball towards the defenders, they will naturally chose to narrow the field to the box. This will result in the opponents’ defenders lose stability and even more, to make mistakes. Besides this, it will aid the center forward and attacking midfielders receive balls passed in between the lines.


Hence, it would be a great idea if the coaches try to play inverted wingers on trainings alongside the possessing football they are trying to implement and if found efficient, bring it to matches.