Article by Lee Chun Hang. Chun Hang is a data & tactical analyst from Malaysia and kept a running log of his thoughts during their opening 0-4 loss to Jordan in the Asian Cup.
02:11 – Offside being called, a first sign of the high line being implemented. Arif Aiman not consistent with the backline. It seemed like the back 3 is tasked to defend the entire width and centrally, too much ground to cover.
02:40 – Arif Aiman, dribbling infield, to combine with Afiq as he inverts through the central zones to advance forward. Plays a neat one two with Afiq to set himself free in the final third, free of his markers. Good play but pass at the end lacked weight and precision.
Idea seems to have Arif Aiman dribble through centrally and to act as the playmaker from midfield, to compensate for the lack of creative passing in midfield. Having him in deeper pockets would free him from man-marking to be able to move into the central zones. But when Arif goes central, Matt pushes down the right and he is isolated there.
02:48 – With Arif being in central zones in the half spaces, Afiq drops back to midfield, Matt is pushed down the right flank. Which means the defensive shape is inconsistent with the intention, there’s isolation created down the flanks that can be exploited in transitions.
03:37 – Malaysia committed 7 players to stop throw-ins from being advanced, but they still lost out to a header from Noor Al-Rawabdeh beating two men (Matt Davies & Afiq Fazail) in the air.
07:16 – Malaysia losing out on the Second Balls is why they can’t sustain real momentum going forward and also why each attack Jordan have sent via direct long balls look threatening. Junior wins the headers, but nobody picks up the loose ball or is in position to contest it.
09:21 – Observing the players movements into the box, it seems like the game plan was to send either Arif Aiman or Faisal Halim isolated, down the byline in hopes for a cross. It’s perhaps why Romel and Darren were selected together.
Though, Jordan figured it out quickly and had men covering the spaces down the line whenever they get the ball.
10:02 – It is perhaps worth noting that Corbin-Ong and Arif Aiman, during Jordan goal kicks, do get up the pitch and press the markers immediately, backing the press. Fullbacks of Jordan seems to be the pressing trigger.
10:35 – Jordan the more direct team, looking to utilize the pace to get in behind. A couple of runs now being made, some called offsides. This was intercepted well by Matt Davies.
10:40 – Arif Aiman gets to the second ball, drives through the midfield but lays a poor pass forward that is easily intercepted. Now, if he is meant to be the RWB, him heading up the pitch would leave a gap down the flanks, which is not covered by Afiq, which means Matt Davies is isolated 1v1 with his marker.
10:46 – Junior defends well 1v1, if there’s a 1v1 competition, perhaps he will win it for how dominant and aggressive he is in his challenges. He is quick to dive, decisive in the tackle but every tackled possession is swept onto an area in which Malaysia are not favourites to recover it. It’s almost as if his defensive efforts don’t stop attacks but only delay it.
10:52 – Junior didn’t have to dive in, considering marker #1 had nowhere else to go (but I have the benefit of hindsight). A sweeping tackle came by, and Jordan reclaim possession with Junior on the ground, whilst marker #1 continued making the run forward.
Matt Davies steps across to cover marker #1, by leaving his own marker #2 free on the wings, but failed to communicate this to Junior, who got up to mark marker #1. Yet again, Arif Aiman, who’s supposed to be the RWB should be back in position after his run through the centre but is still strolling in the opposition half. Afiq caught in no man’s land and suddenly a pass towards the flank meant it was 2 vs 0 (!).
Matt Davies then had to back paddle towards the right side again in a 2 vs 1 scenario into the box. It’s all communication issues, and a fairly simple one of telling either Arif to track back onto the wings or telling Junior to cover the wings.
11:13 – Here’s where the debate started – Arif Aiman retrieved possession just outside the box, within the half space area. Again, his body shape shaping towards his left gave his direction away and was immediately pressed and he lost possession.
Goal, 1-0 Jordan. Again, communication issues from the start would’ve prevented all this.
12:44 – A quick long ball forward to Romel but it’s easily dealt with by the defence and all of a sudden, we face a transition with half the players in the opposition half. Jordan had men waiting for the direct passes as well.
The gap between the midfield and defence also helps nobody – Stuart Wilkin in this instance is deeper and Afiq is higher up in this sequence. But Afiq looks to be the only midfield player in that central zone.
12:46 – Noor Al-Rawabdeh with a run to join the attack but Stuart passed on the marker to the defence when he should be following through. It was a misjudgement from Stuart’s part because it’s allowed Jordan to have 3 of their forwards pinning against 3 Malaysian defenders.
But more importantly, Matt Davies had to cover for his teammates’ indecisiveness again by leaving his own marker free on the flank. Once again, Arif Aiman is not in position as the RWB to make a proper intervention.
12:51 – The free marker eventually capitalized on the space with the pass sent directly towards him. Sets himself up with a loose touch but uses the momentum to carry his body forward by going inside, which effectively means Matt Davies had to stop his momentum abruptly to change his direction with the marker, which is always the danger when running back towards your own goal because whilst the marker used his momentum to his advantage.
Matt had to readjust his because he is not in control of the situation, no defender ever was in that moment. He gave away a foul and it’s 2-0 Jordan.
21:06 – The idea of having Faisal Halim with Arif Aiman on the right was the combination both could do with each other. But Jordan had their players closing in on them whenever they threaten in the final third.
Al Rawabdeh acknowledged the space allowed for Arif Aiman and curved his run purposefully to deny any chances. It seems pre-drilled. 4 vs 2 down the right flank.
23:16 – Rotations occurring on the right side, as Afiq moves to RCB, Matt further up the pitch as Arif pushes even higher up as a RW, as Faisal drifts into CAM. The idea of the long passes seemed to be direct into space, Dion with a misjudged lofted pass towards Arif on the right was never going to work.
24:23 – Arif and Afiq committing towards the same player, pressing down the byline but the ball is squeezed pass the both of them to set a Jordan player free. Matt once again isolated with no cover from the midfield nor his wingback.
24:30 – Not too sure about Matt Davies’ 1v1 stance with his hands on his back. Personally feel like the arms are important for making yourself big and help create separation between dribbler and ball.
He doesn’t tackle using his left foot despite at a nearer distance, prefers to sweep across the ball using his right foot, but dribblers easily bait this movement by knocking it towards the other direction while having him unstable.
29:25 – When Malaysia goes forward and they do reach the final third, it’s 4 other players will make runs occupying different zones across the width of the pitch. But that means the rest defence shape may be at risk for the number of men they commit.
This transition had 4 Jordan attackers against a rest defence shape of 3 CB and 1 DM.
29:42 – Dion Cools with another loose pass that gives away possession cheaply.
30:25 – Seems to be a tactical change with Afiq moving into CB in possession to start build-up, Matt moves to RB, Dion moves to LB. Faisal being granted a free role to roam centrally whenever Arif is occupying the right flank, meaning he is somewhat the extra men in midfield, alongside Stuart. Corbin and Arif wingers, Darren and Romel strikers.
31:06 – Dion retrieves the loose ball at LB and goes on a run, playing a one two with Corbin. Pass was poor from Corbin, Dion forced into a bad pass himself. But at this point, when possession is surrendered, the rest-defence was almost non-existent. Corbin too high up to cover for the winger in the defensive half.
Junior is not nearly as quick to cover the space nor agile enough to get across, distance between him and winger was too big, let the winger dictate the play while Junior delays the attack in hopes of getting more men back. At least this time, Arif tracks his marker on the right flank. Matt and Arif however, failed to step up to play the offside trap on time.
41:50 – Tactical change ensures there’s more options deeper in the first phase, but the midfield is still empty, with one dropping to become a CB as Corbin pushes higher. The central midfield is always overwhelmed and outnumbered, with the gaps towards the strikers too large.
44:08 – Matt carries up the pitch to combine with Arif and Faisal but loses the ball and gets countered. Normally, the CB or CM will be pushed towards the wide flank to cover for the overlapping RB, but in this case, they were stuck centrally, which left a free man.
44:13 – Good recovery from Junior, striker had the run on him, but he recovered as he covers the far post area, which meant Syihan only had to block the near post zone, which was anticipated.
45:00- Second half, 343 again with Shahrul Saad as the RCB.
52:03 – Matt Davies as the RWB solves the issue of not having Arif Aiman back in position to defend the winger. Backline looks much more settled when defending. Though it does look like they are looking to force the play wide, making the central spaces compact.
53:50 – Nice dribbling to carry the ball out from the back by Stuart. Perhaps what was desperately needed in the midfield was a carrier that could play out from Jordan’s press. Stuart is best suited in these tight situations. Does well to carry it forward but not utilized nearly enough.
54:29 – Without Darren inside the box, only Romel acts as a likely target for the aerial battles. Yet, Malaysia still looks to attack from the wings due to the lack of options and support in the opposition half. Jordan’s defensive line is close with their midfield line. They have sufficient men back to defend every time.
55:15 – Perhaps the only time Malaysia could attempt a creative pass from midfield because of Stuart Wilkin’s deft touches to bring the ball away from the defender. He is good at generating that tiny separation.
56:00 – Again the pressing trigger is at their fullbacks, Corbin-Ong wins the ball but Jordan still looks in decent shape due to the numbers they have back. They don’t commit fully during their first phase of play and are always tight with the strikers.
60:00 – Malaysia’s best bit of play came with patient build-up and not with direct long balls towards the wide areas before a hopeful cross is sent into the box. It happens when Shahrul Saad recovered a loose ball by stepping up the pitch and playing it safe.
Malaysia’s 3-1 build-up shape still evident but this time, Jordan seems to have lowered their line of engagement, more space in midfield. Stuart brings the ball forward and baiting players out of position as he occupies the half space upon releasing it back to retain possession.
And with this, Malaysia has 6 players occupying the front lines, two on each wing, two on each half spaces and two centrally. Players were closer to each other to combine, and quick passes were finally made to free up spaces.
Shot was decent, but the build-up showed promise when Malaysia remains calm in their approach. Though, must be said that Jordan had been conservative and sat back for most of the instance.
72:06 – since the second half started, Dion Cools has been making more advances towards the middle third to progress play forward in build-up. He is making great passes beating the first line of press, finding Afiq and Stuart.
Though, I’m not too sure how much of that is credited to the space being allowed by Jordan’s change of mentality.
81:38 – Shahrul Saad was an important sub. His composure was needed at the back, alongside his positioning and temperament to play at defence.
It also allows Matt Davies to play closer to his best position at RWB and offering more defensive coverage than Arif Aiman.
83:59 – There appears to be a physical mismatch between Malaysian wingers with Jordanian players. The wingers thrive in spaces where they can take the extra touch and move around but the space is more often denied with one arm across the chest to stop their movement.
84:43 – Long ball forward hoping Paulo will beat two men in the air from Safawi. Ball gets cleared away and the following ball was played directly through to Musa for his goal.
Perhaps it’s easy to put the blame on the high defensive line, but the real problem is the way Malaysia keep defaulting to long balls into the box when the opportunity isn’t there, and despite the multiple players close by that could be played through. Players were not in position to protect the transition and that’s how Al-Taamari scored.
90:00 – High line was not the primary issue here, it’s the build-up (or the lack thereof). The idea of a high line is to compress the space between defence and midfield, so that there’s more combination available for quick, short combinations. The problem here is that Malaysia’s 3-1-6 shape, makes it difficult to build the play up with limited options deep. The team’s entire first phase build-up was reliant on long balls.
Hence why the starting 3 CBs were attempting long, direct balls (28 long balls from Dion, Matt, and Junior) towards Romel (the only physically capable forward Malaysia have). He won only 5 aerial duels the whole game (50% success rate), but even with him winning the duel, nobody is capable of beating Jordan in the second ball, and they quickly lose momentum and have to face the transition. “The quicker the ball goes up, the quicker it comes back.”
Transitions were therefore the killer (and has been for the longest time). Now, this is very easily blamed on the high line for the amount of chances Malaysia concede by having Jordan attackers exploit the space behind. But that was merely a direct result of a poor build-up and a non-existent defence in place to cover for the counters (it’s called a rest-defence, and with as many as 6 players high up, it’s no wonder the defence gets bullied).
Full-time whistle comes and the team were down on their knees, Dion was on the floor. The energy expansion in this game was not sustainable whatsoever. The players gave it their all, but the build-up structure had failed them.
Asian Football Analysis Zone 
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