Subject: Ireland Vs...

Player Requirements

Keepers
Keeper – Formidable (11)
Passing – Average (5)
Pace – Average (5)

Defenders
Pace – Excellent (10)
Technique – Good (7)
Passing – Average (5)
Playmaking Average (5)
Defending – Formidable (11)

Midfielders
Pace – Very Good (9)
Technique - Solid (8)
Passing – Solid (8)
Defending – Solid (8)
Playmaking – Solid (8)

Wingers
Pace – Formidable (11)
Technique – Excellent (10)
Passing – Excellent (10)
Playmaking – Solid (8)

Forwards
Pace – Excellent (10)
Technique – Excellent (10)
Striking – Formidable (11)
(edited)

Some much tougher games being arranged than i would have wanted but unfortunately the U-21 world cup means you have to take what you're offered.
As for the formation on Saturday, there may be a suprise or two.

I don't really like suprises.

You need any advice or do ya want to wait and see and be slated after the match instead ;)?

I dont think there will be so much now. We'll see...
Go ahead and offer advice if you like.

Ok we're all set. I've no idea what time the game will be on. Looking at Russia's previous games it could be any time between 9am and 6pm.
Presuming i'm up in time i'll make a post explaining my formation and such things just before the game starts.

It's 9am. The gits...
(edited)

Seeing as no-one's here i wont bother posting my pre-match notes other than to say i'm concerned about the weather and i'm predicting a 3-1 win.

No way! You cant seriously tell me that after all the work i've put in this week i then go and cock things up by putting Freyne in as a defender! It's not possible, i checked it 10-15 times! :'(
Right, as for the game i'm not sure where to start.

I'm hugely disappointed in the result

I'm blaming our forwards for that. They were utterly useless and kept losing the ball time and time again. Not only that but they were completely out of position for most of the game.

I think the system i used held up pretty well and the only scored from a long shot.

Our wingers didn't play wide enough.

I'll never understand why our defenders kept kicking the ball out for their throwins. They did it far too much.

I'm looking forward to the return to form of Keenan and Sanabria.

I'm gutted that my whole plan seems to have been undone by Freyne being out of position.

I wouldn't beat youself up on the result- that was a nice tidy formation and you controled the game for the most part. It's just a lot harder to score at this level, like in the real world most chances come from counter attacks as managers tend not to leave many gaps.

On your problems-

Freyne seemed fine playing set as DEF, it meant he passed the ball quickly instead of setting off on a run which he isn't really equiped to do. If I was nitpicking maybe he was a bit too far forward at times but not too bad really.

Forwards will lose the ball to good defenders not much you can do there, as for being out of position they will approach the ball a lot unless you have an OM between the other mids and them.

Defenders kicking the ball out = a lack of passing/PM. It still happens sometimes even with pass/pm but a lot less.

Keenan- no pace or technique means he struggles for the most part...

On another day you would have won- 10-4 on shots tells his own story. At this level the margins are just a lot tighter. The most important thing is that your good defensive setup meant you didn't lose.

Good job.

It was a solid performance, you were unlucky about the one that went in off the post. Also I must say i felt you underestimated Russia as they are stronger than you suggested before the match. With that in mind, I think you did really well. Congratulations.

Minor observations would be:
I also thought Freyne was a tad bit too offensive for Defensive midfielder. I also noticed you lost most of the offensive throwins.

YOu probably already know, but maybe someone else will find it useful:
As for strikers loosing the ball, it is their attacking skill against defending skill if they are face to face, you striking needs to be minimum 2 higher for you striker to go past a DEF.
If a defender is chasing a striker from behind, it is DEF's defending against technique of the striker, using the same formula, ie. DEF's defending must be 2 higher than ATT's technique to tackle him succesfully.
(edited)

The only thing that really went well i think was the defence. Nothing else worked how i'd planned it. Cashin and Matthews ended up far too near the halfway line for me and we didn't play wide enough. Then there is the Freyne debacle. I think if he'd played in the middle like i wanted him to the forwards might not have had to retreat so much.
I dont think i underestimated them much, i still believe we've the better team. They did catch me out slightly with that formation though, it was more defensive than i was expecting.
I'm going to have to work on Cashin and Matthews, their control was terrible.

good performance, a bit unlucky though.

i think the deffence and the attack worked pretty well,
but the midfield was the big problem, and of course the missed shots :)

Defence - Good
Midfield - Bad
Wing attack - Non existant
Forwards Rubbish

All part of the learning curve though. I know exactly how to iron these problems out and i'm very pleased about the defence, seeing as the was the one thing i thought could go badly. If anything i spent too long designing it and not enough time on the rest of the team.
Right then, Chile next. Have they played yet today?

"I'm going to have to work on Cashin and Matthews, their control was terrible"

Yes, that is Cashins biggest problem and I will only train pace this season. I´m glad he scored a goal anyhow...=)

Peru 0 Chile 1
Interesting game. Chile in control first half but Peru dominate the 2nd and should have buried them, hitting the post 4 times.

Anyone got any thoughts on Chile next weekend and how to go about things?

Some much tougher games being arranged than i would have wanted but unfortunately the U-21 world cup means you have to take what you're offered.
As for the formation on Saturday, there may be a suprise or two.

Tough matches are the best one. I don`t care about winning, loosing or ranking points. I like tough challenges, for example yesterday I played against strong Österreich, and we lost only 2:6 - first half was equal. We lost second half due to poor stamina.
:)