Insightful analysis by blogger Le Pastre

SUMMARY.
To me, a very balanced match though efusi just shades it in terms of possession and creativity in the middle of the park. Gor made more chances but only took one. Efusi utilized their chances. LESSON:: Always take your chances or you may just get punished by the opponent. This is wht my keen eyes observed.

SCREENING
1. When your team allows Shikokoti despite him being played out of position to look world class thn you know you have bigger problems on the day. This is exactly wht happened today- Gor Mahia made him look “world class”. He won most of the tackles and was first to every 2nd ball. Him together and Mudde screened their defense so well thus making our much revered attack look so ordinary and their defense so superior today. (SCREENING) is a must in modern world football.

PLAY MAKERS
2. Our midfielders couldn’t match the very fluid and creative nature of efusi’s forward play. We struggled to contain the intelligent and deceiving movements of Okwemba n Mangoli. We were out foxed by De Jong playing two Defensively minded midfielders in the name of Shikokoti and Mudde. While our midfield 3 of Baba, Eric and Wanyonyi kept on moving up and down the field, Shikokoti and Mudde operated just In front of the defense. They didn’t venture forward as exemplified by the former (Shikikoti) being the ever present first line of defense that we had to outwit to have a clear run at their defense.
(PLAY MAKERS IS A MUST) Eric and Baba are not play makers. While efusi had the creative genius of Okwemba and Mangoli, to rely on in the middle, we had the equally talented trio of BlackBerry, Rama and Wanyonyi. While Rama was denied space by the two banks defensive wall erected by efusi the other two were stuck on the wings. Hence our central midfield play lacked creativity. WE NEED A (CAM) central attacking midfielder.

WING PLAY/SYSTEM
3. Because we rarely stretched the play to the wings, we never managed to pull their defensive formation out of position. This contributed to their defensive play remaining compact and comfortable. Efusi employed relentless attacks from the wings using the pace of Keli and Ikenna and this created panic in our defense. This wing play also led to our defense having several one on one situations against their attackers once our defenders had been pulled out of position. Our failure to have had a designated player(s) screening our defense may have also caused us the first goal. Baba and Eric were all over the place instead of sticking to a given role. We needed someone to tail Okwemba in the 2nd half. Nobody did and thts why we most the midfield battle. Look at all the telling passes tht he played!!! For us, the only time we stretched our play to the wings we managed to score a very beautiful goal through Wanyonyi.

USE THE SQUAD STRENGTH.
4. Lastly, I want to urge BW to vary our attacking formation by regularly giving play time to Kopany and Obwoge. Everyone who watched the match can attest to the fact that, though Ikenna did not score for efusi he did a lot of the damage by hurrying up and keeping our defenders ever so busy. Efusi’s first goal was scored as a result of a dummy run made by Ikenna thus allowing Keli to break through and score. In contrast , Danny and Rama likes to operate off the defenders as they thrive on space. Once they are denied this as it happened today, they become ineffective. This is where tall and physical players like Obwoge can be played to vary the attack. All in all, it was a joy to watch Mzee Okwemba pull the strings and run rings around our players in the middle of the park. This is the area where we lost the plot as we failed to control the midfield. We did not get stuck in early enough to dictate the rhythm of play. We allowed Okwemba and his partner in crime, Mangoli to control this area of the field hence tormenting us on end.

We have learnt our lessons the hard way. Its time to regroup, reflect and correct the mistakes of today so that they don’t cost us any more Points in the remaining fixtures. Good luck team Gor Mahia in the remaining matches.