Collywood
What follows isn't so much a match report (TMUFC 1 - 2 CWU). as it is a load of thoughts typed up in the glow of several pre- Christmas pints and then edited the next day. Bear with me.
When I first started coming to tooting around 7 years ago, I used to sit high up in the stand - I then got into a habit of watching the first half in the stand and the second in amongst the bog end, and then at some point I decided to spend it all behind the goals.
The last couple of weeks I’ve watched from the stand. And it's been eye-opening. I’ve learnt that Dej is arguably our best player that deserves much more credit than he gets. I’ve learned that I absolutely love Blake in his CAM(ish) role. I’ve seen a lot more than I’d normally see in the Bog End and I absolutely encourage everyone to come up to the back of the stand and at least watch 10 minutes of a game from up there. I obviously wouldn't recommend everyone doing it all at once but I implore those reading to give it ago - . It will change how you see things, and is absolutely worth it. I wish I hadn’t waited 7 odd years.
Last week, against Horley, I was encouraged. We had a clear shape on and off the ball in midfield and were a lot more structured than I had given us credit for - seeing the game from a different angle gave a different perspective (duh!)
I felt the same in the first half this week against Colliers Wood for what it's worth, but something went flat in the second half.
More on that later - but for now what you need to know is that Dej continued his sharp run of form, Blake was lively and Sonic had a great game Despite this we had a bit of a makeshift feel about us due to injuries and illness. If we’d won the game we’d be talking about that. Or talking about how the lads rallied for a result. But we didn't and we didn't. Instead we’re left with questions, the following of which where all overheard in the stand:
Why was Jamie starting when we had a couple of attackers on the bench?
What happened in the second half when we seemed to lose shape or contain a side who did not pose much issues in the first half?
Where is the movement off the ball ?
Who was that sexy bastard doing the match announcing?
All of these were fair criticisms. There may well have been more information that we are not party to behind them - Maybe those on the bench were carrying niggles, maybe Collywood came out at half time and made some tweaks that we couldn't figure out how to deal with. Maybe that sexy bastard on the mic wanted to go under the radar?
In my opinion (which you know - means nothing in football terms), I’ve felt that recently we have struggled at controlling space in games. This is a worry. In most team sports if you control the space you win the game. In the second half we seemed to lose a bit of shape or organization and therefore lose our way. I'm not sure exactly if that’s the reason but it felt like that - something felt flat after the break.
We had a makeshift back 4 and I think they did well - We didn't have our first choice starting XI but I think the team were more than good enough to challenge yesterday.
For me, It’s a case back to the drawing board: find our identity and stick with it. It’s been a bit lost at some point in the last 6 weeks - and I get it, we’ve had players leave and others come in so it will take some tweaking. But we need to find it, and fast. We need to get better at solving problems on the pitch in front of us. We need to get our best players into the games more. We need to learn to control games.
We don't play at home again for over a month. Here’s hoping we can go on a run before returning to imperial fields. Keep the faith, have a good Christmas, Up the Stripes.
