Ultimately a really
disappointing morning where we started off well like last week, but as the game
went on we invited all sorts of pressure onto ourselves which Malpas happily
punished us for.
Q1 started really well, with
us pushing the ball around nicely - a few breaks from Malpas were dealt with
comfortably by the team and the shots that were made against us were well
handled with Oscar making a controlled return in goal. Towards the end though,
one of these breaks did split our defence and Malpas went into the break 1-0
up.
Q2 began and immediately we
started to fall back quite a bit, our defence was playing within yards of goal
and that then dragged our midfield players towards the halfway line and any
passes up to our forwards pretty much ended up being intercepted by Malpas who
were now starting to get into their rhythm and hit us with two further goals. End
of Q2: Arrows 0 - Malpas 3.
Before Q3 started, I had a
long talk about using our positioning better, and that we needed to stop being
dragged into areas that we shouldn't be in - what I meant by this was that
Defence shouldn't really be in the opposition half, and Attackers shouldn't
find themselves behind our Defence! What seems clear now is that the boys
seemed to think I was telling them to not really move from a particular spot as
we spent most of this quarter rooted right in front of goal which blinded our
keeper and obviously just invited pressure again from the opposition and at
times even more than before; we really were punished in this section by four
further goals, whereas at the beginning of it I honestly thought we could get
back into the game. End of Q3: Arrows 0 - Malpas 7.
Before the final quarter - I
asked the boys to refocus and try to win this last section of the game; to
remember what we used to say last season, quite simply 'When we lose the ball,
we hunt it down and win it back quickly' - we actually did play relatively well
in this last period - our passing improved and elements of the squad really
tried to push forward. We had great chances from Sam Curtis, Tom, Jack
Broadhurst and towards the very end, Jack Binns but each shot either went just
over/wide or directly to the keeper. A great shot from Malpas after an
impressive move hit the side-netting when most parents I think thought it had
gone in, but Oscar had it well covered. The match ended as it did in the third
quarter: End of Q4: Arrows 0 - Malpas 7.
Looking back over the match,
which I've done for most of the day to be honest (!) we just seemed generally
quite lethargic and not willing to really chase down that ball to win it back,
or to take it past a Malpas player when we did have it. There are some
exceptions to this, but generally its something we've really got to turn
around. I'll talk to the boys about positioning and what it means again, i.e. not
being rooted! on Friday.
I think the last two games
have been really interesting, for different reasons, and sets us up well for
next week, which will undoubtedly be an ultra-competitive, but hopefully one
that is played with good intentions and in the right manner/spirit. I will send
out the squad tomorrow - thanks everyone for providing your availability.
See you Friday.
Carl
AFC Waverton U9 Arrows
07896 515717
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