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SIMBA 3 – AZAM 2: 4-3-1-2's narrowness exposed

Simba: 4-2-3-1

Azam: 4-3-2-2

The curtain raiser to the new season produced an enthralling contest. This was a game that was both entertaining and tactically interesting. Azam started the brighter of the two teams managing to score in the second minute of the game from a well worked corner kick. They simply looked sharper, quicker and more composed of the two sets of players. Simba’s lethargic start to the game may be attributed to their poor warm-up routine, spending nine minutes less than Azam.

This was a classic 4-3-1-2 facing off against a 4-2-3-1 formation with Simba adopting the latter. In theory it was width against midfield superiority with Azam’s four midfielders against Simba’s three in central midfield. Surprisingly Azam’s tactics did not centre on midfield domination but on maneuvered counter attacking with the two strikers drifting wide and then attacking from there. This inside out movement of the front two created width. This worked superbly well with John Boko and Kipre Tchetche playing off the shoulder of the last defender and then drifting wide. Its effectiveness was apparent, leading to Azam’s second goal. Interestingly most of the attacks instigated against Simba begun from possession being lost in their attacking zone and then Simba players expecting a free kick to be awarded in their favour. Without the ball

Azam focused on forming a flat diamond and protecting the central area rather than pressing and the front two rarely got involved in the defensive phase. Its effect was to deny Azam their spare man in midfield as he was now effectively playing in front of Simba’s two holding midfielders rather than in the hole. At times the player playing at the top of this diamond attempted to press Simba’s two holding midfielders but was simply outnumbered and his role as a playmaker never really shone through.

As the half progressed Simba started to take advantage of the 4-3-1-2 narrowness and preferred the right wing. The criticisms here would be the failure to get behind the defense with the balls out wide being played to feet rather than space and poor crossing. They were however ominous on this wing and Azam’s failure to heed the warnings led to simba being awarded a penalty when a cross from that wing was judged to have been handled by one of the Azam defenders. Ngasa and Okwi switched flanks from time to time but Okwi predominantly played on the left. In contrast to what was happening on the right wing here Okwi made runs inside to receive between the back four and midfield unit. Though this did win him some fouls it deprived Simba of width.

4-3-1-2 narrowness meant that simba always found space out wide hence dominating possession

The half time tactical brief to Simba players must have been simple, use the whole width of the field to stretch the opponents. Okwi’s inside runs in-between the lines vanished and now hugged the touchline. Azam dropped deeper allowing Kazimoto time and space to spray the passes which in the end proved detrimental with him scoring the winning goal with a shot outside the box. Azam’s threat remained the same. Boko again managed to set Kipre Tchetche through on goal but went wide and failed to hit the target. When his chance came to repay his partner one too many touches meant that Boko had strayed offside whereas a first time pass would have had him one on one with Kaseja. As the game drew to a close the front two started to tire and in hindsight perhaps substitutions should have come earlier than they did.

Simba’s two second half goals came from individual brilliance but credit must go to them for stretching the play even though they didn’t create clear cut chances compared to Azam. Their over reliance on Okwi and his penchant for trying to do it all on his own may prove their downfall. Bunjak has to take blame for failing to deal with the inherent weakness of the 4-3-1-2 formation i.e. lack of width. With this showing Azam have more questions than answers. If they are to make this system work for them then they need to
1) Be able to dominate the midfield more through combination play
2) The role of the trequatista needs to be well defined
3) The centre back pairing need to be more comfortable playing the ball out of defense
4) Nullify opponents using width thus overcoming the system’s weakness.

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Juma Kaseja
Nassor Masoud
Amir Maftah
Paschal Ochieng
Shomary Kapombe
Ramadhan Chombo
Mrisho Ngassa

Mwinyi Kazimoto
Daniel Akuffo
Haruna Moshi
Emanuel Okwi

Deo Munishi
Ibrahim Shikanda
Erasto Nyoni
Said Mourad
Aggrey Morris

Abdulhalim Humud
Ibrahim Mwaipopo

Himid Mao
John Bocco
Abdi Kassim
Kipre Herman Tchetche