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(SOC) 2024 Soccer Thread

Discussion in 'Alligator Alley (other sports)' started by LTG61, Aug 2, 2024.

  1. gatorbiz

    gatorbiz VIP Member

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    That’s where I disagree. We have several MF’s who are more than capable but coaxh is telling them to be more direct and go up the field being more direct. Our challenge is getting the MF more involved offensively which will open other opportunities for the forwards to be more successful as well. We can’t be a kickball team and expect the MF to just be chasers.
     
  2. LTG61

    LTG61 GC Legend

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    I hope you're right that UF has capable midfielders. But I see a whole lot of errant passes of both the should-be-easy and should-never-be-attempted types, so I'm left to wonder about that.

    As for getting the MF involved more, I think there are two reasons it isn't happening: 1) it's hard to do that when the team plays so many long balls to the forwards. The MFs end up constantly omitted from the play and have to chase up the field. 2) in three-forward systems, I find that the forwards who receive a long direct ball generally don't wait for the MFs to arrive anyway, and consequently the offense rarely has numerical equality and almost never has numerical superiority. 2-or-3 versus 4-5 is never going to be a consistently successful scoring offense (unless one has overwhelming skill/athleticism - which UF currently doesn't have).
     
    Last edited: Sep 13, 2024
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  3. gtr2x

    gtr2x GC Hall of Fame

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    Somewhat off topic I know, but--

    Wife was just watching an HGTV international show, with a family moving from Gainesville Fl, looking for a life change and to rent in Seville, Spain. Having been to Seville we watched.

    The family was that of former UF soccer head coach Tony Amato, who I had to look up to make sure my memory was correct. Attractive family btw.
    Only at UF 1 year, but like most recent Gator hires got a nice severance as I recall. (That wasn't part of the show).
     
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  4. LTG61

    LTG61 GC Legend

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    Visited Seville once; really enjoyed it.

    UF vs FGCU Final: 0-0

    FGCU came into to game 1-4-0.

    Didn't get home from church until near the end of the 1st half. I assume it was the same as the 2nd half: two teams with very limited ability to control the ball.

    Man, I REALLY thought UF would be better than they've shown so far this year.
     
  5. ocalaman

    ocalaman GC Hall of Fame

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    Gators outshot them 16-4 and still couldn't find the back of the net. It gets real Thursday when we open SEC play @ #21 Kentucky.
    Florida and FGCU Tie 0-0 Sunday - Florida Gators
     
  6. missourigator

    missourigator GC Hall of Fame

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    the new AD will have to make decision on this soccer coach. She definitely will have another year until we get a new President and AD
     
  7. gatorbiz

    gatorbiz VIP Member

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    Today was a letdown. Never saw that coming and was really hoping for a W.
     
  8. oragator1

    oragator1 Premium Member

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  9. biggerigator15

    biggerigator15 VIP Member

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    heard we have a top 10 class we are about to sign also, looks like she is making waves now..it has been a slow build. I watched the game the other day and it was obvious we were far superior as a team. But just couldnt score which is very aggrevating to novice fans like myself
     
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  10. traubgator

    traubgator GC Hall of Fame

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    to be competitive you have to bring in a few dynamic freshman but grad transfers is where the money is.
     
  11. LTG61

    LTG61 GC Legend

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    Halftime vs Kentucky: 0-0

    UF is playing at an incredible pace, borderline out of control. Although, it has taken KY out of their preferred game. (And UK's coach isn't happy about his team playing UF's style.)

    UF hasn't generated a single shot. But, they did get two corner kicks in the last :30 seconds. (The second of which, McClure chunked badly behind the net.)

    What's with UF taking the kickoff and immediately sending it straight out of bounds? They did it to start the 2nd half against FGCU, and again to start this game. I understand wanting to put the opponent deep into their end (although I don't like it as a tactic), but both those balls went out of play near the midline.
     
  12. LTG61

    LTG61 GC Legend

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    Final: 0-0

    UF played to their strengths: defense and effort. They used a 4-5-1 formation to completely clog the midfield, and kept up a pace that UK wore themselves down trying to match it.

    UF had a chance to steal a goal with 10 minutes remaining. A direct ball got through to Bailey about 40 yards from UK's goal with only one defender to beat. Blom was 15 yards to her left, totally alone with an unimpeded path to goal and was calling for the ball. But Bailey kept the ball herself and the defender won the 1v1. It was a bad example of lacking field awareness.

    And UK missed a chance to steal a goal with 4 minutes remaining when Goldberg came well off her line when she shouldn't have and fell in the resulting collision. But, another UK player missed the wide-open net.
     
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  13. ocalaman

    ocalaman GC Hall of Fame

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    To go to Kentucky and battle to a 0-0 tie with a team that came in 8-0-0 is a really good achievement for this team, IMO. we only got 2 shots the entire game, none on goal, while KY had 7 total shots and only2 on goal. We had 16 fouls to their 8 and they had 9 corner kicks to our 3. So KY dominated the match and we had ZERO offense going, but managed to open the SEC season without a loss on the road. Pretty good.
     
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  14. oragator1

    oragator1 Premium Member

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    I watched the offense tonight not as a fan but purely as a coach. Our problems make more sense to me now.
    There are basically 4 or 5 ways common to score:
    Beat players off the wings, except we don’t seem to have anybody with the speed to do that.
    Turn the corner deep in the opponents end and get a cross in. We don't have anyone with the speed or ball handling to do that.
    Quick counters. No speed there to outrun people, though as mentioned above we did have one great chance we blew.
    Beat players off the dribble in the middle which opens the whole field up . Well not only do we not have ball handling skills for that, because we can’t do any of the above, they just clog the middle on us and force us to our weakness (creating off the wing).

    Combine that with the lack of quality ball handling in the midfield, and the over the top ball becomes the attempt of last refuge.

    it’s sad because defensively we are a top 10 or 15 team.

    but for tonight, no shame in a draw.
     
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  15. traubgator

    traubgator GC Hall of Fame

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    agree with @oragator1 - defense is pretty solid, we look the part for the most part on defense and goldberg holds her own.

    But everything else is pretty ugly, inability to combine 3 consecutive passes together, inability to play simple balls to a player feet, lots and lots of really bad first touches, and when we do attempt to go long, we just give the ball away. We have very little to any off the ball movement and our striker i think lost the ball everytime she touched it in the first half. But you often would see very silly mistakes, a player receives the ball, and then turns into a defender -- that's basics soccer 101 that shouldn't happen as often as it does. Little things like that have to be corrected.

    Teams shape besides the back 4 isn't great ether, we don't spread the field enough to open up channels etc. becky's teams were always good at using the entire pitch. Overall again shocking lack of overall team speed. In general this has become a problem across all of youth soccer, kids aren't allowed to get the ball and dribble at someone, their too often instead encouraged to play negative or unneccesary square balls.

    honestly, kentucky was just as bad, not sure how that team is 8-0. kentucky in the first half did play a few balls into space, that if they had a little bit less on them would have been difficult to deal with, but Goldberg did a good job coming off her line.

    I flipped it over to texas-bama, game was night and day, played at a different pace besides the last 15 minutes where texas ran out of gas. Biggest problem I always see with the Girls college game and "lower" teams -- the ball is out of play way to much.
     
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  16. gatorbiz

    gatorbiz VIP Member

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    Auburn will be a real test. The loss of Hinnencamp and another forward has complicated the offensive ability. Last night we may have lost an experienced defensive Midfielder. Now is the time for their replacements to step up.
     
  17. LTG61

    LTG61 GC Legend

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    OK, I've been out buying hurricane supplies and now we're watching the UF volleyball match (which will end soon). What have I missed?
     
  18. oragator1

    oragator1 Premium Member

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    We actually had 3 or four good scoring chances in the first half, couple of good saves from their keeper and an errant shot. Think Auburn hasn’t had a SOG yet.
     
  19. ocalaman

    ocalaman GC Hall of Fame

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    Auburn scores midway through the 2nd half and wins 1-0. Gators just can't get the offense going.
     
  20. LTG61

    LTG61 GC Legend

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    Looks like a conscious decision to play for scoreless ties, unless a UF forward can create a scoring opportunity off a long, direct pass forward. After watching this 4-5-1 formation for the past two matches, that forward is not Bailey. Once she receives the ball, she shows no intention of giving it up except under extreme duress.

    I still can't fathom how UF players seem to have almost no feel for how much weight they are putting on their passes, much less any sense of how much weight their intended pass requires. The other thing that boggles my mind is the high number of reckless fouls they are committing. (One of those unnecessary fouls was how Auburn got the free kick which they converted into the game-winner.) It's one thing to be physical. But it's quite another to just be crashing into and/or pushing everybody all the time - especially after the opponent has just played the ball away.
     
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