Adjustment to training times and pitches

Coaching to play the game

---

Position profiles

If you are new to the game or your glory days are a few more years ago than you care to admit, you may be wondering what the coaches mean when they direct a player to a particular number. Here is a summary - directly from the FFA's website.

GOALKEEPER #1
The goalkeeper is a special position in any playing system or formation. First and foremost it’s the goalkeeper’s task to keep the opponent from scoring in any possible way within the rules of the game. Some goalkeepers do that by making spectacular saves, others are great at organizing their defence and anticipating situations. Top keepers possess all these qualities as well as the physical and mental characteristics required.

A condition for our preferred playing style is that goalkeepers must be able to play with their feet as a prerequisite for possession-based football and the goalkeeper is an indispensable link for that.

As a consequence of defending high up the park, there will regularly be a big space behind our defence. This requires a goalkeeper to be able to play as a ‘sweeper’ which is another characteristic specific to the playing style.

FULL-BACKS #2 & #5
Full-backs in modern high-level football must be very versatile. Defensively sometimes they have a direct opponent (winger) which requires strong defensive 1 v 1 skills. Sometimes they have no direct opponent so they have to defend ‘positionally’ which requires awareness and tactical insight. The role of modern full-backs in playing out and especially in attacking wing play has become vitally important.

When playing out, it’s often the full-backs that can receive the ball from the goalkeeper because they do not have a direct opponent and are therefore unmarked.

In attack, more often than not it’s the overlapping full-backs that provide the decisive crosses and assists. Especially in possession of the ball it’s favourable if #2 is right footed and #5 is left footed.

CENTRE-BACKS #3 & #4 
Just like the full-backs, modern centre-backs also need to be more versatile than before.

Of course a centre-back still needs to be defensively strong and good in the air. But today’s centre-backs also need to be tactically aware and know what to do when the opponent plays with one striker or with two, when to close down and mark an opponent and when to drop off and give cover.

In ball possession, a good cross-field pass to the wingers is still an important asset for any centre-back. But modern centre-backs should also be able to move into the midfield with the ball at their feet and create a numerical advantage. It’s also important for a centre-back to have leadership skills and to coach and organise the team. Centre-backs usually have all the other outfield players in front of them which gives them an ideal view of the game.

Playing out is much easier if #3 is right-footed and #4 left-footed.

MIDFIELDERS #6 & #8 
The right (#6) and left (#8) midfielders are the ‘engine room’ of the team. Their task is to stay centrally and support the back four during BPO as well as feed and support the attack in BP.

It’s important they can ‘read’ the game (meaning they are tactically aware) and have a good passing range.

Defensively they must assist the defence by creating a block with the centre-backs and screen the passing lines to the opponent’s central striker(s).

In BP they must be the link players that receive the ball from the defenders and deliver it to the attackers without turning it over unnecessarily.

One of the two should always join in to support the attack while the other one stays behind the ball to keep the defensive balance. If #6 is right footed and #8 left footed it’s easier to quickly change the point of attack which increases the chance of successful attacking play.

ATTACKING MIDFIELDER #10 
In the 1-4-3-3 formation the role of the #10 is of vital importance for successful attacking play. The #10 must be a versatile, creative player that can combine, dribble and take on opponents.

A good #10 recognises the right moments to play a killer pass and has the ability to score goals. The #10 tries to get on the ball in the space between the opponent’s back four and midfield (‘playing between the lines’).

Although the attacking contribution of #10 is vitally important, it’s a midfield position (not a 2nd striker).

Defensively the attacking midfielder should therefore connect with #6 and #8 to form a compact unit that presses the opponent in the central midfield area.

WINGERS #7 & #11
The task of the right winger (#7) and left winger (#11) is to stretch the opponent’s defence and, together with the full-backs, create openings in the wide areas. Although wingers can (should) also cut inside, it’s important to do this at the right moment which means not too early and not all the time.

Their starting position should always be high and wide.

A moment when they should always come inside is when a cross is delivered into the penalty area from the opposite wing. Wingers must have good attacking 1 v 1 skills, be able to run with the ball at speed and to deliver good crosses. Creative combination skills as well as goalscoring abilities are also important attributes.

Defensively the wingers play an important role in pressuring the opponent’s back four and, together with the full-back, protect and defend their designated wing.

CENTRAL STRIKER #9
Traditionally the central striker or centre forward is the ‘target man’ that plays as high as possible. This is still the most common interpretation although there are also variations.

Of course the primary task of the central striker is to score goals. That means #9 must have a good shot with both feet and be a good header of the ball.

The #9 must also have a keen spatial awareness and excellent timing. Other important skills are creative combination play, the ability to keep the ball under pressure from an opponent and the ability to take on defenders.

Defending in modern football starts with the attackers. The central striker in particular has an important role in determining when and where to start pressuring the opponent’s back four.

---

2017 Annual General Meeting

Our AGM is scheduled for Tuesday 16 May 2017 commencing at 6pm at the Peter Copulos Community Centre,  Riverside Plaza. Enter via double glass doors next to Gym.

If you have ideas or views on how the Club is travelling or you would like to ask questions of the Board and committee members this is your opportunity. Its an excellent way to learn more about the Club's priorities, our off-field progress and goals for the year ahead.

Copies of the agenda and reports will be available at the meeting including our financial statements. 

---

Match Reports 

Under 12s

Tim Nelson
Fantastic effort by the kids in the first game, playing out our first win!
Once the kids settled into the game and realised they had a bit more time with the ball than in recent games. It was pleasing to see the kids' skills really come into play. Hamish's and Zach's passing was almost faultless. 

Second game. Thanks to some really good saves, the kids did really well going down by 3 goals. It was Marlee's best game of the season - her attack on the ball was good to watch. 

Apologies to the kids for not singing the team song - I was unaware we had one! 

Scott & Zac Hutchison
What a great effort from the kids and parents leaving home by 6am, at Dandenong by 9am and having a draw, fantastic effort.

Once the kids woke up they played fantastic football putting at least 5 passes together 8 times over the 2 games with a great goal by Max but what a team effort. Keep up the good work kids and see you at training with your game faces on.

Under 13s

Stuart Bethall
With a short training session on Wednesday due to a strength and conditioning session plus a rain affected session on Friday, we didn’t have our best preparation this week. We had been working on keeping possession for longer periods, although without much success!

This was no excuse for how we played in the first half of this week’s game. Very lethargic, second to every loose ball and when we did get it, too many players forgetting this is a team game and trying to do too much on their own, very disappointing.

A half time drilling saw us come from 2 down to level the game with a much better half of soccer in general, only to go down to a last minute goal. It was no more than we deserved.
Having another away game this weekend, it gives us an opportunity to put things right straight away. Watch this space!!

Under 14s

Tommy Giuliani
Very pleased for the boys on Sunday in Dandenong. These boys love to win and they love to play. I'd be terribly dissapointed if any of them enjoyed being subbed off or didn't hurt when they lose. However I stressed to them in the pre-game address the importance of the quality of their football is THE most important thing - if they get this right the results will follow.

We really focused on the things that would allow us to retain possession in the week prior-things like our "shape" in BP, letting the ball do the running and not the player running with the ball too far; playing 2 touch football, scanning etc.

Dandy were big and strong and it took us 10 minutes to settle into the game. They were also playing a poor brand of football and we probably played into our attackers feet too much and not to space. In hindsight I should have asked my wingers to stand on the lines and make their runs in behind. It was a physical challenge for some of our smaller boys.

At about 15 minutes in after conceding a header to a set piece we took control completely. I'm very proud of the boys for the football they played from this point on-"Controlled possession in the middle third". All quick passing, lots of triangles and movement, aided by this beautiful shape we've worked on.Dandy couldn't get the ball back! It's a sign of maturity that they didn't get anxious and lose our focus after going a goal down.

Halftime message was all praise and to be patient, keep creating opportunities and the goals would come. And they did,from lovely combination plays and killer thru-balls.

This football needs to be the bench mark for these boys going forward.They now know what quality  they are able to produce!

On a side note, I believe they've all progressed as footballers since the start of the year. As a coach in a team environment this needs to be the focus. As I've explained to the boys it's a Team game - it's like a chai and is only as strong as its weakest link;that link deserves as much time, if not more to stay strong and not break. I'm always look at things I can do better as a coach and so should the players- a growth environment. It was also great to see David Smith,FFV Victoria head TD looking in on our game and mentoring some of our boys. I'm quite sure he was pleased with the direction of our football 

Finally thanks to Rhonda and Maria for standing in as TMs while Lynne was away. Much appreciated? 

Under 15s

Paul Nieuwenhuizen
Another great result for the team on the weekend against Dandenong City. During the week at training we focused on controlling possession when moving forward. The game started with the team trying to control the game but were impatient in their build up play. Despite their impatience we found ourselves 1-nil up from a goal -mouth scramble. This seemed to settle the team down and we began to move he ball around while nullifying Dandenong City. However, we soon found ourselves down 2-1, due to skill errors rather than our game task of controlling possession when building up play. 

At halftime the team was reminded of the task set for the game, and the need to be patient and effective when moving forward with the ball. The second half saw a big improvement in the team controlling possession. The pressure we applied on Dandenong City by controlling possession eventually saw us score a few goals to ensure a win.

The second half saw a number of players suffering from cramp after backing up from playing for the under 16s.

The improvement each week from this group is fantastic to see.

Thanks to Elijah for backing up from the Under 16s. His desire and drive rubs off on the other players around him. 

Under 16s

During week we worked on defensive structures, organising, movement, spacing.
We have had a real big focus on this this season.

Dandy City came at us from the out set and we defended very well. Our compactness and movement was working very well.

We tried to strangle the central corridor and push them wider. Once we won the ball we wanted to look after the ball , and have a quality first pass. This is something that was vastly improved.  

Still more improvement and consistency is needed, but we are well on our way. 

Under 18s

Stefo Radevski & Glen Wilson

Training took on a different feel last week.  We moved away from structured drills focusing on a certain area (offence/defence/counter) and focused on match play.  Both Wednesday and Friday night we started with some light warm ups and some ball retention games to get the heart rate up and moved straight into a match.  Luckily last week our numbers were strong, even with the down pour on Friday so we were able to separate the Under 16’s and Under 18’s.  We didn’t focus on defensive structures and flooding back to keep our structure but instead allowed the boys to go full on high press and all out attack with the condition that if they lose it they needed to chase back instantly.  This saw the boys put in an excellent effort on both nights with the intensity and work rate at an all time high.
 
Game day unfortunately ended in a 6-1 defeat but the effort and match in general did not reflect the score line.  Once again individual errors were our achilles heel in conceding goals and in particular the  5^th goal could easily have been an achilles injury that led to the goal.  Our instructions at the start of the match was to play a 1-4-4-2 which quickly changed to a 1-4-4-1-1 with high pressing and an upbeat tempo that focused on quick transitions and a bigger focus on attack.  There was an allowance for the boys to attack as often as possible but to remember their defensive duties.  The first half was even with Dandenong City having the better of the chances. 

Our forward play was crisp and the passing was spot on except for our final ball in attack.  The ball was either intercepted or the wrong option chosen.  An error in our defensive half led to the opening goal for City but the second goal City got just before half time was to their credit, a wonderful goal.  A great ball from the left split our central defenders with the City boy stretching out a leg to knock it past Lucas in goals.  We entered the half time break at 2-0 down but definitely not out of it at that stage.  At half time we told the boys to keep on going with their efforts and to keep the attacks up and to pressure them.  We changed up some players and positions and the boys started the second half with a bang.  The pressure was immense from the whistle and we deservedly scored a goal through a Zach Hutchinson earned and converted penalty.  For the next 15-20 minutes we consistently peppered away at the City goals but just couldn’t get the equaliser. 

Unfortunately a defensive lapse led to City getting their 3^rdand quickly followed by what many are calling the “best own goal of the year” to give City their 4^th.  Unfortunately an injury to one of our defenders during a City attacking build led to a massive hole in our defence which they capitalised on to score their 5^th and at that stage the boys were pretty tired and trying their best to get another goal but were caught out again by our own mistakes and we conceded a 6^th.  Goals win games and unfortunately for Suns we didn’t capitalise on the pressure we applied in the second half and were punished for our own mistakes but this defeat was not worthy of the score line.  We competed extremely well and matched City in intensity, physicality and general match play.
 
Special thanks to Vinnie Barca, Tommy Raditsis, Bowdie Chandler, Connor Dodson, Logan Bamford-Phillips for stepping up from the Under 16’s.  Harun Aktas featured against City also and put in a magnificent effort and hopefully we can utilise him more this year.  Big shout out to Zach Hutchinson who put on the boots also.  Zach was only there to watch the match but we convinced him to play and was a big help and got on the score sheet for us and walked away with my Man of Match honours.  Look forward to a big week in training and a huge match against Heidelberg this week.

Codes of Conduct for everyone

And in other soccer news...

Shepparton hosts Neymar Jr's 5 Qualifier

Shepparton will host one of 38 Neymar Jr’s Five qualifier events across Australia that will decide the Australian national champions who will join 53 countries competing for the global title in Brazil.

The 2017 tournament is open to teams of five to seven players aged 16 to 25, with two over-aged players allowed as part of each squad.

Date: Sunday, 21 May 2:00 pm (GV Suns juniors have a bye)
Venue: John McEwen Reserve

For more information visit Greater Shepparton City Council website or register your squad online.