*** Match Thread*** Tuesday 14th Vs Real Punters 9pm COLM

Lovely Bloke

First game of the season! Colmcilles at 9, meeting at 830

Cathal - In
Ciaran - Out (Germany)
Damo - In
Darren - in
Derek - Injured
Derek McL - In
Ed - In
Jules - In
Keith - In
SteK - out
SteMcd - In
Dave - In
Calvin - In
Kieran - In
Al - In
Dave O'toole - In

mrDerek

In

Lovely Bloke

game is 9 not 8

Mousewar

So this crowd beat the Full Irish last week who we drew against the previous week. So they'll definitely be a test.

DeviantD

Hi Guys,
still out with my hamstring but i will call out to watch.
Derek

SteMcD1

Mousewar wrote: »

So this crowd beat the Full Irish last week who we drew against the previous week. So they'll definitely be a test.

nah, we're playing in colmcilles so we're gonna win like 5-3.

i'll take it the ankle is feeling good?

mrDerek

Mousewar wrote: »

So this crowd beat the Full Irish last week who we drew against the previous week. So they'll definitely be a test.

weda beaten them had it not been for the ref

helimachoptor

Fantastic, probably the best set of goals we've ever scored aswell.

Lovely Bloke

SteMcD1 wrote: »

nah, we're playing in colmcilles so we're gonna win like 5-3.

you got the first part right :cool:

Smashing performance lads, a lot of what was missing last season was there tonight in terms of team ethos and not getting on each others backs.

Some great team goals scored too, well done everyone.

mrDerek

good game i like the look of some of these new lads defo a step up in terms of quality lets not get ahead of ourselves though we tend to steamroll teams until the 4th game when the wheels come off for some reason so lets keep the focus.
On a side note mad annoyed that the free was ruled not a goal ;/

Lovely Bloke

Oh yeah, want to say welcome to the new lads, and make yourself known, and have a chat here.

Lovely Bloke

...and also definitely should mention that absolutely cracking save in the first half from Ed, got down really quick with a strong outstretched hand.

That was worth a goal at that stage

homerjay2005

nice win, but a strange game!

the first half was fairly level and for the start of the second half we couldnt get on the ball or hold on to it. the second goal, an unbelieveable strike settled us and seemed to knock them completely and we knocked in 3 more quick goals.

it was 5-1, but slightly unfair on them but we were really really clinical, they are a much better team than the score suggest and worried us for long periods. some of our football however is a joy to watch.

make no mistake though, this is going to be the hardest league we even played in.

helimachoptor

yeah we were pretty strong all over imo

We won the league 2 seasons ago down to our squad, lads rotated in an our and there wasnt a drop in quality, having lads able to play a couple of positions at the same level is such an asset.



Our biggest opponent this year will be the Benildus pitch

Mousewar

Best squad since I've joined the team. Hopefully we can have a good run this season.
And hopefully the positivity from last night will be replicated in games where we're having a harder time of it and it's not as easy to be so positive. That'll be key.

helimachoptor

Mousewar wrote: »

Best squad since I've joined the team. Hopefully we can have a good run this season.
And hopefully the positivity from last night will be replicated in games where we're having a harder time of it and it's not as easy to be so positive. That'll be key.

yeah fully agree.

Easy to be positive at 4-1 up, its the games where we may be 4-1 down and perhaps dont deserve to be.

We've 3 games in Colmcilles before Benildus so lets hope we get a good run

murtagh

Very good performance all across the park last night, but have to agree that the scoreline certainly flattered us (or maybe didnt do them justice). We've been on the end of results like that too (end of last season) where anything on target seems to go in. I'd add that our finishing was very high quality, didnt look like the keeper could do much about many of the goals.

That game hung in the balance for a long time last night, and on another night we could have been a few goals down at half time, Ed made a couple of great saves including brushing one onto the post, and a great clearance from Darren off the line (had taken the post from a corner I think)

We were generally quite solid across the back with a couple of moments of indecision, which we generally recovered from well and didn't cost us. Naturally there'll be a bit of settling in with the new back 4.

The midfield were very solid, restricting most of their advances to the wings and we looked very good going forward in possession. The goals were very well worked and well taken. We probably fell asleep a bit from kick-off after going 3 up. We allowed one of their players too much time and space with everyone waiting for someone else to make the tackle... in the end no challenge was made he toed the ball through the middle, and not being able to intercept the pass, I was caught out by the pace of their striker.
A blatant foul in that situation would have resulted in a card and the guy still had a bit of work to do but he took his chance well.
We reacted very well to this and immediately found our rhythm again, making and finding space all over the pitch.

I felt the subs worked very well last night, we have a very strong bench and it was used well last night to keep fresh legs rolling on all thru the game. This was arguably how we gained the upper hand in the last 15min, and killed off the game.

homerjay2005

3 goals in 2 minutes last night, that was crazy stuff!

sReq | uTeK

In agony today whole right side from hip down is ****ed all bruised up. Great win last night, took our chances well and defended well.

Mousewar

sReq | uTeK wrote: »

In agony today whole right side from hip down is ****ed all bruised up. Great win last night, took our chances well and defended well.

**** one. T'was a heavy knock all right. I'd say they targeted you cos of those fancy new boots you got.

sReq | uTeK

Mousewar wrote: »

**** one. T'was a heavy knock all right. I'd say they targeted you cos of those fancy new boots you got.

They worked

FrankGrimes

Some wise points there about not getting ahead of ourselves - when you've been through that situation of getting a great early season run like we've had a few times and then momentum slips, you start seeing why so many footballers come out with cliches like 'take each game at a time'. Boring as f**k, but there's a valid point in it.

Great to see that when some of the excellent ambitious through balls in the first half didn't come off, there was acknowledgement of the effort and encouragement to keep trying it. Those passes started sticking in the 2nd half. But if we'd been on each others' backs in the 1st half, it would have affected peoples' composure and those passes may not have stuck.

Opposition players were enquiring about our background afterwards, and they called out that their fitness lagged in final quarter but we kept coming at them in waves. That's down to intelligent rotations by the manager. Lads, if you find yourself not having the gas to make that run back you know you should be doing to track a runner, put your hand up and roll off for a few mins of a breather. Doesn't mean you won't get back on - I know Des looks kindly on people putting the team before themselves in those situations. And we're in the happy situation of having plenty of talent available to come on while you're getting that breather. If we can utilise the depth of strength we have in this squad smartly, there's no reason why the step up in level won't also see us showing we have a few more gears we're well capable of clicking into.

Lovely Bloke

Very important point Jules. To further it a bit too, on three occasions we made changes and the player who came on either scored a goal or assisted. Two of those three had come off for a breather earlier, so yeah, having 13 14 or 15 lads there each week is going to be important.

DeviantD

Thats just down to great management, well done Des, excellent subs at crucial times in the game.

yes there

Alright chaps, Cal winger here. Great game to start off on. Standard in the side is high. Plenty of depth there as well. The only negative I thought was, we let them into the game for the last 10 minutes of the first half. Great saves kept us ahead. Roll on Tuesday.

yes there

helimachoptor wrote: »

yeah we were pretty strong all over imo

We won the league 2 seasons ago down to our squad, lads rotated in an our and there wasnt a drop in quality, having lads able to play a couple of positions at the same level is such an asset.



Our biggest opponent this year will be the Benildus pitch

Is that the one in Dundrum? Funny you should say that, I found it horrible to play on the other week.

Mousewar

yes there wrote: »

Is that the one in Dundrum? Funny you should say that, I found it horrible to play on the other week.

Yeah the big one in sandyford where we played The Full Irish two weeks ago. It's a lovely surface and you can play some nice ball on it but it's fecking massive and we always struggle to get a result on it.

yes there

Yea, not much grip on it when its wet though. Very fast surface. In saying that it should suit us maybe more than hamper us.

homerjay2005

yes there wrote: »

Yea, not much grip on it when its wet though. Very fast surface. In saying that it should suit us maybe more than hamper us.

You are mixing up the pitches, you are talking about Wesley College in Dundrum, the lads are talking about the newly opened pitches in Benildus!

Lads, we need to remove a fear that has developed in Benildus. If teams who we are better than are beating us there, but not on other pitches(it happened 3 times last season with TFI, Monks and BA) then its a set up issue. I believe our primary problems in all 3 games ( i missed the 5-1 cup game and the other games we lost there) was that our fullbacks and wingers were completely out of the game and we had no shape. When they got the ball, they were always too wide to do anything with it. As a result then time and time again, we were caught on the break and with our centerbacks dragged out of position, we were very easy to get through

We had Plenty of possession but some of the games wed have 30 crosses and f*ck all from it. Its probably best also to have 4-4-2 on that pitch. We also got caught 2 or 3 times against teams who were set up with 5 accross midfield and we couldnt get in behind them, while they picked us off.

As i said though, this season we need to move on from this fear and start winning games there.On a pitch that size, you need to close down space and be solid/compact when you dont have the ball.

Lovely Bloke

Well, we can't go 4-4-2 if we are up against a team with 5 in the middle, so which is it to be - and we don't really know how teams are going to set up until the match starts - at which time we then have players shouting to the manager to change things after 5 minutes (which is a nonsense).

Do we say, right, 4-4-2 in Benildus, and stick with it, or do we say lets wait until the game is 5 minutes in then decide on tactics?

We played 4-4-2 on Tuesday, by the way, and Derek was much less isolated.

would that work on Benildus though?

My own thinking on Benildus is that we kill ourselvs on it in 2 ways.

1. trying to use too much of the width on an over-wide pitch, we should be more compact, full backs and wingers closer in.

2. We play way too deep there too, meaning balls hardly ever get near the striker(s). We should be squeezing the space toward the middle from defence too. this means leaving acres behind the defence, but with the quality, imposing keeper we have to come out to balls in behind, it shouldn't be too much of an issue, or if it is, a through ball for a fast striker to get on to, we can accept that and just score more.

We shouldn't be targeting clean sheets as an indication of how well our defence/keeper is doing in a game in my opinion. Individual "Best Keeper" or "Best Defence" awards are well and good, but we aren't that type of team.

helimachoptor

@ Ed we havent played a game with Al in Wesley so he is on about Benildus

Mousewar

helimachoptor wrote: »

@ Ed we havent played a game with Al in Wesley so he is on about Benildus

@keith, that's Cal, not Al

helimachoptor

Mousewar wrote: »

@keith, that's Cal, not Al

ill get the usernames eventually!
Anyway my point is correct and thats all that matters

sReq | uTeK

Benildus is the best page in Dublin, any football player should be wetting themselves at the thought of the game being played up there.

Yea its fast and big, go for a run a few nights a week and cut down on the burgers and you'll be grand

If we lost it aint the pitch its the fact we played ****.

homerjay2005

Baldy Conscience wrote: »

Well, we can't go 4-4-2 if we are up against a team with 5 in the middle, so which is it to be - and we don't really know how teams are going to set up until the match starts - at which time we then have players shouting to the manager to change things after 5 minutes (which is a nonsense).

the bulk of teams last season played one up front against us and hit us on the break. when they have 5 accross the middle, 4-4-2 at least combats that a bit better than a block of 2 sitting and then 3 attacking.

Baldy Conscience wrote: »

We shouldn't be targeting clean sheets as an indication of how well our defence/keeper is doing in a game in my opinion. Individual "Best Keeper" or "Best Defence" awards are well and good, but we aren't that type of team.

agreed, but theres a balance between being negative and being wreckless and towards the end of last season, we were wreckless. if we find that balance like we had when we won the league, we will be in with a great shout this year.

for every 5-1 win we will have this year, there will be 2 or 3 games we need to dig out a result against a team who will sit back and counter. look at this time last year when we won the league, we had several games where we won 1-0 or 2-1, especially in the bigger games. we conceded f*ck all goals, but still knocked in 40+. i think we conceded something like 3 goals all season from open play (the rest were pens, corners, free kicks and ogs). during the summer we were conceding 2 or 3 a game from open play.

i think we conceded close to 40 during the summer in total, a 3 fold increase and finished 4th. if i could sum up our season in one sentance last year, it would be that we lost our ability to win close games and dig out big results. we also conceded too many late goals and seemed to fade alot in the last 10 minutes of games - that cost us anything up to 10 points.

anyway, lets not detract from a very good start and onwards and upwards from here.

Ciaran is a super addition at CH and its a position we have struggled in with Derek injured and Paddy gone so thats a huge plus for us and weve also added 3 more really good players also.