Monday, 30 March 2009
Anonymous comments
To the "gaffer" self appointed of course where are you going with this.People seem to forgot when you win is it that long ago?I know your position as goalkeeper was threathened on Wednesday not by me I gave my you fullest support,even if you admitted you could have saved 2 of the 10 goals you let in.I haven't been happy with the teams play for a number of weeks,its not ABOUT winning its about trying and given it your BEST EFFORT which lately hasn't been forthcoming.Its not about solo performances and scoring individual goals. I unlike the "gaffer" haven't given up on you yet, people who want to keep fit should go to the gym and not play in a league.Our oldest two players should play in defence and not enter the opposition half,that may be a good start for the new season.When players have come off to allow the subs on they do talk and I have listened to their critism of their fellow players and most of my blogs apart from not mentioning the gaffer have reflected some of your views.Subbing is an issue people not coming including Gareth is not fair when I suggested to Leo I would time the play and tell people to come off so everyone had equal time he disagreed.So no progress. So to the persons who are not bothered about winning and make their views known and further depress the other team members I don't beleive you I have seen the team win and the pride was there.To move things forward I have played in and watched 5 a side matches for the last 36 years.Its easy older players play in defence and normally extend their playing careers.Danny Murphy (Fulham)admitted this on the box.Protect your goalkeeper sometimes its not about making a tackle its about holding the play up instead of getting beat and leaving your goalkeeper exposed. Many games Ive watched opposition goalkeepers have been weak but we have not been able to take advantage because of good defending.Simple rules stop the long runs its to easy to get beat, 5 a side is once again about passing the ball to each other, other teams have shown you time and time again.You forget these simple rules and you wont enjoy losing never mind winning.I have seen you pass the ball to each other and it worked mainly when Nathan played. I wish you all the sucess take care Don
Anonymous comments - Sniffers FC 25/3/09
After dicussion mainly with Allan prior to kick off when he suggested he wasn't bothered about winning and just wanted a kick around and suggested I should ask the rest of the team and I would find the rest of the team didn't want to win I was left wondering where the team spirit, pride had gone but I remember Allan had tried this one before.Charity begins at home and James lined up to play once more in a league match a sign once again Allan doesn't concern himself with wanting to win.No wonder no-one wants to play for us,seriously my wifes friends son plays for a team of people with learning difficlties and I can ring up if Allan wants the details.I am not going to comment on players apart from James who tried hard dispite his disability and scored 2 goals.Prior to the match, Allan's comments and the lack of team pride had left me with no will to live never mind any encouragement to watch the match.If Allan's influence is not discouraged the demise of the mollies is i'm sad to say assured. He says he never reads the blogs and therefore accordingly he will never learn.
Friday, 27 March 2009
The Gaffers Increasingly Frustrated Gob
Today the Mollie's officially hit crisis point and one wonders how we got to this point. What appears to have happened is a lack of communication about the founding ethos behind the team. I honestly believe that the team is geared to having a good time playing footy on a wednesday night, and if we win, all the better. We also have banter and rip on each other for faults both real and imagined. If i took all Lungboy's criticism to heart, i'd have hung myself by now. I will not have the blog censoresd and personally enjoy reading and writing them. If you take to heart every slight joke or criticism, don't read the blog! To my next point, we are not a win at all costs team and we will field players who genuinely want to play. We all pay our fees and can not carry good players who can't pay. Therefore, we will not field a strong team everyweek as we could not pay the fees Goals expects of around £385 every 10 weeks. Some players seem to have completely missed this point and used our newest member as an example of lack of will to win. To clarify, it is always my decision to field the team, and my first concern is to have the match fee covered and we need a minimum of 6 players to do this. We have no strength in depth, he wants to pay and play, therefore i make my decision to play him.
Sorry about the ranty nature of this post, but these issues must be put to rest for the good of the team. Normal service will hopefully resume next week, if we still have a team!
Sorry about the ranty nature of this post, but these issues must be put to rest for the good of the team. Normal service will hopefully resume next week, if we still have a team!
Thursday, 26 March 2009
Gaffers Gob: 26th March 2009 - Sniffers FC
On entering the bar area you could cut the atmosphere with a knife. What had happened in the last week to turn the normally placid Mollie's into characters from Shameless? Well if you look down the blog you can see an entry from our "Anonymous" commentator which is full of diatribe and half truths. This entry caused such offence that the team has become somewhat fractured. Anon's or DJ's comments he asserted were based on his belief that Alan and Steve don't play to win. What he seems to fail to realise is that we all play to win but that we put enjoying our football above trying to achieve promotion. Consequently, although we frequently get our backside handed to us by superior teams, we don't mind as we just enjoy playing the game for the fun of running around. In any event, last nights performance, showed the lack of foundation in our anonymous geordie cheerleaders beliefs.
There was a lot riding on this match as if we won and Red Bull Utd lost, we would be promoted. Clearly, Wor Don thought we would throw this one and avoid the Premiership. It was a burning sense of injustice that the Mollie's took the astro turf on a cold and windy March evening. Unfortunately, as soon as the match kicked off, we were immediately out matched in terms of possession and movement. However, the Gaffer, in an uncharacteristic show of dexterity and movement, pulled out a number of saves at the edge of his diving range. It was unfortunate that his earlier saves went for nothing when he let a shot that was clearly going passed the post nestle into the corner of the net. Big Oops.
The Mollie's were being worked hard in defence and Steve and Leo were in danger of being over run. It seemed that as hard as we tackled, and as fast as we moved, they used their possession better and were more inventive in their movement and so created chances by the dozen. In contrast, when the Mollie's had the ball, we were knocked off it and gave it away before threatening their Goal. Gareth was again misfiring claiming a bad neck. What ever the truth, in the 4 years I've played for Mollie's, i have seen his level of speed and dexterity diminish as he has left school, got a job and started noticing beer and fags. Much like any old person, his mind is willing but his body can no longer do what the mind asks of it. That is my explanation for his consistent wishing to run the ball out of defence and being robbed of it by 2 to 3 players when he could easily have passed it. James problems kind of went the other way. Following his brilliance of 3 weeks ago, he continues to try repeating his incisive passing but tended to hit any other colour than dark blue. The one bright spot was his lone first half goal which at least stopped the possibility of a shut out which was very much on the cards in the early stages of the game. We went into half time about 6-1 down and looking down the wrong end of a really bad wedgie.
The second half was much improved. tactically we decided to hit shots at the opposition earlier and play slightly higher up the pitch. There was little point in holding back as we needed to win to stand any chance of promotion. James started to pass a little more accurately to link with Alan for probably the goal of the game which was through one touch passing and a first time shot. The match was very open in the second half as the Mollie's began to exert themselves. The gaffer has infrequently been given as much work to do as the game descended into you attack, we attack patterns of play. We started to hit the target and by my calculations, the second half finished 6-6. A far better return for our efforts and highlighting an improvement in our shooting accuracy. We still passed as if we were colour blind but because they constantly had 3 people in attack, we were able to catch them on the break. This was the biggest improvement on the first half when the only person not in our third of the pitch was their keeper.
And so ends possibly the most controversial Mollie's season for some time. It was a season beset by problems and one where a change of venue has been mooted. Also, we descended into a bit of infighting but hopefully no one can argue that we aren't all committed to trying to win if only for the fun of it. This season the Mollie's also found out how much we rely on Leo as he tends to stabilise the whole right flank and have an attacking as well as defensive impact.
Alan has lost, found, lost, found and again lost his shooting boots but makes up for it by covering as much of the pitch as possible in 40 minutes. James has followed the family trait of inconsistency by swinging from genius to madness week to week. i think his delicate equilibrium has been badly affected by Steve stealing the penalty taking responsibilities from under his nose. Steve has continued to be a defensive stalwart but is finding a taste for scoring goals he has previously not been far up the pitch to attempt. It is encouraging to overhear opposition cries every week as he barrels people to the floor. No doubt he continues to be our dirtiest player. On the odd occasion Robbie has played, he has been a solid performer in defence and gives Leo the cover to abandon being a wing back. In my opinion there continue to be encouraging signs and next season should be good, as long as we can play every week! There is little doubt that the names on the league from week 1 bear no resemblance to the names at week 10.
Team for next weeks kick off so far is Matt, Steve, Alan, James. Times will be confirmed over the weekend.
There was a lot riding on this match as if we won and Red Bull Utd lost, we would be promoted. Clearly, Wor Don thought we would throw this one and avoid the Premiership. It was a burning sense of injustice that the Mollie's took the astro turf on a cold and windy March evening. Unfortunately, as soon as the match kicked off, we were immediately out matched in terms of possession and movement. However, the Gaffer, in an uncharacteristic show of dexterity and movement, pulled out a number of saves at the edge of his diving range. It was unfortunate that his earlier saves went for nothing when he let a shot that was clearly going passed the post nestle into the corner of the net. Big Oops.
The Mollie's were being worked hard in defence and Steve and Leo were in danger of being over run. It seemed that as hard as we tackled, and as fast as we moved, they used their possession better and were more inventive in their movement and so created chances by the dozen. In contrast, when the Mollie's had the ball, we were knocked off it and gave it away before threatening their Goal. Gareth was again misfiring claiming a bad neck. What ever the truth, in the 4 years I've played for Mollie's, i have seen his level of speed and dexterity diminish as he has left school, got a job and started noticing beer and fags. Much like any old person, his mind is willing but his body can no longer do what the mind asks of it. That is my explanation for his consistent wishing to run the ball out of defence and being robbed of it by 2 to 3 players when he could easily have passed it. James problems kind of went the other way. Following his brilliance of 3 weeks ago, he continues to try repeating his incisive passing but tended to hit any other colour than dark blue. The one bright spot was his lone first half goal which at least stopped the possibility of a shut out which was very much on the cards in the early stages of the game. We went into half time about 6-1 down and looking down the wrong end of a really bad wedgie.
The second half was much improved. tactically we decided to hit shots at the opposition earlier and play slightly higher up the pitch. There was little point in holding back as we needed to win to stand any chance of promotion. James started to pass a little more accurately to link with Alan for probably the goal of the game which was through one touch passing and a first time shot. The match was very open in the second half as the Mollie's began to exert themselves. The gaffer has infrequently been given as much work to do as the game descended into you attack, we attack patterns of play. We started to hit the target and by my calculations, the second half finished 6-6. A far better return for our efforts and highlighting an improvement in our shooting accuracy. We still passed as if we were colour blind but because they constantly had 3 people in attack, we were able to catch them on the break. This was the biggest improvement on the first half when the only person not in our third of the pitch was their keeper.
And so ends possibly the most controversial Mollie's season for some time. It was a season beset by problems and one where a change of venue has been mooted. Also, we descended into a bit of infighting but hopefully no one can argue that we aren't all committed to trying to win if only for the fun of it. This season the Mollie's also found out how much we rely on Leo as he tends to stabilise the whole right flank and have an attacking as well as defensive impact.
Alan has lost, found, lost, found and again lost his shooting boots but makes up for it by covering as much of the pitch as possible in 40 minutes. James has followed the family trait of inconsistency by swinging from genius to madness week to week. i think his delicate equilibrium has been badly affected by Steve stealing the penalty taking responsibilities from under his nose. Steve has continued to be a defensive stalwart but is finding a taste for scoring goals he has previously not been far up the pitch to attempt. It is encouraging to overhear opposition cries every week as he barrels people to the floor. No doubt he continues to be our dirtiest player. On the odd occasion Robbie has played, he has been a solid performer in defence and gives Leo the cover to abandon being a wing back. In my opinion there continue to be encouraging signs and next season should be good, as long as we can play every week! There is little doubt that the names on the league from week 1 bear no resemblance to the names at week 10.
Team for next weeks kick off so far is Matt, Steve, Alan, James. Times will be confirmed over the weekend.
Wednesday, 25 March 2009
Monday, 23 March 2009
Anonymous comments (SEC 18/3/09)
After taking a few days to calm down I looked back at previous blogs and it seems Allan ,Steve and James have not learned any thing from my previous comments.Watched the video and be ashamed. James was allowed to play whilst one of best players sat on the sidelines. It was clear in the bar before the match players were going to insure that promotion was not going to be an option. Steve and Allan openly boasted of their high goal scoring of the previous week and when I reminded them that their defending had let in 16 goals they chose to ignore the facts for the greater good of their ego's.
Back to the match with gentle thoughts and fears of bribes and betting syndicates. When I questioned( no footballing skills James was playing) and why Leo wasn't playing I was give Something about they had 6 players clearly a decision invovling(I've paid my £6.50 and I want my monies worth) clearly had raised its ugly head once again. It was evident during the match That team spirit and winning were sacrificed For A & S ego's ,Freekicks were used as rest periods back to the old ways.Watch the how the other teams handle the dead ball situations.Leo kept yelling but A& S totally ignored him and allowed the opposition time to get back while they rested.You two never learn Allan went back to his old ways of running forward into to the left corner until the opposition took the ball off him.
Simple rules pass the the ball to each other until a chance becomes available.You are not Ronaldo though I couldn't fault his running on the pitch.Steve spent a great deal of time on the ground looking up at the sky and possible could need to change the trainers. A&S ATTEMPTED to shout intructions to the other players whilst standing still after losing the ball mid field generals springs to mind a throw back to the days of John G but had the same effect of upsetting the other players. They say charity begins at home best place for it not on a football pitch were you paid good money to play.When James was on the pitch the Mollies played with 3 outfield players thats a fact. This was a league match not a charity match with promotion in the offering, he could have played in the second game which would have allowed Leo on the field.
Back to the match Robbie came into defence and on occasion drifted forward leaving Steve by himself to defend clearly boosted by the goal scoring feats of last week of A&S. Gareth had plenty of chances but failed to take them shouted at by Allen only upset him and by the end of the match the team's lack of wanting to win had him losing it very unusal for him. How ever the other team in conversation overhead after the match said he had alot of skill and was a pity he'd lost his cool.
Have I witnessed the demise of the Mollies unless you change yes, who wants to play for team of no-hopers. The local lads played with 8 players and the friendly match team had 12 players all wanting to play with pride for their team. No talk of I want my monies worth ( A&S )We need to draft in new players who are committed to the team not themselves. The decision not to go to Eastleigh wasa apprantly made because the pitch was too big and A&S would have difficulty, very charitable,More importantly however was the reason Leo was left on the sidelines and James allowed to play???? Gareth,Matt and Robbie pay their money too. To say I was disqusted and left the second match early would be an under statement.
Back to the match with gentle thoughts and fears of bribes and betting syndicates. When I questioned( no footballing skills James was playing) and why Leo wasn't playing I was give Something about they had 6 players clearly a decision invovling(I've paid my £6.50 and I want my monies worth) clearly had raised its ugly head once again. It was evident during the match That team spirit and winning were sacrificed For A & S ego's ,Freekicks were used as rest periods back to the old ways.Watch the how the other teams handle the dead ball situations.Leo kept yelling but A& S totally ignored him and allowed the opposition time to get back while they rested.You two never learn Allan went back to his old ways of running forward into to the left corner until the opposition took the ball off him.
Simple rules pass the the ball to each other until a chance becomes available.You are not Ronaldo though I couldn't fault his running on the pitch.Steve spent a great deal of time on the ground looking up at the sky and possible could need to change the trainers. A&S ATTEMPTED to shout intructions to the other players whilst standing still after losing the ball mid field generals springs to mind a throw back to the days of John G but had the same effect of upsetting the other players. They say charity begins at home best place for it not on a football pitch were you paid good money to play.When James was on the pitch the Mollies played with 3 outfield players thats a fact. This was a league match not a charity match with promotion in the offering, he could have played in the second game which would have allowed Leo on the field.
Back to the match Robbie came into defence and on occasion drifted forward leaving Steve by himself to defend clearly boosted by the goal scoring feats of last week of A&S. Gareth had plenty of chances but failed to take them shouted at by Allen only upset him and by the end of the match the team's lack of wanting to win had him losing it very unusal for him. How ever the other team in conversation overhead after the match said he had alot of skill and was a pity he'd lost his cool.
Have I witnessed the demise of the Mollies unless you change yes, who wants to play for team of no-hopers. The local lads played with 8 players and the friendly match team had 12 players all wanting to play with pride for their team. No talk of I want my monies worth ( A&S )We need to draft in new players who are committed to the team not themselves. The decision not to go to Eastleigh wasa apprantly made because the pitch was too big and A&S would have difficulty, very charitable,More importantly however was the reason Leo was left on the sidelines and James allowed to play???? Gareth,Matt and Robbie pay their money too. To say I was disqusted and left the second match early would be an under statement.
Saturday, 21 March 2009
Thursday, 19 March 2009
Gaffers Gob: 19th March 09
Against all odds, the Mollie's agreed to play back to back footy matches, and against even longer odds, we completed them, although no doubt we are all suffering the following day.
Much like watching England play Football, Rugby, Cricket or any number of other sports, the league game against SEC was an abject disappointment. Our relative league positions and 5 a side experience promised a win and 3 points for the Mollie's, but as ever, the Mollie's flattered to deceive. In recent matches the Mollie's scored goals with abandon but leaked them with an equal lack of care. It was therefore with some optimism that the reintroduction of Robbie would tighten the defence whilst the return of Gareth would maintain our run of free scoring football. However, these best laid plans were not to be. Despite facing an injured stand in goal keeper, Al, James and Gareth could not hit a barn door with any great regularity. Therefore, although we let in 10, which was 6 less then the previous matches, we only scored 5. The big difference from last week was Leo's self imposed absence. Clearly, the Mollie's have missed his athleticism in defence and threat up-front. No doubt, he has revelled in the added attacking responsibility since Big Mike went on his sabbatical.
He had an immediate opportunity to show his worth when he played in the following match against 24/7 from division 1. The team appear to have as many players as a Rugby squad showing incredible strength in depth coupled with minimal on pitch time. They also had a player who hit the ball with utter ferocity leaving Robbie with stinging legs from blocking his shots. They also had a very good goalkeeper who saved shots and held the ball well. However, i do not believe that 24/7 are any better then us, but we suffered in the second half of the second match through the expected lack of stamina. However, that is not to take away from the teams much better performance than in the first match. Leo had the freedom to attack the right flank whilst Alan was a constant threat on the left. It was positive that James scored in the second match but this did prove to be a difficult night for him. Equally the gaffer did have a disappointing second half in terms of distribution. However, thankfully, all the return shots were saved. No one appears to know what happened to Gareth when he subbed himself. However, he had left Goals by the time the team entered the bar area.
It is prudent to dread the video that was taken of the first match and will likely soon end up on You Tube. The Old Sea Dog is hoping that it will be like Steve's New Boots but in my opinion, it will be a bit of a horror show. I take few positives from the opening match of the night other than it should have removed the possibility of promotion. However, on reviewing the league, it is still a mathematical possibility if we win next week and Red Bull United lose.
Kick off is half 8 next week.
Much like watching England play Football, Rugby, Cricket or any number of other sports, the league game against SEC was an abject disappointment. Our relative league positions and 5 a side experience promised a win and 3 points for the Mollie's, but as ever, the Mollie's flattered to deceive. In recent matches the Mollie's scored goals with abandon but leaked them with an equal lack of care. It was therefore with some optimism that the reintroduction of Robbie would tighten the defence whilst the return of Gareth would maintain our run of free scoring football. However, these best laid plans were not to be. Despite facing an injured stand in goal keeper, Al, James and Gareth could not hit a barn door with any great regularity. Therefore, although we let in 10, which was 6 less then the previous matches, we only scored 5. The big difference from last week was Leo's self imposed absence. Clearly, the Mollie's have missed his athleticism in defence and threat up-front. No doubt, he has revelled in the added attacking responsibility since Big Mike went on his sabbatical.
He had an immediate opportunity to show his worth when he played in the following match against 24/7 from division 1. The team appear to have as many players as a Rugby squad showing incredible strength in depth coupled with minimal on pitch time. They also had a player who hit the ball with utter ferocity leaving Robbie with stinging legs from blocking his shots. They also had a very good goalkeeper who saved shots and held the ball well. However, i do not believe that 24/7 are any better then us, but we suffered in the second half of the second match through the expected lack of stamina. However, that is not to take away from the teams much better performance than in the first match. Leo had the freedom to attack the right flank whilst Alan was a constant threat on the left. It was positive that James scored in the second match but this did prove to be a difficult night for him. Equally the gaffer did have a disappointing second half in terms of distribution. However, thankfully, all the return shots were saved. No one appears to know what happened to Gareth when he subbed himself. However, he had left Goals by the time the team entered the bar area.
It is prudent to dread the video that was taken of the first match and will likely soon end up on You Tube. The Old Sea Dog is hoping that it will be like Steve's New Boots but in my opinion, it will be a bit of a horror show. I take few positives from the opening match of the night other than it should have removed the possibility of promotion. However, on reviewing the league, it is still a mathematical possibility if we win next week and Red Bull United lose.
Kick off is half 8 next week.
Wednesday, 18 March 2009
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