Match Thread: Boardeaux 6-1 IBM Tues 29th Apr - 21.00pm @ Wesley

LeixlipRed

I just think that the defence is the most fragile part of the team. And the less messing about with it the better. Obviously last night was the perfect time to give players a run. And I'm not criticising that. But I really think we'll win or lose the league on our defending. Everywhere else we're sorted. But at the back i'm not so sure. Something for all of us who play back there to work on

_blank_

Challenging headers at set pieces would be a good start tbh.

We lost a goal last week from it, and again this week from corners and frees there was feck all challenging in the box.

It baffles me.

LeixlipRed

Yeh that's one of our big problems. We just need to go man for man and do everything you can to make sure your guy cant head the ball

FrankGrimes

Agree with Murtagh that both teams were setup completely different by that stage and it had a bearing cos they were trying to bypass midfield and lump it up to 4 on 3. Our wingers were staying up by then so we had almost 5 attackers.

And by that stage in midfield we were rightly more focused on getting free in space to take a pass then to worry what they were doing. 9 on 11 - if he gets it he's under pressure, if we get it he's under bigger pressure. After 3 or 4 nil I did let a few 50-50s go that if there was anything depending on it I'd have been straight through him and worry about if the ref thinks I got the ball first after - we had a crazy amount of possession so that shouldn't have been needed to make a difference.

The point on getting a consistent back four lineup is a good one, but in 4 seasons I don't think we've ever started the same 11 2 weeks in a row (defo not 3), and that ain't cos Des is paying homage to Rafa. So the reality is our defence, like everywhere, will be subject to change on availability so if we don't take these chances to get lads match-fit, when they are inevitably called upon they'll be rusty.

homerjay2005

lads we won, by 5 goals, end of story. too much talk about it, however, spose its good to talk about a win and not be happy. shows ambition, but lets not overdo it on the negativity :o:o .

you learn far more from a defeat than a win however and its them games that we lose that our weakness become obvious. our defence is not settled yet, i have missed 3 games, martin has missed 2 games, simon has missed, so has geoff, keith etc etc etc, see where i am going. lets get a settled back 4 and take it from there. the defence is always the first to be unsettled when we are stuck. lads, 7 points from 4 games, could be better, should and would be 9 but for a dodgy peno, so lets make sure we get say 7 from our next 3 games or better and we should enter the top 3.

no lets move on to tuesday and as i keep saying, do the real talking on the field:p

LeixlipRed

1 game Ed.

FrankGrimes

homerjay2005 wrote: »

lads we won, by 5 goals, end of story. too much talk about it, however, spose its good to talk about a win and not be happy. shows ambition, but lets not overdo it on the negativity :o:o .

you learn far more from a defeat than a win however and its them games that we lose that our weakness become obvious.

no lets move on to tuesday and as i keep saying, do the real talking on the field:p

Ed, that's your opinion - others differ to it. If you don't want to discuss it that's perfectly fine but if others want to discuss they are entitled to do so.

I think your view is quite short-sighted but can see where you're coming from. Yes, you can learn more from a defeat, but that doesn't mean you can't still learn from a win - that's what we're trying to do here. There's been plenty of talk of positive things from this week's game here, but we've identified things to work on - as we don't have training sessions, if a lad reads it on here and it sinks in for next week, at least that's something. Last season we won a game 6-0 but our attitude was terrible. I got the same short-sighted response to trying to highlight areas for improvement after that game. We did not win the league last season. To win this league with our squad we will need to extract every last ounce of potential and we can only do that by being aware of our weaknesses in winning and defeat and addressing those.

Discussion on here has highlighted a few things for the squad to think about - challenging more competitively for headers (I would say on our corners too); defence pushing up and focusing on attack against weaker teams; need for a consistent back 4 where possible; improving retention at throw-ins; taking a touch before making a pass in attack rather than trying the killer ball too early; improving vision to look for cutbacks instead of focusing on wide attacks all the time; need for Des to better communicate ongoing changes; need for better talk on the pitch (improving). There's a good few items there but all are incremental rather than fundamental changes and we're more than capable of addressing them and winning this league. These are things a team would normally address in training sessions - as we don't have that option, this forum is as close as we get, and though it doesn't reach the full squad it helps crystallize what needs to be talked about before the next match when all the squad are there, and for that reason I think it's productive discussion.

Oh, before Murtagh sees Lepo's thread and comes back it with links to Bobby from king of the hill and Tintin just thought I'd beat him to it and call out the comparison - we're 3 good look lads in fairness

LeixlipRed

Firstly, the lookalikes thread. Come on Des and Ed. How is that going to offend anyone?? Tut tut I say. And Ed trying the "talk about it on the pitch" line again. Come on Ed, do you think your mentor Fergie uses that in his team talks?? This is the only place we can discuss what goes on. I'm a huge believer in dissecting the teams performance. It does no harm and the discussion that follows can be enlightening. If we trained twice a week there'd be no need for these discussions. But seeing as we don't it's useful enough. Though of course, not everyone reads the forum.

homerjay2005

to be honest martin,me, you and jules talking on ere is going to make no difference what so ever. putting post on here is not going to stop us conceding goals. its not going to put the ball in the net either. we all know what needs to be done. its up to us to make these clear when the team is picked and we are talking before the game.speaking of fergie, im pretty sure he does use it, you think he posts his team talks on the internet? dont think so!