May 11, 2024...Analysis - Magnificent Mo, A New System and Impact Substitutes: Three Things We Learned From Friday's Win
(from York United FC)
ANALYSIS - MAGNIFICENT MO, A NEW SYSTEM AND IMPACT SUBSTITUTES: THREE THINGS WE LEARNED
FROM FRIDAY'S WIN
Three more goals and three more points as Valour FC were put to the sword.
THE DETAILS
York United rallied from a goal down to put Valour FC to flight on home turf with a 3-1 success on Friday night. The lads
keep their heads up after conceding in the first quarter to level after the break thanks to Noah Abatneh's first ever
professional goal. They took the lead courtesy of Brian Wright's quick reactions before Mo Babouli capped his impressive
display with the third goal in additional time. Here are a few things we observed in the come-from-behind win.
A FLUORESCENT YORK UNITED MIDFIELD
Head Coach Martin Nash shuffled his cards and introduced a three-man midfield formation with Matthew Baldisimo sitting
in front of the back four. He shielded the defence and initiated attacks, along with the two central midfielders
Brem Soumaoro and Josue Martinez contributed both defensively and offensively. We saw a balance between the defence
and attack.
"I don't want to keep chopping and changing formations. I wanted to be more solid in midfield today and so we started
three central midfielders. I thought it worked for the most part. We got into some good areas and today I allowed
my fullbacks a bit more freedom than I have been. I liked it in some ways but don't know if it was too much, so we'll
have a look at that," Nash revealed in his post-match conference.
"We did lack a little bit of urgency to start the game and I talked about it postgame with the guys. But it can't become
a theme, right? You give team leads in this league and oftentimes you don't come back. We came back today but we've got
to start games better. I thought before they scored that we started getting better and coming into the game more. We were
just kind of okay to that point and I thought after the 20th minute we kind of stepped up a gear and kept going and kept
getting better as the game wore on."
MO BABOULI CLICKED INTO GEAR
The York United captain Mo Babouli put in an excellent performance and was rated 8.7 (statistically) as Man of the Match.
He scored the third goal and assisted the first equalizing goal for The Nine Stripes. The 31-year-old was the most
fouled (5 times) and won the most duels (11) in the match. Babouli has now registered his first goal of the season.
Nash could not help but single out his skipper for praise.
"Mo [Babouli] is doing a job, he's got a great attitude. Whenever the team needs him he’s been playing him wider. Trying
to get him into pockets if we can. We were getting some good overloads today and [Austin] Ricci did a really good job
of getting behind with Brian [Wright] going into dangerous areas too," said The Gaffer.
"It's nice to come away with a win. We’ve still got a long way to go and lots to work on to be the team we want to be
but hopefully we can go on from here."
GLOWING KMP
Kadin Martin-Pereux was introduced in the 76th minute to replace Brian Wright and the 21-year-old put in a shift
and helped to outstretch the Valour backline with his speed and dexterity on the ball. He caused the visitors a lot
of trouble and at the back end of the game his pull back was smashed in by Babouli for the third goal.
"Yeah, Kadin was really good. I thought he was one of the bright spots in Victoria too, " Nash said.
"He's a winger that I play a lot at full-back so I thought the game was crying out for him to get involved. They were
getting higher, we were up and I thought he'd defend as a winger really well and he's our fastest player so he's got
pace to get in behind them. Twice he had a run on a guy and used his pace, got into great areas so I thought Kadin
was really good tonight."
Ridwan Ibrahim Asante
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