"The second half of the U19 Match between Amiens and Le Harve would now continue following the 15 minutes of rest. What do you make of that show from both sides Horace?" Sébastien asked his partner as he watched the players gather onto the field.
"Well. The opening half of the match is quite... lacklustre compared to what we've seen from both sides in other league matches. Amiens had no plan for attacking, and Le Harve had the same defensive scheme for themselves, resulting in a show that is quite bland in all honesty." Horace replied with one eye closed as he remember the details of the first half. "As for the opening goal from Amiens, they should be lucky to find themselves ahead of their host. But that goal just might have won the game for them if the game continues at this current momentum."
"So far. 1-1 is an impressive scoreline, but still only a half. There is a lot of time left, and both teams would be eager to find another goal to further their purposes this season. What do you think of Le Harve's season thus far Horace?"
The old commentator took out his notes as he looked through the details that he had recorded beforehand. "This is the 15th match of the season and Le Harve currently finds themselves with 29 points, putting themselves 4th in the League Table. The current leader of Group A in Championnat National U19 is the PSG with 34 points, followed by the likes of RC Lens and Stade Rennes who both sits with 32 points respectively."
"So far we see that most of the teams in the lead are more or less the same teams as those we find in the French topflight. Even in Group B, we see the same players with RC Lens and Racing Bordeaux on top of the table with 35 points and 32 points respectively. Things are very similar to Group A as a number of the teams are the same teams as their counterparts in Group A."
"And yet. Amiens find themselves in the League with only 18 points. This does not bode well as the others, and as the season winds down. Le Harve will want to pick up wins against teams below them to see where they can end up in the League Table in a bid to win the Championnat National Trophy."
The referee blew his whistle as he cleared the players for the kick-off. The two commentators looked on as the players gathered into position and headed up the pitch. Amiens was given the ball and attempted to work it to their strikers to attempt shots on goal. But they were content to take an extra touch of two if they find no excellent method to find their strikers. They were a relaxation by the way how Amiens played the game, as they were more intent on providing service than shooting themselves. The away team didn't commit many men forward, and their backline was happy to pass the ball amongst themselves in a bid to pass the time.
Smiling in glee, Lanier and Marley were innerly delighted as they realised Amiens were happy to play in the style they have been so keen on all season long. Amiens continue to pass the ball across the pitch without a strong purpose, opening up space for the players to exploit in a lethargic manner that the Le Harve team were quick to respond. Amiens continued to look to run down the pitch and for a moment took to taunt the Le Harve players, only for the Le Harve players to respond with equal vigour as they suppressed Amiens' playmaking attempts to find their strikers.
But this couldn't be done without a tactical adjustment in their system. Le Harve came to the game with a standard 4-3-3, but against Amiens' 5-3-2, in which they have two strikers fighting against two centre-backs, this is a risk that made Le Harve vulnerable, as exploited by Amiens in the opening goal. To counter this, Le Harve now transitioned from 2 centrebacks to 3 centrebacks. Making their formation a 3 at the back tactic. Instead, a man is sacrificed in the midfield. Le Harve now running a 3-4-3 system in the attack.
"Azad receives the ball from the keeper. Running up the field before passing back to Andre. Who lays it off to Konavo..."
The disciplined midfield of Andre, Delmeida, and Konavo dictated much of Amiens' game. Yet each of these midfielders wasn't the most lethal in terms of chance creation and creativity through the middle. The three midfielders were often tasked with shuttling left and right to cover for Amiens' aggressive wing-backs that were their creative outlets and main chance creators. Whilst the Amiens' midfielders were defensively impressive, no man in the middle created the foundation and flow that allowed the away team to play through the middle
Konavo and Andre were to do most of the grunt work, covering their wing-backs and protecting them from being exposed down the wings. Delmeida was the team's destroyer and tempo setter, yet his passing range was also not the most impressive when compared to the likes of Roys and Séverin. Against the play of this Lanier and Kai made a bold call.
When Konavo received the ball, he finds that Le Harve were suddenly different from how he remembered, he finds that he has time on the ball, yet seemingly no one to pass to. On the wings, Azad and Buffat were tightly marked by Eze and Arbelaez respectively. The midfielder's first realisation was that the Le Harve fullbacks were touch-tight with their wingbacks, which means the Amiens strikers should have a 2vs2 up front. But when the midfielder looked up front, he finds that 3 defenders were against Granger and Oyensui: The centre-back duo of Simon, Allard and the right-back Roussel.
With this inspection, the Amiens midfielder realised he had no real options to pass to and was left with no real choice but to share the ball with Andre and Delmeida. All three of these players knew that the only real chance they had to penetrate the Le Harve defence was through the wide areas as their wingbacks are tasked with crossing the ball into the danger area, but Le Harve wasn't giving up a centimetre without a fight.
Roys and Rivera found themselves outnumbered in the midfield, with them being the only two players for Le Harve that plays in the beating heart of the team. The two players were hopeless as they could only witness the Amiens midfield passing the ball amongst themselves. Yet despite their inability to stop this, they realised that their opposition was reluctant, it only took a few passing minutes before the two midfielders realised that other than Konavo being slightly better on the ball, Andre and Delmeida weren't creative, with them reluctant to utilise their time and space to carve out a dangerous pass.
"Konvao receives the ball... and he passes the ball back to Delmeida. The midfielder takes his time on the ball.... and he passes it to Andre..." Sébastien witnessed the Amiens midfielders hold onto the ball for extended periods, yet unable to progress the ball up the pitch. He yawned secretly as he watched the play unfold.
"Andre receives the pass... Ah and he tries to find Azad down the wing."
Like Konavo, Delmeida gave the ball to Andre with the hopes that he could find a pass to their attacking players, and use their pace and trickery to get into the box. However, Andre was left with no particular choices for him, fancied their left wing-back to create a moment of magic for Amiens.
The midfielder kicked the ball long up the left side of the pitch. Looking to find the speedy Azad. Yet as the player looks for the ball, he finds somebody is already right beside him, pushing and harassing him to no need even before the ball reached his feet.
Adorning the No.11 shirt, Eze found himself in an unfamiliar position on the field. Even though he understood his coaches' intention to retrain him as a wing-back, he never thought his positional training would be tested so soon. The Cameroonian felt his nervousness before the game as he felt he would have the chance to gain back the trust of his coach. He knew that with his inexperience in this position, he may not live up to their expectations. But the player gritted his teeth, believing that he wouldn't fail his coach.
As the ball approached, Azad shielded the body with his body as he used it as a wall between the ball and his marker. The ball bounced on his chest, with his back to the goal. But to the wingback's surprise, he found that he had a poor touch, with the ricocheting off his chest and completely taking him by surprise.
Sébastien: "Azad receives the ball. NO! That was unnaturally poor from him as he takes a heavy touch."
The Southern Asia player rushed to recover the ball, but he found himself a foot behind as someone already reached the ball before him. He could only watch in dismay as he felt the freezing wet liquid drenching his toes.
"...and Eze steals the ball from Azad. IT'S A COUNTER!"
Against the wind and snow, the player ran, as he dribbled the ball up the field down the sidelines at his fastest pace. Eze didn't dare slow down, as he could feel the presence of Azad only a few feet behind him, desperately chasing him down to stop this attack. But the winger didn't know what to do, he used to play as a right winger, but now playing further back as a right wing-back what should he do in this situation?
There was doubt in Eze's head, he couldn't hear the voices around him. Silence utter silence was all he could distinguish, the dashing of bodies, and the heavy torrent of snow. Yet as he pondered what he must do, in his vision he saw someone exactly where he was heading into. Without thinking, he passed the ball ahead, to the player locating himself at Eze's previous position.
"Eze runs with the ball….. and he passes the ball ahead to Severin on the wing."