Midland Wolves - League Game on 25th Oct

Hi Midland Wolves,

D2D League Season 2009
Match report
League Game
Attendance
Oct Schedule
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Table standings:
http://www.d2dsports.com/category/football-leagues/sunday-9am-league/

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Match Report:
Midland Wolves FC vs Chinatown FC
HT: 0-1
FT: 1-1
Goals: Wenjie
Assist: Nil
Cards: Nil
MW MOM: Rahim

Formation: 4-5-1 (4-3-2-1)
Lineup: Gabriel, Dansen, Shawn, Sebas (Calvin), Jason, Welson, Yuxiang (Rahim), BX (Leonard), JJ, Wenjie (Sebas), Leonard (Wenjie)
Unused Subs: Yeepoo, Sheares

It's Wolves vs Chinatown revisited. Memories of the near loss comes back to the Wolves as we felt we could have drawn the last game against Chinatown. This time Wolves have a game plan to nullify Chinatown's attacks and it paid off. The match kicked off with the Wolves playing 5 in midfield in order to dominate the midfield, and a modified defence of Dansen and Shawn as centrebacks and Jason and Sebas as fullbacks to counter the height disadvantage and it yielded unexpected results. The early game saw a lot of interruptions in play due to the many number of throw-ins for both sides, neither side getting more possession. After 15 minutes, Wolves settled down earlier and started their passing game. Chinatown never got their passing game going, only seeing strings of passes in spurts. Most of their attacks fizzled out with overhit through balls. Our defensive experiment paid off with all four defenders comfortable with ball at their feet, and managed to pass the ball out of defence and start the Wolves offensive. Chinatown were having problems getting pass Shawn and Dansen, with both providing pace, height and physical strength to defence. Jason had a shaky start being in a new role, but settled in later in the game. Wolves were dominating play and had 5-6 chances but weren't able to convert. Chinatown's keeper was dominant in the area. One of those chances saw a shot saved by The Chinatown keeper, rebound out and and the followup shot saved again, and finally the ball lands on Yu Xiang who took too long with his shot and was blocked. Another chance was when Leonard's silky footwork beat 2 defenders and he was through on goal but his shot was wide. Chinatown had 2-3 chances themselves, but were well handled by Gabriel. Chinatown's break came against the run of play when a seemingly harmless through ball for their number 20 striker should have been intercepted by Dansen, but he hesitated and the striker latched on to the ball, brought into the edge of the box and clinically slot it under Gabriel into the corner. Wolves 0-1 down. Sebas had a knock and Calvin came on. Yu Xiang was having a offday and was taken out with Rahim in. Rahim's inclusiion changed the game completely. With BX running riot on the right, Leonard and JJ wrecking havoc in the middle, Rahim provided the additional chaos to Chinatown's defence on the left with his pace, speed of turn and off ball running, thus creating more space. Half time.

Second half resumed, and Wolves dominated possession. Chinatown switched from a 4-4-2 to a defensive 5-2-3 formation in an effort to defend the lead. Wolves though with greater possession, found it hard to break down the Chinatown defence. Wolves' attacking midfielders were also too focused on scoring and forgot to distribute the ball wide and instead played linear straight forward passes which was cut out easily. One chance came when BX found himself free on the left and a free ball got to him in the box. But he went for power and blasted the ball straight at the Chinatown keeper. The pattern of play continued with Wolves dominating, without finishing. Wolves' equaliser came when Wenjie ran into the box with the ball and the Chinatown keeper came out to claim it. It was a light touch but Wenjie felt it and went down. Ref blew for the penalty which was well dispatched by Wenjie. 1-1! Alot of the attacking play started to go through the right wing where Rahim was, but by full time, nothing new was added to the scoreline. Full time.

Notes:
- One positive to take away is that our corner defending training paid off as we didn't concede from corners. However, attacking from corners, we still need to apply what we did in training and make the runs from outside the box.
- Delivery of freekicks and corner kicks were very poor. We need to do much more with the set-pieces chances we were given. We had 3-4 freekicks and nothing came out of it.
- Midfielders must keep their composure and widen their vision of play to include the wings. Once distribute to the wings, focus will be on the wings and thus create space in the centre, which the midfielders need to learn to exploit.
- Well done by Jason and Sebas as full backs, as their diagonal passes gives us a new weapon and dimension to our game to spread play and stretch opponent's defence. But Jason needs to learn to gel with the defenders and learn to improve his positioning as well as adapt to the offside trap.
- Finishing needs to be more clinical. With the chances we had, we must increase our finishing ratio to at least 50%, or at least hit the target.
- MOM goes to Rahim as his inclusion changed the complexion of the game and had an immediate positive impact.

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League Game:
There is a league game this week. We will be playing against Bochap FC.

Notes: Previous result was a 1-0 loss. It was a game we should have won. To refresh the memory, this game was played at Eastview last time round, the pitch was short and wide, the opponents and ref came 30mins late, fabian conceded the penalty, opponents made of mostly malays with afew chinese and an eurasian player. They quarrelled amongst themselves and seems disjointed. Their dangerman is their central midfielder who is also their playmaker who won the penalty the last time around. Their mode of attack has no tactical plans, but they had most of the play involved at our left flank. They resorted to long shots when they ran out of ideas, and we caught them offside tons of time. They do not have very fast players but they can dominate the aerial game. Their defence has trouble handling players who are physical. Some of their players are experienced and know hows to run down the clock when leading. Their keeper is not very stable.

To win this game, defence have to play offside, and keep the middle tight. They will attack through the wings, so our fullbacks need to be alert. Midfield wise, possession and short passing is the key. We dominated the game when we kept a passing game the last time round. Avoiding high/long balls where they dominate the air will be to our advantage. We need to attack through the flanks more. Their fullbacks are the weak link, lacking pace and are easy to dribble past. Our attackers need to shoot more even from distance as their keeper is not that firm. They lack tactical acuity, so diagonal balls from defence to our wingers to free space is an alternative method to spread play together with playing short passes in midfield.

Details as follows:
Date: 25/10/2009
Time: 9.00am (PLS BE THERE BY LATEST 8.30am)
Location: Beatty Sec, 1 Toa Payoh North Road. See attached link.
http://sg.streetdirectory.com/asia_travel/travel/travel_id_665/travel_site_40212/

Notes:
- Midland Wolves to WEAR the WHITE Jersey.
- Bring own water bottles and boots.
- Toilet is in schoolfield itself.
- Pls bring shin guards.
- In the case of inclement weather (heavy downpour, thunderstorm, etc) game will be postponed. Will inform u guys on the morning itself, so it's imperative I have your contact numbers.

Team Sheet:

Gk- Gabriel
Def- PC
Def- Dansen (VC)
Def- Calvin
Def- Sebas
Def- Jason
Def- Yeepoo
Mid- Welson
Mid- Shawn
Mid- Rahim
Mid- Yu Xiang
Mid- Melvin
Fwd- Wenjie
Fwd- JJ
Fwd- Leonard
+ 2 trialist

Standby: Khairi, Jack, Sheares

Please inform your respective captains before Sunday whether you can make it for the training session or not. Sms to Sebas at 96201130, Dansen at 83441548. Captains please revert attendance to JACK on Sat.

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Attendance:
Jeff is away on long term absence.
Kelvin, Jia Jun, Dun Rong, Issac and Martin will be coming less for training due to O Levels this year.
Raj is away overseas till end of the year.
Naren is away on NS.
Mark is league tied.
BX is has classes on Sunday mornings.
Ray will be away in October and November due to A levels.
Keegan is out till end Nov due to knee injury.
Vincent is away for wedding preparations.
Aloysius is out with injury.
Fabian is busy with daddy duties.
Kunyi is on duty.
Sufian is away with exams.
Syafiq is out for the next few months (ETA: Dec?) with fractured collarbone

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October Schedule:
04/10/09 - League Game 9am @ Ahmad Ibrahim Sec vs Ace Galaxy (1-2)
11/10/09 - Training Session 9am @ field opposite Ci Yuan CC
18/10/09 - League Game 9am @ Braddell-Westlake Pitch 2 vs Chinatown FC (1-1)
25/10/09 - League Game 9am @ Beatty Sec vs Bo Chap FC

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Visit us at our website at www.midlandwolves.blogspot.com
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Go Wolves!

Mr Wolf