We Are forgetting What We Are Good At

Subs

• Stanley for Cardall
• Palmer for P.Barber    
• Abbott for Foster
• Cardall for Stokes
• Stokes for Barnes

I have to say I am feeling a bit disappointed about the way the team are going about things lately.  We had done all the right things for the 1st 6 weeks of the season, trained hard, played hard and tried to put the things we have worked on into practice on the pitch.  The past 3 weeks though have seen fairly shoddy efforts on Thursday evenings and that has lead into some poor displays on a Sunday.

The game was a Cup game against Hollywell from the Division below.  We took the chance to change things round a little bit after last week’s game against Lakeside .  It gave me the chance to have a better look at Jack and Paul, and also another chance to see Graham in the middle of defence.  I have tried to stress to all of the players and parents that this season we have a stronger subs bench than in the past, so we will make changes at times and not necessarily because somebody is doing badly.

The game itself was really dire.  I now know what the term “Bore draw” is.  We were comfortable at the back but sloppy everywhere else.  We seem to have lost the ability to control the football.  Passes kept bouncing off us and it stopped the flow of the game.

As expected we were the better team but to be honest we never really looked like scoring after the first 10 minutes.  Paul had a good chance saved and Alex struck one over the bar but other than that we were poor.  I think the most disappointing thing for me and for the parents that I have spoken to since the game is that we have stopped playing as a team.  We passed the ball really well at times for a few weeks and now it seems like everybody is trying to out do one another again.  Too many players looked like they were in it for their own glory and not the teams.

I do not really remember putting 3 passes together in this game.  Our midfield seems determined to over hit passes to the opposition goalkeeper all day long.  They seem to have blinkers on and constantly ignore the players in space out wide.  When we did get the ball wide our wingers seemed too determined to over do everything rather than just provide the crosses that they are there for.  Why try to beat 2 or 3 players when a simple pass can do the work for you???

The game went to extra time and then penalties.  We kept up our impressive record in shootouts.  Mark, Ryan, Dylan, Graham and Henry all scored to send us into the next round.  I think this is what they call sneaking in the back door, as we didn’t particularly earn it.  A special mention for Graham who I thought was our best player by a long way. 

This Sunday sees Premier Bromsgove come over to play us in round 2 of the other cup.. Bromsgrove are a regular top 4 side and they have had wind against Cadbury and Arden in recent times.  They also beat Heathway 8-2 on Sunday.  I have been looking forward to this test ever since we saw the draw.  If we can get back to playing as a team and letting the ball do the talking like we did against Hanbury and Coleshill then I am sure we can more than give them a run for there money.

Steve