Battle of the Raptors!

Woodley Saints Kestrels play at Berkshire County Sports Club, near Sonning. Its about 40 miles for the Falcons to travel, but the facilities and environment are very nice indeed, a wide open space with a variety of pitches for all ages.

Two giant Oak trees, hundreds of years old, framed our pitch, not looking the least bit bothered by Storm Brian, on what was perhaps the first really autumnal match of the season.

Falcons last played Woodley Saints Kestrels here on 12th September 2015 and lost 2-0. So, following a couple of cup games where we had scored freely, we were expecting (and hoping for) a tougher game.

It’s certainly the case that, over the last two games in particular, the Falcons have really begun to understand and feel comfortable with the passing and positional game we have been training for a while now. As a coach I appreciate some of the concepts we are introducing to our U10’s are training you would expect at U11 and U12 level and in the 9-a-side game. But we are lucky enough to have a team of thinking, intelligent footballers, who listen, understand and try their best to bring what we are teaching into the game. It’s really rewarding for the coaches when this happens. It is also super football!

We spoke to the team about the conditions, and the need to continue their passing and positional work, we also wanted them to win the ball high up the pitch, with the attacking diamond becoming the first line of defence when we lose the ball.

We started with Jacob in goal, Louis and Marcus in defence, with Matthew returning to the team as Sweeper. Pete on the right wing, Stanley on the left and Eadoin as a False Nine.

The Falcons continued where they left off last week, fantastic passing out from the back from Louis and Marcus and then between the front diamond of Matthew, Stanley, Pete and Eadoin, meant we didn’t have to wait to long for the first goal, about 60 seconds in fact, Matthew setting up Stanley on the left, who opened the scoring with a lovely shot (0-1).

At this stage of the game you are never sure whether you might have just caught them napping from kick off… and for five minutes the Kestrels defended well.

Our second goal came half-way through the first quarter and was the result of a fantastic team passing move. Marcus brought the ball out from defence and passed cross-field to Pete who fed a one touch pass to Matthew, who played a one touch through ball for Eadoin who ran and drilled it home with his first touch… Liquid Football!! (0-2)

This was the first goal of a ten-minute hat-trick for Eadoin, spanning the first and second quarters, Matthew again being provider, before Gabriel, who came on for Marcus in the second quarter. (0-4)

Our fifth goal was a special one too, Gabriel had an attempt clawed away by the Kestrels goalie and ball was cleared out to Louis who had ventured forward from left back. Taking a few steps forward he launched a super shot to score his first goal for the Falcons. (Well done Louis!!)

Falcons were passing the ball sublimely around the Kestrels, combining pace, position and intelligent decision making to keep them under almost constant defensive pressure. Pete and Matthew’s pace and passing was controlling the game. This led to our sixth and seventh goals - Eadoin’s fourth assisted by Matthew and Matthew’s first of the day assisted by Eadoin.

It was 0-7 at half time. Jacob, who had pretty much been a spectator throughout the first half ,asked if he could have a spell out of goal and Louis volunteered to take a turn between the sticks.

The second half also saw Eadoin and Pete take a well deserved rest and Chris and Marcus come back on on the right and left wing respectively with Stanley dropping back to right back.

It only took 4 minutes of the third quarter for Matthew to complete his hat-trick, our eighth goal coming from a solo effort, Matthew controlling the ball on his chest, little Cruyff turn, and then firing the ball from the edge of the box past the keeper and into the far corner..

Our ninth goal was very pleasing and shows that the understanding of how we want to play runs throughout the team. Another super one-touch passing move involving 4 players, this time Stanley to Marcus to Matthew to Gabriel to Matthew…Goal! (0-9)

You’ll often hear me mention TotaalVoetball, some of you will know what this is, but, pioneered by Ajax in the 1970’s and more latterly developed into the style of play adopted by Barcelona, Arsenal and others, it’s basically the idea that any outfield player can play in any position and understand what they need to do in that role. That’s what we are trying to teach and develop. There were two of our players who demonstrated this exceptionally well today. Firstly, Stanley who opened our scoring in the first quarter as a left winger and then dropped back in the second and third quarters in to a right back role, breaking up Kestrel attacks and starting off Falcons attacking moves. Secondly Marcus, who started at Left Back in the first quarter, initiating a number of attacks and moving to right wing in the third and fourth quarter, finishing a number of Falcons attacking moves!

Our tenth goal saw Marcus open his account for the day with a lovely shot from a pass from Matthew. This was shortly followed by Chris’s first goal of the season from an assist by Gabriel (0-11) (Well done Chris!). The score stayed at 0-11 for the remainder of the third quarter.

A little bit of tiredness crept in perhaps and certainly our passing game broke down a little with the game clearly won, our players began to look more for the shot than the pass at times. Not really a criticism, more a result of our total dominance and perfectly understandable, but something to note for training!!

The fourth quarter saw Matthew and Gabriel take a rest and Eadoin and Pete return. After a period of sustained pressure, bringing some excellent saves from the Kestrels keeper, Eadoin turned in his fifth goal of the day and the Falcons 12th from a super pass by Chris.

Marcus rounded of the day with a brace and the Falcon’s 13th goal from an assist by Gabriel.

Full time 0-13 – our biggest ever win, since last week’s biggest ever win.

Two of the other concepts we are trying to teach the boys is that the attacking players are the first line of defence when we lose the ball and the value of winning the ball back in the opposition’s half. It makes it easier for our defence, and brings a lot more scoring chances. All of the boys who played in the attacking diamond today exemplified this. Chris and Gabriel in particular caught my eye in this regard. Repeatedly tackling and harrying the Kestrel attacking players before they had even crossed the halfway line meant they were turned over quickly and the ball passed to one of the other players in the attacking diamond. Chris got a goal and an assist and whilst Gabriel didn’t get on the score sheet today, he played the killer pass for no less than 4 of our goals. Andy and I have some videos of this taking place and the goals and goal chances that followed, which we’ll be showing the boys…Super work ! (The video (on WhatsApp) shows this. In the space of just over 2 minutes the Falcons stop the Kestrels getting out of their own half 5 times leading to seven Falcon goal attempts and ultimately a goal)

Every week I keep telling the boys that the next game will be tougher and after the last three games, I’m not sure they believe me anymore! However, the style of play they are learning and mastering now will help them in those tougher games that certainly will come in the run up to Christmas.

A super performance from every Falcon today, score-line is great, but it was the style of play that really pleased the coaches, well done!

Scorers

Makepeace (1)
Brown (6, 10, 16, 21, 47)
Middleton (17)
Gillespie (20, 26, 30)
Laffan (29,48)
Khair (33)

Player of the Week

Eadoin – For playing the False Nine role so well, causing havoc in the Kestrels defence, with and without the ball, dropping back and allowing the wingers to become attackers, and for becoming the first Falcon ever to score five (even though he only played just over half the match)!