News from KCB FC insiders state that experienced tactician Zedekiah “Zico” Otieno will not extend his stay at the club after being with the Bankers for fours years means the bankers will be on the hunt for a new tactician. The well-funded football club will look to attain top status in the country, winning the league and representing the country in the prestigious CAF Champions League. With the pool of talent, an embarrassment of riches available to the club, this should not be an issue.In this tactical analysis piece, we set out to look at how Coach Zedekiah Otieno set his side up during the concluded 2022/2023 FKF Premier league season. Majorly basing on the team’s in possession structure and how this aided in how they were so solid defensively yet also harmed them on the goal scoring front. Under Coach Zico, KCB FC finished in 5th position, winning ten games, losing 6 and drawing 10. The team scored 37 league goals, the lowest return among the top 6 teams, while conceding a paltry 19 goals, making them the side that conceded the least amount of goals in the eighteen team league. Analyzing Mathare United’s downfall in the FKFPL – CEO Obure reflectsLocal football enthusiasts who have frequented KCB FC games will note that the KCB FC played with a solid defensive structure, vertical balance and the ability to launch counter attacks quickly through their neat combination play. In possession KCB FC looked to take up a 1-3-4-2/1-3-1-4-2 structure in possession, the central defensive midfielder, majorly former Tusker man Apollo Otieno alternating with Brian Ochieng dropping into the defense to form a back three, this action enables the centre backs to slide wide, pushing the fullbacks higher up. The wingers come inside, operating in the half spaces as they await on progressive passes, their action of coming inside also created room for the advanced fullbacks to receive the ball in optimal positions to cross.Noting that the in possession structure, Coach Zico looked to lay his emphasis on transitional play. In a 1-3-4-3 formation transitions are simple and quick to carry out. For KCB FC difficulty looked to arise due to the gaps left between the lines, and playing in a league that has major emphasis on a qualitatively superior attacking midfielder, to name but a few Victor Omune of AFC Leopards, Tyson Otieno of Kariobangi Sharks, Austin Odhiambo of Gor Mahia, John Mwangi of Nzoia and Duke Abuya of Kenya Police FC, Coach Zico had to have his team defend in a low block. When the wide forwards and wing backs would drop back, it became really hard to break KCB down, hence the low goals conceded ratio. The KCB FC low block left minimal to no space for opponents between the lines, this compactness was key as teams that managed to generate quantitative overloads against KCB FC were stifled too.Just as straightforward as the defensive transitions look as stated above, the attacking transitions are also quite straightforward too. Looking to attack with pace through the flanks, recipes for quick counter attacking football. The playmaker: Tactical Analysis of Muchiri’s season at Ulinzi Stars##NAJAVA_MECA_7354589##So how did KCB FC attack? When attacking in the final third, the KCB FC wingbacks pushed up level with the opposition defense line. Noting that most FKF Premier league teams defend with a back four, KCB FC were able to create an overload of 5v4 . The advanced fullbacks and inverted winger also enabled KCB FC to create 2v1 situations against the opposition fullbacks, this was a positive as the opposing fullback was always left in a limbo, not knowing who to pick up, as the league progressed more and teams analyzed KCB FC well most teams looked to add an extra defender during KCB FC final third creation and finishing phase to render the overloads created as null and void. Usually teams looked to drop a winger back or have a defensive midfielder drop to become a temporary centre back.With teams now having come up with a way to counter the overload, KCB FC needed a proper ball player to unlock defenses, credit to them they got a proper playmaker in Musa Masika. However the 1-3-4-3 in possession shape is not the best when looking to control a game of football. Why is this? Well when playing in a 1-3-4-3 players have a similar number of passing angles, stifling progression through neat central combination. KCB ( Blue) StructureThis lack of capitalizing on qualitative and quantitative superiotity against opponents seemed to hamper the goal output of KCB FC. The technical team tried to come up with solutions by looking to deploy the extra “forward” in the team as the central attacking midfielder, this action would see the forward drop deep to create central overloads. As much as this was to be the right solution the team never really capitalized on proper central penetration, laying emphasis on getting the fullbacks, Erickson Mulu and Kevin Okumu, on the ball, the two had proper technical quality in 1v1 battles on the flank and proper delivery. The progression through the wide areas ended up hampering the goal scoring output as in the FKF Premier league most teams have front foot aggressive defenders, especially aerially. To name but a few Brian Eshihanda of Kakamega Homeboyz, Boniface Andayi of Ulinzi Stars, Timothy Ekhavi of Kariobangi Sharks, Sylvester Owino of Gor Mahia, John Kuol of Mathare United and Randy Bakari of Nzoia Sugar – aerial duel monsters meaning they always looked to frustrate the KCB FC attackers when it came to aerial duels.In conclusion, the heavy transition based approach worked well for KCB FC, ensuring they shut out opposition attackers but it also worked against them as the transitional play and emphasis on wings and crosses hampered them in attack, leading to them not using the central overloads or qualitative superiority of their players between the lines well. It will be interesting as to how top tactician Zedekiah Otieno sets his side up next as with a coach of his repute, he will not stay out in the cold for long.
