From Mr Thornes:
Firstly, to score six goals for the second week on the trot is no mean feat, so well done. Secondly its nice to get a couple of consecutive wins. Although i'm not really a fan of naming names i did think several players stood out for me. Luis was excellent, especially during the last twenty five minutes of the second half. Barry had a superb second half, looking back to somewhere near his best after a relatively quiet period. Greg had a particularly effective first half, poaching two real strikers goals. Sam capped off an excellent personal week with the goal of the game- a crisp volley into the roof of the net after a Zicoesque aerial flick from Neill. My choice for Man of the Match though, was Dave. Apart from one pass that went astray early in the second half I thought he didn't put a foot wrong. All night he either won the ball, or received it, and then quickly played a short, incisive pass to a team mate. It's exactly how I would like us all to play.
Anyway, along with all the good stuff there was also, unfortunately, lots that should give us cause for concern. The first fifteen minutes of the second half were really poor. We totally stopped passing and moving, against a team that, in reality, were beaten. Our lack of composure and a sense of panic gave such encouragement to the opposition that they could, and probably should, won .With better application, a couple of special bits of skill and a fair amount of luck, we rallied to score three quick goals. Against better teams we will not be able to get out of jail so easily!
Our problems were caused, in my opinion, by two basic failures that it seems we just can't prevent creeping into the Accies general play. The first is that players are still taking too many touches on the ball. It's pretty simple really- if you are taking more than three touches on the ball it's frankly too many. Play it simple and quickly, and then either look to get it back immediately, or make a run which will open up space for someone else. It's so infuriating simple. When we don't do it it makes the game so difficult.
The second is, in essence related, to the first. It's the seemingly pathological desire we have to hit long, low tariff, 'Hollywood' balls. They almost never come off and usually only succeed in giving the ball back to the opposition. It's really something we have to stop doing as a team. It's high risk, distupts the pattern and structure of the team -as it stops us moving the ball up the pitch in small compact units- and shows a real lack of patience and composure. As I said at half time last week, if we keep the football results will take care of themselves. It may sound strange but we shouldn't be concentrating solely on winning, but rather on keeping the football and playing as a team. I feel sure if we all give this some thought before games we can develop improve dramatically.
On a final, and more positive note, in the next couple of weeks we are going to attempt to implement a new formation for the Accies. It has to be said, I normally don't believe in making football any more complex than it needs to be, and hence am not usually keen on tinkering with formations. Such a change of thinking has come about for two reasons. Firstly, 4-4-2 almost certainly isn't an option when we play the Dutch, as they always play 3-5-2, which leaves our midfield exposed and overrun. Secondly, we really need a plan B, as its too rigid for us to always rely on 4-4-2, particulrly if things are not working out. We are going to try and learn to play 4-2-3-1, which isn't anywhere near as complex as it sounds. I'm going to be sending an email out in the next few days explaining how I foresee this system working, and we will probably give it a first run out on the 16th. If anyone wants to chat to me about this, or anything else for that matter, I'll be a round after the game this Thursday. Otherwise here's looking forward to a great game this week against a team I don't think we have had the pleasure of playing before.
Up The Accies.
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