***Match Thread*** TUE MAY 21ST 19:15 WES2 Boards.ie BallAlley Angels

Lovely Bloke

Going to be a tough game, so can everyone please make an effort to get there early and we can get warmed up

Derek - in
Cathal - in
Ciaran - in
Collie - in
Damian - out
Darren - in
Dave - in
Gar - away
Jules - out
Keith - in
Wes - in
Derek Mr - in
Craig - out
Liam - in
Paddy - in
Marsen - in
Dermo -

helimachoptor

This will be our toughest game yet i think.
As is in the text, if everyone can get up early, we'll have the pitch to do a warm up and then some ball work.

We cannot afford to start the game slowly as we'll most likely be punished.

With the exiles playing the Monks, we could go back top with a win for us and a draw there.

DeviantD

Hi Will you stick up the link for the league table
Cheers Derek

FrankGrimes

I'm away with work this week so won't make it. Good luck lads, get straight into them from the kick-off - they like playing the ball out of defence so to put pressure on them we need to push up as a unit, if only a couple do they can play the ball around them easily so it's wasted effort. If everyone gets tight quickly, we'll force them to play it long or take risks which should help give us more possession. And we know that winning possession has to be our focus: once we have it, we use it well so we just need to get more of it. Be nice to get a text saying 3 points are in the bag tomorrow night!

sReq | uTeK

I'm in btw.

helimachoptor

Great game lads against a very good team. We were very unlucky to have to settle for a draw

mrDerek

gutted i am thats twice now weve been killed last minute of the game on the plus side least we are starting to play better hopefully we will head into a period of good form, crucial 2 games coming up.

sReq | uTeK

It was a good performance, well better than the last 3 anyway.

We passed it well at times, we are very casual on the ball, we hold onto it for to long it should be 2 touches max out of your feet and onto someone else, I was guilty of trying a few over the top balls last night when a simpler pass was on but if those balls had to come off I'd have spread the play and opened them up.

Balls don't have to be up the wing every single time, we were playing 3 in the middle last night for a large period and we saw very little ball. Also we won a vast amount of headers last night, well done Ciaran and Collie, but no-one was gambling on flick ons and we were just stagnant sitting to the left or right of the player winning it.

Listen to Des he is the only one that matters, your job as the forward is to split the full backs, if they want to give it to the centre halfs GREAT because all they will do is bring it into the middle where it is congested and we have the greater bodies and a chance to win it back, if it goes out the wing then we are stretched immediately. it drags midfielders over to the side to cover and one or 2 quick balls can open us up as happened numerous times last night.

we need to be more clinical, out finishing is leaving a lot to be desired, also if you are baring down on goal with a defender on your back and an easy square ball leaves the goal free pass it, a goal is a goal what does it matter if you score it or the team scores it all that matters is the win, plenty of times i've passed the ball this season and last season to give others easy tap ins because I knew I had the more difficult task.

All in all it was a good performance considering we were missing 3 key players, Derek you played really well up top and showed for it every time and you really gave their defenders a hard time, IMO you should have had not one but TWO peanalty kicks, don't be afraid to go down in the box if you're being hung out of, you will get the decision.

Liam, top class as ususal in goals, kickouts and saves are just beastly.
Our full backs in padd and especially keith did really well with great distribution into the box, keith great ball for the 2nd goal. Derek, great game in defence commanding and talks to everyone.

We're getting trough the blip, big game against the only unbeaten team in the league next week then against cork who we know will give us a game the week after, 6 points from these 2 games is a must IMO.

mrDerek

sReq | uTeK wrote: »

Listen to Des he is the only one that matters, your job as the forward is to split the full backs, if they want to give it to the centre halfs GREAT because all they will do is bring it into the middle where it is congested and we have the greater bodies and a chance to win it back, if it goes out the wing then we are stretched immediately. it drags midfielders over to the side to cover and one or 2 quick balls can open us up as happened numerous times last night.

we need to be more clinical, out finishing is leaving a lot to be desired, also if you are baring down on goal with a defender on your back and an easy square ball leaves the goal free pass it, a goal is a goal what does it matter if you score it or the team scores it all that matters is the win, plenty of times i've passed the ball this season and last season to give others easy tap ins because I knew I had the more difficult task.

its not only the forwards job to cut out the full backs,i was getting an awful lot of guff over this and ye a few times i should have been cutting him out when i should but wingers should be prepared to do this at times as well because a lot of the time me and ciaran where inside the box just after an attack ended and the ball would be sprayed out wide quicker than we could possibly get out there, also a lot of the times they would play it to the centre halfs which would force us to pressure them then they would play it out to the full backs at times it was like running around in circles, this sort of running takes a lot out of you which as everyone knows by now affects your first touch and decision making which brings me to my next point

its easier said than done "be more clinical" i had 4 clear chances yesterday i scored 2 from great crosses and through balls by keith and ciaran and the keeper pulled off a brilliant save for the 3rd, the other chance i had to out pace the full back and centre defender at this point whilst baring down on goal i was knackered and fair enough squaring the ball would have been the best option but from where i was the full back had the angle on ciaran for a clearance and the corner of the goal was open for a curled shot i just mis-kicked it running at full pace.... anyway it was a better performance than what we have put out lately and thats a positive going into two tough games, 6 points absolutely crucial

what is frustrating though is thats 4 yellows in 7 games very disappointing

helimachoptor

Derek, cant really argue with your stike rate last night. I think its a general view, most of my goals are crosses tbh!

Considering how well we can move the ball and how good our players are, we should be scoring more but that doesnt mean the 2 strikers are banging in goals, it means everyone is scoring because we are controlling games.


Yeah the yellow was bad (tut tut Derek...) but there are acceptable yellows and not acceptable yellows, but there is a fine line between the 2

sReq | uTeK

mrDerek wrote: »

its not only the forwards job to cut out the full backs,i was getting an awful lot of guff over this and ye a few times i should have been cutting him out when i should but wingers should be prepared to do this at times as well because a lot of the time me and ciaran where inside the box just after an attack ended and the ball would be sprayed out wide quicker than we could possibly get out there, also a lot of the times they would play it to the centre halfs which would force us to pressure them then they would play it out to the full backs at times it was like running around in circles, this sort of running takes a lot out of you which as everyone knows by now affects your first touch and decision making which brings me to my next point

its easier said than done "be more clinical" i had 4 clear chances yesterday i scored 2 from great crosses and through balls by keith and ciaran and the keeper pulled off a brilliant save for the 3rd, the other chance i had to out pace the full back and centre defender at this point whilst baring down on goal i was knackered and fair enough squaring the ball would have been the best option but from where i was the full back had the angle on ciaran for a clearance and the corner of the goal was open for a curled shot i just mis-kicked it running at full pace.... anyway it was a better performance than what we have put out lately and thats a positive going into two tough games, 6 points absolutely crucial

what is frustrating though is thats 4 yellows in 7 games very disappointing

I'm not having a go at you, and it is ONLY the forwards jobs to cut out full backs, our wingers are not to be playing on the edge of their box, thus creating a 4 on 4 against our defense, if it goes to the center halfs all you do is pressure it whilst cutting out the angle pass to the full backs, we WANT their center halves to have it, that means he can do 2 things.
He can carry it forward thus creating space for you to run into if they lose it or he can pass it, if he passes it we have everyone covered and it eliminates the possibilities they will retain possession.

Your finishing was fine, it's not a 1 man team I wasn't singling you out. I was talking about the team as a whole.

We lost the game because in the last 5 minutes we got tired, we left a lot of 2v2 and 3v3 situations for the defence to deal with which shouldn't have happened.

We had a free kick with a minute to go, I gave it to dave to run it into the corner, he did and did it well, we get a throw, instead of keeping in the corner we decide to have a strike, from the resulting goal kick we lost the goal. Simple things like this lose you the game, if we hold the ball in the corner for a few minutes the game is won.

Tired legs in the last 5 minutes cost us, no doubt about it, but it was a good performance overall.

DeviantD

Sorry but the yellow card by me was not a bad card. If didn’t handle the ball their striker was clear through on goal so I took 1 for the team. (you can thank me later) At least they didn’t score when I was off so well done to the lads in defence for helping me out.
Derek stop complaining about being knackered, your still a young chat who should be able to run around all day unlike me who has to pace himself
Well done on the goals by the way

sReq | uTeK

If there are such things as good yellows, that was one.

FrankGrimes

Didn’t get a chance to post last week but good performance lads, frustrating as it is to lose a lead, that still sounds like a decent performance so well done, always good to get through periods where you’re not hitting top gear with at least avoiding defeats. If we can get 3 points tonight, it’ll really put us back on the right track.

Some really good points made above. In particular the one about us all having our own opinions but the only one that ultimately matters is the manager’s and we all need to adhere to his instructions more closely. That doesn’t just apply to forwards splitting the defenders on kickouts, it also applies to his instructions for midfielders to put more emphasis on creating assists by playing it to the strikers’ feet a bit more: though we’ve made good progress in that area this season, each midfielder should be targeting creating about 10 assists a season and that’ll encourage them to look up more to see if it’s on for putting the striker in on goal or playing it to feet to allow him turn or lay it off. Likewise, midfielders need to set themselves targets for what % of goal kicks they win in each game, and then focus on upping it each game, we simply don’t have the luxury of saying we can’t compete well in the air and accepting that.

Totally agree about sometimes we actually do want their centre-halves to play it out of defence: I’ll chase my ass off when it’s smart to do so, but when it’s one chasing against 4 defenders, it’s often wasted effort. So we either push up as a unit with wingers just going a little further forward to discourage the fullbacks from taking it, or we allow them the option of playing it out every so often. If they get in the habit of doing that, it won’t be long before we nick it off a centre halve in the final third and create a chance, but let’s be honest, a lot of the passes their centrehalves make will go straight back to us, so it’s not the terrible thing the roars we hear when we let it happen seem to imply.

Communication is key in tough games like tonight’s will be and lads need to realise you’re not just expected to play a good game yourself, you have to help the lads around you by letting them know what you’re seeing, organising things etc. In particular, keepers and defenders really need to be vocal in bossing their space. Again, that’s something we’re getting better at but we really need to see more lads taking on that responsibility – it shouldn’t be so noticeable that Derek is the most vocal one at the back, there should be others doing similar.