**Match Thread** Tue, June 8th @ 21:15 in Wes#1- Boardeaux V Derivativos!

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GK

Clay - In

Defenders

Andy - Inj
Cathal - Away
Dan - In
Ed - Inj
Keith - In
Glenn - In
Graham - Inj
Martin - In

Midfield

Cillian - Work
Collie - In
Conor - In
Eoin - In
Gav - In
Kenny - In

Forwards

Anto - In
Ciaran - Away
Dave - Work
Jules - In

The Volt

I'm in for this!

LeixlipRed

Phone is not working, I'm in

Frisbee

I'm out this week, can't get anyone to cover my shift.

Mall10357

I Am In For This

Dearg81

I'm out for this one, twisted my ankle playing 6 a side last night. I'm off to Spain next week too so i wont be around for the next 3 games including tonight. Best of lucks lads!

homerjay2005

the value of our squad shining through again, missing a good few but still strong team out. this is a game where we have to win and rid the bit of jekyll and hyde results we have had. huge game if we want to maintain a push for the top, especially with the 4 teams around us all playing each other. huge chance to close the gap, 2 draws there would be great, but we need to do our bit too and concentrate on getting 3 points. to be 2nd and 2 points off top, half way through would be a great way to be, considering we have lost 3 games.

as always, will be over to watch. no update on the injury, this is the 8th game in a row ive missed now, now way i expected this to be 2 months. ive pretty much totally rested it and its not working.

homerjay2005

2-2 draw.

very disappointing end to the game, 2-0 up and coasting. but we seemed to drop a gear or even 2 and didnt play well from then on in. they hit the post, then missed a great chance and eventually got a dodgy penalty to get back iun it with 9 left. it was not a penalty, but should have been cleared. they scored another sloppy goal 2 minutes later and that was it. poor defending, but we didnt play well at all anywhere on the pitch.

drop a place now to 4th, still 4 points off the top, could have been so so much better, we could have been second. weve dropped far too many easy point this year, its only ourselves to blame for not being top....

need to be more consistent in the 2nd half of the season, the league is still there for the taking and we can stilll win it. we need a run of 4 or 5 wins now, any team that does that, will win this league

mrDerek

homerjay2005 wrote: »

as always, will be over to watch. no update on the injury, this is the 8th game in a row ive missed now, now way i expected this to be 2 months. ive pretty much totally rested it and its not working.

feel your pain mate iv struggled with my shin splints for a good 3ish 4 months myself and its just **** bein injured all the time

FrankGrimes

Lads, please take the couple of minutes to read the Patterns of Play bit below, I defo think there's something in it that we can work on.

Yeh that was a big pity alright, two of the worst points we've ever dropped. From a position of superiority we let it slip, dropped off a bit and let them back into it. At 2-0 up it really looked like we were going to push on and close it out.

I'll spare you the psychobabble but studies do show that people tend to fear what they might lose more than they think about what they have to gain and understate the possible rewards while also overstating the risks. So it's important to acknowledge when that approach has failed as the mind tends to blank it out: this is yet another case where sitting deep has played a role in us dropping points. When we've established superiority and kept pushing on, more often than not our lead has grown - the number of times the lead has shrunk in that approach is undeniably lower than when we've tried to protect what we had and let it slip. Very, very important to be aware of that and remember it for next time we're tempted to let fear affect our approach.

But while sitting off was a factor, I'm certainly not saying it was the only reason we dropped points. I couldn't point out many individuals that didn't play well - it was more a case of not clicking as a unit (despite in brief spells such as the exquisite move leading up to Anto's goal).

I've been trying to put my finger on it for a while now as I'm sure there's something more to our pattern of play that we're not getting the most out of and that it's not all down to sitting deep, and it was actually a chat with the ref after last night that helped me spot it.

Patterns of play:

Basically, I think we play our fullbacks (general trend irrespective of what individuals are playing) far too wide when in our own half. Defensively, this creates gaps in the channels as seen last night, but that's only the secondary issue I see with it. Main issue is the restriction it makes on the angle of passes the fullbacks can play. As they are often as wide as the wingers, options are generally a straight ball to winger's feet, straight ball over the top for winger to run onto, diagonal short ball into centre-midfield, or long diagonal ball to strikers.

The last two options are fine, though often the CM's main option is to just play it out to the winger - would be quicker to get the ball straight to the winger from the fullback. One of the most difficult and valuable skills in football is to be turn on the ball with a man behind you. Straight balls to wingers feet mean he has to achieve just that to be able to do anything productive. Straight balls over the top of the opposing full back for the winger to run onto (as we tried many times last night) are very difficult to execute and often run into touch. If gambling on long ball, far better to play a diagonal into strikers, better chance of winning second ball.

So, playing with full backs 10 yards narrower (further in towards goal) and 5/10 yards ahead of the centre-halfs when in our own half will not only make us more compact and harder to break down defensively but will also give more options to improve our patterns of play. The straight ball to the winger's feet with his back to goal can now become a diagonal ball from the more infield fullback to in front of the winger's feet allowing him to run at the man, or a diagonal ball behind the fullback, giving the winger better chance of running onto it. Other benefits are that the fullbacks will be closer to the centre-circle and so able to marshal some of that area for the CMs.

As always (and as we do quite well already), when in the oppositon's half, our fullback on the side the ball is on should be wide, with the fullback on the oppossite side tucked-in (roughly inline with our back post). For our fullbacks to play narrower in our half means they might have to leave a winger in a bit of space while the ball isn't around - that should be fine as the compact shape will allow time to position to jockey him while the ball is moving across - you don't always need to literally be within touching distance in order to effectively mark a player.

I'm convinced there's something to this - doesn't mean it'll change things overnight, just something to start focusing on.