The no-name coach of Reims is a fan of Football Manager.
Reims is incredible. This time the team turned the match with Lorient - losing 0:2, was able to win 4:2 - and brought the unbeaten streak to 15 games in all competitions. The last defeat happened on September 18 - from Monaco, when Alexander Golovin scored the winning goal.
The whole season of Reims is like a game with Lorient: at first, they started terribly and changed their coach, but then it went: now everyone is shining there, and in the role of hero, the scorer, loaned from Arsenal, and the no-name head coach, known for his fandom from games in Football Manager is Falorin Balogun and William Still, respectively.
How did it happen?
Reims finished 12th last season - quite a success for a poor club. Oscar Garcia gave the team football with active flanks, with three defenders. The main tip was Hugo Ekitike, who now plays for PSG.
In the new season, things could have gone better for the Spanish coach, and Reims was not far from the relegation zone for the first 10 rounds and sometimes fell there. A dismissal followed, but no someone with a name came to Garcia's place, but an unknown assistant to the Spaniard - 30-year-old Belgian Will Still.
Will Still is a fan of Football Manager. The game allows you to feel like a coach and "pump" the team: take a real club and bring it to victory in tournaments. Naturally, everything is in the most realistic conditions. Still from childhood, along with his brother, he took West Ham, whose fans they are now. The coach later said that that experience helped him in his real coaching career. As you can see, it works well!
But Still needs to be a tactician. He is the same guy who plays to destroy the opponent's ideas at the expense of the unity of his team. Will works with the team and tries to create the most comfortable conditions for all the players, both on and off the field. And here he is helped by extensive experience as a video analyst - he worked with him long before he got to the post of head coach.
After his appointment, Reims changed a lot. The team abandoned the three-back game, began emphasizing possession of the ball, and destroyed attacks even more - even if it meant resorting to dirty fouls. Still, he, trying to start his playing career, played in much the same way. In one of the interviews, he called himself a "dirty bastard" - for the style of playing in the selection.
Another essential feature of Still's Reims is high competition in all positions. He tries to push the players, and they respond with a better game. Many have added under him, but not Folarin Balogun: he was beautiful under Garcia, and now he is also shining under the youngest coach in the top 5 leagues.
Folarin Balogun - is in incredible shape
Folarin is a 21-year-old striker and the same talented guy who can't find a place in a top club. Simply because there is competition and stars in the attack. In the case of Balogun, such a club is the London Arsenal, of which he is a graduate. This season, he had no choice but to go on loan.
Folarin is physically strong but at the same time a high-speed forward. He often runs behind defenders and looks for free space to rush one on one with the goalkeeper. But at the same time, he scored most of the goals when they "loaded" him from the flank: either he would substitute his head or leg, then he would bounce to the right place.
To come to a team where another talented forward shone last season is a challenge. Folarin successfully coped with it and even broke the club record right off the bat - he scored in each of the first three matches. Now he has 15 goals and the title of the best scorer of the French championship, as well as a crazy fact: as much as 54% of the team's total goals is the best indicator in the top 5 leagues. Arsenal does not have to worry about their future. And Reims can only admire and continue the crazy growth.
03.02.2023