Playing back when the midfield wins the ball has to be a tactical decision. That is something the coach needs to work with with his attacking and midfield players.
The attackers need to come into a position when the second ball is contested so that can receive the pass from midfield. But our attackers are way out wide or further forward to be an option for midfielders to pass to. Hence their only natural option when they win the second ball (which they did very well against UAE) is to go back to defense.
Apuia has the skill to feint and go backward to keep possession when on the second ball but he needs to learn to go forward with it now. Perhaps playing for NEUFC who are mostly a counter team under Khalid is one reason why he keeps doing that. At MCFC, he will have to learn the attacking aspect. And I think he has a good mentor in Jahoue for that.
That is something these players have been doing right from their Arrows days because they played better oppositions. Hopefully they realize this and get better
What about our senior team ? The problem remains the same. I'm not blaming stimac, but somehow the players lack confidence to move forward and find an incisive pass
Anyone noticed midfield during UAE match was not releasing the pass quick enough even though there were option available on side or forward position, most of the times they chose back pass or try to keep the ball at their feet long enough for the UAE pressing player tackling and winning the ball from their feet. These things should be instinctive to release the pass to the next best available player rather than waiting.. thinking where should I go, because higher rank teams will press you hard and not let the ball at your feet for long time. Decision making needs to be fast and also off the ball movement from the attacking players needs to improve to provide more options for passing. There is fundamentally wrong with our players match awareness and vision going forward.
The reason as to why after beating 3-4 players via passing(based on their high press) our midfielders again pass back to our defence is because they lack confidence and are not ball carrying midfielders. Our forwards are not always at fault in this situation because the forwards(2 or 3 depending on how the team is playing can still be marked by opposition defenders who would be 3 or 4).
This is where our midfielders should step up and carry the ball forward and support the forwards and outnumber the opposition defenders making it 4 on 3 or 5 on 4. This is how other teams play but we pass back again to our defence and all this 3-4 players who were taken out of the game become active again. This needs to change.
Moreover, the reason why we see the same thing happening in our senior national team as well is because all these midfielders play in that team also(likes of Suresh, Apuia,Amarjit etc).
This was the reason we struggled even against the likes of Saff Countries because we pass backwards and give the opposition a chance to reorganize. This transition from defence to attack should be much quicker. This is the next step for our National teams(at all levels) to be worked upon because the first step which is to be defensively organised and solid and maintaing the right shape can be seen atleast by me at more or less every level(be it the senior level or age group level). The occasional lapse and individual errors can happen but keeping the structure is important and our teams have managed to do so far.
Even in the World Cup/Asian Qualifiers the maximum or biggest margin of defeat for us has been 1 goal even against the likes of Qatar and Oman which shows that it is not that easy to break us down(first step). Now, we need to focus on improving our transition phase i.e from defence to attack.
Our results in the qualifiers are pretty impressive so far compared to other SAFF nations. Each one of them has conceded 7-10 goals in 2 games Tajikistan 6-0 Nepal Iran 4-0 Nepal Qatar 5-0 Sri Lanka Syria 5-0 Sri Lanka Bahrain 3-0 Maldives Iraq 4-0 Maldives Even Vietnam and Thailand have struggled to beat weaker opposition only by a 1 goal margin
Now you are comparing our u17 World Cup team with saff teams. That’s unfair, AIFF spent lots of money on this batch, they must do better than any of our previous generation otherwise goalkeepers human genes theory proves itself 😊
How is the new batch of Indian Arrows coming along ? Harsh Patre , Sajjad Parray and some others are there. In Next cycle of AFC U-23 they will represent India
Comments
Apuia has the skill to feint and go backward to keep possession when on the second ball but he needs to learn to go forward with it now. Perhaps playing for NEUFC who are mostly a counter team under Khalid is one reason why he keeps doing that. At MCFC, he will have to learn the attacking aspect. And I think he has a good mentor in Jahoue for that.
Our forwards are not always at fault in this situation because the forwards(2 or 3 depending on how the team is playing can still be marked by opposition defenders who would be 3 or 4).
This is where our midfielders should step up and carry the ball forward and support the forwards and outnumber the opposition defenders making it 4 on 3 or 5 on 4. This is how other teams play but we pass back again to our defence and all this 3-4 players who were taken out of the game become active again.
This needs to change.
Moreover, the reason why we see the same thing happening in our senior national team as well is because all these midfielders play in that team also(likes of Suresh, Apuia,Amarjit etc).
This was the reason we struggled even against the likes of Saff Countries because we pass backwards and give the opposition a chance to reorganize.
This transition from defence to attack should be much quicker.
This is the next step for our National teams(at all levels) to be worked upon because the first step which is to be defensively organised and solid and maintaing the right shape can be seen atleast by me at more or less every level(be it the senior level or age group level).
The occasional lapse and individual errors can happen but keeping the structure is important and our teams have managed to do so far.
Even in the World Cup/Asian Qualifiers the maximum or biggest margin of defeat for us has been 1 goal even against the likes of Qatar and Oman which shows that it is not that easy to break us down(first step).
Now, we need to focus on improving our transition phase i.e from defence to attack.
Tajikistan 6-0 Nepal
Iran 4-0 Nepal
Qatar 5-0 Sri Lanka
Syria 5-0 Sri Lanka
Bahrain 3-0 Maldives
Iraq 4-0 Maldives
Even Vietnam and Thailand have struggled to beat weaker opposition only by a 1 goal margin