Not A Good Test
Opponents: Hougang U23 Team
Time & Date: 1530 hrs on 240606
Venue: Pasir Ris Cresent Secondary School
Field Conditions: Decent
Weather: Sunny with intermitten drizzles
Team Line-up: Alvin (GK), JueHai, ZhangWei, Weide (CPT), Bingde, Rayner, WeiChern, SiuChun, BoonHwee, Elson, Benny
Subs: WeiWei, Kenny, XinCheng
Built-up to the match:
After the defeat to Advicer Alliance FC, Mc Lucky FC was looking forward to a better performance against their next opponents. The origins of our opponents were somewhat shrouded in mystery, with the only information about them gathered when a few of the McLucky players shared a kickabout session with some of them on a obscure field in the opposition stronghold of hougang. Numbers were exchanged and a matched was arranged.
From their appearances, Hougang U23 Team looked much younger and smaller in physical built than the McLucky players. How good they are as football players would be made known after 80mins of action on the rather decent Pasir Ris Cresent Pitch.
Match Highlights:
10min: McLucky gets taken by surprise when No.10 of Hougang U23 Team scores with a scorcher from the edge of the penalty box. Alvin Lee, the stand-in keeper, had no chance at all as the box was rifled into the bottom left corner of the goal. 1-nil to Hougang U23 Team.
15min: A morale-boosting equalizer from Elson, McLucky's foreign import from AHS's 4D Team, who showed his physical poweress to put the ball into the net after a long ball into the opponents' half.
20min: Penalty! The opponent's No. 10 collapses under pressure from Rayner who had his arms around him. The world No.2 Referee (some say No.1 after Graham Poll's blunder) points to the spot. Anxious faces were everywhere in the McLucky team.
Fortunately, a moment of sheer class from Alvin Lee denied Hougang U23 Team from taking the lead once again. Guessing correctly the direction of the penalty, McLucky's stand-in keeper produced a world-class save. This was the turning point of the match as McLucky awoke from their slumber to impose themselves on the game.
25min: Elson once again proves his worth with a well-taken goal to put the team in front.
30min: A pass to Kenny inside the opponents' penalty area and he makes no mistake with a solid shot into the top left corner of the goal. This continues his incredible record of at least 1 goal per game for McLucky FC.
35min: A good build-up leads to the ball being delivered to WeiWei on the right. He produces a perfect cross for BoonHwee who heads the ball into the top left corner of the post. Goal! 4-1 to McLucky.
40min: Half-time. Capt Ong urges the team to maintain their focus and not to get complacent. He reminds the team that they are capable of a better performance.
45min: Benny increases the lead when he converts a cross from the right which eluded the whole of Hougang U23 Team's defence.
48min: Alvin showed good striker's instinct to slam the ball in after Hougang U23 Team failed to clear a corner from SiuChun. The Keeper-turned-Striker then indulged into an elaborate array of celebrations with what looked like a tumble and roll on the ground followed by some shaking of his fingers which were shaped like guns aka Robbie Keane. 6-1. And looks like there are more to come.
53min: A high ball pumped into McLucky's defence evaded everyone except Hougang U23 Team's striker. Stand-in-Stand-in keeper WeiChern fails to get the ball off him as he advances into the penalty box. A scramble ensued as McLucky defenders rushed back to prevent a goal but the ball still ends up at the back of the net. 6-2. A laspe in concentration from the defence.
60min: Elson completes his hat-trick as Hougang U23 defenders fail to cope with his physical presence once again.
70min: The moment of the match. A freekick was conceded at the edge of Hougang U23 Team's
penalty box. A yellow card was awarded to 1 of the opposing players who had elbowed Alvin in the neck. The referee observed signs of distress on Alvin Lee's face and blew the whistle. Up stepped SiuChun, the freekick specialist of McLucky. Exposing a gap in the wall set up by Hougang U23, SiuChun slammed the ball into the top right corner of the goal. A world class goal that took the breath of all who were lucky enough to witness that moment of magic.
75min: Yellow card awarded to BoonHwee for diving in the box. Ironic cheers from his team-mates who applaud the referee's decision.
80min: End of the match.
FINAL SCORE: McLucky FC 8 Hougang U23 Team 2
Post-mortem:
Although there were smiles all around after recording a large victory over the youngsters from Hougang, the ever-wise Capt Ong brought everyone back to earth with this quote-of-the-day : This was not a good test. Indeed, the gulf in standards was painfully obvious to all present. After all the intense debate about McLucky's tactics and style of play, evaluation of the new 4-3-3 system must be put on hold until after next week's match against KheeYong's team. I'm sure they would prove to be a better test.
posted by Chern @ 10:34 AM
7 Comments:
A wonderfully written report!! Well done!!
Zai Crite!
Carrying on from the discussion from the last match report, and based on this week's performance, I find 4-3-3 to be a pretty self-flattering formation. I guess due to the skill level of the opponent we were able to play 433 the way it was meant - open, attacking play, which often resulted in more than enough men in the pen box. Good as it might be, I doubt future teams would afford us the luxury. To be putting 3 forwards up front, it would require the midfield 3 to be impleccable at passing, possession play, and defense. Did every midfielder manage to exemplify that? So we have to ask ourselves, when it comes to the crunch, are we that good that we can afford to throw 3 men in front? Based on the 2nd half performance at Tanglin, I feel our best formation, at least against sterner opposition, so far is indeed 4-2-3-1 or 4-5-1, which ever way you chose to see it. Even 4-4-2 maybe be a waste of men upfront, when we cant even maintain enough possession to provide for 2 forwards. So I guess, until we manage to pass better ( kudos to us late in 2nd half at PRCSS, we managed to string some passes around!!), we should stick to a more conservative approach, and also play to our strengths ( we have enough excellent DMs ), before thinking of an open system such as 4-3-3. We showed glimpses of passing! Keep it up McLucky...
Great reporting from wei chern! Good game though as stated, it wasn't really a good enough test. Yeap i agree with siu that we should play a tighter formation against stronger opponents. Playing tight and keeping possession of the ball for long periods of time would be best to frustrate the opponents. Of course this would test the passing skills of our players and it would allow us to see how composed our players are under pressure while trying to hang on to possession of the ball. Frustrating the opponents might work out just nice for Mclucky...unless the referee for the match is similar to the one in the Australia-Italy match...hahaha...
i strongly disagree to putting just 1 striker, because it wun make a difference with one more man in the midfield. playing as the left fw in the previous match, i was required to come back on plenty of occasions, effectively dropping to a defensive role. even though it was not a good test, i thot we had alot more chances when we cut in from the flanks to receive and to deliver crosses to the far post. this will gif more width to our play.
I dunno much abt coaching, but for me I feel we must start conservative. Currently, the real problem now is poor possession.4-4-2 is a good formation, but I feel we may still be a long way from truly being comfortable in it. With 4 across the midfield, we already have trouble passing the ball out of own half, which results in loose balls being pumped aimlessly forward. A good reference game would be the last one at Tanglin where it was truly a game of two halves. Where in the first half, with 2 upfront, we could only muster poor balls that only seem to barely service one striker. However, in the second half where we had 5 midfielders, we manage to string passes in THEIR half, not forgetting they fielded a stronger team in 2nd half. If fielding 4 midfielders means poor long balls to 2 forwards, compared to 5 in midfield but better passes to 1 forward/or late run-in midfielder, I think the latter would be better.
Morever, 4-5-1 is a good formation to cultivate a passing game, whereas 4-4-2 may lack the extra mf to pass to and may instead prompt mfs to launch poor balls forward. Once cultivated to a point where we can play a decent passing game, perhaps 2 men upfront would not be a waste of men, but we have to get there step by step, as I fear if we continue to play the way we always do repeatedly, we may nv become better than the team that launches aimless balls.
Agreed. We should add more dimensions to our game rather than just playing the "get the ball down the flank towards the flags". Possession is a key factor in a game.
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