Tusker 2 Gor Mahia 0: K’Ogallo press in the early stages of the game but tire towards the end.

Gor Mahia suffered yet another humiliating defeat in the hands of Tusker.

Second half goals from Jockins Atudo and Patrick Kagogo ensured that Sammy Omollo picked up maximum points from the game.

STARTING XI

The Starting XI

Tusker started with a 4-4-2 cum 4-2-4 formation with Opiyo and Jerry Santos in central midfield, Mukaisi and Emeka in attack.

Gor Mahia started with a 4-4-2 diamond formation with Collins Okoth deep and Moses Otieno in the hole. George Midenyo and Baldin Ngwa the twin forwards.

TUSKER’S POSITIONING

Tusker have played a couple of matches this season with a 4-3-3 formation this season but against Gor Mahia they lined up in a 4-4-2 formation that switched to a 4-2-4 system when they were on ball.

With Paul Were benched, Kenneth Wendo and Patrick Kagogo were deployed in wide areas and they occasionally moved forward to join the attack of Mukaisi and Joseph Emeka when Tusker won the ball and dropped deep when they lost it.

Patrick Kagogo with his versatility did well in this role: he drifted in, stretched wide and tracked back to provide support to the left full back Humphrey Okoti.

GOR MAHIA EARLY PRESSING

K’Ogallo started the match the brighter side and it took a few minutes before showing their intent. Gor Mahia players had the energy and determination to win the ball back from Tusker. This worked well because Gor Mahia had the players who are capable of pressing high.

Baldin Ngwa and George Midenyo did exceptionally well in pressing the centre backs while Collins Okoth and Moses Otieno dealt with Santos and Opiyo in midfield.

An obvious question that came to mind when Gor Mahia showed their early pressing is will they maintain it for the entire match? Of course they didn’t and after Tusker had gone a goal up, they didn’t get the energy to fight back into the game and with the pace of Paul Were and Patrick Kagogo down the flanks, and they seemed vulnerable.

It’s worth noting that Gor Mahia conceded several fouls in the early stages due to pressing.

TUSKER’S STRATEGY

Tusker were reactive from the start and it did go well according to Sammy Omollo’s plan.

They were happy to sit deep and suck up Gor Mahia’s pressure before getting the ball forward at a faster rate hoping to counter spaces left behind by Gor Mahia. They managed to threaten more on second half using their pace. And on few instances, Emeka got a ball from the channels and a one on one situation with Wycliffe Kasaya.


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I must first mention the changed prior to the first goal. Paul Were replaced Mukaisi. Kenneth Wendo was pushed to centrally to join Emeka in attack and Were went to the right flank but Tusker maintained its 4-2-4ish system.

After Tusker got his goal via Jockins Atudo, Sammy Omollo looked to tighten up his defensive core and protect the lead; he made his second substitution by bringing on Fredrick Onyango in place of Joseph Emeka. And a switched to a 4-5-1 formation and it was clear that Gor Mahia were going to find it difficult in breaking Tusker’s defense.

Fredrick Onyango joined Peter Opiyo and Jerry Santos in midfield, the wingers Paul Were and Patrick Kagogo dropped deep on defensive phase. Kenneth Wendo was the lone forward.

Paul Were who was on the right switched flanks with the left winger Patrick Kagogo, who grabbed his goal while at right wing.

LATER STAGES

Gor Mahia’s changes maintained the 4-4-2 system but the new players were of different set of skills. A skilful Moses Odhiambo replaced George Midenyo who is more of an orthodox centre forward. A combative Kevin Omondi replaced a silky Victor Ali and Rama Salim who is more of a central winger replaced Ibrahim Kitawi who likes dribbling his way to wide areas.

Bringing in a combative player to the midfield areas seemed like Bobby Ogolla wanted the Tusker midfielders to be “bullied” and more energy in that region but Tusker on the other hand played well as a unit and were difficult to break down.

Gor players seemed tired that’s largely down to early pressing in the first half period and they found it hard to deal with the fact that they were down and fatigue.

CONCLUSION

A perfect day in office for Tusker who really needed the points (Gor did as well) to boost their form and recovery in the league after a few not impressive outings in the league.

Sammy Omollo got his plan right by allowing Gor Mahia time on the ball and having his team to settle in defensive phase before unleashing his attack. It seems Sammy Omollo prefers the safety first approach in his games – all goals they have scores in the league at their own backyard have been score after the sixtieth minute. A question for another day, from that stat, does it take his team a long time before settling in the game?

Gor Mahia had a brilliant start to the game and should have converted the chances they had earlier in the game because if it means they were to get tired of their pressing(in which they did), they would’ve at least sat deep to protect the early goals as they “rest”. And after they went down, they moved forward and couldn’t recover and this gave Tusker players an opportunity (especially Paul Were) to threaten with their pace.

Gor Mahia supporters didn’t take anything home in terms of points but at least they should be hopeful with what they saw in the early stages of the game: a good transition play and an all attacking Gor Mahia.
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