Blac and Nents silly match reports

[Nentsia]

Blacarov vs Mourinsky: Duel in St. Petersburg



Under the gloomy skies of St. Petersburg, the ''Pagan City'' as Fyodor Dostoyevsky called it, FK Zenith St. Petersburg faced Blacaria's Schalke 04, from the far-west of Germany, close to the Dutch border. Both clubs are being sponsored by the Russian state-owned Gazprom.

Having no idea what to expect from Zenith, I briefly screened their players and there was no escaping to it: if I wanted to deploy their best players, I had to employ that horrible 4-2-3-1 formation. Blac was expected to employ this horrible thing with Schalke, but he probably didn't expect me to resort to it. Blac is always difficult to play against because with his four attackers up front he can easily press my defenders in their own half, making the build-up play difficult and its psychologically exhausting during the match. His two central midfielders can assist to smother my counter-attacks through the middle. On top of that, in ball posession, his wingers can stretch my defence wide, while the rest roams in and around the vulnerable areas to find space for a goal. Blac always sends basically 3 attackers at me, supplemented by a creative attacking midfielder. His creative attacks down the flanks are particularly effective against a deep defence that I usually employ.

My approach to the 4-2-3-1 was somewhat Mourinho-like. I deployed a very rigid 4-2-3-1, with fast men on the wings, a strong central attacker, and the rest of the team was planted in front of my goalkeeper, which I instructed to stubbornly stay in place and not to move. With the four attack-minded players ahead of the defenders, I opted to simply place a blockade in midfield.

The result was a surprisingly boring game, with very few scoring chances on both sides. Schalke dominated posession with about 60% in the initial stages, but quickly reached statistics like 8 shots fired with only 1 on target. Zenith had only 4 shots fired, but also 1 on target. Schalke's aggressive midfield press ensured that my team could not make any good plays. When in ball posession, Zenith quickly searched for the lone striker, Dzyuba, but he was constantly harassed by Schalke's central defenders. Much of my gameplan was based on Dzyuba holding up the ball, until rapid wingers like Hulk had joined the attack. But 9 out of 10 times Dzyuba lost the ball or the wingers lost it. Schalke in its turn, failed to penetrate my defensive lines.

This had two reasons. The first was my defensive shape and the use of my Zone of Death:

Show ContentZenith Zone of Death:

Neustadter has the ball in midfield, and received it from Sane who, by dribbling inside got himself stuck in the morass that I like to create in the centre. Huntelaar is offside, Belhanda - Blac's attacking midfielder, is unavailable for a pass. Danny cuts off a backward pass, while Hulk on the right wing positioned himself in such way to block the channel to Kolasinac and to force Neustadter to play it far ahead of Choupo-Moting. But that ball can be intercepted by Smolnikov. In short, Schalke is being gridlocked by Zenith. So while my team suffers from quick turnovers, Schalke finds it hard to find any space to attack into.

The second reason why Schalke's play did not have much effect was the movement of Blac's striker Huntelaar.

Show ContentHuntelaar taking a walk:

Huntelaar decided to move wide to the flank, but Belhanda does not move into his position and Choupo-Moting seems to be like ''yeah whatever dude, im not going to help you if you start doing my job''. Sane meanwhile will never arrive in time for the cross. But even if he does, I have sufficient defenders available to pick up any incoming dangers now that Huntelaar is gone. Huntelaar made this move quite often during the match, and it can be effective to confuse a defence if the four attackers start swarming and changing positions. But thats why I told my players to stubbornly hold their ground. Huntelaar moves wide, but the outcome will be that he loses the ball before the wingers or Belhanda can move into striker position or offer support. It made it easier for my defenders.

If Huntelaar did stay in position, Schalke attacked in something of a 4-1-4-1 shape, which also played into the hands of my defensive shape since it made the distribution of defensive tasks and cover quite simple.

Show ContentSpoiler:

The first scoring chances occurred late in the first half for Zenith, when Hulk should have scored but missed. In the second half, Dzyuba took an injury and was replaced with Kokorin, and this changed my offensive game. Kokorin provided extra pace and depth to my game, and this enabled him to be launched into space by my wingers Shatov and Hulk. In the 75th minute, this proved a fatal combination for Schalke. After a corner kick, Schalke lost ball posession and Zenith quickly counter-attacked down the left flank with Kokorin and Shatov. Danny was eventually the man to score, and Zenith led with 1-0.

Show ContentZenith Counter:

After that sudden, but well-executed counter-attack, with only 15 minutes left, it was time to park a Russian trolley-bus to defend my lead. Schalke did produce a late scoring opportunity, but they missed and with 10 minutes left, the defence had settled into the new rythm and was solid again. The team hung onto the ball, wasted time, and therefore won with 1-0. Keeping Blacaria's Schalke 04 from scoring is quite an achievement for me. A minimal, aesthetically unbearable win, but a great one nevertheless. The Blac will soon want his revanche.