KCB 4 City Stars 0: KCB invite City Stars before exploiting spaces behind them.

City Stars suffered a humiliating defeat in the hands of KCB. A brace from Jacob Keli helped KCB get a four nil win over the Kawangware based team who seemed out of position and lacked structure at the back.

STARTING XI



The Starting XI



Both coaches opted for a 4-4-2 formation.

James Otieno paired Dennis Omondi and Joseph Kangata in central defense, Michael Oyando and Brian Osumba in central midfield and in the flanks he had Benjamin Chaka and Geoffrey Maina for KCB.

Francis Thairu wasn’t available for selection and Gideon Ochieng picked Alex Nyamweno to partner Dan Sserunkuma in attack. Dennis Okumu and George Mwangi were in central midfield.

KCB’S STRATEGY

Surprisingly, the home team KCB were happy to sit deep in the opening stages and counter. They didn’t try and press their opponents but allowed them time on the ball and invite them forward hoping to exploit the spaces left behind by City Stars.

It worked well for them – City Stars’ players moved forward leaving spaces behind them uncovered. They didn’t support each other and they paid the price.

KCB played quicker passes to Michael Oyando and Jacob Keli while increasing the tempo of the match and took control of the match.

PETER ASHANGO

In the beginning you would think Ashango was ordered to move high up, push Levy Muaka up or force him in and have City Stars switch to a back three. Instead the other defenders didn’t spread out to cover the space vacated by Ashango.

Peter Ashango was poor in defending and was easily dragged out of position on several occasions.

KCB on the other hand took advantage of it. They had players – especially Jacob Keli - moving wide into that zone and the other players tried to get the ball to the right flank – most attacks City Stars faced came from their left flank.

SUBSTITUTES

All six changes were made by both teams but only one of them had an effect on the teams’ play. The others were a) injury forced – Peter Odhiambo replaced the injured goalkeeper Ronny Kanguzi – and b) direct swaps – Mark Makwata on for Levy Muaka, Joseph Apindi for Joseph Kingata, Bernard Meki on for Jacob Keli and Mungai Kiongera on for Brian Osumba.

But Alex Nyamweno’s, a forward, withdrawn for Boniaface Onyango meant that Dennis Okumu was pushed high up and George Mwangi now operated just behind Dan Sserunkuma as Gideon Ochieng tried to have the ball on his side. It went as planned as City Stars enjoyed a decent spell of possession but the problem was that they couldn’t penetrate. KCB maintained their structure at the back intact and strong. Frustrating City Stars.

CONCLUSION

James Omondi got his strategy correct. KCB played well with Jacob Kelly pulling wide, dropping deep and linking up play in attack giving City problems. Peter Ashango’s positioning also opened up a gap in City’s defense creating problems for themselves.

City Stars were very poor in defense and had no idea in moving forward. And despite enjoy a little spell of possession when Boniface Onyango came on, they still lacked that defense splitting pass in the final third and didn’t have the fighting spirit to get themselves back into the game.