Progress. That's the key word right now, something that has eluded us for as long as, or longer than, winning has. We've been on a sour streak for a while now, but something faint in the air is starting to smell a little sweeter. For the first time in a while we're posting goals. Genuine goals. Team goals. If you looked at the goals we scored last Summer, it started with Peter Luthi at the midfield, Peter Luthi powering his way up the field, and Peter Luthi finding the finish. The guy is a locomotive train/freak of nature. He's also on injured reserve. Our plight has been finding OTHER players on the pitch to get on the score sheet because our buildup has never been solid. But looking at our goals last night, playing through the midfield, checking back, making overlapping runs, confusing the opposition, and being creative... it's progress.
We still suffer from our mental lapses which often prove costly. At least three of the goals last night never should have been (then again, I'd like to think if the game hadn't been cancelled by lightning we would have bounced back and won). We are playing with some really brilliant style for stretches but then there's a team-wide temporary regression and it's a habit we need to break. I don't think we're at the "score at will" level, but when everyone does his job and executes the tactics we're going to start putting more on the board. We just need to find that extra "something" to build our lead and then sink our teeth into it and not let it go. We let leads slip away; we need to lock down, sink our cleats into the turf, and protect that lead like mama bear trying to protect her cubs. And stop making mistakes. The final two goals last night were bogus, from a free kick that never should have been and a pick and roll executed by the player and the official on Louie, but the back seven need to play like wild animals when we're trying to win.
While having our post-match gathering at Tavern off the Green, Rob (1/3 of the "Young Midfield Trio" feature from last week) made light of an interesting situation. Summer season debutantes "Kangaroo" Jack Taylor summoned some Thunder from Down Under to net the second goal of the night in his second appearance, and new player Cesar Bellido scored our third. Rob posted that miracle strike against Winter Rovers last week, and in the midst of a shared pitcher of Yuengling he pointed out that fellow new players Steve and James had yet to score.
This isn't amateur hour, guys.
I understand the friendly challenge was laid down to encourage some scoring from the other two-thirds of our new-look midfield, and I credit Rob for that. The truth is that our team is being built around the three of them and they've done tremendous work in distributing and creating and our goals of late have come from their work in the midfield. However, as much as they have to be credited for our improvement in form, I too would like to start seeing us bag a few more goals from the midfield. Let it be said on the record that if at least two of the three central mids score Wednesday night against Lake Parsippany, Red and I will pay for beer. (Note: Red doesn't know about this but he's always saying "if you score I'll buy you a beer" anyway so he shouldn't mind.) That's right, Rob laid down the challenge and I'm making it official.
I also want to see a defender find the net. Our wingbacks have been playing much higher now that our midfield is working more and I would love to see someone pull a killer shot, or for a defender to score off a corner or set piece. I'm hoping for a miracle strike from Brian Daire or a redemption goal for Mike Austin, something to really get the team fired up. Let's face it: if our defenders are scoring, than the attack needs to step up and not let defense do everyone's work.
Wednesday night we have to smell blood in the water and go for the kill.
Some thoughts on turf...
We are notorious for coming up with terrible results when we play on turf. I don't know what it is, maybe we got it into our heads that we're a bad team on turf and we make our own self-fulfilling prophecy. I think a lot of times we play teams that are used to the speed of turf and we just can't adapt. The facts are that we are a very quick team and that our 4-3-3 experiment should actually flourish with the space afforded by a turf field. I don't want any excuses after Wednesday night.
A couple more things to wrap up before matchday tomorrow:
- I wish our bench was loaded. We have some nice depth at wingback and wingers but the next best choices for center back after Charlie and Mugs are Red or me, and we're typically starting elsewhere on the pitch and not really fresh enough to spell one of our two starters. If we had someone who was an absolutely dynamite central defender who was ok with playing 20-25 minutes a game, we would be looking great at all times.
- Despite his ginger appearance, it's possible that Brian Daire may be the long-lost relative of Brazilian Dani Alves. We're actively investigating this possibility.
- We need to play with more balls on the ground. Through balls and passes to feet are crucial. We spent too much time on the turf pitch last week chasing balls through the air. I asked Tim, a 53-year-old Male from Mendham and president of the Mendham Chapter of the 1776 fan club, what his thoughts were about us playing more balls on the ground. Tim said, "I love it when you boys play with your balls on the ground. Especially Mike Pollock. That's the kind of thing I pay money to see." Pollock, currently on the inactive/ineligible list, was unavailable for comment.
- Steve Dingler had us do a toast to raping on Wednesday. Seriously, better choice of words next time?
- Steve Dingler also said "this isn't amateur hour" four or five times so yes, this blog was directed largely toward him.
No comments:
Post a Comment