Match Report: Mullen vs. Battle Mountain

 Mullen vs. Battle Mountain

Location: Battle Mountain High School (0151 Miller Ranch Rd, Edwards, CO 81632)

Game Time: 6pm

*The transport will leave Mullen at 12:30pm. Boys should eat some lunch and then meet at the Spirit Center for departure. We will arrive in Edwards around Three o'clock, get some food, and then head to the school.

Boys will take the field at about 5:15pm.

Battle Mountain Strengths: 

BM has a couple particular players of interest:

Number 9: This is their utility sophomore who plays out on the wings either as a wing back or an outside back. He has had a fantastic season. He is dangerous on the dribble, he can shoot, and he kind of embraces this notion of anti-positional football. He'll go anywhere on the field. 

*We need to keep him contained, but most importantly, we need to track his runs. If he is at the outside back and makes a run all the way down field, our winger should not pass him off, he should follow him as long as is necessary.

Number 7: Looks like Christiano, plays like him, etc. He is dangerous on the counter, but mainly likes to keep himself wide and poach open opportunities. He can come inside nicely, he is a wonderful finisher, and he knocked us out of the playoffs last year.

*We need to try and limit his impact by pressing him hard and keeping the ball away from him by maintaining possession.

The 10 position: This position is played by a handful of different players, but they all play it very nicely. It is mainly defined by a delayed run to the top of the box. BM will swing it across the middle and then this player attempts to penetrate and shoot. This is most effective off a quick restart when the opposing team is out of position. We have to be aware of not only the desire to play this ball, but how effective they are at doing so. Expect them to swing it across the top of the box. Expect them to try to penetrate.

*The biggest thing with this is that the midfield can't be pulled out of position, especially our at home 6. He needs to hold the house to cut of this pass or pressure and contain the delayed run.

Additionally, BM has a long list of other strengths. Here are a couple themes:

1. They want to do everything fast. You name it, corners, set pieces, everything. (The only exception is freekicks on the top of the box, but sometimes they take those quick as well.) We have to always be prepared for the quick restart. We need to get in front of every freekick and we need to get ourselves in position immediately. Here is the biggest problem and why these restarts are so effective for Battle: People are out of position, they take the quick restart, no one knows who is supposed to pressure, so everyone pressures, Battle swings the ball around into open space, they penetrate the gaps left by out of position players, they score.

The biggest thing we focus on after a restart is regaining shape.

2. They are very talented in possession and they do well to keep the ball. This patience is a very effective part of their game. We have to match the patience and keep the shape, closing down shots and winning crosses in the air. If we scramble and dive in, they will just move the ball around us.

3. Wide wingers! They will sit their wingers all the way out on the side line a lot of times, trying to draw the outside back out of position. We need to combat this in two ways. One, we need to play our outside backs and let them get involved in the attack. The more we do that, the more it will pull the BM wingers back into their own territory. The other thing is that our recovery system has to be flawless. We need to close down players and recover to the middle. This will prevent Battle from swing the ball across into open lanes. Finally, our weakside winger (on defense) needs to account for their weakside winger. They are going to want to swing the ball quickly, and we have to be prepared to absorb that attack.

4. Their shooting is so good. We need to close down all shots and not let them get anything off without pressure.

BM weaknesses: 

There are only two that are particularly identifiable -

1. They sometimes seem to struggle to keep their head in games. We need to make sure to stay patient, disciplined, and focused. We don't need to crush them, we just need to score and not get scored on. That means we have to be clinical in our decisions. There will be opportunities to score in this game, probably not a lot, but a couple. Our main focus needs to be our shape, and keeping the ball out of our own net, and then capitalizing on the chances that present themselves to us. The longer we stay in the game, the more in our favor it becomes. The other piece of this is that BM has a number of instances where they let teams back into games. They don't recover well, they don't defend, and it opens the door. Even if we go down, we need to keep fighting to get back in. Legacy scored the first goal against Lakewood last night, but the 32 fought their way back. It is a good night for an upset :)

2. They are most vulnerable to the counter. They can get sucked high and we can get in behind. We just have to posses the ball, draw them out, and then look for opportunities to strike. If we play this game right, it is a good match up for us.

Mullen Keys to Success:

1. Discipline and shape

2. Possession

As you can see in the image above, we are getting pulled out of shape by the hope of winning the ball. Our weakside mid gets pulled high and to the flank, which drives our strong side mid back and in turn leaves our OB in no mans land. As a result, Regis is able to break out across the middle, and and our deep six gets isolated. When we lose possession, no one is in recovery and we get exploited on the counter. If the weakside mid holds his position, this play goes from being a counter attack into us regaining possession and being in on the attack. As discussed yesterday, it is the same dynamic as the second LC goal. We get pulled high on the weakside and when the play unravels, an opposing player who had failed to recover ends up being in the perfect position to attack (unmarked). If we hold our shape on the weakside, Battle will just give us the ball sometimes, but it will also allow us to absorb and mark their weakside players. We want to stay connected and move up with the game, but in a patient and disciplined fashion. 

Main things we've learned this season:

1. OBs, don't follow the runs of the wingers beyond your CBs

2. Come back to the ball, gain position, hold position.

3. Stay connected, OBs need to get up with the play and the press

4. Run the set pieces!

Set pieces:

(Corners)

Rio - Fake corner. One player goes and gets the ball and acts like they are throwing it to the other player. He plays them as soon as he steps on the field and we attack. The runners have to be sharp on Rio and ready for the fake play!

2- Short corner overlap. Attackers cover near, middle, far - slight delay on the run in.

3- short corner choice. The players taking the corner will choose to overlap or take on the player. Attackers cover all positions, and delay runs in.

Jolly - Bend it in the goal. Attackers cover all locations, especially back post. Anything that goes long should be headed back toward goal.

Bumblebee - cluster around the goalie inside the six. Ball should be played into the cluster. 

11 - Three runners at the near post, two at the back. The three runners circle around to the near post, middle, and far post, while the two at the back make direct runs across the goal.

Snake: 

For this corner, we will have two groups of two players at each corner of the six. They will make phantom runs where they appear to check away and then just bounce back. Two more players will start at the front top of the box and make diagonal runs to the back post. At that point an initial runner will sprint to toward the corner taker while the second runner trails. The corner taker will make a pass to the top of the box, the first runner will dummy and the second will strike the ball. 

Good luck!