S&L Juniors U11 Whites - Woking Cougars U11 Blues

Tough game on a slow pitch that was reversed to an away game due to the weather forecast.

Great performances all over the pitch again and we were generally not outplayed.

We seemed to wait for the ball to come to us a bit today rather than chase loose balls. Kicking from (all of) defence was also a bit loose. The combination of the two often led to us giving the ball away for another oppo attack, rather than giving us more chances by managing possession.

We will also have to try leaving 3 defenders back to give a better line. When our defence goes up it hasn't brought many goals, then just leaves us short for an oppo break. This led to a crudely formed line in a hurry, and playing the oppo onside at times.

Without generally chasing the loose balls we looked a bit slow, when the ball passes some there was less effort to get back in game and goal side. This left defence short in periods.

Remember wavy feet and turning backs on the ball in tackles is far less effective than knocking the ball on with a hip or chest. Winning more of the 50:50s will only give us more chances.

Listening at the team talks was back to being a problem. With me calling for attention there was still many instances after of talking and kicking footballs. This is not effective, we can have much more time for training if we just listen for 3 mins, we're taking 10 currently. We are going to have to try and stop this by benching players more. Some are worse than others so please try and stop and respect the team talk.

Great work from Alfie. I had to slow him down a few times to save energy as the ball was not in play. He chased the ball and always wanted to be involved. Also an assist. This made him deserved this game's Player of the Match. Well done.

Keep playing well as a team and having FUN. That's why we all do this! See you at the next one...