Subject: [NT] Lithuania

good game...unlucky seca...
liked the offside trap, worked well
if not for the red cards the game would have finished differently, i'm sure of it

good game...unlucky seca...
liked the offside trap, worked well
if not for the red cards the game would have finished differently, i'm sure of it

Thanks Sillu. :) It was a nice match by your side. Canada dodged a couple really nice early chances by Lithuania, tho the defense was pretty solid after (until the depletions).

Both Canadian goals were pretty flukey. The proper team won. :)

Bradshaw did a good job after he was sucked back. He was actually covering Wagenaar too (so when he went off, Bradshaw slid over). Dehere covered the two Partizan 74 boys.

If I'd somehow had the insight to cover Wagenaar with Dehere, we might just have survived the last 10 minutes. :)

It seemed to me that on a couple of occasions Lithuania strikers attempted tackles from offside positions, and were not called offside. That's kind of scary. May have just been my eyes. :)

Nice tackle from W. Lavrynenko on keeper for the second goal.

Have compiled the game stats - may have missed the odd tackle or pass - my apologies if that is the case.

For passes, 1 for 1 means receiver picked up the ball. 0.5 for 1 if the ball was on target, but not received cleanly (not all the passer's fault - but oh well).

For tackles, 1 for 1 means a clean tackle (complete with possession of the ball). 0.5 for 1 if a partial tackle was made and Canada recovered. A partial tackle where Lithuania maintained possession I considered 0 for 1.

Game Stats - Lithuania

Name_________Pass Att Pass Made P% Tack Att Tack Made T%
Amado_________4________2_______50___2_______0_______0
Wang__________6________5_______83___2_______0.5_____25
Lavrynenko_____14_______7.5_____54___5_______3_______60
Caron__________5________3_______60___2_______0_______0
Dehere_________11_______7_______64___5_______5_______100
Bradshaw_______22_______9.5_____43___17______13.5____79
AbbasMusa_____6________3_______50___7_______4_______57
Wagenaar_______12_______6______50___8_______5_______63
Fichaud_________16_______5.5_____34___10______8_______80
Villaneuva______11_______4.5_____41___6_______3.5_____58
WLavrynenko___0________0_______0____1_______0_______0
O'Hara_________0________0_______0____0_______0_______0
(edited)

Not sure I'll try formatting again. :)

Shooting Stats
Name ... Shots ... Shots on Target ... Goals

Amado .. 2 ............... 2 .................... 2 ..
O Lavrn.. 1 .............. 0 .................... 0 ..

For those kind of tables i think it would be best to do an excel table and use the img functions from exsokker.

A question though, are you now down to rolling your eyes whenever you get a red card? The second one was the reason for the loss, a very close match otherwise.

Good match Seca, can't believe we landed two red cards :( At least Abbas Musa has gotten rid of his two yellow cards :p

I think Parker had a great game & a lucky one two. Personally I thought the defenders were a tad bit to aggressive, Lithuania had a quite a few breaks. Albeit there were some missed offside calls for sure - I don't think it was just your eyes Seca!

Props to the Lithuanian side for a strong match. Their defenders played a really strong match.

Bit of a change on the back line next match now it seems....

That's a good idea - the data is in excel anyway. :)

I tell myself the red cards will balance out somewhere down the road. Hopefully not all at once against a weak opponent. ;)

Heehee. Don't you play one of the most aggressive defensive lines in the CPL? :D I thought the line was ok - they only got 2 breakaways, and Wagenaar scuttled one of those. IMO the worst thing that can happen in a game like this is getting caught in between - you either want to be aggressive enough to get some offsides and push the play into their end, or you want to back way off so their strikers are always receiving the ball in front of the line. There are clearly risks with either option.

Both red cards were actually second attempts at tackles (on both Bradshaw missed the original tackle and the ball bounced out wide). The second one was deep in Canadian territory and had little to do with line placement. Abbas Musa was in good position on the first one until the ricochet.

The defense will look a little different next match - but should be fine against Greece. I have no problems playing the M's (Mayard, Malhotra, McGhee). Any of these 3 would be starters with the last NT I managed. :)

Lithuania's venerable Emilijus Kuèinskas took a knock today and will be SI ~4 on match day.

Edit: changed my estimate as he didn't visibly move with last night's update.
(edited)

A line-up is in place for this weekend. Personnel will be reconsidered after the training & form update. I don't plan to notify managers of participating players this week - what's that they say about discretion and valour? :)

All set ... I think. :) One line-up position I haven't completely settled on.

Biggest concern going into the game (aside from Parker's absence) is the referee. In 3 matches against Lithuania (2 with Canada, 1 with New Zealand) my side has been assessed 4 direct red cards. I know they are a good technical squad, but seriously ...

I don't expect Kuèinskas to play - he'll be SI 4, and they have some other pretty nice options up front.

Their first choice keeper is also injured. Not sure how much this affects them. Lithuania's keeper situation has always been a bit of a mystery to me.

Kuèinskas can distract attention from some of their other potent weapons. Sillu has played an all-out winger most matches this season, and winger Varaneckas is particularly worrisome - partly because he's a fantastic player, and partly because he's been a little quiet (outside of the Bolivia game where he went nuts).

good luck in this deciding game
go Canada