How Otto Addo masterminded Madagscar’s 3-0 thumping with ‘strange’ line up

When the Ghana lineup for the Madagascar game was announced, the reactions focused on two poignant and significant issues. The first was the absence of the Bristol City striker Antoine Semenyo on the team sheet and the second was the strange backline which had both Gideon Mensah and Baba Rahman as starters.

The first one was addressed as it turned out to be a mistake by the Ghana Football Association but the second was left hanging with Ghanaians keeping close eyes on how it was going out to turn out.

The player positioning on the field represented a 3-back system with Gideon Mensah a player known for his attacking instincts as a left-back playing as the left of the three centre backs.

The set-up was a gamble of huge proportions and the eagle eye of Ghanaian sports journalists focused on how this experiment was going to work out.

The experiment worked to perfection as Ghana dominated the game and enjoyed a smooth transition from the back to midfield and to attack.

Ghana’s approach in the first half was overpowering the Malagasies by outnumbering them on the flanks and thereby creating overloads on their left and right sides. So even though, Dennis Odoi and Gideon Mensah were part of the three-back system, they were mostly in a more advanced role than Daniel Amartey who was the centre of the three centre-backs.

This allowed the wing-backs in Baba Rahman and Fatawu Issahaku to play more offensively thereby joining the front three of Dede Ayew, Afena-Gyan and Mohammed Kudus. The Black Stars thus had it easy playing and pressing Madagascar from the centre line.

Again, playing Gideon Mensah as a centre back allowed a fluid flow of the ball from the backline to Baba Iddrisu who acted as the sole anchor with the special duty of starting attacks and breaking the opponent’s attack. Just as Mensah on the left, Dennis Odoi did the same on the right.

This is Otto Addo explaining the set-up and key role of Gideon Mensah after the match.

“He played well against Nigeria and in training. Especially when I know that we are the favourites [against Madagascar] and we have the ball more, I feel more comfortable if somebody can move with his left foot. Actually, our number 6, Baba [Iddrisu], was mostly free and it is more difficult, from the left side, to play to him with the right foot,” he explained.

“So if we have a natural left-footer, we can use that space more and we can play to Baba much easier than a right-footed player. That was the reason why I decided to play Gideon there. I know he is capable of good defending, he made some good tackles as well. Gideon is capable of so much more and maybe he doesn’t know,” he added.

So, it will be observed that in the first half especially Ghana dominated but had most of its chances from the flanks with Issahaku and Jordan seeing most of the ball.

In the second half, however, after more than five minutes of no goal. Mohammed Kudus dropped a bit deeper and assumed the playmaking role which meant that Ghana’s transition from midfield to attack was going to go through him.

Fatawu Issahaku moved to midfield with Andre Ayew shifting to the flanks and this created space in the middle with Issahaku’s ability to dribble and shorten opponents which freed up spaces for the Ghanaian players on the flanks.

So, in the first goal, Dennis Odoi who had acres of space on the right bumped forward and found Afena-Gyan whose low cross was connected by Kudus who run from deep midfield unchecked.

The second goal was clearly from the training ground with Jordan taking a short corner to Gideon Mensah who found Afena-Gyan with a tailored cross.

Here is ace journalist, Atta Poku explaining the approach in the second half which created openings in the Malagasy defence and led to the three goals.

“In the first half we attacked through the flanks and left the middle but in the second half, we attacked through the middle and the flanks. When the going got tough he switched Jordan and Fatawu and later switched Fatawu into midfield and put Dede on the flanks. They were stretched which created gaps in the middle. The first two goals came off it,”.

It is easier to write off Otto Addo’s tactics by looking at the opponent but clearly, he has got a plan and is one that Ghanaians can trust to achieve something with the Black Stars.

His assistants also deserve some praise for their role in the victory as well. According to 442Gh journalist, Frank Darkwa, Chris Hughton descended from his sitting place to engage Otto Addo and pass on some information after the game remained goalless some minutes into the second.

Not long after their brief discussion, Ghana scored.