2-2
Hamdan, Tony, Francis (own goal), Jufri (pen)
Players:
Peter cannot make it, sick. Johnny fortunately came and made it an 11 aside game. Punctuality is STILL a problem. We have to work more in this area.
We have Chai Liang, Daniel, Francis and Steven as defenders. Midfielders Ajis, Hamdan, Alvin, David and Choong Wei. Striker Tony. Keeper Johnny.
The Game:
Today the opposition IS strong. Peng Siong came with 3 not-so-regular-but-played-before soccer mates, 2 Chinese and a Malay guy. Ann Hoe, Yew Min, David Ong, Andrew, Ah Joon, Edmond, Jufri and Boon Huat made up the other regular side. Man ... This is one of those great games! Great and tough opposition.
We held up good. Both sides find it diffcult to find the net in the first half. A defensive error saw Francis heading a corner ball and deflected off Johnny's hand into our own net, ending the first half a goal down. With blinding sunlight and ball too fast, we can't blame anyone for that goal.
Half time change saw the Ajis moved from central midfield to left wing. Hamdan from left to central mid. This seemed to be a crucial change.
Our attacking line up had lots of missed chances from Tony, Choong Wei, Alvin and Hamdan. Hamdan have good control of the mid. With Alvin and David, we gave the opposition quite a hard time. Hamdan made several good crosses with one resulting in an equaliser. Tony broke the deadlock later on with a close range shot.
Final equaliser came from Jufri's penalty after Francis stepped on Jufri's leg at the corner box. We should not give penalty like that too easily especially considering it is a 50-50 ball instead of deliberate attempt to foul. And secondly, it was not goal scoring chance. Jufri seems to fall down a lot and asked for penalty ....
2 Christmas gifts from Santa Francis?
Ho Ho Ho... Santa Francis should learn from Daniel to protest "No No No" instead.
OK now my analysis.
I am satisfied that our defence held up well. Apart from Santa Francis debacle, I also made a silly taboo mistake - pass to centre ... stupid. I guess I forgot. Other than that, there were not many chances for the opposition at Johnny (an easy game for him?).
We were too attacking minded, that we created a weakness. An empty midfield.
Many times, I saw a big O in the centre midfield where there are no red players when the opposition counter attacked. I suppose, when Alvin, David and Hamdan join in the attack, we left the midfield exposed. Ajis and Choong Wei remained on the sides. Although me and Steven move up a bit, we can only be at the side as well. That created the big O for opposition to come at us.
We should not have ALL the central midfielders attacking, leaving the mid empty. Someone must stay in position. One moves up the other move down. At the same time, Ajis and Choong Wei instead of staying near the far sideline, could have move a bit inward to the centre to fill up the gap when needed. One metre from sideline and 5 metres from sideline make a lot of difference!
I have been thinking last 2 days, I think another solution will be for the central defence to move up to midfield level when attacking... Daniel, Francis how? Never mind Jufri is offside. Maybe Daniel move up further, Francis mark him (since you are faster than Daniel)? Force the offside mentality onto Jufri?
Secondly we should not get into David Ong syndrome (No offense if you happen to read this!) - dribbling too much. Notice that quick passing has several advantages compared to dribbling and holding ball too long.
Firstly, dribbling too much increase the chance of losing the ball. Secondly, the time lost allows our opposition to mark our free players making it difficult to pass. Thirdly, when pressured, we make mistake. Fourthly, this quick passing gives our opposition pressure and sooner or later, we can make them get into wrong positions, clearing way for easy attack. Steven have improved on this. David (Sim, not Ong one) take note?
We should pass quickly and fast upward, sideward, backward, whichever. As long as we get the ball to another open player. Other players should keep running into open space and shout for ball. This way we can easily move upward fast.
Francis SHOULD shout. Shout at Steven. Shout at Daniel. Shout at Chai Liang even. You need to direct your defenders. And shout at opposing strikers, if required. And brush up the "NO NO NO" protest. No more Santa, Christmas over. Daniel, give some pointers?
Tony and Choong Wei have poor finishing. We could have won 4-2 or 5-2. Suggest you 2 and Hamdan, come early for practice on cross-and-score practice.
We really missed you Peter, Rudy and Hai Yee.
Overall I am happy. Yeah! 7 Unbeaten run!! Although I felt that we should win. As I mentioned before we should expose ourself to such tough opposition. Perhaps, due to Holiday next week, we could see the similar sides.
What do you think?
Casualty:
Alvin (19) had a recurrence of his ankle sprain. Looks like he will be out for a while (he mentioned 3 months). Oh oh ...
Prepayment Accounting (this part for my own note):
just in case you curious, i am deducting our appearance fees from the field booking i paid.
30 - 20 = 10
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