Crosspool vs Ecclesall Rangers U9s (Oct 7th)
Victory!
Well what a difference from last week. This was great entertainment, played in a good spirit and very close. Both teams were vastly improved and, although I am biased, I think deserved to win by more. I guess the players like to keep their parents on tender hooks until the end. One key factor was effort, every player seemed to be switched on from the start and working hard and this prevented the opposition of creating many coherent moves. Apart from their two goals, I think they only had a couple of other chances per game and that is down to good defending.
We swapped the teams around today, but I can’t really say whether that was a key factor. Certainly we handled their skilful player better today in game 2 and he had only 2 or 3 good shots all game; critically, he was marked out of the game in the second half and that is down to great concentration by our players!
If I wanted to be critical, we still suffered from our normal Achilles heel of not scoring enough. We create a lot of chances but all too many do not result in an effective shot on target. This is an objective for training because against better teams we will need to make the most of the few chances we get. The other aspect I picked up is that players are often too slow at throw-ins and goal kicks. On many occasions a quick throw or goal kick could have found a player in a lot of space, but we are not looking for it. By the time the thrower or keeper is ready, the space is gone and thus it is harder to keep possession. Notably Jack’s first goal came because Nathan took a quick throw before their defence was organised and Jack was alert and got behind them.
Game 1 (Drew 0:0)
I was enormously pleased with this team today. They keep a clean sheet, they did not lose and thus gave the second team a great chance, this is by far the best they have played and, most significantly, I honestly believed they deserved to win by several goals. We had many chances and I should give special credit to Henry, who although he missed 2 good chances inside the box, chose to take them on his left foot because he had to hurry and still made reasonable contact. All to often our players don’t take the chance when it is there, try to get it onto the better foot and are closed down. I also want to make a special mention of Luke Jackson who had an outstanding game in midfield; he seemed to win almost all the loose balls and also, had the presence of mind to control the ball first and then decide what to do. He was unlucky that the few long shots he made were not converted to goals; I remember at least one being parried back to our player who just couldn’t get the right connection to put it in the net. I can’t mention everyone, but Leo again put in a great effort playing the double role of defence and winger and he made many critical tackles. Ahmed worked really hard doing a similar job, I thought Ezra had his most effective game to date, Callum was solid as ever holding the defence together, Joe, James and Dennis kept their concentration well to snuff out attacks and of course Matthew made several good saves and controlled the area. I noticed Dennis make at least 3 strong headers from corners which cleared the area – keep it up!
Game 2 (Won 3:2) [Jack 2, Nathan 1]
This game was very tight. Ironically we were on top in the first half and had not made the most of the chances we had when they popped up and scored two. The first was really a defensive error as we stood and watched instead of closing a player down and I think we could even have got to the ball first. The second was their star who we gave just a little too much space on the edge of the area and he does have a sweet left foot; well done James for saving the other shot he got. Another key moment in this half was Nathan’s free kick from 5 yards outside the area; superbly struck in off the underside of the crossbar but did it cross the line? It wasn’t given anyway. Other players did have chances and we didn’t shoot precisely enough when we had these chances.
The second half was a different game. Nathan (great work rate and tackling as ever) was asked to man mark their key player and with doubling up from whoever was nearest he was taken out of the game and thus their creativity was starved. Their only chance came when a lapse of concentration let a player run one on one at James who made a long run, well out of his area to meet the ball at the same time. This was enough to put the ball high while we all got back and cleared up the mess; great keeping James! Other moments of great play include some long precision diagonal passes, on the ground and past several defenders from Luke, Jamie, Said and Nathan, all to Jack’s feet and he was unlucky not get some reward from these. Keep this sort of play up boys because its hard to defend against. Jack was making things happen by running back to get the ball and this is something we must encourage. The first goals came early in the second half, one from Nathan’s throw and Jack hit a cracker of a volley past the keeper from outside the area. The second was Nathan’s second free kick, as a good a strike as the first except this time the referee gave a goal. It was then 2:2 until the last three minutes when a corner was knocked in by Jack from close range. However, I think we had far more chances than the opposition and thus again, deserved the win. I should mention the other players, Finlay, Nick and Ben; behind all victories is an often unnoticed defence who need to do their part and today they were all excellent at jockeying, decision making and generally snuffing out any attacks before they became dangerous.
On a final positive note, I should say that one aspect that marks out this team today was the tackling. Every player was really getting stuck into the tackles and not being pushed off the ball.
Well what a difference from last week. This was great entertainment, played in a good spirit and very close. Both teams were vastly improved and, although I am biased, I think deserved to win by more. I guess the players like to keep their parents on tender hooks until the end. One key factor was effort, every player seemed to be switched on from the start and working hard and this prevented the opposition of creating many coherent moves. Apart from their two goals, I think they only had a couple of other chances per game and that is down to good defending.
We swapped the teams around today, but I can’t really say whether that was a key factor. Certainly we handled their skilful player better today in game 2 and he had only 2 or 3 good shots all game; critically, he was marked out of the game in the second half and that is down to great concentration by our players!
If I wanted to be critical, we still suffered from our normal Achilles heel of not scoring enough. We create a lot of chances but all too many do not result in an effective shot on target. This is an objective for training because against better teams we will need to make the most of the few chances we get. The other aspect I picked up is that players are often too slow at throw-ins and goal kicks. On many occasions a quick throw or goal kick could have found a player in a lot of space, but we are not looking for it. By the time the thrower or keeper is ready, the space is gone and thus it is harder to keep possession. Notably Jack’s first goal came because Nathan took a quick throw before their defence was organised and Jack was alert and got behind them.
Game 1 (Drew 0:0)
I was enormously pleased with this team today. They keep a clean sheet, they did not lose and thus gave the second team a great chance, this is by far the best they have played and, most significantly, I honestly believed they deserved to win by several goals. We had many chances and I should give special credit to Henry, who although he missed 2 good chances inside the box, chose to take them on his left foot because he had to hurry and still made reasonable contact. All to often our players don’t take the chance when it is there, try to get it onto the better foot and are closed down. I also want to make a special mention of Luke Jackson who had an outstanding game in midfield; he seemed to win almost all the loose balls and also, had the presence of mind to control the ball first and then decide what to do. He was unlucky that the few long shots he made were not converted to goals; I remember at least one being parried back to our player who just couldn’t get the right connection to put it in the net. I can’t mention everyone, but Leo again put in a great effort playing the double role of defence and winger and he made many critical tackles. Ahmed worked really hard doing a similar job, I thought Ezra had his most effective game to date, Callum was solid as ever holding the defence together, Joe, James and Dennis kept their concentration well to snuff out attacks and of course Matthew made several good saves and controlled the area. I noticed Dennis make at least 3 strong headers from corners which cleared the area – keep it up!
Game 2 (Won 3:2) [Jack 2, Nathan 1]
This game was very tight. Ironically we were on top in the first half and had not made the most of the chances we had when they popped up and scored two. The first was really a defensive error as we stood and watched instead of closing a player down and I think we could even have got to the ball first. The second was their star who we gave just a little too much space on the edge of the area and he does have a sweet left foot; well done James for saving the other shot he got. Another key moment in this half was Nathan’s free kick from 5 yards outside the area; superbly struck in off the underside of the crossbar but did it cross the line? It wasn’t given anyway. Other players did have chances and we didn’t shoot precisely enough when we had these chances.
The second half was a different game. Nathan (great work rate and tackling as ever) was asked to man mark their key player and with doubling up from whoever was nearest he was taken out of the game and thus their creativity was starved. Their only chance came when a lapse of concentration let a player run one on one at James who made a long run, well out of his area to meet the ball at the same time. This was enough to put the ball high while we all got back and cleared up the mess; great keeping James! Other moments of great play include some long precision diagonal passes, on the ground and past several defenders from Luke, Jamie, Said and Nathan, all to Jack’s feet and he was unlucky not get some reward from these. Keep this sort of play up boys because its hard to defend against. Jack was making things happen by running back to get the ball and this is something we must encourage. The first goals came early in the second half, one from Nathan’s throw and Jack hit a cracker of a volley past the keeper from outside the area. The second was Nathan’s second free kick, as a good a strike as the first except this time the referee gave a goal. It was then 2:2 until the last three minutes when a corner was knocked in by Jack from close range. However, I think we had far more chances than the opposition and thus again, deserved the win. I should mention the other players, Finlay, Nick and Ben; behind all victories is an often unnoticed defence who need to do their part and today they were all excellent at jockeying, decision making and generally snuffing out any attacks before they became dangerous.
On a final positive note, I should say that one aspect that marks out this team today was the tackling. Every player was really getting stuck into the tackles and not being pushed off the ball.
<< Home