Quick Boys Week 3

QB's Score 4, Win 3-1?

Yet another interesting match with WCUSC for the Quick Boys.

A few individual performances worth noting...Henry shut down three or four 1v1 breakaways (even more interesting because we had been talking about them all week since Ukis scored their breakaway against us, and even did a 20 minute segment on Thursday where the boys helped me get Henry some reps in those situations) and forced another one well wide, allowing Connor to hustle back and clear the ball from the goal line in the second period.  What I really like about Henry's play on Saturday?  The fact that he asked to play more balls short when distributing...not many GKs enjoy having the ball close to their frame.



Philip hung two on WC, the first a complete miracle of a shot.  Given that he was moved off the front line to fill in for Jed as a holder is interesting.

Miles, just before the game as he sat with me on the sideline, was told that he's of starting quality, but needed to make an offensive contribution, get some goals or assists, to break into the starting group.  A goal and an assist later, and now I have to find a place to put him at the start of the game against Harford.  Talk about lovely problems to have.

Though we conceded in a rather panicky mess by miscuing a passback resulting in Henry clearing with his feet off CJC (I think) and straight into our own goal, the boys were cool, and in a two minute period just before half time had scored twice to right the ship.  While 2-1 is a very dangerous lead, the third came at a good time, and from that point on the game becomes pretty academic.

I'd also like to note the sudden emergence of Alex and Miles as winners of 1v1 battles.  We talk about this a lot at training, the need to win the matchup you have with your opposite number in the match.  Sometimes it's defensive, winning tackles and forcing turnovers, and sometimes it's offensive, running behind the guy, beating him on the dribble, getting to loose balls first, stuff like that.  And it always incorporates a physical element, being braver, more committed and stronger.  A few weeks ago, Alex and Miles lagged most of their teammates in this regard, but over the last couple games and training sessions, there has been a marked change in their combativeness, and it's going to make team selection a very dicey proposition.  Anyone who brings steel to the team has a chance to start, to stay on the field and have a huge impact on the outcome.  These two are doing a great job of taking on their share of this burden.

Without two terrific players in Cole and Jed, the boys acquitted themselves well Saturday.  Guys stepped up, took on roles they don't usually, and just kept the standard high.  A pretty professional performance, really.

The biggest concern will be the counter attacks we allow the other team to have.  Ukis scored on one, the OG this weekend was a result of a sort of a counter, and we had to scrape away a few others.  The talking points this week to limit this risk are as follows, though certainly not exhaustive:

• Ball pressure in the forward and midfield areas.  If the other team can't play a long pass, there can't be a counter.
• Turnovers in areas where they can't immediately go forward.  Essentially, we want to lose the ball behind a defender, rather than in front of him.  Force him to face his own goal and turn 180 degrees before playing forward.
• Keep one of the outside backs home...we're not Barcelona (but maybe they aren't either, anymore?!) so there's really never a need to send both backs forward when attacking in the opposition's half.  This is a distinction from when we're building an attack in our own half...The holders need to be sure that at least one of them sits in the hole in front of the center backs too...this leaves us with a minimum of four players backing up the play and preventing the counter defensively.
• The backs also need to be aware of reading the attacker with the ball...if he has time and space, if he is looking down field and/or taking a long preparation touch, our center backs should be sprinting backward based on those visual cues (long before he kicks the ball) in order to keep the ball in front of them....should it go over their heads at this point, Henry should be positioned high enough to cover the space behind them
• If they counter with the dribble, and have runners joining up, the backs will be asked to play as though there is no offside law.  Essentially, drop fast and central, and keep bodies between the ball and goal...as they enter the final third, one player will step to the ball, the others cover behind (including Henry) and the midfielders recover hard to double team.

All good logical stuff.  Very conventional.  And virtually impossible for 12 year old kids to implement properly consistently.  We'll give up counters, and probably lose a goal or two in the future on them, but so will our opponents, and hopefully our guys will get it righter quicker!

Two points out of first place, not a bad place to be after matchday 3.  Here's to a 6-point weekend this weekend!