High Tech Campus - Ragtag Rebels

2-2. A draw that tasted like a defeat.

Lousy match, so far the worse in the season. We started scoring (Stefan), it was a very nice move from Digo that didn't finish with his best possible shot but luckily the ball went to Stefan and 1-0.
To be honest and seeing from outside (were everything looks simpler) it looked like we were already assuming "we just scored, this is going well" and we got rid of all the tension we (I don't know why) had.. and then got too relaxed for a moment. So then, minutes after that they scored the 1-1. Yes they touched the ball nicely but NOBODY followed his guy, nobody made a fault... we just looked at them. Four touches and goal, 1-1.

Then we went into the second half and here we (I) made a big mistake that I explain later. Overall the nerves came back (why!?) and we started our own individual battles, trying one on ones were it was pointless instead of "start again" (Gareth dixit).
However at this point Fernando scored a great goal (the best thing we did today) after a nice dribble and shot with no angle.
Later, we don't pass back, we loose a ball and don't chase the guy, counter attack 2 against 1, Dan almost with no angle puts the ball in with quite some luck.
After that we had quite some chances (which is great) but didn't score any and they also had a clear one that could have made everything worse (and more unfair).

US: Too nervous, never playing back i.e. very rarely to David, never to Gianluca, so we didn't have control of the game. Often we were 3 players in the left and nobody in the right, we did a lousy job while placing ourselves on the pitch and that made us easier for them to defend. Did I mention we didn't control the game? Well we didn't.

Gareth's issue (this is my opinion, just that, like all I say in my posts). When I say "we" made a big mistake, I mean "I" did it (mainly because I did see it and still didn't say anything). In the second half Gareth took the flag and that was a gift for them. At that moment we needed to win and we had no spaces for Jelmer to use and no one vs one for Andre's left shot. Giving that, we should have put another guy from the group David, Digo, Stefan or maybe even Fernando and leave Gareth on the pitch (even more motivated today because of the presence of his girlfriend ;)).
Bottom line: We should have changed the plans no matter the order with the flags (fuck that in these situations). Then we would have assumed a bigger risk in defense but would have had more danger in attack and we definitely needed to win. In this game HTC was often waiting in their field and going in counter attacks, so there was no room in their back. In those conditions Gareth and Carlos give us a plus.

THEM: We know them all, nothing to add. Their keeper joins the start of the move and Rene sweeps in the back. They waited for us and rarely pressed in our field. That's why it is shocking that we did not control the game.
Not many spaces on their back, we should have pressed them more when the keeper has the ball.

Given that said, let's see this in perspective. We didn't loose and we did have chances. A bad day with few mistakes that we need to correct, sure, but that's it. Just learn from it.

I like one thing: we draw and we were(are) pissed off, they wasted time at the end and celebrated the result.

Carpe Diem - Ragtag Rebels

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Victory!! 0-2

Serious game against a serious team. It is hard to understand why they are the last in the stands.
We controlled the game although big part of the game was played in our side of the field. We had a lot (A LOT) of chances but their keeper(not the usual keeper) had a great day today. After 5 min or so we scored (Marteen) the first goal and from then everything was smoother. We had several serious counter attacks but no luck.
One min after the break Gareth scored a very nice goal and although they kept on pressing we controlled the game.
We had a green card (Marteen) but still with 4 players we managed to create two clear chances.

US: Very serious game, we were focussed and controlled most of it. Few chances from them and not really clear ones. We made Gianluca participate more in the elaboration of the move. Very nice pressing from the forwards, specially Andre. Marteen did a very nice job in the second play and in defense.

THEM: Nice team that beated us two times last year, one of them 5-0. They are quite physical team with big players and with very annoying forwards. The captain is a big guy that plays in front and always try to cover the ball. He is not technical but assists the second line pretty decently. Last guy (Nick, blond guy) shoots very hard, definetely a danger we should cover. They have a guy (dark hair, with a neckless) that gets pissed off and out of focus very easily but today he was relaxed.
Their weakest point is that when they attack they leave a lot of space behind the last guy. Deep pass to Gareth or Andre created quite some danger today.

Goals: Maarten, Gareth
Linesman: Jelmer and Digo
Doodle: http://www.doodle.com/vse884dnbw6v54yx

Ragtag Rebels - De Witte Burgh

Victory! 3-2.
Very tense match. We started loosing (as usual) by a long shot that came in through a lot of legs. They could have scored a second one but they didn't. Then in a counter attack, Gianluca to Jelmer, Jelmer to the space for Gareth and goal.
Soon we managed to score a second goal (Francesco) and we were leading for some minutes but shortly a shot from our last guy was recovered by them, counter attack and goal.

In the second half we fixed some things in defense and they had way less danger. In the first half we were following the keeper too much and then leaving holes behind, we stopped doing that and then we controlled the game a bit better.
Later we had quite some chances and eventually we managed to score the third (Jelmer). We still have chances after that but didn't score any of them.

US: In the first half we were too many people attacking and left quite some spaces behind. Gareth was very inspired and not only scoring but also working the front line. Martin and Andre made very smart desitions, making faults when an opponent was coming through. Looks like finally we are learning that part of the game too.

THEM: Very good team. Technically and physically not brilliant but defenetely a good team. They pass the ball with a lot of sense, they don't loose balls in dangerous places and on top of that, their keeper it's not only good but also attacks a lot. It's like they play with one more player.
They leave quite some spaces behind when they attack. Right after recovering the ball, whenever Gianluca was playing a ball quickly to the attackers, we had clear chances. Even scored a goal (Gareth) like that. They loose focus from time to time and that is one of the few weak points they have.


http://www.doodle.com/k67uzpfidh6xa99r

Goals: Gareth, Francesco, Jelmer
Linesman: David

Numero Uno

Ragtag Rebels vs VSP

(Sent by Jelmer)

Yesterday we played against VSP. The ranking told us they had only 1 point so far, but they played already against two of the best teams. Also, this team beat is twice last season (both times 4-3), so we definately did not underestimate them. The game started at 22.30, with a referee that like to talk a lot, and because most of us had no clue what he was saying all the time this lead to some misunderstandings and confusion sometimes. Where last year these kind of situations could get us distracted, now we kept calm and focussed on our own game.

The game started off with some chances on both sides, but no goals. With a good individual action on the left side Carlos opened the score. The 1-0 gave us confidence and we conveniently increase our score to 4-1 at half time. We were leading comfortably, but lost our concentration in the first five minutes of the 2nd half and VSP game back with two goals in a short time. We regained our focus and picked up our teamplay from the first half, which led to 5 more goals in the second half. The 9-3 score was already reached 5 minutes before the end of the game. We had a few big chances to make number 10, but we did not manage to exceed our score from last week......

It was a pretty easy victory. There could have been a few goals more if we were more accurate, but 9-3 is a very good result. VSP did not have expetional players. Their strenght is their teamplay, but that was not enough this time. Some of them started to make some tackles in the 2nd half. We kept cool and just scored more goals;)

Next week we play against De Witte Burgh, one of the leading teams this season. !!!

Stats:

Players: Andre, Carlos, Fernando, Gareth, Stefan, Jelmer, Fransesco, Gianluca

Linesmen: Gareth, Carlos

Goals: Fernando (2), Stefan, Carlos, Fransesco (2), Jelmer (3)