LCSFYL U9 SL 2025/2026 (London County Saturday Football Youth League) - Fulham Utd A

The result we can say that was not positive for us at all, however, as a coach, I think it brings a lot of positives.

To start, we faced a well drilled team who has been playing together for 2/3 years (our team has 3 months TOPS of work with me). Then, we were coming from a good series of results and performances, so in one way, a wake up call was needed.
The final score is too harsh for the kids, as even though the opposition was better than us, personally, I don't think a 10 goal gap, is the right difference from our team to theirs. The final score turned into that high number, not because of our players technical abilities, or physicality, but mainly due to the lack of understanding the game enough (tactical) and our players mentality.
I don't blame any player, the tactical component is something to develop in the long run.
In this first 3 months as head coach of the team, my focus was to assess each player individually whilst ensure the main core of the principles of play attacking (with the ball) are developed throughout. Now, my main aim for the few months ahead will still be developing their skills on the ball, but also introducing the principles of play defending.


Back to the game, we concede 2 or 3 goals where we were in possession building up the play, which, again is totally normal, and I rather concede goals like that now, than in a 2/3 years time. The rest of the goals, were good movements from the opposition, where it missed game knowledge and positioning when defending, and resilience to try to stay compact and/or still the ball. Once again, I wasn't expecting them after a single session focused on defending principles, plus a 10 minute talk before the KickOff to make magic and the difference in the match.

So to the parents and players, a vote of trust, cohesion, stay united, and trust the development process is key to enhance all your child's skills.

To finish, in possession, against a very strong team, we still had several moments where the individual skills from each player flourished. Moreover, we still managed to combine and create some interesting plays that unfortunately, didn't result in goals.

But we created more than enough chances to had a different final score.

The team lost the match, is the reality, but the team and each player won several lessons to start reflecting from, and I have no doubt, the boys will grow and keep improving. This is a long run. Sometimes we will lose, others we will, win. However, for me in this stage, the best win, is seeing each player enjoying the amazing sport called football, whilst growing like "little men" and developing their football skills whilst having some fun!

Thursday, we are back!