The Gospel according to B.T.
On July 21st, after a particularly nasty defeat at the hands of some folks straight outta Middle Earth, the Reverand Thomas delivered this sermon to his flock.
For all of those not there today, you picked a good one to miss. We were beat by Shire FC in shameful fashion, including a goal against in the first 20 seconds. Later we yelled and cussed each other and even had a fight with the other team. A 1-2 loss was an apt reward for our play and our attitude. This team has the ability to play with anybody in Div.3, Div.2, and could probably give a run to most teams in Div.1. It’s frustrating to take a loss to shitty summer league teams largely because we refuse to learn from our mistakes, cannot contain our emotions, and throw strategic play to the wind, preferring instead either selfish or reckless soccer.
To begin with, everything I’m about to outline I’m guilty of. And I apologize. This game was a pretty big wake-up call for me.
Communication. Many of our criticisms for each other we save until game day when nobody wants to hear them (is there truly any time anyone wants criticism?). Our delivery is often myopic, harsh, accusatory, and ill-timed. On the other end of that, our reception is typically similar. End result is, two or more people are pissed off at each other and nothing is solved. It is more than just myself that are guilty of as well as thoroughly sick of people hollering about plays we make and then routinely doing the opposite of what we are telling everybody else to do. Meanwhile the other teams exploit our inability to operate as a team physically and mentally. We all need to understand that there’s more than one person on this team, it’s not just you, and we’re all trying to coordinate different ideas for a common goal. It’s not always going to work out. We probably don’t need to treat each other like dicks because we have different ideas. Shit, I helped Marcus carry a cooler today and he’s got an Obama sticker on his car…
Defense. Last man back sees everything and should therefore announce everything. Everybody else that possesses the ability to see and speak should announce what they see. Unfortunately, at times it seems like all we see is the ball, so it wouldn’t be much use just yelling “Ball” all day. We need to learn how to see people, space, threats, and draw conclusions about how the other team is planning on attacking us. When we do not have possession, we need to get back behind the ball quickly and prepare to slowly shut down the other team’s attack. We are often lazy after an offensive strike and experience counter-attacks. Then we want to solve everything quickly by a quick stab at a ball. Often that strategy leaves a player beat and an attacker with room enough to cause damage. Better would be to contain the ballhandler while gently guiding him into another defender, traffic, or the sideline (largest, most effective defender in the whole park). This takes time and allows us to more calmly get ourselves into a strategic position. Stabbing and missing means everybody is sprinting. We don’t have the fitness for that. On stopped balls and throw-ins, there is no reason a player should be able to receive a ball and turn to face us without a challenge waiting. If a player receives a ball, we should be on their back, NOT FOULING, and not allowing them to turn. The purpose of playing one-on-one defense is to play in a way that your team can predict which way the ball must move. Saves everyone time and energy. Cut out the ball watching, trust each other, and take care of your own space. No more free goals on the back door. Get the fuck out when you hear Jay say get the fuck out. If that’s what your goalkeeper says, that’s what you do, and if we get scored on, you can blame him later. But if we never do it, we’ll never know why we should do it.
Attack. The speed limit downtown is slower than it is on a rural state highway. If your purpose was to get to San Marcos from Cedar park, what’s the best approach? Would you take every little side street, go through downtown, and take Manchaca all the way south? Or would you take 183 to I-35? These are traffic issues. They seem simple in this context, but not so simple to piece together on the field. Today after I subbed I watched several times that we had time, initiative, and space in the direction we were facing. Instead of simply moving the ball in the direction we were facing, we went out of our way to beat someone and move the ball to someone who was surrounded. At which point several of our teammates may attest that my communication skills were stretched beyond their limits on the sideline. Offense should be fluid. Our primary objective–excepting perhaps in the final attacking quarter of the field, in which crosses, shots, clever passes, beating a defender, are all good options–should be to move the ball from high pressure to low pressure as efficiently as possible. I am guilty of taking too many touches more than anybody, however, this is what I’m trying to achieve. We can make a simple pass to a crowded area, or we can do a little work and move the ball to a more advantageous area. If i’m getting tied up with the ball, this is what I’m trying to accomplish. Dribbling just to beat people and look like a badass is foolish and not very helpful. We need to keep our heads up, eyes and ears and minds open, and look for differences in high and low pressure areas on the field. People operating off the ball need to be able to recognize these areas and form their play around being able to receive the ball in these spots. We proved this morning that we can pass the ball intelligently. We have never proven we can do it all game long. We embarrass ourselves as we rush blindly forward into the midst of defenders that are simply waiting for us to do their job of pursuing us or them. Attackers need a good combination of checking to the ball and making cross-field runs. Midfielders need to make better decisions on how to find our attackers, realizing that the answer is not always to move forward, but sometimes to move back out in order to spread out their team and relieve some of the traffic in our attacking half. Defenders need to stay confident, limit their touches on the ball and play conservative passes into the midfield, or else send the ball up front, allowing our team to invade our attacking half. Everybody on our team needs to be a valid option at all times.
And finally, Chappy should score three times every game. That should pretty much do it. We’ve got an incredible team for many reasons. It’d be nice to enjoy games win or lose, remain on good terms with the other team, and be able to speak to each other afterward. There are several people on our team that have displayed unwavering good spirit from the moment I first joined CRU. I have nothing but admiration and appreciation for those people.
If you’ve made it this far, thanks. Pay Andrew your summer dues. Get to practice if you are available on wednesday. Don’t miss the bar Wednesday night. And relax and get along better. If you disagree with all of this, then communicate. But don’t wait until game day and do it while yelling. I’ll just roundhouse kick your brain off.
Peace!
BT
