Senior had a tough game against ReUnited

Last Saturday, our senior team had its 3rd league game vs. ReUnited… We knew beforehand that it will be a tough game as per the quality of our opponent but also considering that we were missing a few players including Pat.

As opposed to our last game, most of our players were on time. This gave us enough time for a good warm-up but also explained the strategy which consisted of playing in a 3-5-2 formation. With Pat missing, the objective was to have a bit more security with one more defender. In this organization, a key role was given to our piston players with Hira on the left and Hsam on the right side. 

This worked pretty well in the 1st half. While we were purposively playing a bit low, we were able to defend while moving forward… This allowed us to break ReUnited attacks pretty efficiently and counter them. Unfortunately, we had overall deficiencies in our last offensive passes which resulted in wasting our 5 or 6 chances… This proved to be a killer getting clear scoring opportunities.

On the break, we insisted on two aspects to be improved in the 2nd half:

• The overall quality of our touches and last passes on the attacking side
• Try to break the passing line between ReUnited’s midfield and attack on the defensive side

Well… Seems that the cold got our players a bit frozen during the break as we conceded a goal only after 5mn. A bit unlucky as Masa-san deflected a ball directly on the ReUnited striker… Luckily for our opponent, the ball stayed on his feet which he finished on a one on one leaving no chance to our keeper Tim. 5mn later, Flo got back the ball on a defender’s feet… This allowed him to present himself on a one on one, dribble the keeper but he went a bit too wide to score. 

After a good period on our side, we got our reward with Hsam equalizing on a ramble after a cross (60′). This lift-up turned short as ReUnited scored again almost on the kick-off for the 2-1. This goal kind of jammed our mechanic because after that we started to give away easy balls in defense or midfield… way too unusual, dangerous, and close from our goal. As a result, ReUnited scored 2 more goals between the 70′ & 75′ mn.

Lost for lost, we pushed forward unbalancing the team on purpose. Kind of hurray football with the ball going from one goal to the other. At this game, we got the reward with Flo scoring at the 83′. We could have scored another goal at the last minute but Nico saw his close-range shoot ending just next to the post… Tough game for the Lions and 4-2 was the final score.

[ SIFL ] Shanghai ReUnited 4-2 Shanghai Lions FC

A disappointing result for sure and a bit strange game to be honest… Solid in the 1st half but not very dangerous. 6 goals in the 2nd half with unusual mistakes in defense. This is what it is and let’s try to get a better result next Saturday vs. Japan FC in Hebiguchi Cup.

Cheers
FL