Former Brighton manager Chris Hughton begun life as the new head coach of the Ghanaian national team last week when he led his charges against Angola in their third game of the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) qualifying match played at the Baba Yara Stadium in Kumasi.This piece will look at what Hughton set out to do in what was a crucial game for the Black Stars and what can be expected of his set up going forward managing one of the top teams on the continent.Is Hughton the right man to awaken the sleeping giant? HIGHLIGHTS: 🇬🇭 1-0 🇦🇴 Antoine Semenyo scored in the dying moments of the game as Ghana edged past Angola 💫 #TotalEnergiesAFCON2023Q | @GhanaBlackstars pic.twitter.com/aAgZVGKRcD— CAF (@CAF_Online) March 24, 2023 We look at how the encounter at the Baba Yara stadium went, how the cream (Thomas Partey) will always rise to the top, as we build up to the second match in Angola.Ghana set up in a 1-4-2-3-1 formation against Angola, with Hughton going with an ideal line up, filled with very technical players in the offensive area. The lineup consisted of Lawrence Ati Zigi in goal. The fullback positions were occupied by the experienced Denis Odoi and young Gideon Mensah. The centre back pairing was of Leicester man Daniel Amartey and Strasbourg defender Alexander Djiku.##NAJAVA_MECA_7126058##The midfield double pivot consisted of Thomas Partey and youngster Edmund Addo, with Ghanaian golden boy Mohammed Kudus tasked with being the creative hub of the team.On the flanks were the evergreen Jordan Ayew and dribbling wizard Kamaldeen Sulemana with Inaki Williams playing as the lead striker.With both teams set on 4 points, Ghana were looking for maximum points at the epic Baba Yara stadium to make the home fans who had come out in full song jubilant.A LAST MINUTE WINNER 🔥The Black Stars shone against Angola 🌟 #TotalEnergiesAFCONQ2023 | @GhanaBlackstars pic.twitter.com/qPfoa6IfSm— CAF (@CAF_Online) March 23, 2023 Build Up PhaseFrom the goalkeper in the buildup phase, goalkeeper Ati Zigi looked to hoof the ball up field and let the team look to duel and win the second balls or the aerial battles.Ati Zigi was not very convincing when tasked with playing the ball out from low output to the CBs thus the team opted for long balls into the channels to duel for the second balls.In settled possession the Black Stars played put in varied formations, with tactician Hughton opting for a 1-2-4-4 shape and a 1-3-2-5 shape with emphasis on central overloads and wide overloads on the right side.Michael Olunga’s incredible 8-year journey with Harambee StarsIn this phase and the progression phase, the left back Mensah was tasked with advancing to add numbers in the attack and create a combination with lethal Sulemana.Arsenal’s Partey was the cog in Hughton’s machine. He is the major ball progressor in the team and looks to play and link the team’s defensive, midfield and attacking unit.It was no surprise he had the most complete passes in the game against Angola with a 91 percent passing accuracy seeing him complete 69 passes and create 3 chances with 12 of these passes into the final third, showing how crucial he is in getting the team ticking.How childhood dream made Sylvester Owino wait on K’Ogalo for five months despite transfer banProgression phaseHughton’s side looked to play close with short distances between the players, this was to attract the opposition and draw them out, and then they would look to hit the ball in the channels for the willing run of Jordan Ayew. The pass wide to Ayew was on once Angola jumped.In this phase, Ghana created a 2-1/ 3-2 baseline shape to bait the opposition into jumping on them centrally. This worked well for Hughton however the blunt lethal ability in the next phase was the one letting his team down.Creation PhaseGhana laid major emphasis on playing the ball into the right channel for Ayew, as highlighted earlier. On receiving the ball in the wide areas, the Ghanaians would look to play cutbacks or crosses as they looked to commit numbers in the box.Good marking from Angola looked to fizzle out this form of creation. Angola left backTo Carneiro was also up to the task in looking to stifle Jordan Ayew’s progression down the flank, he stayed tight and looked to deny crosses with good interceptions.𝑭𝒊𝒓𝒔𝒕 𝒕𝒓𝒂𝒊𝒏𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒔𝒆𝒔𝒔𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒊𝒏 𝑨𝒏𝒈𝒐𝒍𝒂 📸#BlackStars | #AFCON2023Q | #ANGGHA pic.twitter.com/OjEDerhSiD— 🇬🇭 Black Stars (@GhanaBlackstars) March 26, 2023 To counter this, Ghana looked to push Odoi further forward through overlaps and underlaps. The question of qualitative superiority had been well answered by Angola and thus the question of qualitative superiority had now been asked. This highlighted top tactical awareness from the Ghanaians.They now looked to overload one side of the pitch, their right side and then have an outlet in Southampton based Kamaldeen Sulemana, who is a live wire on the ball, he attempted 8 dribbles and had a 100 percent success rate. He looked to beat his man and invert to shoot after playing a quick one two with Kudus.8️⃣ MORE GAMES 👊Monday is about to deliver some brilliant #TotalEnergiesAFCONQ2023 football 😍 pic.twitter.com/Y52jH4WU3Z— CAF (@CAF_Online) March 27, 2023 FinishingWith the deep Angola block, Ghana were left with no option but to shoot from a distance, in this game they totaled 21 shots at goal, missing 3 big chances. They managed 8 shots on target and hit the woodwork once.The adaptation of inverting to shoot by the wingers was another key mode of finishing for the Ghanaians as they looked to beat their men and get into the box and shoot. This saw them have 13 shots inside the box.The main key point was how Mohammed Kudus and Inaki Williams looked to make half space runs to cause chaos in the Angola defense and create space for the winger to shoot.👋🏾 @Thomaspartey22 #BlackStars | #AFCON2023Q | #ANGGHA https://t.co/ESOET2NYiv pic.twitter.com/GMYPFnNJn3— 🇬🇭 Black Stars (@GhanaBlackstars) March 26, 2023 Out Of PossessionPressingGhana looked to press in a 1-4-3-1-2 shape, when Kudus pushed high alongside Williams to try create man to man situations on the sides. The press was done by enticing Angola to pass wide before the block matched up on that side of the pitch, having the ball far winger invert.Mid/Low BlockGhana employed a 1-4-4-2 shape in the midblock, with good communication in cover switches and sliding by the defensive block. They looked to be very aggressive in the duels as they won 52 duels compared to 47 duels won by Angola.The backline defended well in a block, however the main issue was when the defenders were isolated and caught out on transitions. The fullbacks Odoi and Mensah looked very shaky in 1v1 situations outwide and this saw them concede 6 crosses.Houghton’s team will also have to be sharper in defending set- pieces going into the next game in Angola as they had minimal first contacts on headers in the game.Going into the next game in Angola, it is early days for Ghana but a manager of such good repute like Houghton will clearly look to awaken the African giants. The Angola team will feel hard done by the 90+6 goal they conceded in Kumasi and will look to make amends.
