yanga 3 A.lyon 1 | trequatista

Minziro got his second win as Yanga’s caretaker coach as the new appointee watched from the stands. There were few changes as Niyonzima started out wide on the right and there was a return of Domayo in centre midfield where he partnered Chuji. Apart from that the formation remained the same 4-4-2 with chuji playing the role of a holding midfielder.

Lyon’s offside trap

The main feature of the first half was Lyon’s offside tactics. They lined up in a roughly 4-4-2 which morphed into a 5-3-2 during the defensive phase. It was the right winger who dropped to form a back 5 while the left winger and the two central midfielders formed the three across midfield albeit lopsided. Rather than defend deep as one would expect of a team playing five at the back, the line was held quite high. Although they did catch Yanga players offside on numerous occasions it was only a matter of time before one would escape the trap.

Offside should appear as a byproduct of a pressing game and never really an out and out tactic. Their plan was flawed simply because;

1) A back 5 has too many players hence the chances of one of the players not stepping out in time are greatly increased
2) One of the prerequisite of offside tactics is pressing or pressure on the ball and with a man short in midfield pressing was not possible therefore Yanga players had time to play the ball over the top.

The break finally came although through a short corner. With most of the Lyon players stepping out, Yondan timed his run to perfection and was at the end of the cross to give Yanga their opener. Lyon did have spells of good possession but too often the forward ball was intercepted by the Yanga defenders.

Changes

The second half started slow and Yanga continued to attack down the left but when they got into crossing positions the final ball was over hit. Lyon were the first to make changes withdrawing one of their midfielders (surprising choice as he was their best player up to that moment). Their captain who started on the left now came into central midfield.

Lyon were now playing a 4-4-2 even during the defensive phase and their right winger played much higher than he did in the first half. This seemed to give Lyon greater attacking intent and the winger’s attacking prowess came to light as Lyon attacked down that flank. It wasn’t long before his run resulted in goal but unfortunately didn’t last long as from the restart Khalfan scored Yanga’s second goal. Of interest was that Joshua, Yanga’s left back who came under pressure as a result of the right winger taking a higher position looked uneasy on the ball when pressured.

With Khalfan’s introduction at the expense of Domayo, there were positional changes. Khalfan went to left wing Msuva moved to right wing and Niyonzima partnered Chuji in central midfield. There was a slight difference in positioning. Most notably Khalfan played slightly inwards and closer to chuji and Niyonzima while Msuva now on the right played higher up and out wide. This made the formation look like a hybrid between a 4-4-2 and a lopsided 4-3-3. Whether this is an indication of how they intend to play against Simba we shall see.

YANGA 3 - A. LYON 1: Lyon's flawed offside trap.

Yanga's hybrid of a 4-4-2 and lopsided 4-3-3. Msuva hugged the touchline on the right while Khalfan played slightly inwards on the left

Lyon's right winger dropped and formed a back 5 and the three remaining in midfield gravitated more towards the left side.