Round 10 - North Caulfield

MATCH DAY EVALUATION

Match Day 9 – Box Hill vs. North Caulfield

Conditions: Cloudy with some gusty breezes. Pitch in good condition given a week off though grass is virtually non existent in centre corridors. Still flat and level but showing evidence of wear and tear.

PLAN: Team was asked to:
• 110% from the start of play
• 1-2 touch soccer
• Keep the ball on the ground
• First tackle the hardest

First Half: Team changed shape this week. Given lack of goals scored against and strength of defence overall particularly through the middle, a 3-1-4-2 formation was chosen. The defensive mid position this week was taken by Lee in place of the proposed incumbent Kasapidis (suspended for this game). Nguyen was late for the game and was replaced in the starting 11 with Di Blasio. The intent was to allow the central mids to not have to retreat too far back and as a result assist and link with the forwards more effectively. Initial interplay was OK by BH but passes to forwards were missing targets or getting miskicked. North Caulfield were playing with a 1 man strike force, 4 in defence and 5 in midfield which stifled some of the BH play. What disappointed the BH coach was the apparent lack of desire to commit fully to a physical contest. Some players put in just enough, but not enough and this will be addressed this week at training. Players must realise the body has to be committed to win tackles and contests and if a player approaches a tackle or contest half heartedly, they are the ones that will get injured. Some poor kicking from defence and lack of quality decision making led too many attacks breaking down. In addition, some poor decision making by Yu in goal led to great frustration on the bench. Eventually, some fine interplay between Bircham and Clark led to a great cross but no-one was on the far post – again!! We then had a period of 5 minutes where every pass and kick seemed to miss a BH target and land at the feet or head of the opposition. One change was made with Bircham being replaced by Pagotto. Pagotto went wide left with Sam M going into the middle of the park with Becker. Becker was one of the few players committing his body and fighting for every ball. On the 30th minute, some great 1 touch football on the deck split the opposition defence and Di Blasio score with a nice clean stroke into the corner. The half ended soon enough.

Half time score 1 - 0

Second Half: To be frank, the team was given a bollocking at half time. Changes were made and the quality of play in the second half was marginally better from the start. Nguyen came on for Drossas and played easily the best half of football for the year. His passion and commitment to present an option, play the way he was facing and assist the midfield was exemplary and he should take this game as a turning point in his career. Some lovely play by Di Blasio (who also was exhibiting far better decision making and thought processes in his forward play) led to a great chance falling to Nguyen who blasted over the bar from close range. Some interplay on the right between Orlando, Clark and Becker was symptomatic of the BH play – retained possession but we weren’t penetrating. Again, this will be addressed at training this week. Poor play on the right then led to a Caulfield free kick that resulted in a header hitting the BH post – lucky for us but given the number of times we have hit the post and cross bar thus year, it’s about time we had some luck too. A free kick 25 yards out was fired toward the top corner by Pagotto and just missed – quality shot. The team as a whole was fighting well and controlling the game and a goal was coming. Then Nguyen took control of the ball 20 yards out, attacked the bye line and fired a strong low cross across the goal and Di Blasio met it at full pace to tap it in for the second goal. BH played out the last 5 minutes to the end and a relieved bench and coaching staff reflected on a hard fought win, but a win none the less. Sometimes, you have to win ugly.

Final Score 2 - 0

Overall Comments

Opposition: As I indicated to the others on the coaching/support staff for BH, North Caulfield is always hard to beat. They scratch, kick and contest for every ball and play ugly which sometimes leads to the opposition playing ugly. This is what occurred and I was always worried for this matches result. They have a number of tall strong players and will not allow time on the ball. I believe they are capable of taking points off Malvern and Doncaster through the second round.

Box Hill: A reasonable effort only. We started better in the first 5 than in the past few games but lack of hunger, passion and sheer fighting for the ball needs to improve. Football is technical but physical as well and the physical aspect will only get harder next year IF we make SL. Some players better learn this over the next 2 months or they won’t make the SL squad for this reason alone. The second half was better than the first and the interplay between Di Blasio/Nguyen and the rest of the team was a vast improvement. We also saw a number of shots by Becker, and though the shots were weak at times, it indicated the new structure was allowing the mids to link with the forwards. However, our last touch into the box and through ball is not coming off at times. The awareness of when to play quickly and when to build slowly requires improvement. Some players too are too defensively minded and they must learn to lift their eyes and look forward as well as back.

Team was told in the change room no one can miss training for the next 8 weeks UNLESS VERY ILL, SEVERELY INJURED OR IN A WHEELCHAIR!! We must work hard for just 8 weeks, get 8 victories and win the league. We are close, but no chocolates yet lads…..


Coach: John Di Martino 13th July, 2009