Santos:
Last weekend had us in two hard-fought games that looked to me like mirror images. Against Sherwood, we started slowly and finished with an explosion of intensity and pressure and some really fine soccer. Against Tottenham we started very strong and lost our edge as the game progressed. We need to be able to start and finish games with intensity and intelligence, especially this Sunday against EMFC.
Looking Ahead. There are just five games left for us to play this season so we have to re-dedicate ourselves to hard work in practice and smart, strong, confident, and calm play in the games. A great end to the season will help the Santos next year during qualifying and would be an appropriate finish for a team like this that has worked so hard and come so far. I really think that we have earned--through hard work and real mental focus--a good strong finish. The Santos deserve good results as a team and as individual players. Let's make it happen!
Well Done! One thing that struck me about both games last weekend was how well the team executed our main goal for the weekend of combining well in the forward line staying connected between lines. The Santos have made improvements in our tactical understanding and ability to execute the tactical part of the game which is frankly a real surprise to me. I never expected us to be so adept so quickly at understanding and applying difficult tactical ideas. This is a VERY impressive group of players. We also had some outstanding individual efforts last weekend. Our holding midfield play was really superb in the first half and absolutely outstanding in the 2nd half against Sherwood and outstanding again in the first half against Tottenham. Our forwards were playing hard and smart against Sherwood, I can't think of a goal that was more truly earned than the one against Sherwood. It's hard to recall anything as elegant as the way we combined for and finished the goal against Tottenham. Our wing forwards were getting to every ball played near them in the first half against Tottenham. Obviously our keepers gave us everything we needed against Sherwood as did our back four, a great effort from the keepers and defenders. Our two center mids were distributing extremely well against Sherwood. Some really terrific stuff all around!
Struggles. What we continue to struggle with is our willingness and ability to attack the ball in the air. This hurt us especially against Tottenham when we were often first to the ball in the midfield, but weren't really committed to making solid contact with it, either with the head, chest, and even the feet. This was also true of our play on corners. I really think when the ball is in the air or bouncing around in front of our goal, almost every one of us is privately hoping that another teammate will step forward to take it. We have paid a steep price for this attitude in close games this year and we must overcome it. In fact until we do, we will never be able to compete consistently against Gold-level teams. We'll stay Silver.
Defending Corners and Clearing. When it comes to corner kicks, the first thing is to avoid giving them up. Throw-ins are always better than corners. We have to try harder to avoid them. Next, when defending them, because our ability to attack the ball needs improvement, we must give extra effort in marking and defending players. By leaving players open in front of the goal, we concede goals. Especially when we combine that with a lack of aggression in attacking the ball. At a more fundamental level, our clearing of the ball is still inconsistent. We often fail to make solid contact and produce, instead of a well-hit and solid clear, a little squib that ends up at the feet of our opponents. This is a technical problem and the coaches must take responsibility here because it is not something we have practiced at all and until we do we will have trouble.
We had a superb practice Wednesday and I know we are ready to go for Sunday.
Thursday, October 16, 2008
Thursday, October 9, 2008
Bridlemile game notes and Practice Recap
Santos:
Last weekend's game against Bridlemile showed that we still have some important elements of our game to improve before we can be consistently successful on the field against strong teams.
The Fuego. By the way, it was nice to see that the Fuego have become a strong team. They have improved tremendously after what must have been a disappointing season to them last year. They were every bit our match last Sunday and we will have to be at our best when we next play them. No doubt that team has added several new strong players, but you can see that they are also working harder and playing together on the field far more than last year. We should draw inspiration from their improvement and likewise improve ourselves.
Our Difficulty. What we struggled with last weekend was creating scoring opportunities. While we didn't play poorly on offense, we didn't combine well in the final offensive third of the field. We were playing too far apart to do "give and goes" and use some of the tight space skills we have developed in practice. Our three forwards didn't combine well in the final third (although they did great in the middle third) and our midfield and forwards didn't combine often enough. PSU is a very large field where it's easy for our players to become isolated from each other, which is why we have to make the extra effort to play more closely together. This is hard because we want to spread out and use the field's width also. This is where our outside backs must push forward into the offense (one at a time) to give us the width we need in open space. This is critical and something we must have this coming weekend. We will need more attacking and aggressive play from the outside backs--this includes winning balls that are played up the line by our opponents.
Attacking Mids. Our two attacking midfielders will have to do a better job of supporting our forwards. Too often there was too great a gap between the midfield line and the forwards. We need attacking mids to overlap, look to score, as well as be available for layoff passes back from the offensive line.
Good News. Good news was that our back line was strong and well-organized in the last game. All four backs played well. We also got solid goal-keeping. We saw some excellent shot blocking which we now need to match with aggressive play off the line and more "sweeper-keeper" work.
Practice Recap. In case any of the parents are wondering what we are working on in practices over the last two weeks, we have been working on combination play in front of the goal, 3v3 small-sided games to develop skills and feeling for the game, 1 and 2 touch passing over distance and in close, controlling difficult-to-handle balls, heading, volleys, lofted passes and chips (in other words, playing the ball in the air) as well as finishing. We have worked less on tactics than skills and this may account for a little of the chaos we've seen on the field lately, but skills and individual playing ability is what matters in the long term. The girls have been really great in practice and are improving quickly. I've been really happy with practices and the effort and concentration put forth.
This coming weekend is a huge one for us, so let's be at our absolute best.
Go Santos!
Last weekend's game against Bridlemile showed that we still have some important elements of our game to improve before we can be consistently successful on the field against strong teams.
The Fuego. By the way, it was nice to see that the Fuego have become a strong team. They have improved tremendously after what must have been a disappointing season to them last year. They were every bit our match last Sunday and we will have to be at our best when we next play them. No doubt that team has added several new strong players, but you can see that they are also working harder and playing together on the field far more than last year. We should draw inspiration from their improvement and likewise improve ourselves.
Our Difficulty. What we struggled with last weekend was creating scoring opportunities. While we didn't play poorly on offense, we didn't combine well in the final offensive third of the field. We were playing too far apart to do "give and goes" and use some of the tight space skills we have developed in practice. Our three forwards didn't combine well in the final third (although they did great in the middle third) and our midfield and forwards didn't combine often enough. PSU is a very large field where it's easy for our players to become isolated from each other, which is why we have to make the extra effort to play more closely together. This is hard because we want to spread out and use the field's width also. This is where our outside backs must push forward into the offense (one at a time) to give us the width we need in open space. This is critical and something we must have this coming weekend. We will need more attacking and aggressive play from the outside backs--this includes winning balls that are played up the line by our opponents.
Attacking Mids. Our two attacking midfielders will have to do a better job of supporting our forwards. Too often there was too great a gap between the midfield line and the forwards. We need attacking mids to overlap, look to score, as well as be available for layoff passes back from the offensive line.
Good News. Good news was that our back line was strong and well-organized in the last game. All four backs played well. We also got solid goal-keeping. We saw some excellent shot blocking which we now need to match with aggressive play off the line and more "sweeper-keeper" work.
Practice Recap. In case any of the parents are wondering what we are working on in practices over the last two weeks, we have been working on combination play in front of the goal, 3v3 small-sided games to develop skills and feeling for the game, 1 and 2 touch passing over distance and in close, controlling difficult-to-handle balls, heading, volleys, lofted passes and chips (in other words, playing the ball in the air) as well as finishing. We have worked less on tactics than skills and this may account for a little of the chaos we've seen on the field lately, but skills and individual playing ability is what matters in the long term. The girls have been really great in practice and are improving quickly. I've been really happy with practices and the effort and concentration put forth.
This coming weekend is a huge one for us, so let's be at our absolute best.
Go Santos!
Sunday, September 28, 2008
A Big Thank You
Santos:
I really appreciate your generosity in paying for my room and board this weekend. It was very kind indeed. Thank you.
Thanks to the parents for making the trip and for their positive encouragement and support.
Let's all thank Stephanie for arranging accommodations. The hotel was ideal. Kevin Laurila's extremely generous gift of the T-shirts was above and beyond. The inspiration, design, "get it done" attitude, and let's not forget the payment were all Kevin's.
Thanks Kevin and great job on the "T's"!
While we're at it...thanks Gracie for sharing your birthday with us (and the spectacular birthday cake)! And we should all thank Renae for all she does which is more than you (and I) know.
What lucky soccer players to have such parents.
Sutton
I really appreciate your generosity in paying for my room and board this weekend. It was very kind indeed. Thank you.
Thanks to the parents for making the trip and for their positive encouragement and support.
Let's all thank Stephanie for arranging accommodations. The hotel was ideal. Kevin Laurila's extremely generous gift of the T-shirts was above and beyond. The inspiration, design, "get it done" attitude, and let's not forget the payment were all Kevin's.
Thanks Kevin and great job on the "T's"!
While we're at it...thanks Gracie for sharing your birthday with us (and the spectacular birthday cake)! And we should all thank Renae for all she does which is more than you (and I) know.
What lucky soccer players to have such parents.
Sutton
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
Juggling Sheets
I'd like juggling sheets from all the girls. You can either send them to me as an email listing how many juggles you did or hand me the sheets at practice. So far I only have them from Maddie And Emma V-M. I intend to graph individual player progress as well as team progress. Thanks
Last Weekend Game Notes
Tottenham: Great weekend of soccer again for us. I think we played very well and hard against Tottenham. We worked harder then they did and were more dangerous in the attack. But they did a lot of good things on the field themselves and managed to steal three goals, despite what I thought was a very good game from our backline and keepers. Hats off to them.
Our midfield was great and really worked hard covering tons of ground, passing well, and fighting hard physically to win possession of the ball. Our forwards passed the ball very accurately and unselfishly thereby creating chances which we finished very efficiently. I'm happy with the team's progress.
AC Milan: The Milan game was quite different. We controlled the game in the second half completely and were able to knock in a goal by following up a dropped ball by the keeper. This is a GREAT way to score goals. We have given up many important goals this way ourselves (2 against the Explosion alone). To win a game by following a shot was a sure sign that we are maturing, becoming more alert and focused on the field. Remember, scoring goals by taking advantage of balls bouncing around in front of our opponent's net will get us very far (remember Sherwood?).
The best thing about the Milan game was that we had many players that were exhausted--physically, mentally, or both--from Saturday's game but were still able to give us enough juice to win it. A job well done by everyone AGAIN.
Things to work on... We still need more pressure up front by our forwards. Tottenham was very effective at applying forward pressure on our backs because they applied pressure without "diving-in" and over-committing. They ran to our defender with the ball and stood in front of that defender, moving from side-to-side to follow any lateral movement made by our player. Most often we just kicked the ball into them because they're positioning was so good and they were so patient. They often won possession back this way or forced us into a goal kick. They applied the kind of pressure on us that we wanted to apply against them and they did it with just a single player on the ball, when we wanted to do it with two or three. We need to learn from this and be more consistent in applying forward pressure, and not diving-in when we do.
A final note: I'm really proud of the Santos for maintaining their sense of fair play and sportsmanship so far through this year. Its not something we've talked much about, but it is very important. And the fact that our girls play fairly and honestly every game says something good about their character. Play strong, stronger than our opponents, but play fair. That's what the Santos have done.
Our midfield was great and really worked hard covering tons of ground, passing well, and fighting hard physically to win possession of the ball. Our forwards passed the ball very accurately and unselfishly thereby creating chances which we finished very efficiently. I'm happy with the team's progress.
AC Milan: The Milan game was quite different. We controlled the game in the second half completely and were able to knock in a goal by following up a dropped ball by the keeper. This is a GREAT way to score goals. We have given up many important goals this way ourselves (2 against the Explosion alone). To win a game by following a shot was a sure sign that we are maturing, becoming more alert and focused on the field. Remember, scoring goals by taking advantage of balls bouncing around in front of our opponent's net will get us very far (remember Sherwood?).
The best thing about the Milan game was that we had many players that were exhausted--physically, mentally, or both--from Saturday's game but were still able to give us enough juice to win it. A job well done by everyone AGAIN.
Things to work on... We still need more pressure up front by our forwards. Tottenham was very effective at applying forward pressure on our backs because they applied pressure without "diving-in" and over-committing. They ran to our defender with the ball and stood in front of that defender, moving from side-to-side to follow any lateral movement made by our player. Most often we just kicked the ball into them because they're positioning was so good and they were so patient. They often won possession back this way or forced us into a goal kick. They applied the kind of pressure on us that we wanted to apply against them and they did it with just a single player on the ball, when we wanted to do it with two or three. We need to learn from this and be more consistent in applying forward pressure, and not diving-in when we do.
A final note: I'm really proud of the Santos for maintaining their sense of fair play and sportsmanship so far through this year. Its not something we've talked much about, but it is very important. And the fact that our girls play fairly and honestly every game says something good about their character. Play strong, stronger than our opponents, but play fair. That's what the Santos have done.
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
Juggling Contest
Download this document and start recording your juggles. Details are here. Good Luck!
Notes on Clackamas and EMFC
It was a good weekend for the Santos. The game against a very strong Clackamas team showed what we are capable of as a team. The EMFC game wasn't bad either. They are quite strong and to control the game as I thought we did in the second half on their home field was encouraging.
Our new system of play suits our players well. It helped us create many opportunities in both games. We finished in front of the goal well in the first, not so well in the second. Nevertheless, as we continue to create chances to score we will convert more of those chances and when we do, we will look more like last Saturday's team than last Sunday's. We're certainly headed in the right direction.
We moved the ball very well on Saturday and played creatively and skillfully. But I really believe that we also overwhelmed Clackamas with effort and intensity. We won almost every contested ball. We took balls away from them. We always seemed to get to the ball first. They just could not keep up.
If we do the same against Eastside Tottenham, no doubt our toughest opponent in Silver, they won't be able to stop us, and we will prove that we can defeat teams at Oregon's highest level.
There are some things that we need to improve. This was apparent especially Sunday. Our defense is playing great right now and this is a very welcome improvement. Now our forwards need to be more consistent in taking up positions IN FRONT of the opponent's defense when the ball is in front of our goal and we are trying to clear it. Coach Keith has been very clear since May about the need for us to do this and sure enough, when we don't and we have trouble getting the ball out of our half of the field, our opponents score. Their defenders are able to easily knock the ball back into our defensive third because they are unchallenged by our forwards. Some of our attackers do this well others not at all. We need everyone to do it.
Our goalkeeping in both games was good but showed areas in need of improvement. We need to be more aggressive coming out to handle crosses, especially from corner kicks and we must be able to make saves on balls played high in the air just as well as we make them on the ground.
Our mids played especially well in both games but need to play together more. The two attacking center mids especially need to work more closely with one another and better balance their offensive and defensive responsibilities.
Our attacking players were great, especially against Clackamas; what's next for them is to make more runs away from the ball to draw defensive players with them and create space in front of the goal. We need to make runs to both the near and far post and we need those runs to criss-cross in order to be a little more tricky and confuse the defense.
Overall... great work through a great weekend of soccer for the Santos! Let's see even more improvement when we face Eastside!
Our new system of play suits our players well. It helped us create many opportunities in both games. We finished in front of the goal well in the first, not so well in the second. Nevertheless, as we continue to create chances to score we will convert more of those chances and when we do, we will look more like last Saturday's team than last Sunday's. We're certainly headed in the right direction.
We moved the ball very well on Saturday and played creatively and skillfully. But I really believe that we also overwhelmed Clackamas with effort and intensity. We won almost every contested ball. We took balls away from them. We always seemed to get to the ball first. They just could not keep up.
If we do the same against Eastside Tottenham, no doubt our toughest opponent in Silver, they won't be able to stop us, and we will prove that we can defeat teams at Oregon's highest level.
There are some things that we need to improve. This was apparent especially Sunday. Our defense is playing great right now and this is a very welcome improvement. Now our forwards need to be more consistent in taking up positions IN FRONT of the opponent's defense when the ball is in front of our goal and we are trying to clear it. Coach Keith has been very clear since May about the need for us to do this and sure enough, when we don't and we have trouble getting the ball out of our half of the field, our opponents score. Their defenders are able to easily knock the ball back into our defensive third because they are unchallenged by our forwards. Some of our attackers do this well others not at all. We need everyone to do it.
Our goalkeeping in both games was good but showed areas in need of improvement. We need to be more aggressive coming out to handle crosses, especially from corner kicks and we must be able to make saves on balls played high in the air just as well as we make them on the ground.
Our mids played especially well in both games but need to play together more. The two attacking center mids especially need to work more closely with one another and better balance their offensive and defensive responsibilities.
Our attacking players were great, especially against Clackamas; what's next for them is to make more runs away from the ball to draw defensive players with them and create space in front of the goal. We need to make runs to both the near and far post and we need those runs to criss-cross in order to be a little more tricky and confuse the defense.
Overall... great work through a great weekend of soccer for the Santos! Let's see even more improvement when we face Eastside!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)