The Wide Duel V

Sébastien cleared his throat with a few coughs, followed by a sip of water as he recollected his thoughts during this moment of rest. "1—1 at the break. It has surely been a competitive half for the first 45 minutes. What do you think Horace?"

"Better.... It's a much better showing from Le Havre compared to their last game. They have found a successful attacking strategy, which they were void of when going against Amiens. A simple, direct, wing play strategy to get the best out of their players."

The talkative commentator nodded. "Definitely. And do you remember how dangerous Eze look down the right wing? I thought his crosses might be converted into a goal if Bernard Pape somehow connect them with his head."

"Yeah. Aggressively attacking down the wings. This forces Lille into a dilemma, and it's one that I haven't thought of before."

Sébastien raised his eyes as he glanced at the pundit. "Oh?...."

Horace, seeing that his partner has yet to identify what he was pointing out, explained patiently. "Le Havre is using the entire width of the pitch. The wide players all hug the lines and I am confident this is intentional."

"Huh? But isn't that what every team do?"

"No. Le Havre is abusing how Lille is forcing the play out wide. The Home team defends very narrow and leaves space in the wide areas. But by using extremely attacking players down the flanks that couldn't be offered an inch of space, especially not creative players like Chevalier that can deliver killer passes, they draw the Lille full-backs wider. And this is intentional, to allow players to exploit that space between centre-backs and full-backs."

"Think about it! Severin being at that place at the right time to score that goal wasn't coincidental."

Sebastien nodded: "You're absolutely right. The thing is, this strategy isn't a new one. Many two strikers system does something similar. Like the 4-4-2."

Horace nodded his head as he saw the connection. "That is a valid point, but I must also point out Lampard also did something similar at Chelsea under..." the old man resisted a laugh as he thought of his next words, "the Special One."

"The Special One..."

.

The two teams once again lined up on the footballing field under the direction of the referee. The official, always mindful of the time and regularly checking his watch, is attentive to the finer details. Under his orders, the twos sides prepared for the kickoff, as he eyed the ball placed in the centre circle.

The referee blew his whistle crisply, followed by the passionate communicative voices of the two sides. The second half of Lille vs Le Havre has begun.

The previous carefree attitude of the Lille youth players has long been wiped off their faces following the equaliser that had shaken them to their core. Under the repeated smacking from Manager Mikael and their lacklustre defensive efforts, the players have seemingly rejuvenated their spirits as they sparkled their inner lions.

This... This is what the coaching staff was afraid of. Mikael's Lille team is different, even alien in that his players are trained in different out-of-possession tactics. His team is adaptable, playing a defensive strategy that is hard to define.

Kai defines it as a "Hybrid System", in that Lille switches between a zonal and man-marking system throughout the game. Under the careful approach in the first half, Lille used a reserved zonal marking system that limited risks. But now they have switched it up, using a man-to-man marking system instead.

All of a sudden, every single Le Havre player sudden found themselves with much less time on the ball. As each pass they receive is never uncontested. Everyone from defenders to attackers is marked one way or another.

Lanier inched closer to the pitch as he analyse the events on the field. This sudden change hadn't taken him by surprise, largely thanks to the opposition report delivered by Hugo. But there wasn't much the tactical coach needed to do, the players must be able to read the situation by themselves.

Only 10 minutes after the second half had begun, the backline of Le Havre found themselves in a tricky situation. Not to mention the extreme pressing that Lille have suddenly implemented, players found themselves making rash choices.

Goalkeeper Faira is blessed with the ball as he placed the ball at the edge of the penalty. This was what he earned after a sot gone just wide from Lille's devastating counter-attack. Faira placed the ball on the ground. As he backed up for his run-up, he couldn't help but shake his head as he reads that no player is open for the pass. Left with no choice, Faira signalled everyone to get up the pitch, waving them on as he intend to do a long kick.

The ball came looming over the sky as Faira kicked it high in the air. He couldn't risk Lille stealing the ball in their half, so he took the safe route and cleared the ball as far away from the goal as possible. But a miscalculation occurred as he realised the long ball was going straight to Le Havre's right-wing, straight to none other than Benoit Leroy.

The nimble forward looked helpless as the ball loomed closer over his head. Leroy prepared his best as he strengthen his lower body as judged the correct timing for his jump. Yet all was helpless as a figure, using his arms and pushing them against Leroy's shoulders, headed the ball up the pitch in a domineering fashion.

Sébastien: "Lechantre is having none of it— and heads the ball up the pitch."

Océane Fay, the Lille left winger was first to the ball. He controlled the ball before him and dribbled up the pitch with deft speed. Exhilarated by the chance to go one-vs-one with an oppositional full-back.

The Frenchman charged, all the whilst keeping an eye on the Asian player in front of him. Fay stared as Kai as he dribbled.

Kai stumbled back as he kept the distance between himself and Fay. He eyed the ball with intensity as he was determined to stop the attack on its tracks. Using his peripheral, Kai suddenly recognised Fay leaning his body to the right, intending to cut inside the pitch.

Kai was having none of it, and when Fay attempted to use the outside of his foot to redirect the ball, he made his challenge. The full-back tackled the winger, using all his strength to win the ball back.

But what he wished hadn't been accomplished, as Kai stared blindly at Fay dribbling past him. One word resounded in his head: an Elastico.

"OCEANE FAY BESTS EZE DOWN THE WING! — FAY...."

A simple feint sent Kai to the shadow realm as the full-back was left sitting on his buttocks. Fay eyed in the penalty box, bodies are plenty as there are open Lille players everywhere. The counter caught Le Havre off guard, the red shirts outnumbered the sky and navy blue shirts.

"AND THE LILLE WINGERS CROSSES INTO THE BOX!!!"

There weren't enough players to defend the dangerous ball. Don't even mention the Le Havre defenders. Other than Faira who is in goal, there are only Allard and Simon that got back in time. The two panicked, the ball was edging closer and they couldn't close down all the angles. Dubreucq and Traver were nudging the two centre-backs as they fought for the best position, both eyeing the header that would send Lille back in the lead.

The ball curved slowly and gracefully across the penalty area. Nicolas Traver is the striker, Albert Dubreucq is to the right, but Traver eyed the goal first. He worked his head, aiming for the ball as the defenders were wasting their time as they were watching the inch-perfect trajectory of the ball.

"OHHHHH THE CROSS IS COMING IN! —"

Just an inch too high as the cross skimmed the top of Traver's hair. Allard wiped an invisible sweat as the danger dissipated away from his marker. The defender eyed his partner but was in disbelief as he found Simon in a mess, too focused on the ball and not paying enough attention to Dubreucq.

"THE HEADERRRRRR!!!"

Faira had a helpless look. The header was practically done at arm's length. There was no hope as the keeper couldn't possibly react in time to stop the header. Faira took the gamble, as he dashed away from the goal and spread his whole body wide eagle to cover as much angle as he could.

The cross was redirected by Dubreucq's forehead. Faira's eyes followed as he gape at the ball that got past his blockade.

The pundits were off their seats. Kai was already standing in a shivering fashion as he feared for the worse. The audience was on their toes, unable to get a word in as they witnessed the jaw-dropping moment that followed.

Manager Mikael was on all fours as he clutched his head, unable to comprehend what had just occurred.

"OH! HE'S HIT THE POST! — WHAT A LET-OFF FOR LE HAVRE!"