Boys U17 (2010) Major 1 - Athy Town

Pre-Match & Controlling the Controllables

At the start, 17 lads turned up on time, a good hour before kickoff, and got themselves into a large rondo without us even asking. This was great to see because they were close enough to chat to each other and weren't breaking off into separate groups. (Note to self that giving them only one ball to warm up really helps here!)

They were in good form for the warm-ups after Alan had started things off with a fun new drill.

We addressed the elephant in the room regarding rumors that this Athy team might be rough.

In the chat we talked about things outside our control, which are the opposition, the ref, the weather, and the pitch. We focused on controlling what we can control, which is our own discipline, emotional control, not reacting to fouls, and playing good football of course.

We emphasized that stopping and complaining to the ref effectively puts us a man down, as no ref has ever changed his mind because a player argued.

The lads took this on board with zero complaints to the ref or opposition all game, which was a step forward from previous matches.

Their fears were unfounded, as often is the case, and this is a good lesson for the lads to not overthink. Their coach welcomed us onto the pitch, and their team was well disciplined and good sports throughout.

Tactically, pre-match we spoke about the fullbacks and the CDMs.

The fullbacks were part of the attack and were to back up whichever left or right mid was going forward, but not overlap them just yet.

The CDMs' role was to protect the back four, not go too far forward in attack, and occupy the centre of the midfield to gather up panicked clearances.

The fullbacks and CDMs took these instructions on board really well, apart from one occasion where a rogue CDM ended up on a run towards the opposition's corner flag!

At the end, we got them to do a final player-led warm-up with stretches before they went out on the pitch.

We made Kyle captain for this match because he is always putting in full effort and is a cool head on the pitch, even though he's ferocious in the tackle.

First Half

In the first half we played into the wind and struggled to adapt to a short, bumpy pitch. Our training space on the grass is long and narrow, which has encouraged us in training to play long without much width.

Our other midfielders strayed too far forward and didn't provide enough width, leaving us with effectively four forwards and a missing midfield. That is a reminder for us as coaches that we hadn't emphasized their roles and responsibilities pre-match, so that fault lies with us. We'll know for next time and bring it up in training.

Our build-up from goal kicks was getting trapped in the wind, and we didn't adjust or problem-solve on the pitch to fix it.

There were definitely instances where we played good football, as we know we can. We showed sharp one-twos, triangles, passing up the wing, fast counters, and crosses that we were just unlucky not to get on the end of.

However, we didn't trouble their keeper at all in the first half and went into halftime 4-0 down.

Halftime Talk & Second Half

At halftime, Alan set a clear challenge. He wanted a 10-second high-effort press immediately after losing the ball to win it back straight away. We also spoke about getting width in attack and using it.

The difference in the second half was clear. We kept Athy pinned in their own half and got our goal through a messy goalmouth scramble, finished off by Cameron. He could have had a second from a header that went just wide.

After Cameron scored, we shifted to three at the back with Kyle as a lone CDM and sweeper. This setup allowed us to substitute in all of our attacking-minded players and try to chase goals while trying to stay solid at the back, with the obvious risk of having fewer defenders.

We maybe got a bit disorganized by throwing on so many attack-minded players, but this gave them a chance to problem-solve themselves and helped us see how they approach problems on the pitch.

We did well to shut them out completely in the second half which we won 1-0, but we lost the game 4-1.

Sideline Involvement & Reflections

At the end of the game the lads were visibly disappointed but also visibly out on their feet from having worked so hard. Effort-wise we couldn't have asked for more from them.

What I personally found encouraging on the sideline was how active the subs were. They were pointing out where we were losing out, where players could move, who was tiring, and suggesting who could come on for them with well thought out arguments. While it can be a bit flustering when trying to manage the game to have lads chatting to you, I personally like it because it shows the lads are watching actively and thinking about solutions. (It was also amusing how often the end of their well-structured argument about how we could adjust the team resulted in them putting themselves forward to be subbed on!)

However, we weren't as active encouraging our teammates as we were in previous games, which is something we want to bring back.

There was also a bit of negative chatter on the sideline, and a bit of niggle between players on the sideline after the match.

This came from frustration and a desire to win, but it really isn't helpful. We need to help the lads channel that energy far more positively.

Assigning blame is a complete waste of time. There's a story about a business leader who, whenever his team started pointing fingers, would pull a note out of his drawer that simply read, "It's my fault." The point was to cut the blame game short immediately, stop wasting energy on who did what wrong, and focus entirely on fixing the problem. That's the mindset we want the lads to build, so yeah, I'll just put my hand up and say it's my fault so we can move on straight away to problem-solving.

The main problems we saw on the pitch should be easily addressed with a few little tweaks, like working on positivity, holding our shape, and developing a few more options from the goal kick where we can build up from the back, especially when playing into the wind.

The lads proved again that they take on board what we say pre-match and at halftime. Going forward, it is a good learning for us as coaches to remember that we can't stress the fundamentals often enough.

We will keep repeating our core priorities from the start of the season: respect, positivity, and intensity before each training session and match.