Renard Hinging Towards An Attacking Formation

Chipolopolo Boys coach Herve Renard is weighing up the options of sending out an attacking team for this Sunday ‘s Brazil 2014 World Cup qualifier against Lesotho.

From Tuesday’s training session, the gaffer had midfielder Nathan Sinkala partnering Hichani Himonde as first choice and dependable centre back Stopilla Sunzu is a doubt for the tie. Sunzu is racing against time to be fit as he is struggling with a knee injury. Sunzu trained on Tuesday morning but missed the afternoon session

With Sinkala being used in defence, midfield maestro Rainford Kalaba, who has spent the last 14 months on the flanks featured in the middle of the pack alongside Isaac Chansa with the recalled Fwayo Tembo on the left wing.

Though normally Chisamba Lungu should take up the other slot on the right flank in what could be a fantasy but possible and effective 4-1-3-2 formation with the sight of seeing the talented trio Fwayo, Kalaba and Chisamba in the same line up tempting, Renard tried to play down that by swapping the Russian based playmaker but versatile Chisamba with Jonas Sakuwaha and Power Dynamos winger Kennedy Mudenda.

There’s also young Mukuka Mulenga pushing for a starting berth after he impressed with cameo appearance in all the three appearances at the African Cup of Nations.

With Zambia needing to collect maximum points against the Southern Africa minnows, Renard could be tempted to play Chisamba at right back and push Davies Nkausu in central defence and revert Sinkala to the holding midfield role and that could jeopardise Chansa’s position in the team if Kalaba starts in midfield.

Upfront the gaffer paired skipper Chris Katongo with Collins Mbesuma for the last 20 minutes and with Emmanuel Mayuka’s inactivity in England, the Frenchman is likely to go with the Katongo-Mbesuma combination though all three can start with Katongo deployed on the wing while Mayuka and Mbesuma as the twin strikers.

How they ended Tuesday Training session

————————————–Mweene————————————-

Nkausu———————HH————Sinkala——————–Mbola

————————————–Chansa——————————

Mudenda——————–Kalaba———————————Fwayo

———————C.Mbesuma—————–C.Katongo

Note: Isaac Chansa has to be disciplined in that holding midfield because normally he likes to surge forward as he is traditionally a box to box midfielder.

Tactically Renard should be debating if Chansa can have the tactical awareness of playing as a deep lying holding midfielder.

Lesotho will pack the bus and try to catch Zambia on the break but an early goal from Zambia could can change the dimension of the match as the home side might come out of the shell and be exposed, and floodgates could just open.

If Sunzu doesn’t recover –

Formation: A

————————————–Mweene————————————-

Chisamba———————Nkausu———–HH——————–Mbola

—————————Nathan Sinkala——————————

C.Katongo——————–Kalaba———————————Fwayo

———————C.Mbesuma—————–Mayuka

Note: With Lesotho likely to be compact, Zambia has to have full backs that can cross the ball. There’s also need to start with two upfront though a target man like Jacob Mulenga could have been preferred but in his absence it has to be Mayuka and Mbesuma.

If he chooses this formation, Renard again will be pondering the deployment of Chisamba at right back and then this could just push tempt him to go with another formation.

There could be eyebrows also on the pairing of Nkausu and Hichani in central defence

Formation: Fantasy XI in Sunzu recovers

————————————–Mweene————————————-

Nkausu———————Sunzu———–HH——————–Mbola

——————————Nathan Sinkala—————————–

Chisamba——————–Kalaba———————————Fwayo

———————C.Mbesuma—————–C.Katongo——-

Note: The other permutation is to have both Chansa and Sinkala in midfield in order to keep the balance of the team and then start with Mbesuma as a a lone striker.

A more realistic Formation

————————————–Mweene————————————-

Nkausu———————Sunzu———–HH——————–Mbola

Chansa———————Sinkala————————–Chansa———-Kalaba

———————C.Mbesuma—————–C.Katongo——-

The pendulum is swinging towards this formation as Fwayo could be a used as a wild card from the bench.

Posted by Editor on March 20, 2013. Filed under SPORTS. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry