There are calls for national football coach Dennis Lawrence to either scrap his intentions to play possession-football or get instrumental midfielder Kevin Molino more involved in attack if the Soca Warriors are to advance out of the group phase of the CONCACAF Gold Cup in the United States.
These calls came from coaches Travis Mulraine and Ron La Forrest, both of whom are dissatisfied with the strategy used by Lawrence in the opening 0-2 loss against Panama at the Allianz Field in Minnesota on Tuesday night. Both qualified coaches agreed that there was a non-existent midfield when the defenders attempted to transition from the defensive third to the midfield area with the ball.
Mulraine, a highly qualified coach who has plied his trade at the Secondary Schools and Super League levels, believes Lawrence just does not have the players to play such a system. "I think we need to be realistic and use our strength, which is speed in attack. Because of this, we should consider playing a counter-attacking game from a 5:3:2 system, where Levi Garcia, Nathan Lewis, Joevin Jones or any other attacker can use their speed to get away on the counter-attack."
According to Mulraine, "During the current format and playing-style, there is no mobility in the midfield. This prevented the attackers from getting service of the ball to the goal. I think if we continue to play the possession-game, we could find ourselves at the end of a thrashing against the United States tomorrow."
La Forrest, on the other hand, believes Molino will be key, for the Soca Warriors to progress. "Lawrence has been trying his best, but his strategy cannot work if the attacking midfielders are unable to receive the ball and distribute to the strikers. Molino was no-way to be found when the ball entered the midfield area, and therefore the Panamanians were constantly winning the ball and moving into quick attacks."
He added, "We have a good attacking force, which we saw it anytime Garcia picked up the ball and ran at the defence, or anytime Joevin Jones touched the ball. But Molino could not be found and they could not get the service they needed."
"In addition, most of the times the T&T strikers were too far away from each other, but generally, there was no one to control the game for T&T," La Forrest explained.
The Soca Warriors will next face the USA tomorrow in group D. They are currently third in the group following their 0-2 loss, coupled with Guyana's 0-4 defeat by the host. With two teams advancing from the group, the Warriors need at least a point from the encounter, as their match-up with Guyana on Wednesday is being seen as three points in the bag.