Asunto: National Team U21

Great match, you almost get an outstanding result....

1 small point, when you play against stronger teams (like today, 10 rating points of difference) , you could do more conservative with your defense.
I mean, once your defenders run outside the big box area, try to make smoother movements running forward, so you have better chances to stop the strikers tackling face to face.
So, run very fast to be outside the big box, but then they could run slower but always moving

I saw the wing was lost in the first half, but did it good on the second half.

Yeah it's definitely a balance of attack and defence, and not necessarily to score but to hold possession away from the other team.

It was a hard fought game and as much as I wish we held on for those last few minutes, the result was probably pretty fair.

I definitely expect norge to go far with this team they have, lots of class in there.

But to even be able to get such a result just shows how much work the community has put in training for the NT, its really good to see, and a huge improvement on where we were 7-8 seasons ago

Overnight we took on Ukrainia.
Ukrainia are managed by our very own owner of Ukes, and are 3rd pot team (ranked 45) and rate in the 50s.

Despite rating less it was a fairly even match but we managed to take home the biccies with a 3:2 win after it started raining goals in the last 10min.

We also got away from the match with no injuries and just the one yellow card.

Great result G. :)

Disappointing draw with Scotland tonight. Despite the stats being equal, we had a lot more opportunities where the strikers were in position to shoot and just chose not to shoot. Shot count should have been something like 8-3.

That draw makes our chances of progressing to the next round very slim unfortunately, despite being the better team.

kind of agree, Australia had better chances or possible chances. You did a great job, rating 5 points below than Scotland.

The match was fragmented, some times Scotland pushing, sometime Australia pushing. I thing nothis is a great manager but today you were able to "trap" him with that high positioned defense. Very nice match. This group is very very hard, be patiente!! Good luck!

Played Poland U21 today. Let me tell you, that's a scary match to prepare for.
Anyway they out rated us by over 11 rating points, and we held them to just two goals.

I will certainly take that scoreline given the difference in players skills

Kept them to just 10 shots. :)

Depressing match against UAE today. A match we should have won easily, but we got handicapped by a red card to a player that was just about to go off, meaning it was 10 vs 11 and taking away any advantage we had.

This could not have happened in a worse game which is quite typical of Australia's luck in qualifying for world cups.

Yeah, tough break having to go almost half a game a man down. Another 2 points would've been handy.

In an attempt to keep players safe for the back end of the WCQ season, I will be resting the first XI and a few more for tonights match with Hayastan.
I have mentioned to their manager that we should have a 2nd XI match, but I was late doing it, and they haven't read the message yet

It will be good to see some less used faces on the pitch tonight. I am also open to playing some extras from the community if there are any players that someone owns here that you'd like to see get game time.

I will try to get back and check it out/adjust the team as appropriate.

Went down 2-0 which I think is actually a pretty damn good result playing a stronger U21 team, and playing their 1st XI.

We have also guaranteed safety for at least one more week for our first XI which was the main goal

Lol when the game doesn't want you to win, you will not win the game.

We got 13 shots to 5, but lost 0-2.

....& your keeper is about 5 times their GK's value. :o

Not much to say this week. Played Poland. We were drawing with them, but suffered a GK slight injury and let in 4 goals in quick succession afterward

Got a win against Scotland with a new tactic designed for them which was nice.

Due to everything happening, my time for the NT is greatly reduced but will continue to try my best to get good performances for all the work everyone has put in