Everton v. Fulham
LMSC Weekly Notes
Quick Boys Advance To State Final;
Springboks Impress Again In Draw With Nike Rush (DE)
Everton's goal looks a lot like the give & go play and wing play worked on by my teams the last couple weeks. It's quick in this video, but the combinations and movement will ring very familiar with the LMSC troopers. Remember, while defending the give and go is simple...when done one-touch and with such intent by the attackers, even a solid mid-premiership team like Fulham will occasionally be defenseless in the face of such play.
Quick Boys Notes:
- Having only played without the lead once in the past 8 or so matches back to the Europa Turf Cup, an achille's heel for our squad may be the discomfort of having to do so in a state final, or even the regional tournament. Here's hoping we never play while behind, but the odds are good we'll face that scenario. Character is revealed under such circumstances, and it will be interesting to see what the team does when faced with a deficit and the clock ticking down!
- The long passes played by FC York were troublesome. A very nice modification of the prototypical long-ball approach at the youth level. The Qboys did well to limit this sort of attack; immediate on-the-ball pressure in the middle of the field snuffed out many chances to expose the back 2 with this sort of pass. When we did not have ball pressure, they had chances to attack effectively. From Man U and Villa a week or so ago, we see the results of no ball pressure in the midfield (Rooney) which forces the two central defenders marking van Persie to sprint all out toward their own goal. This is the "read" that the back line must make; if there isn't ball pressure, they must drop so that no ball may be served over the top of them....as it turns out, the Villa defenders did it right, but there just isn't much defending the brilliance of Rooney to RvP:
- Before the game, we talked about the conversations in training the week preceding; what sort of person do the boys want to become? What does the way they approach the game, and the preparation for it, say about their character and who they are? I asked, not at all rhetorically, who was going to be our composed, intense, and verbal leader on the day...Alex and Max immediately said they would (and several other boys were hot on their heels) and so I asked them to serve as our captains for the day. Both did very well fulfilling their commitments.
- Due to a knock on Ingram's knee and sheer exhaustion for Marc (who played his best game of the year, I thought) and CJ's natural late-game tiredness, it was useful to have players with experience at other positions such as Cole, who ran up top for a while, chasing and pressuring, and even creating some good chances. Versatility may well have been our secret weapon. With only 11, depth is not!
- An interesting moment with Kades, Jed and Danyal popped up in the first period. Jed came off to evaluate his sore ankle, and he commented that he felt Kades was too quick to leave the middle of the field, thereby leaving Jed 1v1 with the FC York central mid. We then subbed Jed for Kades and left Danyal in; in Kades we moved a runner off the field, and in Danyal had a connector, someone who would sit deeper in the midfield and make it 2v1. We scored our second goal shortly after (if memory serves) Kades watched this difference from the bench, and then returned looking to sit in a little closer to Jed. Danyal may not be the eye-catching player that Kades is, but he did a very fine job for us yet again, and showed Kades how better to do the job on the day. Different players, a diversity of on-field personalities, can really bring nuance and adaptability to the squad.
- Unless I'm mistaken, Cj has scored at least a goal in almost 10 games going back to the indoor cup.
- Henry is still the bee's knees. Anyone who hasn't offered him some admiration should pick up the phone right now.
Springboks' Notes:
- 7 'Boks, one borrowed-Bok, a long road trip, an opponent with 14 pretty good players, reluctant GKs for us...and a 2-0 lead at the half. That's pretty darn good.
- The growth of confidence could be seen in a couple ways. First, almost every ball from the GK was played short to feet. Some punts, sure, but way less than 50/50 in favor of short stuff. And not only that, we got the ball over midfield just as often as our long kicks did. 12 year olds cannot hit (even with a size four...what will this mean at U13 with a bigger field, bigger ball, and older players?) the ball high enough and long enough to clear the first wave of defenders from the ground. Can't fight physics, kids. Second, after coughing up 3 goals in the second period, the team just kept plugging away, and Lexi hammered home a tremendous equalizer late in the second period.
- Caroline Pawlow put in her best-ever game, sitting in the center of midfield and just playing simple, one and two touch passes, defending hard, and generally being the composed heart of the team, thumping along at a steady 60 beats per minute, strong and steady. She was pretty tuckered mid-way through the second half, and graciously went in goal where she pitched 15 shutout minutes. Great day for her.
- Lexi has scored in two games straight, and Liza hit a nice rocket that took an advantageous deflection off a defender, and Bella has scored yet again as well.
- The off-ball movement has been sooooo much better as of late...for parents who want to help out, encouraging the girls to actively seek out 2v1 situations and then give-n-go around the 1 would be great. To do this most effectively, keeping the eyes up (as in stop staring at the ball!!!) so that when the ball arrives on a player's foot, she takes her first touch in a direction she A. knows is safe, & B. where she can quickly use a teammate to beat a defender.
- In a pinch, all the girls have the green light, indeed the obligation, to use technical skill (dribbling) to beat the first defender...from that point on, they should then go looking for the 2v1 situation and get a little help.
- Because we defend very deep against teams with subs, and fairly tight across the park, there should always be help on hand when we steal the ball, or receive a pass. Most teams defend so poorly both individually and as a group, we needn't spread the field. But we do need to attack as a group. Great progress in these areas the past few weeks.
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