Hello and welcome back to my latest column. This week i will be talking about recent events on and off the pitch regarding Juventos 2000 Fc while talking about some of the goings on elsewhere in the football world.
Following on from our chairman's words at the weekend i felt that it was time that a fellow member of the managerial team spoke about a recent performances. Since my last column, prior to the Mike Reed match, we have put in a mixed set a performances. Some have been excellent and some have been workmanlike, however, and i hope i'm not tempting fate here, have been particularly poor performances. The aforementioned Mike Reed match saw us put in a really good performance but despite looking good for the point, something that i felt we more than deserved, we fell at the final hurdle. However many positives can be gained from the match, the most important being that we matched probably the best team in the division all the way. Let's not forget that this team is currently top of the Sunday league in Medway and has probably played together for many years, yet we, in comparison are still in our infancy. Following on from the winter break we saw a 5-0 defeat of Seven Shearers thanks to a Sands four goal burst and then did well to get a draw with a Mighty Tackle team. Next up saw a great team performance to defeat Strood Rangers, and then with a weakened team, saw us put Artful Dodgers side put to the sword with us recording a 9-2 victory. More recently we have put in two credible performances against Allies and our old foes Aardvark, recording a good 4 points. Where we may have let ourselves down against Allies, i felt our battling performance against the always tough Aardvark made up for the previous weeks less than great showing.
It is a strange period at the club at the moment and i think that shows in the results. Obviously we know that we can't have a settled side at the moment, with players filling in all over the place. Missing a regular keeper is a blow, something that hopefully will sort itself out when John is back, and obviously the Chard half of LARD, is missing every other week but i think we have enough quality in the rest of the squad to overcome this. I'm looking forward to getting back to the normal squad of 8 we should have, as i feel we are at our most potent when we are all playing reguarly together. Perhaps a Monday night training session (unorganised kick-about) up at the Stirling or sessions with our new training equipment might help, just to us fresh or to improve our fitness, a factor i know George is particular interested about.
Looking at our team recently, i feel that we have all put in good performances here and there but one player who has should come in for some special praise is Steve Knight. I feel that in the last two games Steve has put in the performances that led to him in the past, being compared to a young Guy Ipoua. His barn storming runs, hardwork and ever increasing awareness have seen the scouts flocking to the blue carpet or to give it its full name the Chav Slag Arena. As i sometimes say to Boxy, certain players are meant for certain matches, i.e George is perfect for a match where you've got to fight your way to victory, yet i feel that Steve has become a player for all occasions as he has put in good performances against a wide range of teams this term. Similarly Lanky put in two great performances recently, with him making his mark both up top and at the back. However i'd like to know where Lanky feels most comfortable. While being versitile is a fantastic attribute to have, i think Lanky half of LARD is showing signs of becoming a ball playing defender a la Steve Box, as he is strong in the tackle and can use his telescopic legs to greater affect to then set up attacks. Saying that however, on his day, Lanky is a threatening attacker and we all know about his outside of the foot shooting, so therein lies the problem, as i don't think anybody is the squad can adapt to both positions as well as the tall half of LARD can.
Personally i feel that i'm putting in a range of performances. Some weeks i think i've played well, other weeks i feel that i've not done myself justice. Everybody knows that i prefer to play in attack and while i'm more than happy to play in defence, i think i'm better up top (see the infamous Tos 'Half-moon' picture), so the defensive aspect to my game is something i need to work on. Secondly, i've been hampered by a couple of injuries, with dead legs in two matches recently. It's strange how i've never really had them before yet get two in three weeks. Still that's no excuse and i should be able to raise my game, something that i'm striving for.
Looking to this weeks match, its going to be another tough game. We all know about Rat Boys ability but they have one or two others who are dangerous on the ball. If we give them time on the ball i think they could cause us problems, so i think we need a hardworking performances and limit the time and space they get. Getting tight on them limits there options and we could exploit this. Obviously we did them earlier this season in a cracking match, so lets hope we can get a similar outcome.
Finally, the other Sunday saw the first Tos Poker and Pro Evo night. I know the guys who went had a great laugh, and I think it should become a regular event. Hopefully we can use Chez Weekes again and this time we could have the whole squad there, as we haven't spend much time down the pub after of before matches. Therefore this week, i think we should all go down the Waggon or somewhere after the match. Leave your thoughts on the message board.
Cheers
Si