Posta Rangers have slowly but surely morphed into a top, well-coached side. Coach John Kamau and his technical bench have led the mailmen to third in the table, a point off second-placed Nairobi City Stars and 8 points off log leaders Gor Mahia.Posta have won 10 games, scoring 22 goals and conceding a paltry 11 goals, the second lowest after Gor Mahia.##NAJAVA_MECA_7863133##On Saturday, the mailmen came up against high-flying Kenya Police FC who had a spring in their step after bringing an end to the 19-game unbeaten streak of Johnny McKinstry’s led Gor Mahia.The cracker of a tie was set to take place at Kenyatta Stadium in Machakos, the first of two encounters at the venue.Coach Kamau set up a 1-4-2-3-1 formation on paper, with John Njau in goal as has been the norm. With the absence of their lead defender Ken Owino, who signed for giants AFC Leopards, new signing Christopher Oruchum started on the bench as youngster Ivan Ochieng was given his first league start.Patrick Otieno and Jackson Macharia were the striker and attacking midfielder while Shami Mwinyi provided the width on the left. The eye-raising player role change was the employment of Vincent Wasambo on the left and having Mwema Dicken in midfield to pair evergreen Brian Musa.Police set up in their favored 1-4-2-3-1, seeing one change from their win against Gor, Samuel Onyango came in for Alvin Mang’eni. The backline remained the same with David Ochieng and Mohammed Musa while Kenneth Muguna and Tito Okello led the line in the hunt for goals.Full-time Posta Rangers FC 0-0 Kenya Police FC Ten-man Rangers secure a point against the law enforcers. #FootballKE pic.twitter.com/MzWPvxjDY6— Ole Teya (@TeyaKevin) February 10, 2024 What was expected to be a firecracker of a tie took a very unexpected turn in the 6th minute when rocky Ochieng got sent off for a foul on goal poacher Okello who was through on goal, it was a game that had started with the law enforcers marauding the Posta’s half with good interplay to find David Okoth on the left.The red card saw some very tactical adaptations for Rangers. Before the card, Posta were taking up a 1-4-1-4-1 formation out of possession with a 3-1-3-3 in possession. Brian Musa dropped between the center backs with Dinken the main progressor in the second phase.AFCON 2023: Post-Match Analysis – Ivory Coast vs NigeriaAfter the card, Elvis Osok was sacrificed for Oruchum. This now saw a raft of personnel switch-ups. Out of Possession, Posta were now in a 1-4-4-1 midblock. The back four now consisted of Faustin Ojiambo and Mwema, who had been moved from central midfield to the right back.The midfield double pivot was one of Musa and Wasambo, Wasambo now from the right wing. The wing positions were now occupied by Mwinyi who kept his position on the left while Patrick Otieno was pushed to the right wing. Jackson Macharia led the line.This personnel shift came with playing patterns switched too as the backline remained in a rest defense form of 3-2 with left back Ojiambo maintaining his position on most occasions while Mwema had the freedom to push forward with Otieno moving inside next to Macharia in attack, on the rare occasions Posta did attack.The onus was now on the Police to break the resolute Posta Rangers block, however, maybe reminiscent of the 3-0 thrashing the law enforcers received in the first leg from the mailmen, Police were rather hesitant to push their lines high and reducing numbers in their rest defense, aware of the threat Posta posed in transition.In some instances, in the half, the Police would drop back into a low block, however, the backline of 4 was majorly only marking two players, which denied them the numbers in attack to consistently keep possession in the Posta Rangers half.Timothy Ndayala set for long periods on the sidelineBeing the astute tactician that he is Salim Babu rang in the changes, as his team needed more half-space and between-the-line operators, to be able to push his fullbacks higher. Who better to do the above than Kahata to operate between the lines with Mang’eni to operate in the right half-space. This saw the formation change to a 2-3-4-1 shape.This switch saw Police push Posta further back into their half, however, the duel ability of the mailmen knocked them out of any decent passing rhythm. Man, of the match Wasambo and Musa manned the midfield well. Oruchum also showed his brilliance especially aerially clearing crosses from the Police wide men.Man of the Match Posta Rangers FC vs Kenya Police FCVincent Wasambo “Crucial”#FKFPremierLeague pic.twitter.com/YPho1SR96H— FKF Premier League (@Officialfkfpl) February 10, 2024 The Posta Rangers side managed to hang on for a well-deserved point against a good side with ten men for almost all game. A proper shift was put in by the players and proper tactical acumen was exhibited.
