Breath of The Interferer - Chapter 108
Only Noblemtl
#108 – Breath of the Interferer_Key – 1688372
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Notts County Run
On August 17, Notts County played their first game of the 21-22 Premier League season at home. The opponent was Stoke City, who took 4 points from Notts County last season. Stoke City, who came to Meadow Lane with confidence, were embarrassed by the changed Notts County.
The central defenders are Black and Jeremy. Since Jeremy and Cantu are both slow, Black can regain his starting position. With the speedy Guzmiks moving to China, Black became the starting player a little earlier than Kishin planned.
Fullbacks are Beno and Kim Si-woong. Kasper has not yet fully integrated into the team’s defensive tactics. Kasper is not returning in time after overlapping. It’s not that he doesn’t intend to return like Dudu, but he just can’t figure out the right time to return.
Cha Beom-soo played as a defensive midfielder. And Benjamin played as a midfielder. Benjamin covered the entire midfield by moving widely to the left and right.
Bonavich played on the left wing and Homan played on the right wing. Baguio and Homan have similar styles on the right wing, but Homan has a higher penetration and cross success rate. And Homan’s defense is much better than Baguio’s.
In the center, Hector and Hunter were the central attackers. As the game began, Notts County, with the support of the home fans, pushed Stoke City forward with a tidal wave of attacks. The main attack routes were on both sides. Hunter and Hector headed the crosses from Roman and Beno, and Bonavich headed the ball towards the center in an attacking situation.
Stoke City’s main attack route is on the right. However, they are not able to create any attacking opportunities at all due to Notts County’s attacks on both sides. They are not a team that plays the game with simple passing, but a team that creates opportunities through individual breakthroughs following long passes. In order to suppress such Stoke City attacks, Notts County focused more on the sides than the center.
Sometimes Stoke City would look for Shaqiri with long passes, but Shaqiri, who is over 30 years old, was not as good as before. In addition, Black, whose individual defensive skills have improved greatly, stopped Shaqiri’s breakthrough. In terms of physicality, speed, and agility, Black was not at all inferior to Shaqiri.
With so many cross-attacking attacks, corner kicks and free kicks from both sides naturally increased. Then, Kim Si-woong marked Shaqiri, and Black and Jeremy also entered Stoke City’s penalty area. With the addition of Jeremy, who is 197 cm tall, and Black, who is 188 cm tall, Notts County’s aerial power has become even stronger.
In the 35th minute of the game, Hunter’s header hit the defender’s body and turned into a goal. The original shot was also a shot that went into the goal, so it was recognized as Hunter’s goal. Notts County, who scored the goal, did not let up on the attack. They trampled on Stoke City’s attacking will with the same attacking style.
At 50 minutes into the second half, Kishin replaced Hunter with Gray. He had exhausted himself from training. At 60 minutes, he brought down Homan, the right winger, and brought in Elliott. Elliott moved to the left wing, Bonavich to the center striker, and Hector to the right wing.
After Hunter went down, Notts County’s attack weakened and Stoke City’s attack came alive. Stoke City, who have been using the same tactics for a long time, regained control of the game with their overwhelming experience. Turner’s condition is also excellent and the defense is defending well, but there is no player who can hold the ball for a long time except for Hector, so the attack is not smooth.
Kishin took off Bonavich and brought up Renault. When Renault took his place as an attacking midfielder, Notts County became a zero-top. In a counterattack situation, after Elliott gained possession of the ball with his speed, Renault and Hector attacked with dribbling and breakthrough. Notts County used Stoke City’s counterattack tactics.
With the game almost over, Hector headed in a rare and beautiful cross from Elliott to add another point. Notts County, who had a cool attack and a stable defense, got off to a good start amid the cheers and cheers of over 30,000 home fans.
The first round ended in a draw with only one game, and all of them were wins or losses. So Notts County, who won by two goals, were only in 7th place. They were scheduled to play away to newly promoted Aston Villa on August 25th.
Aston Villa was a traditional English powerhouse. They were a team that featured fast attacks using both wings and wingbacks, but after a long period of stagnation, the team’s style changed. Attack routes became more concentrated in the center than on both sides.
Against Aston Villa, Kishin fielded the same defensive line as in the previous match. And the midfielders were Cha Beom-soo and Gray as defensive midfielders, Benjamin as a midfielder, and Renault and Bonavich as attacking midfielders. Hector was the striker.
Aston Villa, who had a tall central defender to protect against Notts County’s crosses, had difficulty defending due to the constant penetration of Hector and Renault and the clever movement of Bonavich. And the central attack, which boasted of being unbeatable in the Championship, was easily blocked by Gray, Cha Bum-soo and the two central defenders.
Notts County, who had completely suppressed their opponents in the first half, pressured them to change tactics first in the second half, and then responded appropriately to the opponents’ substitutions and tactical changes. Ward, who came on as a substitute for Bonavich, scored first with a mid-range shot.
Hunter, who came on as a substitute for Hector around the 70th minute, passed the ball to Renault, who was making a rare inroad. The pass, which was not particularly threatening, was intercepted by a defender and quickly and accurately delivered to Renault’s feet. Renault did not rush to shoot, but dribbled past the keeper and scored.
As the 90th minute approached, Black was rushed through with a hasty tackle. In a one-on-one situation, Turner suddenly abandoned the goal and rushed forward. The attacker, who had not expected Turner’s scramble, panicked and then got up again to chase after Black, who then lost the ball to him with a sliding tackle.
After two games, Notts County are ranked second in the league with six points. Tottenham is in first place with six goals scored and one conceded. In the second round, Manchester United and Chelsea drew, while Manchester City and Liverpool lost. Arsenal won, but drew in the first game.
On August 28, in the League Cup match, Kishin started with young players and players who did not play in the league match. The goalkeeper was Carrier, and the fullbacks were Mongello and Kasper. The central defenders were Nice and Cantu, and Juan played as an attacking midfielder. Chavez played as a midfielder and took overall command.
Elliott started on the left wing and Baguio started on the right. Hunter started as the striker in the first half and Bonavich started in the second half.
The players are all good, but they lost 2:3 to a third-division team because they didn’t have teamwork. Even though they lost the game, the players’ expressions weren’t bad. That’s because they said in advance that they would focus all their energy on the league this season. It’s just a shame that there are fewer official games to play.
On September 1, Kishin was left scratching his head as he faced Manchester United at home. Manchester United won the first game 4:1, but in the second game, they drew 0:0 with Chelsea, exposing many problems in attack and defense.
The problem of the gap between the central defender and the wingback being too wide, the problem of the wingbacks on both sides overlapping at the same time during an attack, and the problem of Pogba feeling dissatisfied with the defensive midfielder position and constantly moving out of position and going up were clearly exposed.
Kishin lacks tactical ability. He is working on a decent tactic with the help of a tactical coach, but he is no match for a big name like Mourinho. If he wins against the opponent with the starting lineup, he can play the game comfortably. There are many useful players on the bench at Notts County at the moment.
The problem is that it is difficult to predict Mourinho’s starting lineup. Given Mourinho’s personality, he may exclude Pogba, who has publicly expressed his dissatisfaction with his position, from the starting lineup. He may also come up with a three-back tactic that excludes wingbacks, relying on the differences in individual players’ abilities.
‘This match is key for Gray and Black. Black has to mark Lukaku and Gray has to mark Pogba. The problem is that if Manchester United do not play Pogba, Gray’s appearance will be a failure.’
Most of Manchester United’s attackers are good at dribbling and are fast. Gray, who lacks understanding of football in general, cannot defend with just his physical ability. Pogba is mainly limited in his movement area, so Gray can defend him.
This newfound dilemma was surprisingly easily solved. Last season, Notts County and Manchester United played three games. Notts County won the first game and Notts County lost the remaining two games. In the process, Renault and Marshall became friends.
“Coach, Marshall is going to start, so please let me play too.”
After Gishin vaguely replied that he would consider it positively, he checked what formation and tactics Mourinho used in the games Martial played in last season. The formation was mostly 4-3-3, and Pogba played in all the games.
As Valencia and Young’s abilities have declined significantly due to aging, Manchester United has recruited two wingbacks. Manchester United’s tactics, which place importance on wingbacks’ attack participation, have been heavily focused on the offensive aspect, resulting in a lack of defensive ability. They are making up for this lack of defensive ability by using tactics.
The three in the midfield are all players who can defend and attack. One of them must stay and fill the defensive gap left by the wingbacks. The two central defenders and one midfielder must deal with all the opponent’s counterattacks.
“In some ways, it’s similar to our team. However, we don’t have many weak teams, so we don’t use it often.”
In the first half of the first game against Stoke City, Notts County used Kim Si-woong, Jeremy and Black to prepare for the opponent’s counterattack, while the rest of the players were deployed in attack. In the attack, defensive midfielder Cha Bum-soo actually went higher than midfielder Benjamin.
“Conversely, Mourinho will also anticipate my starting lineup and prepare for it. Can’t he sell me a trap?”
Kishin pondered with his tactical coach for a long time, but no suitable traps came to mind. Usually, weak hunters dig traps to catch wild animals. However, in soccer games, only those with strong skills can have tactical leeway and dig traps.
I decided on Cantu and Black as central defenders. They are both slow, but Cantu is a little faster than Jeremy. Jeremy is better for frontal defense, but Cantu is better against Manchester United, whose main attack route is through breakthroughs on both sides.
The fullbacks are Kim Si-woong and Beno. They are the best defenders and are good at cooperative defense, so they are the first to be considered in matches against strong teams. Kasper has now adapted to the team’s tactics, but unfortunately, it will be difficult for him to play against Manchester United.
“They will try to overwhelm us with attacks from both sides, just like we did in the first game. Stoke City were defeated because they couldn’t stop Hunter. Black will have to do a good job of stopping Lukaku.”
After much deliberation, Kishin repeatedly revised the starting lineup for Manchester United. From Manchester United’s perspective, Notts County’s starting lineup seemed to be lacking. After staying up all night and thinking about it over and over again, Kishin and the tactical coach finally completed the starting lineup.
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