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Subject: U21 World Cup
If the Hong Kong team in general had shown a bit more I think their worth would have been more apparent. The main threat was the super striker so making sure he was marked out of the game was the priority. Having the two DMs do the marking meant he couldn't just turn the defender and be clean through while at the same time staying tight to him.
I'll write something about the match and the tactics later today or tomorrow, at the moment I unfortunately don't have the time ...
But I'm pretty happy about the result!
But I'm pretty happy about the result!
The result was as promised or even a bit better ;))
I liked the tactic a lot, the 2 def. MIDs were imho veeeery necessary.
There was no other possibility to stop their striker. With the 3-2, the wings couldn't pass him the ball, as always one man was right in the passline. And if he once got a ball by himself (by getting backwards), he had 2 or 3 defenders / def. MIDs to walk through and (as expected) almost noone could stop him. So the second or third def. could get the ball as the strikers always looses the ball for a short moment, when tackling succesfully. Imho without the very defensive 3-2 there was no possibility to stop the striker and we wouldn't have won that cleary.
The 2 side-mids (or however you gonna call them) from our side were imho well placed, they could play nice passes to the veeery strong strikers (I love strikers with much technique and they both got that ;)) who could easily run through the defenders and score.
Imho it was a great match, especially the first half.
And the 3-2 in the defense was imho sooo important.
But everyone shall have his own opinion, it MIGHT have worked without them, but i doubt that (as their job was to make it impossible to play passes to the strikers and as they did very well in that. The mids often passed to another mid, as they couln't reacht the strikers).
So, that's all, Geg might add somethings later that day ;)
I liked the tactic a lot, the 2 def. MIDs were imho veeeery necessary.
There was no other possibility to stop their striker. With the 3-2, the wings couldn't pass him the ball, as always one man was right in the passline. And if he once got a ball by himself (by getting backwards), he had 2 or 3 defenders / def. MIDs to walk through and (as expected) almost noone could stop him. So the second or third def. could get the ball as the strikers always looses the ball for a short moment, when tackling succesfully. Imho without the very defensive 3-2 there was no possibility to stop the striker and we wouldn't have won that cleary.
The 2 side-mids (or however you gonna call them) from our side were imho well placed, they could play nice passes to the veeery strong strikers (I love strikers with much technique and they both got that ;)) who could easily run through the defenders and score.
Imho it was a great match, especially the first half.
And the 3-2 in the defense was imho sooo important.
But everyone shall have his own opinion, it MIGHT have worked without them, but i doubt that (as their job was to make it impossible to play passes to the strikers and as they did very well in that. The mids often passed to another mid, as they couln't reacht the strikers).
So, that's all, Geg might add somethings later that day ;)
great Ganz!:) congrats. anyway, hong kong tactic was... all you sow like it was;)
Finally I got some time to write something ...
The result was that high because it was predictable how Hong Kong was gonna play. Especially their defense wasn't looking that good, you all saw it aswell.
About the two def-mids: I had a long discussion with Baslx about how I should place them ...
There were many reasons why they played that defensive and almost turned the 3-men defense into a 5-men ...
I had much respect of their super striker, maybe too much.
I knew that our defenders are not as fast as he is. That's why they had to stay that deep.
I wanted to use 2 def-mids, for me - or better for us - it was the question where to set them ...
Finally I chose the defensive option because our defense was playing deep while their strikers played high. That means that the closest player to their striker were always our def-mids, no matter how they were going to play!
My thought then was that if they play more offensive, they'd have to tackle the striker mostly from behind, the danger for cards therefore would have been much higher.
So I set them very defensive, they almost always could tackle the strikers frontside, and they even won tackles!
Successful tackles by midfielders always have a good impact on the match. They pass much more accurate than the defenders had done, and so we got many great counter attacks!
Well, but the main reason was that I didn't want the def-mids to tackle the strikers from behind, and that's why they played that defensive ...
The result was that high because it was predictable how Hong Kong was gonna play. Especially their defense wasn't looking that good, you all saw it aswell.
About the two def-mids: I had a long discussion with Baslx about how I should place them ...
There were many reasons why they played that defensive and almost turned the 3-men defense into a 5-men ...
I had much respect of their super striker, maybe too much.
I knew that our defenders are not as fast as he is. That's why they had to stay that deep.
I wanted to use 2 def-mids, for me - or better for us - it was the question where to set them ...
Finally I chose the defensive option because our defense was playing deep while their strikers played high. That means that the closest player to their striker were always our def-mids, no matter how they were going to play!
My thought then was that if they play more offensive, they'd have to tackle the striker mostly from behind, the danger for cards therefore would have been much higher.
So I set them very defensive, they almost always could tackle the strikers frontside, and they even won tackles!
Successful tackles by midfielders always have a good impact on the match. They pass much more accurate than the defenders had done, and so we got many great counter attacks!
Well, but the main reason was that I didn't want the def-mids to tackle the strikers from behind, and that's why they played that defensive ...
I believe we had a week off because Dominica withdrew. I cant actually find the thread though so i've no idea.
Yes, Republica Dominicana withdrew, so I arranged a friendly with Nederland.
In our group we qualified, but I withdrew.
The match against Austria showed that we're in no way capable to get any good result.
Austria probably belongs to the weaker teams of this U21 WC, and it just would be suicidal to play against teams like Poland, Belgium or Eesti ...
In our group we qualified, but I withdrew.
The match against Austria showed that we're in no way capable to get any good result.
Austria probably belongs to the weaker teams of this U21 WC, and it just would be suicidal to play against teams like Poland, Belgium or Eesti ...
Why did you play in qualifications if you had no intentions of playing in the Group stages?
I had intentions to play, but never expected to have absolutely no chance with this team ...
I know it's not fair the way I were or am acting and I discussed everything with Hells before withdrawing.
And finally I think it's the right decision to withdraw, it's not good for us to lose every match with 10+ goals and it's not funny for the opponents aswell to play against a team which has no chance.
I know it's not fair the way I were or am acting and I discussed everything with Hells before withdrawing.
And finally I think it's the right decision to withdraw, it's not good for us to lose every match with 10+ goals and it's not funny for the opponents aswell to play against a team which has no chance.
I see.
From the outside, it looks like Ireland went into the tournament to poach a few easy matches, and then bailed. Kind of weak if true, and not what I expected from you.
From the outside, it looks like Ireland went into the tournament to poach a few easy matches, and then bailed. Kind of weak if true, and not what I expected from you.
If you'd seen our squad you'd know that it'd be far easier to get results with the first team than the U-21's and we could have avoided Nederlands this morning.
I don't understand your statement. Are you saying it's easier to get wins with your senior squad? If so, then why enter the tournament in the first place?
I understand the decision to withdraw. It's in the best interest of the Irish NT (and the NT's manager). But it's still weak.
I understand the decision to withdraw. It's in the best interest of the Irish NT (and the NT's manager). But it's still weak.
Well, I only expected to qualify directly through the Mini WC, which was a huge disappointment for me. And for all Irish users aswell I guess ...
And we couldn't expect to play in such an easy group. Check out the other group, in one group Switzerland, Czech Republich, Croatia and Venezuela are playing, we just were lucky with the draw!
In a "normal" draw we wouldn't have succeed in the qualification anyway, and finally it's good the way it went.
But I agree with you, it wasn't good the way I handled it, but for Ireland it's definitely better to play other matches ...
And we couldn't expect to play in such an easy group. Check out the other group, in one group Switzerland, Czech Republich, Croatia and Venezuela are playing, we just were lucky with the draw!
In a "normal" draw we wouldn't have succeed in the qualification anyway, and finally it's good the way it went.
But I agree with you, it wasn't good the way I handled it, but for Ireland it's definitely better to play other matches ...
Fair enough. Like I said, I understand the decision and it is quite likely in the best interest of the squad.
But I don't think one should be able to break commitments without receiving a bit of a tongue lashing. ;)
But I don't think one should be able to break commitments without receiving a bit of a tongue lashing. ;)
I'm saying that if we were after easy wins it would have been far more beneficial for us to have avoided this competition. And as Geg has just said, we entered before we knew the draw and could quite easily have been massacred in all 3 games. This idea that we were after easy wins is a nonsense.