Asunto: National Team U21

Has been a bit of a rushed week with everything happening but I've got a tactic and lineup set for the match against Latvija. Ranking wise they're a fair way ahead so this presents an opportunity to kickstart our season and gain some much needed ranking points. I believe there's a lot of improvement still in our U21 side and I'll continue to work through that as the next few weeks unfold. I'd like to if possible get our avg marks to around 53-55 but again that depends on what we've got available.

Enjoy the game and as always, comments and suggestions are welcome before or afterwards.

(edit) Expectations: Your supporters hope the team won`t bring them too much shame in this match.
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All things considered I'll settle for a share of the points. We could well have lost given the quality of some of their chances. I was pretty confident I'd know how they would play even though they were new to the job. The aim initially was to use their winger against them by opening up the right side of the field for Prentice and Barnes. Unfortunately given our player skills this often led to their defense being able to adjust quicker and forcing Barnes much wider.

What I found rather interesting was our tactic switch seemed to create more chances just on a player on player matchup as Prentice and Jackovic were able to beat their men more easily then under the original tactic.

Either way we need to do more scouting for defenders, they're letting us down atm with a number of regulation tackles being missed. Especially as most NT's are going to have at least as strong a striker as Latvija.

49.9 avg marks as a base after building from scratch in a scramble is a decent effort. We'll need more if we're going to really push for the top 32.

I thought from our sides perspective that Prentice and Thompson played quite well but the rest I'd be wanting to step up a little bit.

Thoughts welcome, criticism welcome.

Friendlies go quickly these days. Basically if my calculations are correct, only 1 side other than us is free. Doesn't give us any choice really and in all likeliness that 1 team is someone we'd be better off not playing. I'll work out which team is free before making a decision but it's looking likely we may not have an U21 game this week.

I hadn't filled our schedule list in the hope I'd be able to determine suitable opposition to give us a chance of moving up the rankings rather than a game for the sake of it. Could have just backfired this week.

Found the team easily enough using excel. Only team free is Vietnam. I've sent them an invite, so it's down to them as to whether we get a game or not.

We're taking on Vietnam on Friday who accepted my earlier invite. I've also booked fixtures with Austria,Switzerland and Germany at the back end of the season on the understanding that they'll field a significantly weaker side to allow us to be competitive. Currently scheduled for weeks 14,15 and 0.

Vietnam match has been finalised, tactic included. We're ready to take them on and hopefully come away with the goods. A bit more is posted in the association forum but I'm hopeful we can come away with a good enough result.

Scheduled a match against Crna Gora for tomorrow. Hopefully we're able to break the duck after a 1-1 draw and a 2-1 loss. It's not the start I had planned that's for sure. I'll aim to perform better with the limited options I have available to come away with a decent win.

yey!!! 3-2 from 9 shots on goal....nice one.

We're ready to take on Ecuador in around 1hrs time. I think Ecuador may be a bit stronger than us but the difference shouldn't be too big. Ranking points wise we're defintitely ahead so it's probably not the wisest decision I've made but it at least gives us a game.

I'm hopeful that the side selected can do the job. Barnes is unavailable which is a bit of a blow to our already weak striker options.

Watching some of these results is a bit depressing. Shot counts have tended in most games to be fairly even but we always seem to be on the back end of the scoreline. Ecuador's goal was just one of those there wasn't much that could have been done, they sliced a ball between our 2 defs and we didn't have enough pace to catch up and knock the ball away. Should really have been cut out but Durakovic appeared to let it go.

On the other hand we get a few clear chances and hit the keeper, that's really about it.

Formation was fine, maybe a tad restrictive in midfield that allowed Ecuador a bit of room to move, so I'll need to take a look at that. Simply put we're not generating enough chances given our clear lack of finishing to win games and we make a mistake or two at the back and it's costly.

you did great with that winger blockage but you played a bit too defensive against a weaker team...at this level, you can`t provide enough passes to the strikers with only 2 central midfielders
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you did great with that winger blockage but you played a bit too defensive against a weaker team...at this level, you can`t provide enough passes to the strikers with only 2 central midfielders

Quite possibly, but I can throw more offensively and it won't make a difference and just expose us more at the back :p. We don't really have the luxury of pushing players forward given our frailties at the back.

We take on Guatemala at home tomorrow in our next U21 match. Another team in a similar position to us but again as hard as it might seem to believe, slightly stronger on paper but not on rankings.

I'm sick of this losing by 1 goal stuff, it's beginning to annoy me as most of these games have been decided by a coin toss they've been so evenly matched. Will definitely continue to try to break that cycle. Please if anyone finds any U21's get in touch with me or else update them in the NTDB.

Any questions/comments are always welcome. Will begin to contact managers regarding training plans and the like in the next few days.

Well we didn't lose but a draw feels like a loss. 1 clumsy attempt at clearing the line falls to their striker -> goal. 1 clumsy foul gifts a penalty -> goal.

We had 3 1 on 1's saved or bombed wide, including 1 open goal at the death which Jackovic should have buried in his sleep. 1 missed penalty to boot.

Running out of ideas of how to score goals when it doesn't seem to make a difference as our strikers continually squander more than they can afford whilst the opposition makes short work of any loose stuff at the back. Fun times.

Set to take on Malta in a few hours. We've got a few players with some light knocks and at this stage I don't plan to use any of them. A chance to gain some ranking points, something we've seldom done this season, not through a lack of trying though. Hopefully this turns around for us and we can start climbing a bit.

& to think I was in Malta for this match....the lone travelling supporter!! :(