Whipping Boys

By: Tom B | November 24th, 2009

Next up we were off to the cellar dwellers: Etoile FC Fréjus Saint-Raphaël. They are probably most notable for producing Abdy Faye (now of Stoke City) and Adil Rami (now of Lille) through their youth system. They play at the Stade Pourcin, which is only 92km down the road.

Their record is not pretty reading, Played 3, Lost 3, Goals For 1, Goals Against 11. I’m therefore out to attack, the way I’ve decided to do this is to switch from my rigid philosophy to a balanced oneJohan Culianez will be thrown into a wing back role. Mathias Di Mondo keeps his position at right back after a good performance (7.2) and will play as a wing back.

So I sent them on their way and told them they could win.

10 mins in, Bounab found Diafutua with pinpoint volleyed 40 yard pass, sending him through. Cover arrived and he was held back 19 yards from goal. From the resulting kick, Gallon smashed the crossbar. Good early signs. I then suffered from an early spell of pressure, giving away a couple of goalmouth scrambles and free kicks round the box – I shouted “retain possession”.

What followed was amazing, Paternotte stepped up into midfield to win the ball, which then resulted in 6 quick passes and Diafutua being able to turn into an empty net – beautiful. 8 minutes later – N’Diaye broke his duck for the season. He held the ball up 19 yards from goal, wasn’t closed down, so slammed the ball into the top left corner. Wonderful. We pretty much controlled the game up until half time. I then decided to go back to a rigid philosophy, and play on the counter. Drawing them onto me before pouncing, and shouting – “clear ball to flanks”. On 70 mins I switched to a 4-5-1 and played even slower. Content with the 2 goal cushion and the lack of threat they posed. I also made a triple sub, withdrawing Johan Gallon and both strikers for Tony Patrao (ST-target man), Segredo (DM-defend) and Oudjedi (CM-support). I rode out the game very, very comfortably without really threatening for a third, in what was a pretty easy win.

So with 9 points from 5 games things are looking rosy, only two points and +7 goal difference from first place. However, I have in the back of my mind that I have played 4 easy teams, and this league will get tougher.