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Some might say 4-6 isn't a bad result against the 3rd placed team but the truth is that 4-6 doesn't tell the whole story. I've just finished watching the game and it could have been 6-15 had it not been for the outstandingly brave heroics of Aitor. The defending from our team was poor. Well, maybe I'm being a bit harsh on defending because a few times we did get stuck in and made some tackles which the referee cruely punished us for but the most annoying thing was that they were given too much time and space on the ball when they were facing our goal in our half. The positioning of the defence was crap as they were always able to find a pass. Another annoying thing is the way 2 or 3 of their players found it so easy to run past our defence with no challenge being made nor any attempt or desire to chase and win the ball back. Lack of concentration is another thing that needs to be addressed as well as the same old complaint of communication.
I'm very disappointed with the fact that players say they have warmed up and stretched yet within 2-5 minutes of starting they are asking for a sub. If you've stretched and warmed up well enough then you shouldn't be asking for a sub so soon. So from now on we warm up together. I'll conduct the warm up and stretching session.
Our passing and control was crap, especially the passing which I thought was thoughtless and careless, there were passes when a player who passed wasn't even looking where he was passing it to. We had talked previously about the importance of keeping possession and always looking for the easy pass which means that if a pass to move upfield isn't available then we play from side to side until a pass comes available but instead we chose to try a difficult pass or be ball-greedy which resulted in us losing possession. I don't agree with the defence recieving the ball from the keeper and walking slowly upfield. I want to see a bit of urgency. The definition of a defence is to tackle, win back the ball and distribute it to a more creative player, not to walk slowly up the field waiting for an opposition player to close him down. It should be maximum 3 touches and play the pass.
We didn't have many shots on goal and the shots we did have were from ridiculous positions which were very difficult to score from. We need to think more and pass the ball and make the opposition chase us. The closing down from the midfield and forwards was disappointing. It was like kids football. It's 5 against 5 that means there is a man each for everyone so what I don't want to see is a player running from left to right chasing the ball, what I want to see is us putting mild pressure on their defender until he passes then another player puts pressure on the recipient of that pass.
2 of our goals came from simple passing build-up play which was pleasing and 2 of the other goals came from individual work which wasn't really a matter of brilliance, it was more a matter of I've got no one to pass to because no one is moving so I'll just have a shot and hope for the best.
All of their goals came from us not closing them down, letting them run past us without challenging them and giving them too much space and poor marking. It's about time everyone has a word with themselves and ask questions about their will to fight, desire and determination to win a match because yesterday and on many occasions this season I haven't seen it.
I'm very disappointed with the fact that players say they have warmed up and stretched yet within 2-5 minutes of starting they are asking for a sub. If you've stretched and warmed up well enough then you shouldn't be asking for a sub so soon. So from now on we warm up together. I'll conduct the warm up and stretching session.
Our passing and control was crap, especially the passing which I thought was thoughtless and careless, there were passes when a player who passed wasn't even looking where he was passing it to. We had talked previously about the importance of keeping possession and always looking for the easy pass which means that if a pass to move upfield isn't available then we play from side to side until a pass comes available but instead we chose to try a difficult pass or be ball-greedy which resulted in us losing possession. I don't agree with the defence recieving the ball from the keeper and walking slowly upfield. I want to see a bit of urgency. The definition of a defence is to tackle, win back the ball and distribute it to a more creative player, not to walk slowly up the field waiting for an opposition player to close him down. It should be maximum 3 touches and play the pass.
We didn't have many shots on goal and the shots we did have were from ridiculous positions which were very difficult to score from. We need to think more and pass the ball and make the opposition chase us. The closing down from the midfield and forwards was disappointing. It was like kids football. It's 5 against 5 that means there is a man each for everyone so what I don't want to see is a player running from left to right chasing the ball, what I want to see is us putting mild pressure on their defender until he passes then another player puts pressure on the recipient of that pass.
2 of our goals came from simple passing build-up play which was pleasing and 2 of the other goals came from individual work which wasn't really a matter of brilliance, it was more a matter of I've got no one to pass to because no one is moving so I'll just have a shot and hope for the best.
All of their goals came from us not closing them down, letting them run past us without challenging them and giving them too much space and poor marking. It's about time everyone has a word with themselves and ask questions about their will to fight, desire and determination to win a match because yesterday and on many occasions this season I haven't seen it.
