Boys U17 (2010) Major 1 - Clane United

Pre-Match & Warm-Up

At U17 level a proper warm-up is essential and injury niggles like groin and hamstring strains are down, which is good.

Nobody starts training or steps onto a pitch without warming up first and late arrivals will complete their warm-up on the side before joining in to prevent any injuries.

The warm-up is also where we lock in mentally. "How we do anything is how we do everything" and if the lads are just going through the motions in the warm-up, then they will bring the same low intensity at the whistle.

Starting 11 selection

This factors in attendance and performance in previous games, but also how players behave before the match, as it shows how mentally prepared they are.

Coaches shouldn't have to tell lads to put their boots on before the warm-up, nor should we have to shout at them to stop shooting into empty nets and come over for the team chat.

How players perform the warmup indicates how locked in and serious they are, and will affect the starting 11 going forward.

The pre-match talk focused on positivity, passion, holding our shape, and working as a team (11 in attack when we had the ball and 11 in defence when they had the ball).

The Match

We looked unsettled from the start and conceded twice before Emmett scored a great free kick into the top corner. We worked hard for 10 minutes after that, but conceded two more to finish 4-1.

Clane deserved the win. They kept it simple with short passes, 1-2s, and triangles based on good communication and movement.

We lost our shape, lacked communication, and failed to offer options when in possession.

Midfielders pushed up onto the opposition backline like forwards, making passes impossible and causing us to bunch up.

Near the end while chasing the game, three of our lads were flat out, shoulder to shoulder in hot pursuit of an opponent going to his corner flag. While we admire the effort, that moment exemplified what we were doing wrong. Even if we won the ball back, there would have been no simple pass available.

Reflections & Moving Forward

Our 8-0 win in our first game of the season showed what we can do when we move off the ball and make space.

Recently, passing has been poor, mostly because players aren't making themselves available to the person on the ball.

It's easy to work hard when pressing near the ball or when on the ball, but as a team there needs to be more effort to get into space when we have the ball, or close people down and get into position when we don't.

Communication, movement, and positional discipline will be the main focus in training ahead of Kildare away this Saturday.