Unlocking the tactical secrets behind Murang'a Seal solid defence

League new comers Murang'a Seal are slowly but surely proving to be a force to be reckon with in the league.

Their most interesting stat is the three goals they have conceded in the eight fixtures played thus far.

Under the tutelage of coach Gabriel Njoroge Seal, are thriving. In this piece, I will be revealing how the team has been managing to have a solid backline.

In defense, consistency is usually the name of the game.

With Boniface Munyasa in goal, the most consistent players in the backline, though slight tinkering has happened in the last few games, are right back Dennis Munyovi, left back Samuel Semo, and centre backs Peter Mwaura and Marvin Brian, with Victor Odhiambo always ready and called to as a centre back option.

Vertically compact and horizontally compact. That is the motto of coach Njoroge's side.

Seal are good in positional sense out of possession. The midfield is their most paramount component too, as it is where they decide how the other team attacks.

When Seal are defending, when the ball reaches the opposition fullback or wide centre back,their line moves ball-side, preventing obvious passing patterns.

Usually, the exterior central midfielder will look to jump to either press or defend the half spaces. This is where Muranga Seal keeps their clean sheets.

In football, it is widely known that most teams that play in mid- to low blocks struggle to keep clean sheets because of their traditional way of conceding any high XG chance: the half-space diagonal ball that is now being taken up by most Kenyan teams.

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Seal, however, have a way to prevent this by positioning their two central midfielders in both half-spaces with the strict instruction of tracking any possible inward movement.

We will now delve into the stats a little to show the resilience without the ball that they have.

In their first league encounter against Shabana FC, Seal had 15 possession minutes compared to Shabana's 21, and they conceded an XG against of 1.40.

With the coach Njoroge’s side averaging only 43% possession, yet with their 0.67 XG, they won the game 0-1 from a long ball. Resolute!

Shabana on the left while Seal on the right data viz

In their league game against a stubborn FC Talanta side, Seal had 12 possession minutes against Talanta FC's 17 possession minutes. Yes you read that right. Talanta had more possession minutes against a team!

In this game, Seal’s block worked well, but they did not create enough chances.

Against Shabana, they matched the Kisii-based side's chances created, while here they let Talanta create three more than them.

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Their block worked rather well despite the loss, with good communication of switches and timely interceptions in their own half. What hurt them again was their attacking output in this game.

From the two contrasting matches, we can come to the consensus that Murang’a do not have to blow you off the park or anything to get a result.

They just have to at least match your attacking output, and then their block will do the rest for them in not conceding. The devil is in the details.

Back to the defending now, an interesting tactical aspect for Seal is when the ball is in front of them, you can see the flawless shape coach Njoroge has drilled into them.

When defending in a block, the key words are spacing and isolation.

Seal often make sure to strip opposing players of any central space and thus are obliged to play into the wide spaces; evidently, they are good at defending the crosses.

They restricted Talanta to 22% cross-accuracy from 27; only six were on target. Commendable when noting that Talanta is arguably the best cross-threatening team in the league.

They recognize the threat of set pieces that include throw-ins. To alleviate this threat, they try overloading on long freekicks and sacrificing one player to hold off an opponent; these are but some of the tricks up their sleeve.

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A textbook example on how detailed they are on set plays is their game against christened FKF PL set piece kings Shabana.

In order to score goals, Seal use calculated circuits. They employ long vertical passes either down the side or through the lines received by an advanced midfielder or winger who lays it off to any onrushing player.Cue their goal against Nzoia Sugar FC.

It will be interesting to see how the resolute Seals block fairs as the league drags on, but so far so good

Seal are showing that there are different ways of playing football and getting results.