Top of the league, we’re havin’ a . . . wait, wut?
| Emil Athlétic Club | 7 (+5 GD) |
| FC Twente | 7 (+2 GD) |
| FC Lorient | 6 |
| RKC Waalwijk | 4 |
| Toulouse FC | 4 |
| FC Nantes-Atlantique | 3 |
| ADO Den Haag | 1 |
| Heracles Almelo | 1 |
7 points from the first 9 is an excellent start for any team dreaming of promotion, but for the Defaults, it is mind-blowing. It might also be misleading, as the Lorient game was by far the softest any opposition has defended in our first 16 matches.
Is this the Scripting Sign I’ve been looking for? The moment where the Great Meta Plot decides it’s time for Emil AC to win a few? We can hope, but I won’t bet my year’s supply of Donkey Chow on it. The match against RKC Waalwijk was as grueling a pressure-fest as we’ve seen to date and it was only the mobility of Castolo in place of Hamsun’s strength that opened it up for us.
In fact, if I could surmise what I’m learning about the defaults so far, it’s that mobility and speed are probably the most desirable qualities for our lineup. By the numbers, Minanda and Ordaz are the best Defaults in their positions, but in actual game-play, Castolo and Fouque are far better choices because they are quick enough to make use of the ball once they get it.
Here’s another way to look at it – players of nearly any passing statistics can move the ball around and occasionally find a final pass. Players who are slow or clumsy are never able to evade aggressive defenders.
Ordaz, Minanda and Hamsun all suffer from a stuttering first touch and/or general sluggishness, which allows the nearest defender to charge them down and dispossess them, no matter how bad his initial positioning.
When I’ve paired the mobility of Fouque and Castolo with the speed of Ruskin and Macco on the flanks, we’re actually . . . (looks around) . . . dangerous.
