Post by themonk on Nov 29, 2007 9:37:58 GMT
Not for the first time this season the reserves suffered from a depleted squad - playing the game with only 10 men. A few players were played out of position due to the low numbers and morale was low but as is the nature of football you must adapt to changes and face up to the challenges. Playing out of position and/or playing with only 10 men should not be an excuse for a 22-0 defeat. If we can't adapt on the field or battle and put in the work from the first second to the last then that's where the big defeats come from.
Most of the match played out with St Luke's on the attack and they did play some very good football. Some of the goals were quality and not much could be done about them but we sat back for 90 minutes and let them attack. I only remember Rovers having 3 attempts at goal and only 1 on target. Suggestions at half time when 12-0 down to sit back and defend are ridiculous lads! Is 12-0 down a good score that you want to defend? Do you want to stop the score getting embarrassing? At what point does a score become embarrassing? You shouldn't have that mentality to sit back ever - even at 1-0 up because all you do is invite pressure.
When we did get the ball panic set in for the majority and instead of trying to play football, or taking a second to asses the situation, the ball was slashed at and hoofed away countless times needlessly. We had a couple of breaks which came from us managing to get the ball down and string a few passes together in the middle - when we did this we competed with Luke's but, without any sort of determination or awareness, we bottled it every time and the attacks proved fruitless. Luke's didn't even need to battle for the ball they were just first to everything because we couldn't give a nuts.
What must be said is that even from before the start of the game morale was low and a degree of disinterest lingered. If anybody was bothered about the match then the result would have been different. Nobody wanted to get stuck in, nobody battled, nobody kept a calm head and nobody seemed to have any kind of clue.
The thing that is worrying lads is that 22-0 flattered us!! If not for some disastrous Luke's misses the game should have finished 40-0. Never in my life have felt as embarrassed as I felt on Sunday. Stop making excuses about playing out of position or not having enough players - its Sunday league football these things are going to happen and we will be let down - its up to us to get on with it and work as hard as we can during every match.
If we had worked hard and battled and shown that we could play football - and then got beat - then we could have come off the pitch with heads held high. As this wasn't the case I suggest the reserves take a long look at what they would prefer to do on a Sunday and go back to washing the f**king pots if you can't do the green shirts justice!
Most of the match played out with St Luke's on the attack and they did play some very good football. Some of the goals were quality and not much could be done about them but we sat back for 90 minutes and let them attack. I only remember Rovers having 3 attempts at goal and only 1 on target. Suggestions at half time when 12-0 down to sit back and defend are ridiculous lads! Is 12-0 down a good score that you want to defend? Do you want to stop the score getting embarrassing? At what point does a score become embarrassing? You shouldn't have that mentality to sit back ever - even at 1-0 up because all you do is invite pressure.
When we did get the ball panic set in for the majority and instead of trying to play football, or taking a second to asses the situation, the ball was slashed at and hoofed away countless times needlessly. We had a couple of breaks which came from us managing to get the ball down and string a few passes together in the middle - when we did this we competed with Luke's but, without any sort of determination or awareness, we bottled it every time and the attacks proved fruitless. Luke's didn't even need to battle for the ball they were just first to everything because we couldn't give a nuts.
What must be said is that even from before the start of the game morale was low and a degree of disinterest lingered. If anybody was bothered about the match then the result would have been different. Nobody wanted to get stuck in, nobody battled, nobody kept a calm head and nobody seemed to have any kind of clue.
The thing that is worrying lads is that 22-0 flattered us!! If not for some disastrous Luke's misses the game should have finished 40-0. Never in my life have felt as embarrassed as I felt on Sunday. Stop making excuses about playing out of position or not having enough players - its Sunday league football these things are going to happen and we will be let down - its up to us to get on with it and work as hard as we can during every match.
If we had worked hard and battled and shown that we could play football - and then got beat - then we could have come off the pitch with heads held high. As this wasn't the case I suggest the reserves take a long look at what they would prefer to do on a Sunday and go back to washing the f**king pots if you can't do the green shirts justice!