UC United BU13/14, 03/22/2014 First game of the season.

[andrew crollardParticipant]

Here’s a video of our first game of the season. Saw some massive improvement in receiving with the proper foot over last season. My midfielders still aren’t switching the ball as much as I’d like, but our center backs made some good decisions in distribution. Obviously our speed of play is very slow and our opposition is really weak, but I see some great improvement already over the fall season. I was missing my starting right back and the three forwards who started are all second choice behind the three kids who came on as subs first.

Any and all feedback, criticism, and suggestions are welcome!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=piFAF-YWN2I

• This topic was modified 10 years, 7 months ago by  andrew crollard.
• This topic was modified 10 years, 7 months ago by  andrew crollard.

[Chad MoranParticipant]

Andrew, I have really enjoyed a number of your posts.  After reading them, I’m not sure if I’m even qualified to critique.  That said, I think your team did well to slow down and possess the ball instead of just blasting the opposition.  The only criticism I can offer is that the attacking mids, forward and wings look like a line of 5 forwards when they get near the goal and the wings don’t seem to really utilize the corners.  If the attacking mids were to hang back a bit, I think the depth would help the attack.  I think running them through the 3four3 attacking patterns would help to spread the field on the attacking half.  The wings seem under utilized. I am trying to figure out a good way to teach my players to possess in the attacking third and move the ball back and forth like the defenders do, probing for the opening instead of ramming it toward the net.  I see the same “blood in the water” mentality with your team when they get near the goal.

[andrew crollardParticipant]

Chad,

Thanks. I’ve been on the possession path since I was essentially player/coach of my club team in high school 10 years ago. It always just made sense to me as a player since I was one of the small, slow, technical players with vision that are so often overlooked. My real challenge has been how to communicate the style to a bunch of kids that have never had serious coaching and obviously have low technique, low athleticism, and/or low inner drive for many of them.

With regard to the wingers, you’re absolutely right and was the first thing I noticed when I watched the replay. All of the kids playing there in this game were second or third choice and have been with me since the fall. Of 10 teams in our league over the last 3 seasons, our opponent and one other didn’t play with a high back line. So, we’ve spent a lot of time working on when and how to send thru balls from our center mids to wingers cutting in. They just haven’t been instructed (until earlier today when we were working on Attacking pattern 2) on what to do when a team plays a deep back line. Our theme of the week is possession in the attacking third, so hopefully we’ll be better next time out.

-Andrew

[Chad MoranParticipant]

Hey Andrew, sorry I haven’t replied sooner.  How did your team take to your theme of possessing in the attacking third? I’m curious to know how you taught it.  I have been working strictly on possession in the back, building out of the back and connecting with the midfield. This Wednesday will be the first exposure to the attacking patterns since the beginning of January.  After spending a couple of weeks on the attacking patterns, I would like to work on possession in the attacking third, but I’m not sure how I’m going to do it yet.  Unlike you, training for possession is new to me.  I always included possession games and stressed the importance of possession to my teams, but the 3four3 stuff has really helped me connect the dots -so to speak.

[andrew crollardParticipant]

I tend to “hide” my weaker players as wingers when they see the field, so possession in the attacking third continues to be a problem for us whenever we move away from the starting 11. I’ve decided to work on a bunch of patterns that simplify the roles of the wingers and maximize the time on the ball of my central players. Since the teams we face from last week and until the end of the season all play a high line, we’ve been working on thru-balls to the corner, then circulating the ball from winger-wingback-CM and then combine between CF and CMs on top of the box. We’re still struggling with possession high up the field, but we’re trying to exploit the space in behind their backline with thru-balls to keep their backs honest.

 

Here’s the first half of our game this last weekend. We’re in white and ended up drawing 1-1, but I felt we played well considering the blue team beat us 9-0 two weeks prior. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PIpHEB4OC3w

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