Chapter 257: Walsall
The noise about Jamal Osei's spot in the starting lineup didn't just vanish, but when the team sheet went up in the Broadfield dressing room on Saturday afternoon, the debate was put on hold.
Jamal's name was written right there in blue marker at the base of the midfield.
Niels wasn't caving to the boardroom or the media. The choice was purely tactical. He knew exactly what kind of game to expect.
Walsall hadn't come to West Sussex to play open football. They were a well-organized team, perfectly happy to sit deep and dare Crawley to break them down.
Against a team parking the bus, Kieron's aggressive energy wasn't what they needed. Niels needed someone to pick the lock.
He needed a player who could control the tempo, shift the defense around and thread passes through impossibly tight spaces. He needed his metronome.
Kickoff:
