The first post match debrief this year ......
It is becoming clear where we are at as a team.
At the moment our biggest problem is that against a team that dominates us physically, we cant apply what we have worked on in training and very quickly become a team of disjointed individuals, in which 1 mistake compounds another, and this eventually leads to critical and costly moments. We are also not blessed physically as a group (in terms of speed and size). The stronger teams seem to be bigger and/or faster on the whole. There is nothing we can do about this in the short term.
We had lots of chances today and copped relatively soft goals (again). So again, perhaps the gap isn't huge but i felt box hill were definitely by far the better team and played with a level of cohesion which we don't yet have.
How does our desire and passion to fight (as a team) compare to the stronger teams. A couple of times we broke away in the second half. 6 box hill players sprinted back to defend the cross, where as most of our supporting players jogged forward. The essential extra effort, that makes a difference in games, wasn't there in that moment. Maybe this was just a reflection of the game at the time, or a lack of maturity or belief that that extra effort will actually make a difference......but what if this attitude is carried into other areas of the game which aren't as obvious.
I do think every player gave there all today so i am not criticizing effort, but perhaps this effort needs to be less individual and more collective. As the boys mature and the team matures, this will hopefully develop and we will develop into a team rather than a collection of individuals.
Retaining and implementing training information is currently a big problem :
We have done training sessions on playing out from the goal keeper (each position and therefore each player has a specific role in the playing out process), we have done pressuring the receiving player, setting a trap when teams play out, finding space in midfield, playing and receiving when under pressure, getting into the box to attack crosses....etc etc, but at this point in time however, against strong teams who don't let us play, non of the lessons in these sessions are being carried into games.
When we Play out from the back for example - the 6, 8s, and wingers are all still starting in the wrong position which make it very difficult for the GK to play long if possible. Similarly when we set a trap when the other team are playing out, not all players are doing there role properly so the trap fails and becomes a bit of a waste of effort. I will keep mentioning it and i will do these sessions again soon. But with a squad of 20 players, and the fact that players never get a prolonged run in the team, let alone stay in the same position for long, means that this process is always hindered.
(I do acknowledge that perhaps if we had done shooting in training, we may have scored a couple today - but shooting is a very individual and long term exercise which is only of benefit really for a few players. My belief is that team training should be about what the whole team can benefit from).
Against weak teams it doesn't matter what lessons from training we apply. Whatever we do will probably work against weak teams, but against strong teams it does matter. The maturity of the boys to take what is done in training is still a work in progress.
Time sometimes is the best coach. All we can hope is that the information is slowly going in. Until it comes out in games, improvement against the strong teams, will be slow and frustrating.
At times (against strong teams) it does look like the boys are sometimes (but not all the time) a little lost, confused, waiting for something to happen or for someone else to do something.
Until all players improve their ability to read and anticipate the play, to creating extra time and space, both in and out of possession, for both themselves and for team-mates, we will struggles against the teams that do this well. And again that's ok: All we can do is keep providing the environment in which players begin to visibly apply all they are learning into games, and we will know we are not there yet when we struggle against organized highly motivated teams.
For me, the only really disappointing thing today was to hear players criticize other players after the game. Every player made mistakes today, some cost goals, some meant goals were missed, other mistakes seemed less important but may have led to a bigger more critical moment..... so no one player can be blamed for any one moment in the game today. I am not blaming any individuals and i certainly don't expect players to either.
Players who feel they need to criticize others need to first look at them selves, and make sure they were perfect, before they look at others. What can i improve on !!! ???? is the only question players should be asking themselves.
The advice i gave the boys at the end of the game was to ask themselves what advice they would give to the Malvern and Ashburton players after we beat them. Would they tell these players to sulk, feel sorry for themselves and argue with and blame team-mates, or would they tell them to stay positive, keep working hard, and keep looking for those small but continuous improvements, both individually and collectively.
The advice they would give to a team we beat, is the advice we need to give ourselves and each other when we get beat.
Always remember this : Development is about the player you will be tomorrow, next week, next month, next year.
The player you are today, shouldn't really exist tomorrow.
And good teams get beat: Sometimes heavily :
The test is how to bounce back, how quickly can you get the belief back.....
And as a final point : Football is really an exercise in the manipulation of time and space to open up a passing line.
The team that does these 2 things better usually wins the game and so these 2 things will always make up the bulk of our training sessions.