Attacking the ball

Another training session and this time with even more new faces, but mostly decent chaps. There are some tackles that shouldn't be made and some of them approach the drills with a greater amount of physicality than needed but i also recognise that this is a training technique by the coaches, (not favoured by an older player!) one that the new first team coach at Liverpool favours:

His ideas clearly match up with the origin stories of so many of the greatest ever players, playing in the streets. The teams would often be lop-sided, from a young age players like Gerrard would play against much older boys, and there was no referee to stop games for a foul. These are the circumstances that created Maradona, Pele, Messi and so many others. 

After the warm up drills, we had a one v one drill (by the numbers) and i was matched against a really big sized guy, whereupon gaining possession of the ball, we would dribble through the sets of coloured cones as instructed, which made it interesting because the coach allowed play to go all over (no boundaries) and any physical contact was not stopped. The outcome was the big guy kept leaning on me and was trying to use his mass to his advantage, but i managed to negate it with some footwork, winning two out of three of our exchanges (the odd one was stopped with the ball too far away), even though he managed to gain possession most of the time i still managed to nip in and take the ball off his toes before turning and dribbling it through. What this did to me was make me really tired out for the match (and i went swimming with Bubs the day before lol) but i managed to wrangle myself in midfield and played some good passing football with the guys, including a newcomer who only played futsal (and didn't know what position to play in). I even managed a rampaging run into the box, drawing one behind and two in front before squaring the ball with a no-look pass that found my left wing who shot wide. We had about three great shots on goal but were denied by the heroics of Rafa in goal, including a rather dubious behind the line save. I played a good part in the build up of all our shots and was rather satisfied about that. Coach Ivan then highlighted after the match that we should look to pass to a good player in our team, not to put him under pressure, but so as to get the ball back via a good return pass because that is what a good player would do. I hope i'm a good player and aim to be a better one, although my fitness needs to improve. Rafa did mention that aside from looking the darkest he's ever seen me, he hopes to be playing like me when he is my age. LOL

Wirelessly charging your battery

Our daughter was recently showing off her camera to my relatives and i thought nothing of it until my aunt came to ask me afterwards whether my camera has wireless charging, because apparently when asked about charging her battery, daughter had adamantly replied that "i just need to put the empty battery in the pocket of the pouch (her camera pouch) and it will charge you know!"

What i didn't realise was that in trying to teach her to put her things away, i showed her how to change the battery of her camera and to keep the spare battery in the pocket, which i would then charge through the night when she was sleeping. Funny how this led to my aunt thinking i had bought some latest and greatest technology for my daughter to use. LOL

Charging down the flank

Another day, another training session, and this one was quite full of people because the Monday and Thursday sessions were cancelled (venue used for SEA games).

The technical session was a pass and go, receive and shoot exercise, and we rotated between shooter, passer, goalkeeper (picking up the ball) after each shot. By randomness, i ended up shooting against J in goal and actually scored off the post. LOL

The match itself was good for me, as i played up front to begin with and had several chances to send the ball in although my strikers could not convert. One particular opportunity of note saw a clearance by J (playing in central d again) bounce towards me on the left flank and i hoofed it with my left foot due to an oncoming defender. The ball looked like it was going marginally out but bounced on the line, so i ran after it willing the ball to stay in, and it did! Saw a defender coming across to cover but managed to prod the ball past him and ran to the byline and pass to the center only for my midfielder to scruff the shot. Maybe i should have gone for goal myself but was rather spent after that run. In fact, i was so tired i decided to play in goal instead, especially since we had a rather decent ball holder/winner playing as keeper then. Made a few easy saves and got off easy with the bar saving me after i was beaten. Even had two one-on-one situations where i advanced quickly and spread my body, so managed to prevent the goal.

Also managed to tap myself on the left ankle with my right foot *facepalm*