Unable to secure a ticket for the O’s clash with Maidstone on Tuesday, I went up to Boreham Wood to take a look at them ahead of Saturday’s game at the Breyer Group Stadium.
Wood were up against Gateshead, well known to the O’s after four encounters last season.
Boreham showed determination to take the lead at the very end of the first half.
Despite dominating the second half, they undid all their good work by conceding from Heed’s first corner of the second half in the 88th minute.
1. Formation and Tactics
Boreham Wood play a flexible 4-3-3.
Sometimes the width came from midfield, other times Balanta and Shaibu would drift out to the wings, with the midfield players tightening up in the middle.
The wingers played on the shoulder, successfully breaking free of the defence several times and latching onto through balls.
2. Two Big Centre Backs - Two Big Threats?
Wood’s two centre backs, Jamal Fyfield and David Stephens, were dominant in the air, confidently winning almost every ball, and effectively neutralising Gateshead’s attacking threat.
Fyfield is the more mobile of the two but neither looked particularly fast, which is something the O’s should look to exploit.
Stephens scored Wood’s goal and had at least one other chance from a corner. Both defenders worked the keeper and will pose a threat from set pieces, even though Murtagh’s delivery was mostly poor.
3. Are you Arsenal in disguise?
Wood like to play passing football, and on the occasions that they managed to string a series of passes together they looked impressive, aided by their pristine pitch which the Arsenal under-23s play on.
Orient must disrupt this game plan and prevent Wood dictating the tempo. Heed successfully closed down Wood, forcing them to hoof long balls over the top.
Playing route one football still allows their forwards to run into dangerous areas, but they had much less success with this tactic than they did passing through midfield or playing down the wings.
4. Quick, slick, and dangerous in attack
Wood have an impressive front three.
Angelo Balanta is a very skillful player who likes to dribble past defenders and shoot from the edge of the area. Brill will need to be on his toes as all three forwards will shoot from range.
On-loan strikers Sahibu (Brentford) and Umerah (Charlton) were a constant threat and created several good chances.
Sahibu was dangerous on the break. He picked up a knock in the second half so may miss Saturday’s game. His replacement Sorba Thomas put pressure on the defence with his pace, he may feature at Brisbane Road.
5. Could the left hand side be key for Orient?
In the second half Gateshead had several successful breaks down the left hand side. Wood’s defence is weaker on their right hand side.
Several times Gateshead’s wing back found himself with plenty of time and space to hit crosses after outpacing his marker. This could provide an opportunity for the pace of Koroma or the driving runs of Brophy.
Conclusions
Orient need to disrupt Wood’s passing and stop them getting into their stride.
Wood will be fired up after dropping two points, their manager will expect a response.
Orient should be able to stretch Wood’s defence with their pace, but they might find balls over the top get cut out by the big centre-halves.
