🏏Solo Stand Tall
🇵🇹 The Lamba doesn't Lie Down on Broadway
Where am I going with this one? I wanted to write a bit on Mathis Abline, Thierno Barry. Both played vs Portugal for their opening game at the U21 Euros.
Turns out, when you’re watching a game for a player, you end up noticing someone else. That’s one of the evergreen joys of scouting players
I also liked Portugal’s Chico Lamba who I thought did really well on the right side of the CB pairing ; sometimes having to adapt to bad decisions around him.
What do you do when you don’t know what to wear? Pair of jeans will do.
What do you do when the ball is flying across the box? Send it back first time will do🏏
Let’s look at key plays the jury deems significant.
And a focus on defending crosses for centre backs.
Chico Lamba, or CL
Gamemanship track your striker as deep as you can.
It’s a game of “do or dare”, to test the waters. CF drags his CB as deep as he can, to see if he’s fine leaving space behind him
Other instance seconds later, see how CL stands firm on the drop point, arms over the shoulder
A small lowkey nudge to move him off the way with eyes on the ball, and not thowing arms
Leap at highest point of the trajectory
Matthis Abline’s movement and touch
I also like Odobert who’s effective right or left, shift with right foot to use the left and the other way round. Also has creative problem solving to open up new angles
Small dink with the right in the pocket
Abline with a proper 9 flick on.
Casuals are always surprised these strikers look like strangers on the pitch for a 8v8 square “keep the ball” directionless square. But can flick any ball on the turn to a winger because they REALLY want the ball back via a cross
Abline somehow dummies for no-one, was near post but maybe could’ve tried to get a flick
See how Chico Lamba covers the ball/goal trajectory
Abline, a deceiving ox
Easy to stack Matthis Abline amongst two braincells ox, strongest player until a stronger one enters the room
Movement off the CB is sharp to receive into feet
Stance is strong (centre of balance landing between his feet)
Sole first touch, safest way to dominate a possible bounce
Arm to feel the defender
I liked the small change of pace to deceive and dodge the contact
Chico Lamba with an emergency clearance
Stuff academies don’t really train, with players matrixed to put it on the floor
Chest volley without a bounce, get out of there
Made me think of Philippe Mexes. The original volley savvy CB
Centre back’s box movement on crosses
Look at CL : if he continues ball watching in straight line, he ends up outside the 6yd box
Move to his right shouder in line with the near post
So that he can move forward and clear.
Not doing the small curved run to align with the near post would have forced him to head backward for a bad clearance (or fail to connect)
Strongest man, until a stronger one enters
Both prepare for a lose ball 50/50.
Easy to ref : centre of balance , normally from chest projected to between both feet
Abline’s isn’t and aims at the player not the ball first
Meaning Abline explodes on the duel, Chico doesn’t and that’s not a foul
CL not goal side
Bad positioning, not goal side.
Abline with a good first touch
And manipulation, but Lamba too easy to roll on this one
Makes the foul despite defensive support.
Makes up for it by clearing the free kick himself
Box movement for CBs to cover trajectories
Reaction time to follow the run and screen the ball-goal line.
On the subsequent cross : positioning in line with the near post.
Sounds elementary from observation, but so are most of the plays in football looked at from the outside
Shooting gap
CL keeping up with the livewire Odobert
In a blocking stance
mentioned here
Samuel Soares, Make Long Goalkicks Cool Again
Two step kick
Beyond the centre circle. Fairs
Damage mitigation
Solo Stand Tall.
GK kick, the CB shouldn’t be 1v2, the fullback has to be narrow.
Difficult to mitigate, priority is to not be taken out, or lose te header in the direction of the player running behind.
CL stays in the game whilst Tel kinda makes a connection that goes out of bounds, maybe helped by CL’s timely nudge
Abline’s 180°
Abline has some Carlos Tevez moves to let the ball roll across and getting himself in shooting position
Enters Thierno Barry
Barry’s first involvement : protect the drop point
Once the ball bounces, the attacker gets the advatage over the defener
Wins the first header
There’s everything to love here : first ever call up for France at any age group, his second touch is on the back foot
To put the defender on skates
And draw a WWE catch from behind to get him booked.
Give me the ball
This is a nightmare against any defence, the player goal hanging and waiting for the cross
Crashing on the goalkeeper on the second attempt
Brave enough to claim it
Another one moments later
Blocking stance
Another good example of trying to reduce the shooting window
Box
Staying within the width of the goalposts
Check on the shoulder to see where Barry is
To sprint whilst still being whithin the goalposts
On this one, curvilinear run to track a runner
Then decelerate to not clatter the guy in the box
The difference between clamping an opponent back to goal and opposing a resistance lies in the timing to arrive earlier half a step ahead of where the ball would end up, and nudge the striker who is trying to take an early touch
How to improve box defending for CBs?
This is a training drill to help players improve their box defending skills.
There’s a sparring team (attackers) and a target team (defenders)
Attackers work on the craft to deliver a low driven cross, as hard as possible in the “corridor of uncertainty” between GK and defenders.
Their incentive is to try to score in the goal set up on the side of the 6yd box.
Can use a big goal, small goals, or/and balls on top of cones to take out.
Most of the football actions are implicit, with a view to meet an end.
Focusing on delivering a cute pass inside the box is long and easy to clear, trying to score will “inadvertently” give a better chance to be met by team mates at full pace
The key for defenders is to be side on, sprint towards the 6yd box, block with their leg and then change direction moving forward so that they clear the ball in front (and not losing their balance backtracking and shanking a clearance).
Their incetive is to volley the ball in the goal positioned in the channel, which is the area the pair of crossers / wingback have vacated.
Many teams don’t keep their ball side CM as safety net in that area. I do it for years (because that’s what the game demands) and this is why most of my teams concede few goals from open play.
The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway, which you can listen to here.
A concept, ambitious, enigmatic album that not only signalled what some say is the peak of Genesis’ creative power but also led to the departure of Peter Gabriel.
Widely regarded as one of the masterpieces of progressive rock, mixing Opera, social commentary (a Puerto Rican lost in New York) and surrealism.
I would proudly consider that whole newsletter as a worthy recipient of a patch of shadow from the dimension of that album which I’ve been listening to for over a decade every now and then.
These are the psychedelic uninterrupted 1970s albums you’ve got to listen to in one go, for these instrumental solos that pop up here and there. Just like the Pink Floyd, you can’t just listen to a song (or only the Carpet Crawlers), you’ve got to have all the build up.
But this is also the closest bad musical pun my galaxy brain came up with.
89.3% dribblers tackled is catchng the eye, just like the 64% headers won.
Lamba Doesn’t Lie Down on Broadway
Passing stems more from usage, some of the line breakers seen from Chico Lamba in the tournament are some of the best passes I’ve seen this season at U21 level.
He can pass, obviously his team doesn’t seem interested to have him doing so.
No buildup, just get straight to the point.
So I dug up Portuguese Primera and Segunda U24 CBs and he’s clustered with Ousmane Diomandé, Bright Arrey and a player from a talent hotbed I already mentioned (but forgot to list him) as far as aerial prowesses are involved.
Tackling over on dribbler per game is worth noting, albeit this is a specific skill : good to have, but you’re not explicitely setting up your teams to have CBs save the world 1v1 on halfway.
Expanding the picture to the top 5 leagues, Primera Liga and the two pipelines of talent that are the Dominos Pizza Ligue 2 and Coca Cola Championship (RIP to these glorious naming rights, oh someone swore on the pitch side microphone, apologies).
Lamba isn’t an outlier, but not too far from being one
The outlier is obviously a player I signed from grassroots and coached / platformed at National level in 2020/21. Now a professional, Owen made his Cote d’Ivoire début this month for the U23 side.
Chico Lamba seems a good dueller, which is what you want from a defender.
I don’t like to wax lyrical on “ball playing” which is what makes 90% of CB comps nowadays, profiling players who for the vast majority are tall guys to slow to play in midfield.
Going on a limb (lamb?) with it, but like : the way the restaurant’s waiter brings the plates to your table doesn’t condition the quality of the food. For sure, if you get thrown the plate at your face, that might be dog food.
But you can pay $500 to get some next guy running the latest “tasting” “sprinkling” serving gimmick and the food might be overrated because you’re merely paying the clout.
The best places to dine are usually at home, where nobody’s expecting more than what’s written on the tin, but delivered with the care that makes it work and brings people together.
Usage vs ability
2.5 progressive passes per game, less than 1 / 25 passes (4.5%) are
But if you look at distance ; Chico Lamba is closer to the top of the pack than he is from the ones at the back of the class.
Owen is still an outlier ; with almost 10% of his passes being progressive.
I like what I saw from Chico Lamba ; I’ll see how well he fares in the competition when it comes to public appraisal. But the ability to defend the box, wrestle and come out cleanly on top vs strikers (CBs have a credit of 1 foul per game, 2 starts to be a problem). Changes direction, and can play line breakers.
Not so interested to know why he’s not on Sporting books, because I’ve got figger fish to fry and that my evaluation on players increasingly relies less and less on what the consensus settles on. Not so much because people who know don’t get it right.
More like that before being an assembly, there’s opinions rarely put together let alone carried unless there’s a concerted and political effort to spread the word.
Which nowadays rarely happens by interest. Please kindly hype that player managed by an agent, and the agent will give good reviews to your boss when signing off the deal. This is how scouts get promoted to Sporting Director whithin a few years.
This is a systemic trend, not a blip. Sometimes it takes back to back relegations to National League to ring the alarm bell (as opposed to ring agents and former clubs to sign their deadwood, with or without knowing).
Otherwise, the shy yet brainy right winger from U18 R2 Paris signed in 2020 wouldn’t have moved to right wing back first, then RCB like I told him at the corner of the training pitch. They’re all professionals or internationals to this day :
In the U21 of a Tier 3 club in France ; not exactly Platform 1 for the Champions League.
Please stand behind the yellow line, mind the step.
The money has ran out at RC Lens, but that would be hilarious if they tried to replace Khusanov (who I spotted in half an hour at the summer 2023) with Owen.
Who’ll end up somewhere soon. If it’s around 2 million, that would be giving his club about 20x the cost of the talent programme from which he came through, which was judged a waste of money. The ball doesn’t lie.
