well, forgive me for ranting, but there are certain issues that i think need raising, which all of us should take note of regarding the previous match...
overall, i think we did quite well, not conceding any goals... i was guilty of a couple of bloopers; think the backpass in the first half was bad, but jackson managed to redeem me.
At the end of the pitch, i think that we can't push all the blame towards the strikers for not scoring, some might argue that they are not clinical enough. But i would rather think that there is a problem with the team as well, when we are attacking. Defensively i think we learnt a lot since we first started off, but in terms of attacking as a unit we still have much to learn. When we attack, i realized we tend to just pass the ball forward and then stay in our original positions. This applies to all of us, me included. The reason why we need to move off the ball, is to provide more space for the ball, more options for the man on the ball. Soccer is not about the man on the ball, it's about the men off the ball. As a result, our strike unit, and our midfield unit and our defense units are just that units, not a team. Maybe what we should think about is not pushing the ball forward all the time, but rather moving off the ball and stroking the ball around, involving the defence and midfield and strikers in attacking.
The other rant that i have is about the time that we need to arrive for matches. I do understand that some of us do stay a distance away, and that some of our matches are early in the morning at 9am. but it gets kind of frustrating when i make an effort to arrive on time every match, only to see people turning up late, people need morning calls at 8am or 10am, and who can't be responsible enough to ask for morning calls. The last match was especially bad. We were supposed to be there at 1030 and when the referee blowed the whistle at 11am, we still didn't have enuff. I do know that we are a casual soccer team, sunday warriors if u like, group of friends who play recreationary, but there's a reason why we need to arrive early: to practise our set pieces, crosses, running off the ball and warming up, which I reckon we all dearly need. Not to say that we must always reach half an hour earlier, but trying to is better than not. What really pisses me off is the attitude that some of us have been showing towards punctuality which is quite bad.
Forgive me for ranting, but i think the team needs to talk this through a bit. As u all say, regardless of what happens we are a team, but if this is the attitude that some of us want to bring to the team, then are we still a team or just a bunch of rag-tag misfits?
Monday, March 24, 2008
