Breaking down Pasargad's 7-2 win over Nomads
by rick olivares pic by mark dimalanta/interaksyon
May 16, 2013
Emperador Stadium
Basic formation:
Padilla
Soriano Taher Amirkhizan Muncada
Nelson Blanchard Toure Yaogo
Hajimehdi Mbata
De Rama Clottey
Arroyo Borrill Lozano Infante
Llorente Magassa Williams Fogg
Avellana
Nomads was quickly put in a hole when PSG
right winger Michael Nelson scored off an error by Nomads second keeper Jay
Avellana.
With both sides struggling to impose
control on the game, Nelson raced forward with defender Rufi Llorente tracking
him. Nelson’s teammates were running in line with him and that had the other
Nomads defenders marking them. When he got inside the box, Nelson knew the
moment for sending a cross had passed and he elected to shoot.
He fired one straightaway to Avellana.
Any other time, a keeper would have easily corralled the ball as he was squared
for the grab but Avellana didn’t get a good grip on the ball as it skirted over
his arms and past him for an unlikely goal. Just like that and with only five
minutes gone by, Nomads was down, 1-nil.
The early goal gave Pasargad
confidence while it rattled Nomads that struggled to mount a proper attack.
With PSG in control, they switched
formations:
Padilla
Soriano Taher Muncada
Amirkhizan
Nelson Blanchard Toure Yaogo
Hajimehdi Mbata
Key factors that led to Pasargad’s win:
Their
defense. Jaham Taher is one of the
better defenders in the UFL. His ability to cover a lot of ground and dribble
that ball in and around trouble.
Emil Muncada stood his ground at left
back. In the 32nd minute, Selu Lozano made a great move in the right
wing to elude two defenders to make a forward pass to Joseph Clottey on the
right forward line. Clottey was able to race down the flank but Muncada’s great
defensive posture forced him outward to the touchline where he couldn’t make a
cross. Muncada eventually stripped him of the ball to end the threat.
And for much of the game, they pressed
Nomads that really confounded their offense.
Amirkhizan
in a stopper role. He is another
good player with good ball skills. He would feed the ball to Belinga Blanchard
whose outstanding dribbling ability gave Nomads problems. Previously, Hamed
Hajimehdi played the role of distributor in the middle. Blanchard’s addition to
PSG’s ranks has given the Essi Sedigh-coached side two playmakers in the
middle.
Witness the second PSG goal in the 42nd
minute where Blanchard’s perfectly-timed throughball found Emmanuel Mbata who
skirted his defenders to fire past Avellana who had no chance.
Two minutes later, PSG scored a third
goal that just broke the back of Nomads – when Mbata returned the favor with a
throughball to Hajimehdi who danced around his defenders and Avellana for a
boot towards an empty net.
Nomads held them to one goal but
conceded two right before the end of the first half.
They
have good playmakers
PSG with Hajimehdi, Amirkhizan, and
Blanchard leading the way can be difficult to defeat when they make quick
passes instead of dribbling that ball.
Sometimes, they get too excited when
they push the ball up that they hold on to the ball a little too long when they
should have made the pass.
What contributed to Nomads’ loss?
On two several occasions, Nomads’
harried midfielders would sent a high ball to forward Aaron De Rama.
Surprisingly, he headed or passed the ball back to a teammate who would lose it
to the pressing defense of PSG.
At the half, I wonder to Jeff Blake
why instead of turning or putting the ball in play, De Rama and Nomads insisted
on that tactic.
I have always wondered why Phil
Connolly comes off the bench when he should be starting. I felt bad for Steven
Borrill who was really working hard to get the ball forward. But the lack of a
creative force in the middle was hurting.
Infante and Arroyo are superb on the
wings but they need the ball in the hands of someone who can pick out targets,
pass, and run and hold at the same time. Mikko Mabanag can do that but he
should release those passes more and be a lot quicker with his runs.
Nomads started the second half with
Mickael Cardoso and Nicolas Hacker in the game with Camille Cremet coming in
the 53rd minute. And this worked! Cremet’s daring and foraging up
front gave PSG some early problems.
Here’s how Nomads played in the first
15 minutes of the second half:
De Rama Connolly
Cremet
Lozano Cardoso
With Cremet and Lozano pulling the
strings in the middle, Cardoso would run up the right flank unmarked. He would
be able to launch those crosses to Connolly (who got a header that went wide)
and to De Rama.
I thought that the first 15 minutes of
the second half, PSG looked vulnerable. Amirkhizan fouled Cardoso in a
dangerous area but De Rama’s free kick was wanting.
Ric Padilla’s poor pass to Soriano on
his right was taken away by De Rama but Luis Infante couldn’t finish.
Magassa stole the ball from Mbata and
Nomads went on the counter. In the 60th minute a highball landed
inside the box of PSG and right in front of Infante who turned and fired for a
goal. Three-one, still PSG. But this showed there was fight in Nomads and the
halftime changes were working.
But in the ultimate no cheer offense
of PSG, Blanchard, in the very next minute of play, dribbled right through
several defenders before firing to his right. Avellana guessed right but was a
second too late, as PSG quickly dampened the confidence of Nomads with a goal
on the re-set for a 4-1 lead.
That swung the momentum back PSG’s
way. And more surprisingly, it was as if PSG was the one down by a huge margin
and they never stopped pressing.
After that goal, we saw the entry of
Connolly into the game for Clottey and the tougher Englishman gave Nomads
presence up front. But six minutes later, Jalsor Soriano lined up a strike from
40 yards that at first looked like a long ball to Mbata only it drifted towards
the goal and found a hole in the first post for a score. Soriano’s unlikely
long bomb gave PSG a 5-1 lead.
Amirkhizan would also put his long
range artillery on display when he fired another one from long distance for a
6-1 lead in the 74th minute.
Cardoso pulled back one when he fired
a shot that was eerily reminiscent of Michael Nelson’s score against Avellana
in the opening minutes. That made it, 6-2, PSG as Nomads’ coaching staff
exhorted the lads to end strong.
But Mbata was the one who ended the
game strong for PSG when he scored his second goal of the night with a solo
sortie up front and an insurmountable, 7-2 lead.
And Nomads lost its second consecutive
match and their seventh in the last eight matches to drop to seventh place in
the standings with one point about Green Archers. PSG improved to 4-2-8.
Notes: The match was played with each team’s second-string
keepers. PSG is without Reza Ataei who was sent back home to Iran for attitude
problems while Nomads’ starting keeper Friso Klok was unavailable due to work.
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