So we won the game 4-3, The scorers: Jerry x2, Norman & Steven (Kevin's friend).
At the beginning of the game, although we had a stuttering start as we tend to do in most of our matches and conceding a goal, we managed to gather ourselves for our comeback. And before long we managed to somewhat control the game.
During this period, we didn't really move the ball around too much, but still managed to score 4 goals. I still think we could have passed the ball around more, given that we've had all that training with passing the ball on the ground at Shun Tak. All of our attacks were too direct, we didn't really have many balls played sideways and backwards and yet we manage to do this with some degree of success at training. So this is the main thing I want to work on in our next game on Sunday.
I don't want to sound too hasty but with about 20 minutes left in the game, we switched off. They managed to gain control of 90% of the possesion and the rare attacking chances we had were rushed. The other team were able to score 2 goals during the last 10 minutes of the game and actually had a golden chance to tie things up only for Edmund to hit the bar from 5 yards out (something I thought only Kanu could do).
Now the most humiliating thing is that the other team are not even a team and they nearly drew with us if not beat us. And the scariest thing is that from the sidelines, I could really only see 2 people defending at any moment in time when they had about 5 attackers in our half of the pitch.
Now it's understandable with the number of attacking players on the pitch to want to tip the balance towards attacking and neglect defending a little when we're 4-1 up. But when they made it 4-2, nothing changed and when it became 4-3 our midfield were still walking around the halfway line, our sideback was storming up the pitch at every attacking opportunity and staying there. That's when I have to say I lost my cool and started yelling, but after seeing 2 goals lost because we didn't put any effort into defending as a unit, you sometimes just lose it.
Now I know that I might have over-reacted a little (especially when our 2 sidebacks don't normally play in that position) but we all have to sacrifice a little for the team, we can't all play in the position of our choice, the best example would be Ken Yiu, he doesn't like playing in Center Back, and yet he takes one for the team; for the good of the team. Another reason why I lost my cool is because I know for a fact that when we put effort into it, we play much better football as a unit than we did during the last 20 minutes of the game, and I really had to say something before we lose the win we should have comfortably got.
So let's just bear that in mind for the next game on sunday, which we'll be playing the same opponents on a 11 a-side pitch in Lok Fu. There's going to be a lot more space for us to pass the ball around on a big pitch, so let's make them run for the ball.
Now on a brighter note, although Jerry scored 2 very well taken goals, and could have scored his first hat-trick only for Ken Lai's heroics in goal for the other team, my Player of the Game goes to Kevin Tsang for all the endless running in the middle of the park, giving the defenders a good first line of defence.
