Quick Boys Video/Big 5 Table Analysis

Quick Boys 4-0 V. Phoenixville

In the penultimate DELCO regular season match at Phoenixville, the QBs avoided the trap game after a good 2-0 home win over Harford on Saturday and put in a comprehensive performance on Sunday.  Mr. Joseph shot a little video which captures beautifully some of the themes the team was discussing throughout the match.

First, a couple screen grabs from the counter attack goal we scored in the second period (the 57 second mark of the video below).  This particular play highlights a couple of concepts we've been harping on all year.  First, good defending, with decent team shape.  It's our winger, Miles (with the ball in the still below) who makes the interception (any time our midfield can shield the back four they get a gold star), then makes a quick move to escape the pressure and find a passing lane to Wyatt.  Turnover- play it immediately to any teammate...something I constantly ask the boys to do.

Wyatt found the space we discussed at half time; the Pville boys in their 4-4-2 were working very hard, but their two central guys, in addition to being outnumbered by our three central middies, were ranging too far from the center of the team.  In the grab below, there is no central presence as they have committed 6 players forward.  Wyatt shows great discipline (even with that many players forward, our back 4 can handle them...there simply isn't enough space for that many players to share) and stays close to the play so Miles can find him quickly.  Then he takes two touches (a couple concepts here...never turn without taking a touch in the middle of the field & play 2-touch or more to ensure quality) as Philip releases forward.

This is a move the ACMs have been encouraged to do...it's tough to be offside from the ACM's position - Philip is in our half when Wyatt gets the ball - and with a running start it's tough for the backs to keep up.  Additionally, the back line has to drop toward their goal when the ACM and center forward run vertically and the ball carrier has the time Wyatt does in this instance...so now we have even more space in the midfield should we choose to slow the game down, move the ball laterally and combine with wingers and backs to add more players to the attack.  Wyatt chooses to play Philip in behind the back four who are stretched out laterally because they have to deal with Evan as well, so there is a massive passing lane right up the center of the field:

This underscores the notion that even when we attack, we must never lose defensive integrity.  I know the boys must roll their eyes when I say stuff like "if they don't score, we can't lose" but it's true, and great teams all share this in common: they find ways to draw matches they maybe play poorly enough to have lost and they have impeccable defensive records.  There's a million other characteristics dominant teams share, but those are two big ones.  That Pville lost the ball to our midfield players too, emphasizes our theme of losing the ball behind the back four (which if Philip hadn't scored, certainly would have been the case in Wyatt's pass) so that the type of counter we score on here doesn't happen to us.

Miles is a winger...and yet is clearly in the geographic center of the field when he wins the ball...so we know the Pville attack originated from the far side of the field: our wingers tuck into the middle to protect the weak side, and Miles did it perfectly here.  It's hard, hard, hard work covering that space and still getting forward to join an attack...but the QB wingers have been tough enough to get it done repeatedly.

In the video a couple other things are plain.  We score from a set piece (throw in); on a counter and via a nice long build up augmented by some pressing in the opponent's half.  And that's about right...goals are scored from those situations in about that 1/3-1/3-1/3 ratio.  So the Pville game was a nice encapsulation of the macro trends in the game.  It is worth amending that to note that the first goal is a long build up, but ultimately it's when we lose the ball for a moment, then ET wins it right back takes a touch or two forward and serves to Philip, catching the Pville boys still moving forward...so it could be argued it was a sort of a counter...

Finally, some numbers worth archiving from my earlier team email:

• At 5-0-3 (W-L-T) we are the only team without a defeat in D3
• ...and 1 of 3 in the top 4 U13 divisions without losses - 37 teams total 
• 6 of the 10 D3 teams (60%) haven't drawn a game; that group has 26 losses among them.
• 4 shutouts in 8 matches; as yet, that's 31% of all shutouts in the league (in 72 total games played)
• 18 Goals for in 7 matches is a 2.25 Goals Per Game average
• 5 Goals against is a .625 Goals Against average

What's it all mean?  Nothing.

It shows what we can do...but we must show up every day and actually do it.  That's what makes this stuff so compelling, the notion that only consistency confirms talent.  Even TSV Eintracht Braunschweig can beat Bayern Munich now and again.  

Look at the top half of each of the big five leagues in Europe below, and note the number of draws and goals against for the top-most teams: