USBG: Takeoff | La Presse de Tunisie

No more wasting precious points for the “Yellow and Black” of Ben Guerdane.

With three consecutive matches without a victory and a drop to fifth place with 9 points alongside AS Soliman who is making a strong comeback, USBG is more than ever at a crossroads. This top match against Imed Ben Younes’ OB is of paramount importance for the proteges of the new coach Mohamed Ali Mâalej who has taken the place of Ramzi Jarmoud. “It’s not easy to start with a big challenge to overcome and I don’t have a magic wand to restore the reputation in my first match,” he said as his first statement. “But we are here to take on this heavy burden and try to get back to good results.” Mohamed Ali Mâalej has the advantage of having a good, rich, and varied squad. What is not working? A mainly moral slump and a problem of efficiency in attack. The last defeat against ES Metlaoui by three goals to one clearly showed this. After doing the hardest part and opening the scoring through Nassim Sioud, USBG did not push the pedals and inexplicably sank by conceding three goals in the last 20 minutes. Due to a physical drop in performance? Certainly. And also, there was poor tactical management in the second half, especially after opening the scoring which should have been a real catalyst. What can Mohamed Ali Mâalej do to start saving the increasingly worrisome situation? Regain the physical freshness of the group, work on the morale of his team, and provide good coaching for a decisive match. It may seem easy on paper, but it is not so straightforward against a rejuvenated Béjaois side. There is a defensive problem to solve at the central defense level after the departure of their key player, Chawkhi Ben Khedher, to CSS. Finding the right formula with the trio of Mohamed Amine Belakhel, Aziz Boucetta, and Rayan Haddad. There are other offensive animation formulas to try with a variety of choices of attacking midfielders (Houssem Habbassi, Ayoub Mcharek, Ayoub Châabane, Mohamed Nasr Hamed, Junior Bida, and Youssef Mosrati) to avoid confusion in tasks and find complementarity in the profiles of the starting players. Finally, there is an adjustment to be made in the attacking line so that the duo Mohamed Ali Amri-Nassim Sioud can regain their spark and effectiveness with a chance to give Amine Khalloufi another opportunity as a right-winger. Unlike other teams, USBG does not have a squad problem. They just need a few adjustments and a little spark.