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Radii · 09-03-2010, 01:36 AM

August 31st, 2013

Crewe Alexandra(1-0-3, 20th) @ Woking(1-2-1, 11th)

Crewe are 5:4 favorites, we're 7:4 today at home. We've never met before.

29 y/o striker Clayton Donaldson has 3 goals so far, and their most dangerous player is identified by my coaches and scouts as MR Kyle Bennett, a strong overall player with a near 7 average so far for a team that is losing which is pretty solid. We'll attempt to close down on Bennett.

I'm starting two of my new guys tonight, Ball and Pablo(Subotic is not fully ready after his injury anyway), with Upson likely coming in off the bench:

GK: Lynch
DEF: Nikolaou/Williams/Smith/Ogogo
MC: Ball/Pulis
AM: Jesus/Downes
ST: Harsanyi/Pablo

25': Its been even so far, Harsanyi just had our first good chance, turning by a defender and taking a shot at the 18 yard line, but just missing. I've seen Ball get his head to some loose balls flying through the midfield that most players I would imagine would have to try to run behind and trap, maybe jjust b/c I'm looking for that though

38': A long ball from Nikolaou finds Harsanyi in open space... it would seem way offsides but they have a defender down on the other side of the field. Harsanyi strikes quickly and scores... but he is deemed offsides. Seemed too good to be true, and it was.

HALF: The numbers say Crewe is outperforming us, with 7 shots/3 on target. We have 3 shots, all off target. But i'm not really unhappy either, I'm liking what I'm seeing from Ball, I do wish we could generate some more offensive chances, and hopefully we will in the second half, but we're doing ok so far.

46': Crewe midfielder Webster picks up a yellow for a tackle on Ball.

46': Crewe striker zola picks up a yellow for a challenge almost immediately after our free kick.

49': Our two new guys hook up, Ball with a pass to Pablo who tries a shot from 20 yards out, it bends wide though.

58': Jesus clears a ball away from a defender and goes down hurt. He is on the sideline for awhile and down under 50% fitness. He's done as soon as i get a sub in.

58': Upson in for Ball, Ball isn't match fit and I knew he coudln't bo the distance here.

62': Clapham in for Jesus.

64': We counter quickly after an attack breaks down, Harsanyi charges down the left side with the ball, places a dangerous cross right through the 6 yard box, the keeper doesn't try to go get it, Downes runs onto it perfectly and taps it into the net. 1-0

79': I don't really want to use Sole here, so I sub in Chris Herd for Pablo, put Herd at DMC, Harsanyi alone at striker and go 4-1-2-2-1. I also change to a counter attacking strat.

88': Clapham is down in the box after going up to head away a corner. He stays on the pitch but looks hurt.

91': They're trying to pour it on, one good looking chance sees a poor shot go over, another is a fantastic save by Lynch.

We survive a 4 minute siege in extra time and pull this one off.

Woking 1 : 0 Crewe

One of their defenders, Patrick Ada, puts up a 7.5 and man of the match in the loss.

Scorer Downes earns a 7.2 for us. Assist man Harsanyi a 6.9. Elsehwere the defense came up really big: Lynch (7.3), Ogogo (7.2), Nikolaou (7.3), Smith (7.2).

Upson was 4 for 4 on headers but otherwise didn't do a lot in his 30 minutes. Ball put up a 6.8, winning 5 headers in the middle and completing 10 of 16 passes. Pablo took 3 shots and put one on target earning a 6.6, I didn't really see much of him in those extended highlights.

-- One general note on this team that I hadn't thought about going into the season. I complained a lot in past years about poor corner kick defense, guys just losing headers and allowing shots to come in at will off corner kicks. We have given up one corner kick goal on a short corner. I keep getting notes from my assistant about Christian Smith "winning everything in the air" and Smith, Williams, and today Ball and Upson all weer winning headers like crazy clearing corners. We seem so far to have gone from a team that had a very weak corner defense to a team that isn't going to allow the other team to touch the ball most of the time. Smith 13-16 in the air, Williams 7-10, each with 4 key headers.

09-03-2010, 01:36 AM	#183
Radii Head Coach Join Date: Jul 2001	August 31st, 2013 Crewe Alexandra(1-0-3, 20th) @ Woking(1-2-1, 11th) Crewe are 5:4 favorites, we're 7:4 today at home. We've never met before. 29 y/o striker Clayton Donaldson has 3 goals so far, and their most dangerous player is identified by my coaches and scouts as MR Kyle Bennett, a strong overall player with a near 7 average so far for a team that is losing which is pretty solid. We'll attempt to close down on Bennett. I'm starting two of my new guys tonight, Ball and Pablo(Subotic is not fully ready after his injury anyway), with Upson likely coming in off the bench: GK: Lynch DEF: Nikolaou/Williams/Smith/Ogogo MC: Ball/Pulis AM: Jesus/Downes ST: Harsanyi/Pablo 25': Its been even so far, Harsanyi just had our first good chance, turning by a defender and taking a shot at the 18 yard line, but just missing. I've seen Ball get his head to some loose balls flying through the midfield that most players I would imagine would have to try to run behind and trap, maybe jjust b/c I'm looking for that though 38': A long ball from Nikolaou finds Harsanyi in open space... it would seem way offsides but they have a defender down on the other side of the field. Harsanyi strikes quickly and scores... but he is deemed offsides. Seemed too good to be true, and it was. HALF: The numbers say Crewe is outperforming us, with 7 shots/3 on target. We have 3 shots, all off target. But i'm not really unhappy either, I'm liking what I'm seeing from Ball, I do wish we could generate some more offensive chances, and hopefully we will in the second half, but we're doing ok so far. 46': Crewe midfielder Webster picks up a yellow for a tackle on Ball. 46': Crewe striker zola picks up a yellow for a challenge almost immediately after our free kick. 49': Our two new guys hook up, Ball with a pass to Pablo who tries a shot from 20 yards out, it bends wide though. 58': Jesus clears a ball away from a defender and goes down hurt. He is on the sideline for awhile and down under 50% fitness. He's done as soon as i get a sub in. 58': Upson in for Ball, Ball isn't match fit and I knew he coudln't bo the distance here. 62': Clapham in for Jesus. 64': We counter quickly after an attack breaks down, Harsanyi charges down the left side with the ball, places a dangerous cross right through the 6 yard box, the keeper doesn't try to go get it, Downes runs onto it perfectly and taps it into the net. 1-0 79': I don't really want to use Sole here, so I sub in Chris Herd for Pablo, put Herd at DMC, Harsanyi alone at striker and go 4-1-2-2-1. I also change to a counter attacking strat. 88': Clapham is down in the box after going up to head away a corner. He stays on the pitch but looks hurt. 91': They're trying to pour it on, one good looking chance sees a poor shot go over, another is a fantastic save by Lynch. We survive a 4 minute siege in extra time and pull this one off. Woking 1 : 0 Crewe One of their defenders, Patrick Ada, puts up a 7.5 and man of the match in the loss. Scorer Downes earns a 7.2 for us. Assist man Harsanyi a 6.9. Elsehwere the defense came up really big: Lynch (7.3), Ogogo (7.2), Nikolaou (7.3), Smith (7.2). Upson was 4 for 4 on headers but otherwise didn't do a lot in his 30 minutes. Ball put up a 6.8, winning 5 headers in the middle and completing 10 of 16 passes. Pablo took 3 shots and put one on target earning a 6.6, I didn't really see much of him in those extended highlights. -- One general note on this team that I hadn't thought about going into the season. I complained a lot in past years about poor corner kick defense, guys just losing headers and allowing shots to come in at will off corner kicks. We have given up one corner kick goal on a short corner. I keep getting notes from my assistant about Christian Smith "winning everything in the air" and Smith, Williams, and today Ball and Upson all weer winning headers like crazy clearing corners. We seem so far to have gone from a team that had a very weak corner defense to a team that isn't going to allow the other team to touch the ball most of the time. Smith 13-16 in the air, Williams 7-10, each with 4 key headers.