Wowzers! Agree with all, as for anybody saying season is over, I dunno of anybody saying it, but if you say it or think it, don't show up, we don't need you. I have thought for a long while that we have more than we have shown, so now it's crunch time. Prove me right! I have stuck up for us all year, I know we're better than this! Worry about defense defenders, let the offense worry about offense. If you find yourself watching the transpirings while on the field remove yourself, once again, we don't need you. We have Saturday against FC Zot, like Fitz said, not a gimme, we don't score at will. Everybody that can make it come and play like it's Sunday. Sunday is our first playoff game. No win, no advance. If we don't bring it we won't move on. We have the raw ability to beat anybody that we have seen in this league. Play your best, do what you can. RUN. That's all we have to do this weekend, in both games.
I was talking to one of the guys on the other team, and he was saying how well we play together, and how we are a damn good team, but we have been getting shafted hard. So I think were one step away.
Yeah, I really couldn't believe how whiny that team was. I know I said it several times, but I think they were taking things wayyy too seriously for a game in the 3rd Division of a recreational league. That being said, I REALLY wanted to beat them! We seemed to wear down really quickly, which I'm not sure was caused by the wind, the 2 weeks off, or a combination of both. I won't hide from this either, after being out with injury for 4 weeks I was shocked by how quickly I was winded. Next week is another chance, though, and we've got a chance for a big weekend with back-to-back wins!
I think we played well. The pitch we play gives bad bounces and the wind can knock any shot in. The 2nd and 3rd goal were good plays by the opposing team. It happens. One thing I believe we need to change is that when going against the wind and going up hill we need to play with a deep sweeper. Then when playing downhill we can go flat and push up. We played well going downhill but got caught up a couple times.
Good post and I agree with Fitz, we play together as a team, win or lose. There is talent (not me!), but obviously some of the guys can play. All of these teams we play against have played together for a few years, you can see it in their ball movement, our time will come, and in the playoffs, anything can happen. God help the team that takes us lightly! We probably need to get a few practices in as a team, but with our schedules it won't happen. Someone else said it, we wore down quickly Sat, my excuse was Friday night, plus I'm old! But I'll be there to help and cheer Sat. Last thing is, certainly want to see the team play well and win, but this group is a blast and a lot of fun, great time getting to know folks and play some soccer.
I was encouraged by our play together Saturday as well, I don't think the week off helped, but save a few exceptions I think we've improved exponentially since our first game against the Falcons. The ball just didn't bounce our way, and neither did the calls. I wouldn't have been so disappointed if we hadn't lost to the most unsportly and classless team in the league, but that is besides the point. Another thing to Eric's point, when playing against the wind we should play the ball forward on the ground. Fitz said that at halftime and the handful of chances we had in the 2nd half came from short, easy passes we were able to connect and move the ball down the field. I didn't think we were winded so much as having the momentum taken from us, we need to stay aggressive and win the ball at midfield especially off goal/free kicks. We can still win the league, all we need to do is keep playing well as a team and put away our chances. Also, any comments on the new formation? I thought it promoted more midfield possession, but the idea of holding/def. mid seemed lost on some guys. This is an open forum, we should discuss it here. If we had the lead or tied at half I'd say put another defender back, but it was still a close game at that point.
besides getting down on ourselves when a goal is scored on us, i think subing is the biggest thing we need to concentrate on, we arent going to be able to improve our overall endurance and stamia in a week. if we have the numbers to sub, we should use it to our advantage.
I dont think the score of the game on saturday reflected the fact that it was a pretty close game. We just have a problem with scoring. I think we need to play a sweeper all the time, whether its me or someone else, just to have an added layer in front of Dave. I wanted to see depending how it goes Saturday if I could try playing up top or on the wing, but we can decide that this weekend. I feel like Saturday is important but Sunday is when we need to leave everything on the field. I think we'd have a decent shot against one of the top two teams the next weekend and hopefully we will have that chance. -Jeff
I would like to see jeff up top with corey in the second half if we are down or tied. We would have to put people with speed back on defense to help. What jeff brings is speed to the defense and skill, so when jeff is out we need all of defenders with speed in the back. I think the 5-3-2 worked well. It is basically a 4-4-2 with the stopper and defensive mid playing closer together. In this model we need to play it to the outside then back in to work the other team's defense. Alot of times we are working ball up the middle and outside mids are getting sucked in instead of staying wide. Then there was no outlet for center mids when they get stuck.
Jeff you are definatly going to start moving up more ... with George back and everyone seeming to settle in well we are going to start expanding what we do... our only problem is I think we get a little slow on defense (no offense to our guys we are just a little on the slow side) ... I will move back for jeff if matt isn't there. On another note... I'm very encouraged by the talk everyone is putting up on here and appreciate everyone's feed back. If anyone has any other ideas feel free to hit me up on here in an email if you don't want everyone to see it or if you just got ideas you wanna throw around about where to put people and what not for saturday so we can work out the final kinks for our playoff run. Like i said before you can also email me at ryanfitzpat@comcast.net or im me at either fitzy_1422 on yahoo or theirishbloak14 on aim.... lets do it people
im gonna get my head out of my *** and come out to play Saturday...no BS...im gonna shut up and play...my little brother might be able to come as well....so lets go out there and get 3 pts you SOB's by the way i apologize for how i was acting Saturday there is no room for that...and i should have finished 2 opportunities i had as well
I'm willing to be some speed on the back line if we want to get Jeff up front. At one point during the game I covered for Jeff on a run and I think I could do it. I'm still a lil dodgy on my positioning defensively, but if I need to run a guy down and eff up his shot I can do that quite well, plus I can take goal kicks.
I'm very guilty of getting sucked in to the center of the field, especially when the ball is on the far sideline. It seems like I should step over to be a viable passing option. Should I instead wait farther out to stretch the opposing defense? Part of this is that I worry about being out of position if they gain possession. I guess if we can string some passes together, we can make them pay for leaving a winger open. It seems almost all our goals have come when bunkering and springing breakaway counter-attacks. Are we trying to make this our bread and butter or transition to more of a ball possession game? I don't know much about this sort of thing, so please correct my ignorance.
Maybe we should like work out a subing system, When i was playing Right Mid on saturday i was getting pretty tired. So if we subed like every 10 mintues at the tiring postions that might help keep us fresh.
I've been playing the wing too, and if we have possession on the opposite side of the field, it's good to fill in the middle and show for a short pass option if no one is there. Go to the ball. If we have numbers coming thru the middle and supporting attackers for the opposite wing, spread their defense and go wide for a long ball overhead or thru pass between the defenders, especially if we have possession in the middle of the field. When we don't spread their defense it's easy for them to close down any potential passing lanes, and happens a lot to us on attack. As far as defending the wing, the more I track back on defense, the more I drift towards the middle. Always stay goalside of the attacker, we know they are going to goal, no sense in chasing them to the touchline. If they get the ball out there then by all means, close them down, but don't allow them to pull you out there and open a wide gap for them to attack thru. If you get winded just call for a sub, that's what I've been doing, if someone isn't ready right away they'll get you on the next turn. Otherwise the guys on the sidelines are left guessing, and it's awkward telling someone you think they need a sub. You're the only one who really knows that.
I thought we did a good job subbing out on the right wing. I think once Bolton gets back, since he's been playing right mid too, we'll really be able to cycle through and keep ourselves fresh.
If it weren't for me it would have been 0-2. Bad day. Sorry. I am practicing my goal kicks this week and I think I have a bite on how to get them out there far. It's just going to take some reps. If anyone tells you taking goal kicks is like riding a bike, punch them in the chest.
Guys, just catching up on all of these posts. Great thoughts by everyone. I thought that our first half performance was the best that I've seen this year. We put a ton of pressure on them and if we had finished one or two of those chances (I had two headers off of Fitz's corners and a shot so I'm as guilty as anyone on this), the result could have been much different. After we conceded the 2nd goal (Dave - wasn't your fault, we should have closed him down), we got down on ourselves and never recovered. I would definitely like to see us get Jeff more into the attack so let's move him up. I love playing the central defender/sweeper role. I'm assuming that Sat's game is pretty meaningless (aside from pride) so let's focus on putting together a performance like we did this past week in the first half. This will put us in good form for the play-off match on Sun.
That is a "Trikke" store. They have like 2 in the store. I don't know if anything screams "front" harder than that. In all fairness though, it takes a dime or two to ride a trike as an adult, or open a store that specializes in them PS~ If my calculations are correct then we have Zot Saturday and Sunday, no matter what happens Saturday.