All over. 4-2 to Chonburi. A humbling experience for the "Elite Academy" of India. The thing that struck me throughout the game was the incredibly poor defending; simple things like marking, denying space, and pressing were non existent. India wasn't physical enough and the central midfielders were poor today. Lee Johnson shot himself in the foot asking Bidyananda to play as a number 10, and that to way too much up the pitch, when his skills are passing and vision. The two wide players - Lallianzuala and Meitei needed to be used as outlets but they were non existent. The defending by the defenders shocked me; I know they have a lot to learn, but that was pretty poor. Naive play from Nishu Kumar for Chonburi's 3rd goal, miss-controlling the ball first and then trying to save a throw in as a result, and when he couldn't save the throw-in, giving the ball to the Chonburi player to counter attack and score.
Tactically, there is a LOT these kids need to be taught. Lee Johnson looked bemused and not sure what to do, spending large periods of the second half int he dugout, pensive. I honestly cannot think of any positive to come out of this game. Kununiyan's goal was a good effort and he showed a little physicality with the whatever little service he was given. Other than that, Bidyananda had excellent close-control and good turns due to his low-centre of gravity. I am clutching at straws now, so I will stop.
Good coaching can make a huge difference at all age levels in football. At youth level, as an example, at Liverpool, technical and tactical coaching are one of the primary concentrations over results at U18 and U21 levels, over results. Their rational is that if you give them the best best technical and tactical coaching, results will naturally improve, and that has been the motto that is prevalently accepted throughout England; some clubs implement it better and put more credence in this over results.
I have no idea how Lee Johnson runs the show, but seemingly from what I hear here, nothing to be excited about. These players more or less did a decent job in January where the scores were 3-0 loss to Estudiantes, 2-1 loss to Spurs and 5-3 loss to an Asian team whose name escapes me now. If they are improving, it is a really slow process.
@gaffer i noticed in the other youth team matches also that they are somewhat struggling with the change of playing style. But can't say much about today as i didn't get to watch properly (buffering)
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