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.