A VALUABLE LESSON

ok ppl..i noe this is gonna sound chim and really irrelevant to many so only if ur ready for chimness pls continue reading..

a valuable lesson i learnt today was abt soccer tactics..
i played a match against some sp boys who was my fren's bro's frens..
haha..the line-up for my team was quite strong..
eugene as keeper, bryan and leighland as centre backs..which is like sch team defence.
shoban went right defence and prasad left.
mj and shafiq were in the centre, me on the right wing and jerome on the left side.
esmond and jon ong up front.
formation? 4-4-2

ah wells..im glad someone realized the mistake as half time cos in the 1st half we were owned like mad and cldnt string more den 2 passes together..
losing 2-0 without a single shot on target..
enough to make me puke(ps.i really almost did..but bcos i was feeling sick)

errors in the 4-4-2 system..
1) we cldnt even get a proper pass to the forwards.long balls were all we cld manage and even when they did have the ball, they lost it within 5 secs.
2)shafiq attacked alot leaving mj against 3 opponents whenever he lost the ball.
3)once mj was beaten, the defence was unprotected and vulnerable.
4) our wingers(me and jerome) cld not get involved due to the strength of the opponent's in the centre which cut off passes to the wings.
5) poly boys are naturally faster and stronger. playing an exact 4-4-2 formation against their 4-4-2 would nvr work cos they wld beat us in every area of the pitch, esp in our attack and midfield.

haha..2-0..
respectable u say?

half time was a breather..a really needed one..
we were running like headless chickens after them while they passed the ball around and used it intelligently..
to be honest i was dead tired with only 10 mins gone..
overheated..

tactical switch was obviously needed..
the formation went to 4-1-2-1-2
diamond formation with me as the attacking mid behind the forwards..
elijah came on as defensive mid in place of mj.
we played better for starters..(all in the formation!)
but our midfield was still being overrun occasionally.
2 stupid goals made it 4-0 though..
and when i say stupid..it really is stupid.
haha..a sweet strike from way out dipped into the goal..leaving everyone helpless..
eugene thought it was going out..wad a pity.
3-0 and the same was seemingly over..
the uneven and terrible ground betrayed us again.
ball bounced weirdly into leighland's arm.
handball.superb penalty.
4-0?

game over? well..not if 4-5-1 can help it..
u wldnt need a rocket scientist to figure out tt the formation turned the game around.
-pause-
"if only everyone listened to me and went with 4-5-1 from the start"
haha..
with esmond going off and mj coming back on..the game swung our way.

our 5-man mid totally suppressed their 4-man mid. 5 vs 4 in midfield.
we took more control of the game with more cover for the defence and more options to pass to in midfield. the 2nd part of the 2nd half was filled with passes from left to right and right to left outside the opponent's penalty area.
from jerome to shafiq to mj to elijah to me.
elijah became the anchor man in the 5 giving mj and me more space in the centre to create opportunities for ourselves.
the midfield certainly enjoyed the game more and its not surprising the breakthru came from a stroke of midfield penetration.
with our mid in full posession of the ball, i found jerome with a thru pass on the left. he managed to get the ball under control and hold off the central defender. i darted into the penalty box from the right as he suddenly found space to drill in a low cross.
perfect.
i cut in past the defender to reach the ball 1st at the far post.controlling it with my 1st touch and flicking it past the onrushing keeper with the 2nd.
superb but all credit goes to tt stunning cross by jerome..
istanbul by dear shoban?
not really..4-1 is still incredibly difficult.

within mins the 2nd goal arrived and it came from our liveliest source of the day..shafiq..
jerome once again came up with a superb assist as his thru ball found shafiq on the left.he took abit too long on the ball but typically flicked the ball into the far post over the keeper.

4-2..
game on..

they got 2 players injured so played with 10 men..
still they were more experienced,stronger and faster.

free kick to us.
i tell jerome its all his.
he lobs in the free kick and i anticipate to make a run towards the far post esmond and another teammate go up with 2 defenders.esmond manages to flick it on slightly with his head and i run in to steal the ball poking it towards goal. unfortunately, the keeper managed to get the slightest touch to it and the chance went begging.
the resulting corner was silly so i shall not tok abt it..

esmond had another 1 on 1 chance but keeper saved again..
shafiq cld have edged us closer but his chip just went over the far post.
mj managed to get a shot in but straight at the keeper.
jerome cld have easily stealed man of the match had he scored 1 in addition to his 2 assists.

elijah played just as well as anchor for our "all star midfield"

the defence was solid other den the 4 goals conceded.
eugene made some excellent stops to contribute whenever he could.

and so the 4-5-1 has done it again.
tts wad u call "midfield supremacy".

its ok if u dun understand all of the above..
cos if u do..
u arent human..
ur me.
=)

hope to post more interesting stuff for public viewing in the future..
LOL..

-tzup(ps.thx for reminding me. =P)