**Match Thread*** Tue 29/5 20:15 WES SMH

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Don't need to state the importance of this game lads, let me know early in case we need to get people in.

Clay - out
Conor - in
Keith - in
Jules - in
Ciaran - in
Cathal - in
Collie - in
Joe - in
Wes - in
Gavan - in
Gar - in
Cormac - out
Dave - in
Stano - 50/50
David Kelly - in
Stephen - in

Mall10357

I Am Out For This One

helimachoptor

Lads.. plain to see this is the biggest game of the season so far.

SMH are an excellent team but we showed last season with a win in the last game and a draw (were leading 2-0) that we are capable of beating them.

We had a very assured performance last week against the monks, good in defense and pretty fast in attack.

We'll need to up our game against SMH.
After this game we are at the halfway point in the season so it would be fantastic to be on top in such a tough league.

FrankGrimes

2-0 defeat against a good side. They played to their strength which is clearing their lines well and getting the ball forward to their really outstanding striker. Brilliant solo first goal. 2nd goal was a sequence of basic errors on our side when pushing forward to chase the game. Apart from those 2 cases, have to say our defence were excellent and really kept chances to a minimum.

Unfortunately we just didn't get into our passing rhythm, not enough short passes played in the middle, so too much flat passes and we were playing balls in the air more than usual and it wasn't sticking up front. But we played much better in the 2nd half, defo had the best of it and had a few decent chances when they were 2-0 up but in fairness they controlled things well and there can be no arguing that they deserved to win. Gutted as I'd at least like to say that I personally and we collectively gave it everything and played to our level and were just beaten by the better team, but we didn't fire on all cylinders unfortunately and got beaten as a result. They won't drop many points but there's a long way to go so let's focus on keeping the points on to keep the pressure on and take this league down to the wire...

dfx-

1-0 was probably a fair reflection of the first half, just nicked by that bit of finishing.

How you didn't score lads in the second half though is beyond me. The ball was pinballing around after some very deliberate build-up play. The ball was held upfront well and support was in plentiful supply. 1-1 would've been a fair reflection of the game I think. They had a few chances in the end but the game was being chased.

The ball seemed to break for them and it did for the second goal, mistakes by both sides and it ended up with a clear shot at goal. They were quite an imposing side, tall and strong.

helimachoptor

Think Jules is spot on, to go from fairly slick and crisp passing last week to hoof ball this week wasnt the best way for things to go.

I think everyone needs to realise that saying its not sticking up front and then hoofing the ball up there is just perpetuating the cycle of us having to do a lot more defending than attacking.

FrankGrimes

Yeh that's an interesting perspective dfx, on reflection I do think you're right in saying we had plenty of ball and good moves in the 2nd half.

As I said at the end though, whenever a team isn't playing plenty of 5-yard passes in triangles around the middle of the park, something is wrong. Getting it wide early is good but if it means a fullback plays a ball parallel to the touchline, that means the winger has to take it with back to goal or it needs to be a magic ball over the fullback's head - poor % returns on both of those. If it's played back into the middle and is then played diagonally out to the wings on the ground, that's how you get wingers running onto balls in behind. The difference in how often we got wingers in behind last week to last night was striking. In the event that the fullback does have to put the ball into the air, playing it straight down the touchline is a really poor option, pinging it diagonal for a striker to get a touch on or take down is less bad than that (i.e. neither are ideal but the latter has a better chance of us regaining possession).

But yeh, when we lose our composure we tend not to trust the ball to the man 5 yards away as he's marked but we have to trust that those are the exact balls we need to play to pull an opposition man out of position and get in behind him - to use my rugby analogy, once you've done that you're across the gain line and their next player needs to leave his man to come to the ball carrier, which leaves space in behind. So simple 5 yard passes in the middle of the park is something we need to do more of.

dfx-

I think in general passing in the middle is definitely good, but I don't think Joe, Ciarán and Collie got much change in the middle, they were isolated under pressure and the wings around the halfway line were generally free, especially on the left side.

I don't think what worked last week would've worked last night, I don't think the opposition would've let the central players get away with it. I thought Boards adapted well, especially in the second half where you could see the halftime talk was being acted upon and can feel hard done by to not get the rewards.