***MatchThread*** 3rd Dec 19:15 WES1 FB Monks

Lovely Bloke

The Monks always give us a good test, so we need as many as possible to come out on Tuesday, keep this decent run of results going.

Ed - in
Cathal - in
Craig - in
Damo - in
Keith - in
Derek McD -
Paddy - in
SteMcD - inj
Ciaran - in
Darren - in
Luke C - in
Dave - in
Jules - in
Ste K - in
Derek McL - in
Kingsley -

Lovely Bloke

Ed - in
Cathal - in
Craig - in
Damo - in
Keith - in
Derek McD - inj
Paddy - work
SteMcD - inj
Ciaran - in
Darren - in
Luke C - in
Dave - in
Jules - in
Ste K - work
Derek McL - in
Kingsley -in
Collie - in

Very quiet in here since the thread went up lads.

This is a vital game as we are off next week, then only one more game before Xmas.

Monks are a decent outfit, and we need to be organised as we were last week at the back.

helimachoptor

Massive game here especially considering we are taking a week off then due to having to "play" the missing team .

A win here and a couple of results going our way especially 123.ie's game should see us set up well for the last game of the year.

Also lads traffic will be $hit at that time tomorrow, so give yourselves a few extra minutes to get to the game.

In summary... good start to the season, lets keep it going

FrankGrimes

Good to see strong numbers for this game, we'll need strength in depth as games against the Monks generally go to the wire so sharpness in last quarter will be key.

They're always a tough team to beat, particularly if we don't get the ball down on the ground, they win a lot in the air through big centre-halves. They whupped Accenture 5-0 (though Accenture were missing their best player) and they drew against 123.ie so needless to say we need to both keep the defensive solidity we've had recently but up it a gear in attack. Looking forward to it.

homerjay2005

going to be a really tough game for us.

homerjay2005

4-2 win, crazy game that had practically everything a game could have - penalties, ogs, sendings off times 3 - great goals....

did enough to win the game, but if it finished 4-4 i think we could have no complaints. great 3 points though and a really enjoyable game.

week off next week and one more game before christmas to stay top going into the new year.

mrDerek

what my goal wasnt a "Great goal"?
been really impressed with our response to losing badly against 123 4 points clear at this stage of the season if you offered me equal or within 3 points of the top at the start id have snapped your hand off.
i went off halfway in the second half as i felt the hamstring and didnt wna risk it so 2 weeks break will do me a world of good.

Really enjoyed that, well done everyone. No more Alamo 2nd halves please

helimachoptor

the most important lesson from that game lads is what Jules said as the end, composure.

It was a frantic 2nd half but we did nothing to help ourselves. We consistently hoofed it instead of getting the ball down and passing like we did in the first half.

You'll always get a fluke OG and the penalty was up for debate but we did get away with one when end cleared the ball a bit later.

In the last 5 when we got the ball down and pushed forward as a unit they had nothing.

Need to learn the lesson hear and take a breath,evaluate what has changed and start putting things right.

On the positive side, immense flowing football in the 1st half, more of that needed!

Mousewar

Delighted to get on the scoresheet in my first game back

Seriously though, I can only apologise for the OG. In my defense, it wasn't rustiness - I was tracking it fine and it went right in line with the floodlights and I couldn't see anything. Next thing I know it was heading goalward. The rustiness did, however, account for the rest of my performance.

Anyway, even if i was back up to speed I wouldn't expect to get back into this team. First half performance was immense. There wasn't a weak player on the pitch and the goals were breathtaking tbh. 2nd one was very special. Bizarre then that players seemed upset at halftime - with that performance youse deserved to be well chuffed with yourselves. Well done.

helimachoptor

with that wind damo any type of slice could put it goalbound

mrDerek

just looking at next weeks fixtures the potential for it to become a 2 horse race is there when the monks and 123 play each other

murtagh

Great effort in the first half tonight... nearly everything we tried came off. Second half we let ourselves down a bit. They put 3 (sometimes 4) up front and hoofed it long...
We never got our foot on the ball and were just launching it back to them.
I was probably the biggest culprit, seemed like the only thing I was saying to Paddy in the 2nd half was to just clear it. And also discouraging short kickout or Darren coming short looking for it.
The goals they got were actually a bit unfortunate - a bizarre og, and a penalty that seemed a bit of a harsh call, but on the balance they did deserve to score.
As Ed said above if it finished 4-4 we would only have ourselves to blame.
But thanks to a number of great saves from him they didnt get the breaks. Was delighted when i heard the ref say "6 mins left" although they still felt like 12.

Lovely Bloke

That first half was some of the best stuff we've ever played, we just clicked into gear and they couldn't cope with it.

The reason for this?

The starting eleven was unchanged from last week - I had to make no forced changes. Good players, like we have, will be a good team. But only if they play together and learn each other's games - which is happening.

Lads, FB Monks are a decent side, so make no mistake that that was a good result against tough opposition.

I'm not going to call out any particular players for the performance in the game, everyone played an equal part, the passing and movement, the trust in each other, the quality of play. It's all there.

All of the results from last night are not in yet, but we do think that 123 drew - at least if we can't take points off them other teams are.

The game before the break is going to be another tough one, and again is the early one. By the 17th traffic will be absolute mayhem around Dundrum, so a special effort will be needed to get there on time - everyone needs to make it to ensure we have 27 points on the board for the new year.

homerjay2005

helimachoptor wrote: »

t
Need to learn the lesson hear and take a breath,evaluate what has changed and start putting things right.

On the positive side, immense flowing football in the 1st half, more of that needed!

well i dont think we actually did anything wrong as such, a few things to consider -

the wind picked up as the game went on and considerably. its no coincidence that all 6 goals were scored into the same end so this obviously was going to make it more difficult in the second half as they literally sent about 20 long balls into our box. it meant we were under pressure to defend alot more.

also, lets not forget they went down to 10 men at 3-0 and then had another off for 5 minutes when we were 4-0 up, so we really capatilised there. when we went down to 10 men, there was a 3 man swing as such and this obviously had a difference - they too scored and got the second within a few minutes so we can see the impact here.

in the last 3 games, we have had 3 different lads off for sin bin and this could have cost us last night, it definately played a part in us being 4-0 up, but then also them getting back into the game.

the thing is though, for the 5th game in a row the opposition failed to score a goal from open play so this is really positive- the penalty was a strange call as the player already had got his shot on goal without being touched and the OG was assisted and scored by us

3rd penalty in 4 games though

helimachoptor

its not that we didnt anything wrong, we didnt adapt to a changing game and hoofed it up which resulted in it coming right back at us.

The last few mins we started playing ball and we relieved a lot of pressure on ourselves.

FrankGrimes

I was proud to be a part of this team last night, particularly in that first half. We said recently that we've been getting good results without it quite clicking to the standards we know we can reach in attack and that when it did it would be devastating. Well, last night it clicked for a few of the goals (and another I should've finished) that came from some of the best moves we've ever played, certainly against league contenders opposition. It made me laugh on the way home, when started out this team all those years ago and our main struggle was getting people that could take throw-ins without fouling, I don't think we'd have envisaged playing football of that quality down the road. Kudos to Des for that, no doubt about it, for always encouraging attacking, passing football (but with pragmatism to know when to clear our lines).

We won that game largely due to lethal attacks down the left side. Noticeable for two reasons: first is a reminder that we need to get it over that side more as like a lot of teams in this league, we're still lopsided to the right and left-fulls in this league tend to sit back more than right-fulls (more of whom are playing on their natural side and so bomb forward), so there's often more space available for us to attack on the left. Second is Craig's attacking runs directly led to 3 or 4 goals or what should've been goals. I always say 'we know we'll concede one or 2 a season due to our pushing forward so much but that'll be outweighed by how much we score as a result' - 3 points against top 3 opposition is a case in point not to be forgotten. We are at our best when attacking and the net trade-off is clearly in the positive so let's keep at it.

As has been said, numerous reasons for us sitting back 2nd half, wind and their very direct approach being chief amongst them, but clearly we have room to improve in the composure side of things -whether or not we take that onboard and do things differently next time we're under pressure can be the difference between whether or not we come out on top in pressure situations in future.

Can't go without commenting on Ed's performance though, absolutely fantastic and for me the best goalkeeping performance I can remember for Boardeaux, so many difficult balls to deal with and he commanded the 6-yard box effectively and put in some great shot stopping to boot. Fair play. 24 from 27 points at Christmas would be some haul so let's get it done.

dfx-

Last 10 minutes of the first half was excellent. Dave was running riot between midfield and defence and they couldn't cope. Left full scoring with their right and right back with a left footed volley...

Whatever seemed to cause the heated discussion at or before halftime seemed to fall over into the second half with manic, rushed, uncontrolled play early on that never really righted itself as they scored and capitalised at inopportune times.

Still 4-2 against a side that causes problems. No complaints there.

mrDerek

dfx- wrote: »

Last 10 minutes of the first half was excellent. Dave was running riot between midfield and defence and they couldn't cope. Left full scoring with their right and right back with a left footed volley...

Whatever seemed to cause the heated discussion at or before halftime seemed to fall over into the second half with manic, rushed, uncontrolled play early on that never really righted itself as they scored and capitalised at inopportune times.

Still 4-2 against a side that causes problems. No complaints there.

certain lads they know who they are will need to start gettin their on pitch attitude in check, silly sendings off and unnecessary bitching at each other has been poppin up more than is comfortable at times this season.
but to bring an attitute into the half time talk when we were 4 up over a piece of play that happened 5 mins earlier was poxy it meant we cudn discuss second half tactics and instead had the captain and manager trying to get things cooled down.

helimachoptor

Yeah as a team need to try and look at stuff objectively.

I'll take two examples and the Darren/Kinglsey one first

Kingsley is running with the ball he has two options a pass down the line for Darren to run on to or hold possession which he does, Darren is less than pleased (i need one of those stupid bitstrip things to insert).

Now obviously Kingsley didnt decide that he wasnt going to pass to Darren for no reason he felt he could take a man or 2 on and beat them, it didnt happen and thats football. On another night he could have beaten his men and given us a chance on goal.

Second one is i have the ball around mid-way in our half, Jules is calling for it and I see Luke in space, I ping it to Luke the wind holds it up and it results in a contested ball and one in which we lose possession.

So there we have 2 scenarios where the result is the same, however what is not the same is the reaction of the 2 players who felt they should have got the ball.

One is a blown top that lasts into the 2nd half, the other is a calm couple of words.

We as individuals need to realise that a team mate not passing to you for whatever reason doesn't mean we have a go at them (regardless of the result of them doing something different), it means that you have a word and say "next time i'm looking for that pass and we try something different"

Lads we will win this league if we play as a team and we had 30 mins of breathtaking unity and synchronicity last night and we knocked in 4 well crafted goals.

If we descend into a bitchfest for whatever reason, you see the results instantly, lads not tracking back cos someone else played a **** pass and we will lose goals, games and points with that attitude.

Also we do have to keep 11 men on the pitch, lads very rarely will anyone tackle you with the intention of injuring you keep that in mind, your reply should be done with the football not with fists/revenge tackles etc.

A card will cost us and that is something we see every single season for this team.


In summary lads, cool heads, good football and trusting of team mates will win this league.
We are capable of all 3 so lets keep it up for the rest of the season because at the end of the league if look back at the reason we lost and its a late card we will kick ourselves..

FrankGrimes

Just a reminder that while this forum is very useful for sharing our perspectives and in a way serves the 'dressing room chats' function, it is a public forum and you'd be surprised at the amount of people that view it. Not trying to shut down a discussion, just a timely reminder and an ask that before anyone responds to any points they just consider if it'd be best posted here or done via IM or in person at the next match.

Bottom line is it's clear our players care and sometimes we vent, sure timing could be better sometimes, but it's all done with the right intentions.

Now, continue swimming naked...

FrankGrimes

helimachoptor wrote: »

Lads we will win this league if we play as a team and we had 30 mins of breathtaking unity and synchronicity last night and we knocked in 4 well crafted goals.

Think we should all use that as our new signature

sReq | uTeK

I'd reply but I'd get banned or be dropped in 2 weeks. So I'll bite my tongue regarding some posts.

homerjay2005

sReq | uTeK wrote: »

I'd reply but I'd get banned or be dropped in 2 weeks. So I'll bite my tongue regarding some posts.

its a team issue Darran to be honest, so i wouldnt get too wound up. we have had 3 different players off in 3 weeks, so its something we all need to work on.

it hasnt cost us so far luckily, but we need better discipline in the second half of the season - silly cards and fouls (3 pens conceded in 4 games also) are a problem, but at the same time it shows that everybody cares and this agression (as long as we keep the mouth talk mainly positive) is part of the reason we are top perhaps.

lets move on.