Coaching Angst - ZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

"But former All Whites centre back Herbert was at his defensive best yesterday, pinning the poor results on a lack of finishing, rather than negative tactics."

how do people rate this season to season 1 where we basically gave Felipe and Daniel a free role and Lochy was overlapping - and we got the wooden spoon?

Whitby boy2009-09-24 09:39:03

WOW.

Fixed.

Jag2009-09-24 10:07:29

Does anyone else think that the articles in the paper over the last couple of days was entirely due to what has been written in this thread.

I agree with Whitby Boy this debate is way past its use by date, we have what we have.

Lets get on with it, with the injuries, those overseas on maternity leave etc it looks like the team this week may have somewhat of a change over.

Lets get back to supporting OUR team lets get the 3 points which ever way.

Absolutely Positively Wellington

GO THE NIX

in order to drag this out just a biut longer, ive stuck a poll up now on the front page

How about you qualify it some Marius... or as always do I see you playing your PR game ?

If you are asking about in the entire history of the Phoenix the answer could well be different to how people view this season.  My answer could well be different.
Hard News2009-09-24 11:43:22

Meh, fixed it myself.  If you had voted, you will need to vote again on the new more tightly defined proposition.
Hard News2009-09-24 12:11:21

What about a
"Don't know" or "Too soon to say"
option?

The picture is also suggestive towards a particular answer

I thought of changing that as well, but had to leave some 'touch of Marius' on it.

Nope. Had a brief chin wag with Thommo on our last match of the season a few weeks ago and some of these views were being aired back then. That's before he ruptured his achilles - ouch!

LOLat the Yes/No angst - which makes the new poll on the homepage all the more duff. It's the 'You're either for us, or against us' football poll - where are the in betweens?   HarryHotspur2009-09-24 20:25:39

One may point to the stats and say that we had less chances at goal compare to the same time in the previous seasons and you will be right. But you then have to consider that the other team has less chances at our goal as well compared to previous seasons, in fact they were very dominating with their attempts compared to our attempts in the previous seasons.

Right now the improvement for our team this season is that the other team are not dominating as the seasons before and that we are (per game) roughly similar in the attempts and so are competitive statistically even tho we are slightly behind in the attempts.

One has to point to the change in possession % to realise that we have, for large period of match time, controlled the game and moving the ball around. In fact there are many comments and observations is that we constantly have the ball and that the opposition hasn't touched the ball hardly for long periods.

However, we have lapsed in the late middle period and sometimes in the end period and allowed the opposition to get right back. This time period is where we need to improve on. It will increase our goal attempts and possessions if we are able to get on top this time period. The sub bench has had a mixed impact during this time as well. This has being addressed a bit with Carecre on board. The rest of the bench is a bit of a worry.

Generally;

In the earlier games, Bertos tends to drop down a gear later in the game but had a strong presence at the beginning of the game., Ifill had fitness issues, Daniel was off the bench as a very late impact, Greenache was just starting to be familar with the set up. Mckain was in the midfield to hold down it all down with varied results.

After a few games in, Bertos was on fire, Ifill was having a more stronger influence the game but fades half way through the second half because of fitness, Daniel gets on eariler as sub, McKain is still in the midfield but ineffective and Lia starts to get some time off the bench. Brown getting to his normal self.

Recently, Bertos had given way to Daniel, Lia who both has been given gametime because of good form and Ifill is stamping his presence even more in the game and lasting longer. Greenache still working hard and McKain has performed better as CB rather than Midfield. However in the second half the performance of Daniel, Ifill on occasions and Bertos has faded all of a sudden, probably due to fitness. Daniel is still trying to get to full match fitness to perform the whole match. Ifill is getting frustrated with of not having the support he had before with Bertos and Daniel fading and Bertos has faded due to peaking too early in a game by trying too much and not pacing for the middle period. This lets in the opposition midfield to control the game in the second half. Brown is getting confident on the odd attack but he has been on and off in the second half.

In the last game after Ifill had to be subbed, Daniel was tried and subbed, Bertos was tired subbed and the midfield opposition got a long enough time to get back in. However besides Careare, we have a very tamed bench.

The fitness of the three of our key attacking players have faded at the same time without similar quality players to replace them from the bench.

I wonder if we are trying too much all at once with key attacking players buzzing all over the field but not pacing themselves or rotating among themselves in long enough chunks. Are the players aware of their own current limits? We must ask ourselves, is the microrest between the players are too short in the game? Is it better to have one of the three key attackers take the back seat for 20-30 minutes by being a supportive player rather than all three taking rapid turns as the on and off again pivot of attack during the whole match, as it helps us to control the whole game and not run out of steam and let the other team in?

Consistent Game Fitness is key for these players and longer endurance helps but it takes the whole season before everyone are sprinting full throttle during the whole game like the South Koreans national team players.

What measures are they doing to combat this low point of the match during the season as well as building up to the end of the season thrust?

I can think of some game drills with players having a secret playing role given to them and do a couple of changed roles throughout the game and applied different pressured situations that can help them learn to adapt smoothly without losing overall team pressure. But I have found such drills are useful but can be hard to read for some players, regardless how good they are, to get a smooth and quicker transition that will take some time to master.

However I assume that at professional level, there are better linkage between players which solve the varied playing roles and how that help them to be quicker in adapting to the conditions and improving their on-field awareness.

Anyway basically, it is the bench and that low point of the match that is frustrating and it affects the outcome. However having said that, the attacks that we have been doing have been done with effective and varied attacks based on good possession and control. Something that we didn't have a full grip of last season.

any chance of summarising that post into a couple of clear statements?

Fair Nuff. Still not sure a thread would command such attention but then the idea has to spring from somewhere...HarryHotspur2009-09-25 12:31:26

I don't get this...in the last 3-4 games we've had the bulk of the chances. The biggest problem has not been converting those chances. (and that has to fall at the likes of Greenacre and Brown's feet)
valeo2009-09-26 00:14:13

Brown maybe, but Greenacre hasn't manufactured, or been presented with (depending on your viewpoint), more than one or two half chances in the last 4 games. StopOut2009-09-26 00:30:45

Sack Ricki.

Just messin'.

This thread should be fun over the next few days.

Blaming Ricki = Automatic loss of credibility

for some. It's the easy option. Because nobody wants to touch the team.

2 moments summed it up for me today -

Giving the ball away via the hoof was a strong feature of the game. Thought Siggy was culpable in particular, but because he is my hero I'm ok for it to happen once.HarryHotspur2009-09-27 20:32:15

bringing costa and marco on was a good attacking option although im not sure what Hearfield brought to the mix

Yup, I thought Ifill was really trying to get Costa involved.