Köln head coach explains decision to sub off Said El Mala at half-time: “He simply wasn’t good.” | OneFootball

FC Köln’s young phenom Said El Mala may be the most talked about German footballer heading into the November international break, but the 19-year-old’s latest Bundesliga performance wasn’t particularly impressive. El Mala found himself taken off after 45 minutes despite the fact that his team was only trailing Borussia Mönchengladbach by a single goal. 

El Mala’s head coach Lukas Kwasniok – who has never been shy about stating that he feels the youngster has much work to do on his game – didn’t beat around the bush when explaining his decision. El Mala – who started alongside Marius Bülter up top in a 3-4-1-2 – wasn’t taken off (as one could surmise) as a tactical re-format. 

“He wasn’t good, so I took him off,” Kwasniok explained at the post-match press conference. “It’s as simple as that. He didn’t act the way I would have liked him to in defending against the ball.“

Kwasniok’s words notwithstanding, El Mala’s removal was part of a tactical re-format. Bülter slid over to El Mala’s slant while substitute Ragnar Ache (performing well recently) served on the right. Jakub Kaminski then moved up to take over for Florian Kainz (also subbed off at the half) while new introduction Sebastian Sebulonsen took Kaminski’s place at right wingback. 

The new shape was still roughly a 3-1-4-2, but plenty of slant switching and rotation roles were meant to confuse Gladbach’s tight man-markers. It worked to a certain extent. El Mala noticeably had difficulty squaring off against American Bundesliga veteran Joe Scally, who did well to shut down his counterpart of just three years (but 120 fewer Bundesliga games) younger. 

GGFN | Peter Weis