“Malian coach Éric Chelle’s comments on Emerse Faé are making headlines on the web. The coach praised his Ivorian colleague but still aimed to defeat him in their next encounter.
According to the media outlet BBNEWS 225, Éric Chelle admitted that Emerse Faé is a high-level coach. Additionally, he stated that the Ivory Coast is a team to be feared due to their style of play.
“I’ve discovered the Ivory Coast’s game plan, which has now become a team to fear in Africa and Europe.
Excuse me for saying this, but it’s true. Except for the Ivorian goalkeeper, all other players play out of their usual positions, or I could say, in false placements on the field, and it produces perfect results.
That means a player pretends to play in their position, but in reality, occupies another position. Take the example of Wilfried Singo, the Ivorian right-back, who plays in position number 2.
In reality, Wilfried Singo plays in the position of number 7 to deliver crosses. Consequently, he, playing as number 7, assists number 9, which means Ivory Coast plays with 2 strikers, putting pressure on the opponent’s defense.
And when it’s like this, the player playing as number 9 comes back to help the midfield, and a midfielder comes back to help the defense. Consequently, the opposing team is encircled by this repeating game for minutes and changes after.
It’s the same with the left-back Ghislain Konan, who plays as number 2 in front of everyone, while in reality, he plays as number 11. Then, number 11 goes to help number 9 or comes to number 8, creating a different midfield from what’s on the match sheet.
Against Senegal, when Sébastien Haller came on, he didn’t play as number 9 but played in midfield. As for Christian Kouame, he played as number 9, and Pépé played as number 8. The Senegalese coach didn’t understand and conceded a penalty.
When Mali faced Ivory Coast in the quarter-finals, I wanted to do the same in the second half. But that’s what caused our defeat because it’s a difficult system to execute, but I will succeed.
Emerse Faé is a high-level coach, but at the 2025 AFCON in Morocco, I’m convinced that we will meet Ivory Coast, and I will make an effort to defeat this team, which is one of our biggest objectives,” Éric Chelle reportedly said. We will come back to this.
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