🦋Gapitalitsation
WBA's Jamaldeen Jimoh-Aloba - Goalscoring 10s - Learn from the best, survive the rest
Whenever I’ve got spare time, I always keep in mind I want to follow up my notes and especially players I flag up (it’s a good way to capitalise on the TfL fare - mind the gap between this newsletter and the majority of football writing elsewhere).
When I look back (Alookback?) on my notes, I liked the separation movement from Jamaldeen Jimoh-Aloba ; seen with Aston Villa U21s in 2025
A quick look at his performance against Stoke City on the week end, probably not a vintage display of English Football League (0-0) for the archives but nevertheless JJA’s first start in the EFL.
A coaching drill to work on finding separation and release the 10.
And a few notes on Youssouf, that I came across with in 2018-19 ; who scored 6 goals in National this season as another gigantic goalscoring attacker who can eat up ground.
Aloback
Floating about in transition
Foul Magnet
Turn on a 6-pence
Run forwards
Learn from the best, survive the rest
Put your credentials on the table
Put your medals on the table
20 Solutions, not one expensive problem
Coaching Resource : Find the 10
🇲🇱 Soukouna
Aloback
The storyline arc is quite cool ; JJA grew up in Birmingham, trained at the renowned West Brom academy (like Morgan Rogers, Kiano Dyer, Timothy Irogebunam, Finn Azaz, Tyler Roberts, Darra O’Shea, Louie Barry, Samuel Field who all played in the top two divisions) ; moved across to Aston Villa in 2023 where he signed professional terms and now loaned to the struggling baggies for 2026 after a few cameos for Villa, otherwise mostly featuring with the U21s
Linked with Chelsea under the previous administration, in the rumour mill of February 2022.
Starting to write this without a plan nor agenda ; making things up as I look through the footage.
Exploring how JJA gapitalised (or not) into the Potters’ defensive structure for his EFL debut
Floating about on transition
Transitions aren’t a complete change of state, nor a binary switch on an analyst interface. From a coaching or player perception standpoint, it’s about recognizing cues - especially olfactory ones to second guess the next move.
Does this smell trouble or opportunity, throw-ins are usually successful at 45% which means you have a better (random) chance of success closing your eyes. Anyway, that one smells turnover.
We don’t have the ball but look seet to get it, or we have it but are about to lose it. Football re-creates a harmless situation of survival, calling upon basic insincts : opportunity vs “danger”. Good players recognize cues.
First cue : get away from the team mate to ask a question from the Southampton midfielder who finds himself 1v2 / 1v3 here.
As Mowatt continues to carry diagonally to change the picture, see how JJA (yellow boots) then cuts to detach from the flow ow the ball to get blind side of Southampton’s CM
Ball played wide, and the typical English football league build up organic move : CM follows up with a decoy run in the channel, to drag the screen of central midfielders out of position. The ham and cheese of triangle sandwiches, not great all the time but that’ll do
A second change of direction from JJA to escape the blind side
For what could’ve been a nice opportunity to flick around the corner and beat the press,
For that, his left back would want to be keener to pass it inside, and JJA would want to change gear a little bit more to open his hips (with his right foot) to be able to spin when he’d flick it.
Despite the snark in The Football League Paper columns ; (8th of February)
it’s pleasing to see WBA or Sheffield United whose car crash season is currently at crossroads, meeting the opportunity to bring fresh energy in January : Jesurun Rak-Sakyi, Jamaldeen Jimoh-Aloba, Hindolo Mustapha
Two ways to look at the same problem : we need more experience, and what now our football league journeymen hit their ceiling and get us bottom 5.
Nothing to lose bringing elements of surprise.
Foul magnet
You won’t lecture England-trained footballers to not gamble on the half turn.
However, the usual (and appreciated) caveat to this is that in the first two professional divisions, a cheap turnover results in a chance at your end in a couple of passes. Two defeats put you on a brink, you can lose two but not three in a row.
Coaches don’t stifle creativity, deep inside they want to trust problem solvers (no matter whatever gimmick they plastered on their powerpoint to land the job) because no matter how many balls they (air) kick from the technical area, players are the ones on the pitch. However, they all consider themselves risk averse when it comes to turnovers in bad areas.
If you roll defenders and change the picture, or draw fouls, you get minutes.
If you get knocked off the ball ; you likely won’t sniff the pitch for a while.
A long ball for JJA, gapitalising on a pocket
Thigh first touch on the half turn, that you need to cushion in a way that doesn’t “hurt” you for a mini dead leg, or bounce if you contract the muscles too much.
Football isn’t so much about speed but deceleration, to appreciate and meet trajectories
The quick check on the shoulder is key there : he sees in his peripheral vision a red/white shape bombing on, with no sign of decelerating
Hence the small delay to appreciate the trajectory of the ball and bait the defender, whilst keeping the left leg as a “shield” that will be clipped by Lawal
Taking the touch just when the defender starts enterting his personal space having not slowed down
And get the left leg clipped.
If JJA doesn’t wait, doesn’t set his left leg, but only waits to shift it with the right foot ; he gets jumped and that’s a central turnover in WBA’s half.
Turn on a 6-pence
As the ball is headed away, JJA pulls a shirt (down) to keep the opponent away from the line towards the drop point for the second ball
The second touch aims at creating his own rebound, therefore knowing when it will bounce next.
If you want to catch a bouncing ball, you need to grasp all the cues : shape, surface, fabric and appreciate one particular (full) bounce to guess the next one accurately.
If you are the one who threw it, you can know where it’ll go straight away in a familiar set of settings (your force vs pumped up football on the grass)
Very valuable for strikers in the box receiving knee height passes, that they often flick on the floor to time when to hit it on the spin when it goes on it’s way down
See how JJA switches his balance by moving his support left leg back whilst keeping the shoulders over his feet : his left foot lands between the defenders’ feet to restrict access. That’s football specific agility.
This is a two touch roll, allowed by setting his left foot back on the previous frame, to remove one set of steps. Again, the left leg acts as a shield
There’s space in front : so the drag is a bit longer and the ball gathers momentum
A really interesting one, typical dribbling baller stuff :
Instead of sticking to a rythmic step-touch-step-touch on which the defender would lock on to time when to intervene :
Defender is side on, eyes on the ball, doing the most with what he’s got.
JJA stabs the floor with a shorter step to not touch the ball (when the defender would guess he would)
The defender takes the bait and does the extra step
And when JJA catches up on the (rolling ball),
He drags it inside having shunted the defender without touching the ball
With his right arm in front to make it clear he’s first on the ball, then gets taken out.
The defender tries to time 3 steps and JJA only gets two two touches with more space in between : change the tempo, not the speed.
Run forwards
A simple cue : pass fired to the striker, get on your bike, which JJA does to follow the flick
Get a shot without decelerating after a diagonal carry.
xG is tea leave reading, that doesn’t capture finishing skill nor what leads to it. “Shot after carries” yes sure, but what technique, what power etc…
Ball is blocked by Stoke’s defenders who had to fix up : there’s 3 outfielders and one keeper palming that deflected looping shot for a corner.
After Mark Robins was quite adamant Stoke didn’t create enough adversity against Southampton the week before.
Learn from the best, survive the rest
A move reminiscent of Jamaldeen Jimoh-Aloba’s goal in the FA Youth Cup final, when the Villains toppled over Manchester City to lift the trophy.
Opening up towards the nearest touchline to see the passer and the goal
How about the timing ? Pass fired into the striker, get on your bike
The first touch is diagonal to not let the defender any opportunity to set
Cut inside and prepare the footwork to shoot on target : left foot pointing at the target. Lot of coaches say “slow down and sort your feet”
What matters is to sort your feet, not doing it slowly.
Some players can generate powerful shots without decelerating. Vinicius is obviously the modern benchmark at the highest level
Tall, right footed left winger gliding on the pitch.
What in the Carney Chukwuemeka am I watching.
Another Aston Villa talent winning the FA Youth Cup in 2021
Signed by Todd Boehly in a day on Neil Bath and Jim Fraser’s recommendation to help Villa with their FFP issues, that’s a good process.
Put your credentials on the table
Shield the Ball
The FA Youth Cup is the landmark youth tournament Manchester City won in 2008 (with Ben Mee), 2020 (behind closed doors - COVID football wasn’t real) and 2024 ; both sides of Joe Shields’ time as Head of Academy Recruitment (2013-2022).
“Blame the Sporting Directors for not spending on players”.
For some of us, the cast of this storyline is really funny.
Shields left for Southampton in the summer 2022, in the shadow of Jason Wilcox and there’s some more rabbit holes to dig up there. Appointed mid-July as “Head of Senior Recruitment” after most of the business was already completed.
The business in question : 70 million of Manchester City U21 lottery tickets in Lavia, Larios, Edozie, Bazunu who are all but bombed out of the side at the moment presumbably for being miles off the level. And Joe Aribo.
Sometimes the best talent is at home ; 4 scorers in the 2024 final Manchester City won originate from Manchester ;
obviously more effective than 5th choice London talent signed for an absolute fortune by “Talent ID experts”
Mfuni or Finley Burns? Barely a dozen games in League One in 2026 for the latter whilst Mfuni is already starting in Championship at 17.
Mfuni has had three coaches in 10 days ; another dig in the “trust the process” ferry boat, of people who love the smokescreen of “long term process” whilst giving their mates coaching promotions after 4 weeks in jobs, to loophole coaching specifications for a little bit (internal promotion gives more leeway than external hire when it comes to being unqualified for the job in question).
Put your medals on the table
Maybe the problem is closer to home ; Chelsea won 7 FA Youth Cup in a decade, including 5 in a row ;
making a mockery of Manchester City’s expensively assembled squads of Jadon Sancho’s, David Faupala and whatnot.
Sure, there’s a fluke COVID behind closed doors victory in 2020, Pandemic football wasn’t real
What do you mean November 2020, pack it up now.
And what is the ego-trip about?
Chelsea moved on from the very much hyped in the digital circles of influencers (he was a fairly raw, tweener winger/striker with little refinement) Brian Fiabema (currently on loan from Lech Poznań II to ADO Den Haag) because the game is eventually gonna teach you your level.
Looks like some people didn’t move on from Liam Delap, and if the game isn’t gonna teach you the level, other people will.
6 goals in 24 games in Championship, when Tammy Abraham was banging 50 goals in two seasons for Bristol City and Aston Villa at the same age ; then predictably failing miserably at Chelsea with Peter Osgood’s number 9 shirt (105 in 289 between 1964 and 1974).
Complete power grab.
Fast forward 2026, four years after Manchester City moved on (as the senior team keeps winning).
We are supposed to believe individuals with a CV picking up cones for a summer camp / college program,
presumably not even UEFA B license can legitimately “impress in the role” enough to replace UEFA Pro License coaches one week before the FA Youth Cup game.
Same from jumping from assistant in Step 4 (England’s 8th division) to coaching Manchester City U15s, but scrambling to put together a UEFA A license six years later
have they got anything worthwile to share with English internationals
Never worked in an academy before, is it a pisstake? Or job for the mates
There’s alarm bells for a decade in football, related to how the frontier between magic bean tacticos and the football industry has been trampled over repeatedly.
Don’t worry about inverting fullbacks, the Premier League has enough “Coach Talent ID” programs to see who’s worth listening and giving a pathway.
Unqualified coaches failing upwards to coach the best players in the country whilst empowered by executives experiencing a similar stellar rise that would make the Silicon Valley blemish. Hired by who?
All the betting accounts sell outs.
Crowdsourcing fan sentiment is key (that’s what you learn in any MSc or MBA worth it’s trade). Making explicitely clear this feedback is given particular attention is certainly something.
Regurgitating whatever paywalled nonsense they can find about football
Transform how you read the game : Graham Potter is the new Sacchi (the Solihull Sacchi maybe), and Hojlund is basically Harry Kane.
Link in bio.
Modern football will be increasingly about fighting against internal politics and wondering what their coaching staff is about; which will greatly test English club’s inertia as institutions if they don’t stay careful
Put your credentials on the table
Speaking of credentials, relevance and track record of success.
A word on Jimmy Shan, one of the best Academy coaches in England.
Initially starting with Birmingham City academy, he then worked his way up from West Brom’s U7s in 2006 to caretaker charge of the first team in 2019
Apponted Aston Villa’s U18 coach in 2024-25 ; he led Villa to a remarkable treble with the Under-18 Premier League Southern Section table, the Under-18 Premier League national title and the FA Youth Cup.
In the meantime, Emery’s mate Josep Gombau, backed with a solid Harlem Globetrotters CV (“Barcelona dis and dat”) was finally relieved of his duties
after coaching one of the most lethargic U21 sides witnessed in recent history (it takes some saying in a 26-team seed without relegation).
12pts in 20 games, 2.5 goals conceded per game.
I was at these games. The ball doesn’t lie, whether there’s 48 thousand people in attendance 480 or 48.
At some point, hiring your mates always backfires down the line because the ball doesn’t lie and why would good players listen to your nonsense when they find out in three clicks why you’re there.
Jimmy Shan is currently U21 coach at Aston Villa, having been apointed in June 2025.
20 solutions, not one expensive problem
0-2 down, what was the risk to bring FA Youth Cup winners Jamaldeen Jimoh-Aloba and Kadan Young on
The risk, low. The reward, potentially huge.
Academy coaches in top academies get on with their jobs, simply because they can’t be on socials or meddling with agents all day (some can, great promotion from Academy Director to Premier League Head Coach after a few transfers with Marseille), nor blaming everyone else for their inability to do their job.
Meaning there’s a good chance the work carried on (player ID, player development, coaching) has been carried on properly. Can’t fake it when training 4-5 times a week, overseen by qualified people actually matching specifications for the role.
That’s what Academy football is about. Create 20 solutions, not one expensive problem.
That loser line of thinking leads professional clubs chairmen to (actually, like for real) sue the leagues in court because other promoted teams got more TV money, after said club runs out of players to sell originating from a program they discontinued for being, quote, “a waste of money” (still providing 25% of the club’s budget).
Doesn’t have anything to do with the stadium looking like a post-Soviet era siderurgic mine where people using a wheelchair can either go f themselves, or watch from the parking lot, and TVs can film from the roof if they’re not too bothered by the missing stands on both sides.
“who’s that” (not the particular club mentioned above, just cba to give it any more air time)
But the tall left footer attacking midfielder crashing the box.
Something obnoxious about these player being the “game changing cheat code” between U12 and U18 that Scouts fight to land ; then “token bargaining chip for pure profit” when they’re on the fringe of the first team so that they can provide welcome income to spend on dodgy south americans with no first team game and a fifteen million transfer to their name already.
Eyes on the ball ; toes indicate the direction (box to box)
Preparing the approach at an angle, by opening the angle with the right foot now pointing towards his right shoulder
Getting clean contact in the perfect location : not the middle of the ball, not overly topped but slightly above the middle of the ball to create a few rebounds
To make sure the ball fizzes on the wet grass, and controlling the trajectory by closing the right foot to give direction
Find the 10
In football coaching ; less is more, so that you can work in depth on the relevant details.
This is a 2v2 drill with three “magic man” players.
“Magic Man” are the green players who play with the team in possession.
The goal is to play from one end to another (one green to another)
Pitch shape can be designed differently : a narrow pitch to encourage playing forward, a wide pitch to encourage rolling out. A diamond pitch to create more “touchlines” to refer to, or even a circular pitch to work on body shape to receive.
You want your CMs (the 2 players) to occupy spaces that are either ball side deep, ball far high ; or like here, ball side high and ball far deep.
Flat markers help to refer to areas of the pitch.
The key however is to help players wire their decision making towards
Riskiest pass : the other magic man
Second riskiest pass : the 10
Third riskiest pass : the advanced CM
Fourth riskiest pass : the midfielder dropping deep.
So that they explore options in that order (and not the easiest pass first).
However, to change the picture : you might want to set an up/back with the closest player, paying attention to the technical details : front foot for a set, back foot to turn.
That’s also the reason why the “magic man” inside the drill only has one touch in his half : you will therefore get a set to find someone else (that has to be a 100% success pass for the “set” - the layoff to the sender), or flick around the corner if he takes an accurate picture - which becomes the affordance : what the environments affords me, what my technical ability affords me.
Essentially, the Gapitalisation.
Good to encourage players to not stand still for more than 3-5 seconds in the same spot, and also play with the blind side to only appear :
A and B exchange a pass, C gets on the move to appear only when B receives. Not before not after.
You might want to invite the base “magic players” to move on either side of the line splitting the pitch in two, so there’s a clearer “ball side” and “ball far”.
Yes it’s the 2002 World Cup “Fevernova” ball, such a unique design ; probably the most powerful adrenaline rush when seeing it anywyere.
“Le Ballon de La Coupe Du Monde!”
Soukouna
Speaking of oversized goalscoring attacking midfielders.
When I was coaching (picking up the cones for the U17s as we played against PSG, Le Havre, Caen’s academies) and getting one of my Masters in Normandy in 2018-2019.
I came across a number of maverick attackers.
One of them was playing with the U19s in 2018-19 in a catastrophically bad team for 20 matchdays. Front row third from the left, white Nike.
You know, the team that always plays good football when there’s no camera footage to back it up, and if they lose 9-0 / 9-1 home and away to RC Lens it’s because the players didn’t try.
Fortunately the coaching staff called upon all the “mavericks” with a handful of games to go. None could make the team up to that point (they were staring back tbf) and somewhat helped the team to win 4 in the last 6 including against Thiago Motta’s PSG to stay up in National U19 league.
See : 14th place all season, staying up with 23pts which is one of the lowest point tally recorded… since QRM stayed up on 21pts a few years before.
Youssouf somewhat made the cut, because he scored 20 goals and gave 10 assists
So apparently “today he’d have got a chance in the first team”.
You don’t say, you’re rock bottom in 2026, can’t go much lower than that
Youssouf was offered 200€ per month in expenses to train with the B team of a professional third division club in the summer 2019.
In December 2018 ; the talk was that if QRM U19s crashed out from the French Youth Cup in December, there would be a change.
So of course when they travelled to Amiens SC (Ligue 2) in December 2018 before the witer break in the French Youth Cup, and losing 3-1 with 20 minutes to go, they went through on penalties and the staff stayed in place (except when going to Disneyland on Matchday obviously).
Because what’s more football than making a compulsive decision based on 20 minutes against a team featuring a future Manchester United player ; rather than taking the right conclusion from having lost almost every game by a margin up to then, with future professionals on the team.
in 2018-19 ; Amir (2001) who couldn’t get a game with the U19s and was rotting in the U18s shadow squad is now professional at FC Versailles.
Back to Youssouf, born in February 2000 therefore turned 26 last week
Left for greener (rainier) pastures in the summer 2019: Chambly where he played before QRM(dr?), then Evreux 27 (where Ousmane Dembélé and Dayot Upamecano kicked ball).
Beauvais, Blois and Les Herbiers.
All proverbial 4th division clubs spending so much bread (baguette croissant?) in search for the golden ticket to access to the National league (3rd division), the below-deck of the professional Ligue 2
Youssouf scored 4 goals in 25 games in National 2 (4th division) for Vendée Les Herbiers in 2023-24.
And has already scored 9 goals in half a season including 6 National (3rd division)
Players move on up, like Curtis Mayfield.
Amusingly, Youssouf is another forward from Vendée Les Herbiers I’m talking about, maybe they have an eye for good strikers.
Mamad (2005) who I coached in 2016-17 and scored 14 goals for his debut season in National 3 (5th division) is currently at Vendée les Herbiers in National 2 in 2025-26, pushing behind Girondins de Bordeaux for promotion to Ligue 3
If I want to push the lore deeper, Sohan (2003) signed a professional contract for Concarneau in January 2026 from FC Lorient where he was the top scorer in National 2
A player I coached as U13, and who’s brother (2005) was team mate of Mamad’s.
I’m not namedropping these players. I’m charting the entire mind map of players I came across, who made it, so that acts as my archive and actual real life sample size put together with chronological landmarks and challenges along the way
what were the intangibles they all had :
speed, goalscoring, versatility, decision making.
They’re not system players, they turn a team into an effective outlet because they directly contribute to the “system of winning games”.
Top mentality, love football more than what football can offer them.
And eventually get what they deserve, and deserve what they get.
Because realistically you have to really love football to train at 9am in this galaxy of medium cities.
Youssouf joined US Concarneau in the Summer 2024 on a professional contract.
Concarneau, one of the numerous harbours in Brittany, combining fishing, shipbuilding, and boat repair activity.
The local club “USC” is backed by a myriad of small local businesses sponsors, at a time where other clubs still expect to fleece the local supermarket of a quarter of a million to spend they way that pleases them. Don’t worry there’ll be adboards in the summer U13 tournament.
It’s also quite impressive how these clubs invested in enhancing their image in recent years with some of the best social media content.
No more commercial intern doing it on their phone.
Concarneau miraculously reached Ligue 2 in 2023 ahead of 2023-24
Not so much from a league position standpoint since the turn of the 2010s but for how remote, and out of time their ground used to be.
They hosted some of the Womens U20 World Cup games 2019 at Guy Piriou, and somewhat kept the signs and boards.
US Concarneau always had a good U19 program, this is Concarneau U19s winning against my future side ; in November 2019.
I was on TV the day before, but took a train on a Sunday to rainy Concarneau to watch and know everything about my next team.
Always be the second most knowledgeable person in the room, so when you walk in, you know every player already and win 3 on the bounce.
Some (not me, whoever wrote the following) would say the logical consequence of Concarneau’s presence at National results from the PhD savant now coaching Sunderland deciding that his FC Lorient Academy was better off having their teams removed from National competitions (because competiton is harmful).
Can’t play a thousand passes per game at U19 National level and not expect to be screwed on the counter week in week out - see how Sunderland play these days, and catch the irony. Sit deep and hit Isidor and Mayenda.
Also you win more games with Xhaka thinking by himself, than gaslighting the first Sainsbury Jorginho whose CV landed on my desk after he was first lauded as the new Xavi, and then released. My answer was no as well, because what exactly would you say you do.
I’ve got (future) internationals to coach instead.
Worth a decade of think pieces in coaching magazines preaching the opposite, that. And yes he also unfollowed me in 2013 and I do hold a grudge.
Lorient U18s were playing glorified friendlies instead.
See, another instance of the Butterfly Effect that is neither expectable, or desired (nor tolerable) getting in the way of good players.
As a result, lots of good U19 players (because they don’t need coaches, especially not PhD ones with no social skills) had to land somewhere.
Concarneau would be the solution, for the geographical proximity and access to National U19 level. There’s a gap in the market?
Gapitalisation.
We played US Concarneau in 2020-21 in U19 League, I’m still howling at this.
“they sit deep and have two quick strikers” so we sat deeper than hell with the two quick forwards combining on the goal. 1-0, pack it up.
Hacène who I coached in 2017-18 also landed in the Concarneau fishing net in 2019 and somewhat missed out on promotion in 2023, since he joined Red Star when Concarneau got promoted.
Wingback I moved back to wide forward, clutch goalscoring talismanic attacker who’d compete for every ball with a point to prove. See where they play etc…
One year later, Red Star was promoted to Ligue 2 and Concarneau relegated.
Red Star are curently in the promotion places for Ligue 1, and Hacene passed the bar of 100 professional games for Red Star
Hacene scored vs Jérémy Jacquet’s Clermont Foot by the way.
in 2024-25 ; Youssouf scored against FC Rouen and was voted Player of the Month for Concarneau ; and nominated by the League as well.
Protecting the goal from the left wing : shoulders open to show wide.
To then close down forward, in a broken line towards his right shoulder.
The shit that Mudryk was either too thick, or unbothered to grasp ; but was given so long to fail, to cuss everyone on social media in the process.
Youssouf dispossessing… Yazid, my U19 captain for 2019-20
Yazid is top of the league with FC Rouen and in prime position to access to Ligue 2 at the end of the season.
Pass in his stride
For an equestrian give and go
To finish in the far corner
Players are skillsets, not positions. “I’m an attacker”
Youssouf played away at US Boulogne (the club whose B team took a punt on N’Golo Kanté in the early 2010s) in November 2024
Diagonal run from the touchline
The first touch is diagonal to attack the defender at an angle
Attack the interval between the two players whilst the team mate overlaps, that’s good attacking wing play
Ideally, that pass is straight for a diagonal run, but nevertheless is played on the back heel of the defender
Follow up on an eventual second ball
moments later, Youssouf scored a consolation goal at 2-0 for Boulogne
Can you do in two touches what most attackers will do in three touches
That chop is diabolical. Size x agility, you can do more stuff as an attacker
To send the defender for a hot-dog
organising his footwork, including support foot pointing at the target without decelerating
nod forwards, arms for balance and shoulders over the ball
to wrongfoot the goalkeeper, aiming for the triangle between his leg and arm with a clean follow through - left toes pointing at the target.
That’s finishing skill.
Youssouf scored 4 goals in 2024-25 in National
This one at FC Rouen ; QRM’s arch rivals (who offered him 200€ a month), probably the PTSD kicking in from seeing the training pitch behind the ground where QRM’s first team trained - and / or also maybe all his friends who came to watch him.
lurking at the back post
on toes at the back post
to sort out his feet
look at the left foot landing exactly next to the drop point, toes pointing at the target to allow the rotation of the hip
dominating the ball on its way down, to create a rebound
and find the gap.
That’s Gapitalisation, which has nothing to do with “luck”
dynamic footwork
direction of support foot
dominating the ball and create a rebound to beat the GK
Go around the penalty spot :
Look at the calf and chest aligned.
Slow down at the edge of the box with shorter steps
and trigger the sprint opposite side of the penalty spot, once in the defenders’ blind side, when the cross is being hit.
Bernadette Chirac tried to cook an omelette one day, she kept the shells in the bowl so the omelette was somewhat crusty. Bernadette was the French First Lady of one of the most faithtful (to French people at least) politician of the past 40 years.
What is he on about.
“and trigger the sprint opposite side of the penalty spot, once in the defenders’ blind side, when the cross is being hit.”
All this stuff is the basic benchmarks to hit to connect with a cross, you can’t fluke it or do differently and expect it to consistently work.
just like, don’t keep the egg shell in the plate. Fucking ‘ell Bernadette.
Bernadette’s charity was not penny pinching for good causes however, picking as many pennies (“yellow coins”) in these house shaped cardboard boxes on the school teacher’s desk, towards the end of the calendar year every year, so that could benefit unwell children in hospitals.
When connecting crosses :
send it back to where it came from : near post
try to hit the goalkeeper between his legs
In 2025-2026 Youssouf already scored 5 goals in half a season. This isn’t “overperforming” whatever tea leave reading (depending on your tea leave provider, the spreadsheet gives different xG - watch the games instead)
earlier in 2025-26 ; Youssouf scored a brace to sink QRMdr who was adamant 200€ per month in expenses (he might be driving a car?) was a true reflection of his worth.
Two ugly-ass finishes, but crashing the box alright
The goalkeeper palmed the pair in his own net
In the return leg on February 12, 2026 (yesterday)
Youssouf had fire in his belly to prove a point.
In a front two of players I came across / coached in the mid-late 2010s
This is not extraordinary to me. Because I knew that
Sohan (2003) off the left since he scored so many good goals at U13 level like Rashford, creating a yard and never caught. That was 2015-16
my educated guess would be that Sohan’s right eyesight is way better than his left - reminiscent of how Arsène Wenger turned fine Ligue 1 winger Robert Pirès into one of the best “inverted wingers” of the early 2000s. Sohan was quick and decent on the right, lethal on the left.
Youssouf (2000) was a goal threat, bagsman and I’d have loved to play him in a diamond behind two split strikers
So here they are, as split strikers in National in 2026
Sohan hits the channel, and lays it back
As Sohan drifts wide, Youssouf does what split strikers must do : stand half a box from each other. Box’s 40 meters, so 20 meters
Concarneau play a reverse pass after Youssouf’s gravitas pulled the entire defence : see the sharp change of direction
Youssouf pointing at the space he wants to attack
Now, watch this space for the separation movement
Block with two feet, to change dirction again
Bounce on toes to run around the defender. Gapitalisation
GK stays on his feet, Youssouf smartly bouncing the ball on the floor to go low
8 years later ; a third goal vs QRM in the same season
Looks appy
Attacking football is a game of space / affordances : play where the defender is not
Smart connections in the channel, fullback lunges in
Sohan attacks the channel
uh, Youssouf goes blind side
Sohan with a cute outside of the boot pass : quick guy with a touch.
Notepad’s out.
Attack the cross like a lunatic, unfortunately missing it for an inch
Youssouf then had a chance to send QRM under before the half hour mark, but his penalty save was parried away
Concarneau reached the Round of 32 of the French Cup against FC Nantes, and lost 3-5.
Of course, Youssouf scored
Run along the defensive line, and attack the back of the ball side CB
to beat the offside trap
get between the ball and the opponent
early shot without decelerating, read the goalkeeper : he stays on his feet, go hard low and across. Can you create value wider than the goalposts?
left foot opening towards the target
That’s Le Finishing Skill
Le But
Nantes left their share of the turnstile money, which is common practice when Ligue 1 teams face lower league opposition, a tad less when they play National sides (3rd division).
One for the “is Nantes in Brittany” ; Concarneau (Konk-Kerne) is, and there’s an important debate whether Nantes (Naoned) or Rennes are the doorway to Brittany (where there’s no highways becayse red beanies agricultors said there wouldn’t be -
and you don’t fuck with hardcore regionalists let alone Britons when they pull out the red beanie, not anymore than Basque and Corsicans.
And they’ll have their road signs in two languages as well.
Bit like the crêpe citron version of Whitechapel.
If Nantes would end up getting relegated for the third time in a decade (basket case of a club), surely there’s a decent chance they end up looking at who scored against them.
Youssouf scored goals at every level, and more recently against a Ligue 1 side FC Nantes in the French Cup^.
As it stands in February 2026 ; Concarneau will probably finish in the top half, they’ve got 8 draws already.
This is National - which will transition into professional Ligue 3
Youssouf is already professional with Concarneau - so are Caen and Valenciennes, Sochaux and possibly Dijon I believe for the two seasons following their relegation.
The rest of the league will presumably discover the concept of book-keeping, and the reality of the living wage footballer because there’s little chance the TV rights will challenge the current Premier League deal.
So where will the money come from to bankroll it?
Lots of these clubs have a professional background and structure and keep an Academy program on a shoestring budget. Some other clubs in there might be pumping all the money on the first team.
They might continue to scour the talent pool and keep the doors open for their B teams to poach the best non league talent, that they can give a platform to and - that’s the good point about being professional - hope to sell in the divisions above.
Until then, Ligue 1 and Ligue 2 clubs were professionals ; and National (and National 2) were able to offer a “Federal Contract” which is a legit contract to kick ball (and pay social contribution, you know), but would be automatically superseded by a professional contract offer with very little compensation bar what clubs would accept to pay.
OL was grand enough to sign Jean-Philippe Mateta for 4-5 million from a federal contract at Chateauroux, but usually it’s more about the quarter of million.
For Youssouf, I expect a semi smart Ligue 2 club but also maybe Ligue 1 club to come knocking especially if he gets double digits in National this season.
Because he definitely looks the part at professional level.
Gapitalisation without decelerating, just like his career and goalscoring record.
Mali twitter is keeping an eye since he’s the third top scorer for players eligible for the nation.
Has anyone seen a Leopard at QRM ? Not more than anyone paying for a ticket, given most of them are invitations.
Highlight of the evening was always to bridge the gap between the eye test and the number called by the stadium announcer.
You’re 2388 to cheer the Leopards tonight. Yuppp, ummm, nah. Ain’t no way.
Hi! How many metres long/wide did you have in mind for the drill? I don't understand exactly how tight/open it should be.