Match Report: Boys U16 (2010) Major 1 3:0 Suncroft AFC

Boys U16 (2010) Major 1 3:0 Suncroft AFC

Date: 25 Oct

The Opening

It was great to get back on the pitch after so many weeks off.

We identified a few areas to focus on in training for the last few weeks:

1) Creating space: the lads often receive the ball and their body position and first touch puts them under pressure. We’ve done drills on turning their body and receiving the ball with their back foot to open up their view of the pitch. Move the ball away from opponents with their first touch.

2) Overloads: creating, looking for, and making use of overloads to pass the ball, particularly out of defence, and from the centre to the sides.

The Action

3) Passing: not just always looking for forward passes, but laterally and backwards. And passing with the side of the foot and not the laces.

4) Shooting: we’ve been guilty of not pulling the trigger often enough. We’ve had drills where we’ve asked them to shoot more often, and we’re encouraging shots without too many touches beforehand. (This has also given our keeper a chance to deal with more shots in training.)

5) Following up: we’ve asked forwards to immediately follow up on shots and put pressure on the keeper.

Attitude (listening, trying their best, and being positive) is the most important attribute and we’ll be emphasising it at the start of each training session and match. Most of the guys had a great attitude on Saturday. We didn’t have any negative talk between players on the pitch or on the bench which was great (they’re a great bunch and this is rarely an issue). The standout player was Ryan O’Rourke who ran himself into the ground and who we subbed off for a while so he could catch his breath. To progress we’ll need all players to have the right attitude, for the whole of the matches and training.

The Finish

Given we shipped 10 goals in the first two games this season, we emphasised the importance of trying to keep a clean sheet and protecting our defence when out of possession.

The lads looked much more comfortable receiving the ball, We had more passing back to and along the defensive line than in any other match. This can be heart-stopping to watch and they’ll not always get it right, It’s great to see them trying to use the overload at the back – exactly how we asked them to.

An example of our improvement was Kyle’s body positioning and touch giving himself more time. Space at right-back, allowing him to pass the ball up the line better than in any other game. Indeed, the best passing move of the game was between Kyle. Ryan O’Rourke where they progressed the ball from the edge of our penalty area to the edge of Suncroft’s penalty area.

We had plenty of shots, from inside and outside the box, Ollie nearly took the ball off the keeper when he followed up on a shot in the first half. As they say, we miss 100% of the shots we don’t take, so pulling the trigger more often was good to see. We’ll practice shooting in training as we could have easily been 10-0 up.

We won 3-0 and we’ll face a tougher test against Kildare Town this Saturday. We’ll emphasise attitude, keeping our shape, and building on the work we’ve done to date.