The boys over at Vale farm prefer at least 7 a side.
Why? If you think about it, that's 1 Keeper and 6 outfield players.
This generally leads to a 3 up and 3 down mentality. This was the case last Saturday when we had 7 players- We kept 3 defenders and two central midfielder's while Gary and Umi did the attacking.
It lead to us winning something like 11-3, a good win? Maybe not.
The opening 20 minutes were awesome - flowing football from either side - Gary, Dan and Umi combining with some great passing moves .
After the teams had settled we found ourselves on the back foot for the rest of the game while the other team had resorted to long ball tactics to try and break us down.
That leaves the rest of the game a bit of a drain having the defend deep and resort to lobbing the ball up to the remaining striker.
I remember reading a while back that the British failure at international level and the lack of technical ability in the youth system stems from the demands placed on youth teams to win rather then play attractive and exciting football.
This is evident when we play on Saturdays; key players want to win more rather then enjoy the game, I would rather see a 5,6 a side game where the teams are spread evenly and teams play to score goals, keep the ball and play some exciting attacking football.
That's just my opinion, anyone is welcome to comment on it.
Read More......
