‘Nothing too elaborate’ – New Crawley Town head coach Colin Kazim-Richards explains tactical shift that beat Gillingham
New Crawley Town head coach Colin Kazim-Richards explained why he opted for the simpler approach that earned the Reds a 2-0 win over Gillingham in his first game in charge.
Taylor Richards and Tobi Adeyemo scored in stoppage time to give the Reds a first win in 11 games – and their new boss the perfect start to life at the Broadfield Stadium.
In his first-ever match as a coach, Kazim-Richards started Adeyemo and Danilo Orsi up front together – a set-up that many fans argued former boss Scott Lindsey should have tried.
The Reds’ boss reverted to a back-four with Ade Adeyemo filling in at right-back for the absent Kellan Gordon.
Kazim-Richards was most pleased with the character his side showed in their new formation, particularly after Orsi was forced off with an injury after 48 minutes.
“It was just putting certain principles in,” he said. “There's not so much patterns and things like that yet, just obviously breaking down how Gillingham play and breaking down the areas where we can expose them in a 4-4-2 and letting the boys understand how they can affect the game, and that was it.
“Nothing too elaborate. That is for another day.
“In terms of what we needed for this game, I thought they executed the plan well – especially when you see one of the biggest characters in Orsi go off.
“I haven't seen him yet but if he's gone off, that means for someone like him it's probably not looking great. The character he is, you would have to literally drag him off the pitch, which was done.
“And then to still come through that, that's what needs to be done and that's what showed me more.
“We got the three points, but it showed me the character, and I hope it’s shown everybody outside the character of the dressing room, of the men that we’ve got in there, of all the staff – that we are on the same train, going to the same destination.”
The 39-year-old felt that Gillingham’s own altered set-up was ‘a tick in the right area’ for his side on Saturday.
“When I saw that, I was even more confident,” Kazim-Richards said. “It's not a formation that they’re comfortable with playing, and we thought that they would still try [and] get into the areas that they normally do.
“It's just a different formation setup. In terms of what they wanted to do, it would still be the same thing.
“And we had to compete with that because they're good at doing that. They're good at putting the ball in the areas that they want it to go to and then working off the seconds (balls), working off long throws and corners, etc.
“So, we had to compete with that, but I always believed. The staff, we all believed that we've got the quality to unlock.
“As you saw, the first goal from Taylor was a piece of individual skill, individual brilliance. But you have to be in the areas to get that and that's what I liked from us today.
“From the staff, that was the plan – get our players that are able to unlock doors, get them in the areas to be able to create, to be able to finish the action, to be able to score.”
Kazim-Richards will take on his first assignment away from the Broadfield next Friday when they face 22nd-placed Newport County at Rodney Parade – a game that will have huge implications at the bottom of League Two.