S&L Juniors U10 Whites - ACE Football Club U10 Wanderers

Away match on a somewhat sticky pitch. We definitely prefer it when it runs faster and we get more room...

I could see from the start the opposition looked very good. I reckon the first half was one of the best team displays of the season. 2nd half going in a 0-0, with the better pitch conditions coming, I though we'd take the game..

Unfortunately, in the third quarter, the oppo scored 4 goals in 4 minutes of madness. Not one goal seemed to come from impressive football, just balls in our box that were bundled/ toe-pocked in. 

It may be the one-on-one tackles/ pressure is one of our 'can be improved' aspects - why we look better on faster pitches. The oppo seemed to win the battle for midfield. If we can apply more pressure on the ball in midfield and upfront (rather than marking 1 metre off) we can turn over possession more. Team mates then need to be in positions to pick up the loose balls/ passes. Gaps between our players seemed to be bigger, making passes harder work. If we can win the ball more and keep it, we'll start winning the battle more and score more goals. We ALL want more goals!

As a team we need to TRUST our teammates to win balls and pass, as players we need to ANTICIPATE what happens next. The next moment could turn into an attack or defensive situation so we then need to be in the best place for a pass/ tackle/ block.

When we go down a goal we need to use this to encourage us to comeback, by working harder. If we let this make play more negative it's only going downwards. I'm not sure I saw too much of this today though, I think they just had a good run.

Defensively, I thought we had more team involvement and generally remained goal side and at least equal numbers with attackers. Goal kicks and passes found targets often and we cleared the goal area well. 

Happy Christmas all and we look forward to taking this great  team forwards in 2025!