Round 6 Review

REAL GUMBIES FC DEF. LUCKY STRIKES 5-3

Scorers: Naveen Nadesan 4, Howie Leung 1

Review: Victory at long last! After three very competitive draws we finally converted our form into a positive result on the scoreboard, and 4th place on the ladder. The Lucky Strikes have definitely had the wood over us over the last two seasons but last night all of us were determined to end the duck.  The stand-in keeper should be made a permanent part of our team as he saved our bacon on more than occasion. He told me later that the improvement in our team structure and fitness was obvious after just one week. Another fill-in, Fayez, defended aggressively and used his solid body to thwart many attacks.

Even though it was easier with 8 players the entire team still ran out the game strongly with plenty left in the tank. One problem we seem to have had previosuly is slacking off toward the end of frames as the intensity picks up.  But last night it was the Lucky Strikes who seemed a bit flat and sloppy – gifting three penalty goals to the sharp-shooter Nav, who was dominant as always.

Special mentions to Howie, who ran himself into the ground as usual and scored an awesome goal (in top corner), Mond, who continued to present (and call) into space, and Chris, for helping down back with numerous tackles following turnovers in attack.

Round 2 Review

CHARGERS FC DEF. REAL GUMBIES FC 7-3

Scorers: Naveen Nadesan 2, James Wong 1

Review: The Gumbies morale has well and truly deflated after a 6th league defeat in 7 games. Yet once again the gumbies matched the opposition in the first half (2-2) but then couldnt quite get the job done in the second. Are we getting tired? Are we lacking skill? Have we run out of our ideas? One thing is for sure, we just can’t score at the moment. I would personally say we all played well and had fun, yet we all as a team threw the game away, it was russian roulette at 2-2 but we took the bullet.

Does it even matter whether we win or lose as long as we have a good time?

Conclusion: The team is completely impotent.

Round 1 Review

LUCKY STRIKES DEF. REAL GUMBIES FC 7-5

Scorers: Naveen Nadesan 4, James Wong 1

Review: We played pretty well in the first half – leading 1-0 for 12 minutes and had them on the ropes. 3-3 at the end of the half but everyone looked tired when they came off. Ran out of puff a bit early I must say. In general i thought everyone was pretty solid. Ray, Andy, Chris were good. Howie was pretty good for his first time playing in the middle and forward, in the first half created a lot, but it looked like he ran out of legs in the second half. Same for me, the pace of the game and the defenders got the better of me, I think they worked me out. Nav kept us in the game with his four goals. I missed a string of chances and I apologise. In the end, they had tons of shots on goal, some of them blocked by good defending, some of them bad shots and some saved by the keeper.

Conclusion: We are going to have to start passing the ball around rather than the fowards chasing it. Even if it means losing a few games in the short term, we really need to take it to the next level sooner rather than later.

Round 18 Review

BHS UNITED DEF. REAL GUMBIES FC 7-2

Scorers: Naveen Nadesan 1, James Wong 1

Match Review – BHS United was probably the best passing team we played, not surprising as even Vanderlay Industries and Drifters had problems with them. They played well for a full 40 minutes while we only matched them in the first half. Going into the break the score was 2-1 which kept us right in the game. They did have more shots then we did, but they didnt go in. The main problem in the first half was our attack wasn’t working as well as we could have. We had a few fast breaks but couldnt capitalise. Personally i thought i could have done better with my shots and passing on the fast break.

In the second half our attack was better, we made the keeper save three or four tough shots. Their keeper was definitely A-standard. However once again we let through far too many goals – we also let yet another calamitous goal through.

Good – Not much. People are getting fitter.

Bad – Our attack was poor in the first half but better in the second. Meanwhile our defence was better in the first than second. Guys, we’re letting in far too many goals lately, any ideas?

Round 17 Review

LUCKY STRIKES DEF. REAL GUMBIES FC 10-7

Scorers: Naveen Nadesan 4, James Wong 3

Yellow Cards: Craig Schnuriger

Match Review – There were problems at the start of the game, as we were really short on players, it looked as though Nav would miss the second half, and Andy was coming just to watch the game as he had a sore hamstring. But both Nav and Andy stayed to play the whole game, and allowed us to rest a player when needed.

As for the game we were in it for the whole match although usually a goal behind. Naveen played well and kept us in the game with his goals. Andy played well – thanks for coming on short notice. Generally everyone was really good – our concentration was far superior than when we played Eric Li. What cost us were the mistakes, the half second where we did lose concentration or made a wrong decision, for example sometimes we gave them a tiny opening and they would score. Lucky Strikes are a team with five really even players that are big, strong and good all rounders, but in my opinion – our passing and general tactics were better than them. We never gave the ball up – going back to the keeper when needed. They were also going in the back of the net for me which was good.

Good: We were 8-7 at one stage, and I think we all thought we could have pressed on and beaten them. Good passing back to the keeper and general ball play under pressure. Good passing from everyone to set people up for goals.

Bad: They scored straight away after we scored to take it to 9-7. We just need to look after the keeper better and. Another calamitous goal when Mond headed back just over Andy’s outstretched arms. We are averaging one bad goal a week guys. Its nobodies fault – we just need to put ourselves into a position where we don’t leave things to chance. Craig’s yellow card – apparently it was an elbow but the opposition player claims he wasn’t touched.

Next Week – Bhs United – a tough game – they’ve beaten Vanderlay and drew with Drifters in the past few weeks.

Game 7 Review

DRIFTERS DEF. REAL GUMBIES FC 8-5

Scorers: Naveen Nadesan 3, James Wong 1, Craig Schnuriger 1

Game Notes

Good: We can beat them for sure. I have noticed a significant improvement in all players since the first time we played and got beat 20-1. Everyone’s ball control is good. Or at the very least we are more confident with the ball.

Bad: We had injuries. Our defence broke down a few times. They had some shots at goal when their third player ran up and no one f******* covered him. Man up people.

Ugly: Outclassed in maybe one or two moments.  Some absolutely stupid mistakes like the free kick – ill take 60% of the blame, Nav you need to take 20%, and the defender, i can’t remember who it was that stopped playing needs to take 20%. Gave away two penalties. Lack of Communication.

Are people doing anything during the week by themselves? I played a practice game on tuesday, and as a consequence felt my touch last night was good. If you can’t find people to have a game with, do some fitness work or whatever to get you mentally prepared.

Game 6 Review

REAL GUMBIES FC DEF. DRAGONS 6-3

Scorers: Naveen Nadesan 4, Greg Potter 2

Game Notes

Good: Good game by all

Bad: Fitness

Ugly:

Game 5 Review

NEW TEAM DEF. REAL GUMBIES FC 7-5

Scorers: Greg Potter 3, Naveen Nadesan 2

Game Notes

Good: Better defence in second half

Bad: Fitness

Ugly: Confidence drops when we concede. we need more attacking awareness. defensively – don’t commit and don’t get faked out.

Game 4 Review

REAL GUMBIES FC DEF. TEAM ERIC LI 10-1

Scorers: Greg Potter 6, Naveen Nadesan 2, James Wong 1, Chris Honig 1

Game Notes

Good: Lots of shots

Bad: Lots of off target shots

Ugly: Kick it harder PEOPLE! None of this wussy crap.

Game 3 Review

BADA BING DEF. REAL GUMBIES FC 10-2

Scorers: Naveen Nadesan 1, Greg Potter 1

Game Notes

Good: Ok in the first half

Bad: Fitness

Ugly: Confidence drops when we concede.