armchair
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Damn: Is there a Vol fan alive who isn't freakin' tired of losing to florida? We lose to florida too much. I think it starts with the football team, which cannot stop choking away wins to the gators. Granted, florida is good in most sports--they've got a great recruiting advantage sitting in the middle of a big state rich in high school talent in all sports. Still...I'm tired of losing to florida. This must change, and will.
That said, I rather expected us to lose to florida in soccer tonight. They have a better team. The Vols played their guts out in a steady, fairly heavy rain--very tough match-and florida won it 2-1, after scoring two killer goals late in the first half after UT had taken a 1-0 lead on a beautiful goal by M. Flynn off a nice through-ball by M. Gouner. That was the difference--no goals by either team in the second half.
Florida is an excellent possession team--better than we are; an excellent technical team all over the field, better than we are--and that was the difference in the end. Pensky played a 4-3-3 against florida's 3-5-2 to start. I thought that was risky--would we get overrun in the middle of the field? The Vol formation worked for 10 minutes--we pressed Fla. hard with our forwards, bothered them, got turnovers, had a couple of half-chances--but Fla.'s back line is composed, and they passed their way out of pressure, which is something UT could not do. Pensky said they changed their formation midway through the first half--but the bottom line is that Florida began to slowly take control the game with their ball and possession skills, forcing UT to chase the ball a lot. That seemed to wear down our forwards--and florida began spending a lot of time deep in our half of the field. Outside of the Flynn goal, we didn't create many quality chances at all in this game--which is a recurring problem. It was difficult because florida is good defensively--their centerback Falknor is one of the best in the game--and because our midfielders and forwards were playing so deep, playing so much defense, that going forward after getting the ball was not easy. The Vols were competitive, played very hard, just not well enough, and a couple of defensive lapses cost us. Both teams seemed spent at the end. With luck we might have eeked out a tie, but florida was better in the run of play. Other thoughts:
--Vols defensive back four need to play with more composure and technical skill. They are all very diligent and hard-working--but it is hard to stay with good possession and attacking teams if you can't possess the ball out of the back yourself--meaning it bring it forward, with help from mids, keep it with crisp passing and player movement. Unable to do that much, the Vols kicked the ball away from our box a lot, but many of the clearance kicks weren't good and even the good ones just get picked off by the opponent, all of whose players are on our half of the field, and so they were coming right back at the Vols--and after a time this starts to create confusion, players lose their marks, which results in goals against us. And while UT is young in the midfield and at forward, our defenders are all veterans--good players, dependable, but not as technical as they need to be. The Vols just have to become a better possession team overall--back, midfield, forwards
--After this loss, the Vols will have to put together a string of wins to have any hope of making the NCAA tourney. UT does not have a quality win this year--and that is something the selection committee will notice. Still a chance, however, if we win three of the next five and have a good SEC tournament, in my estimation, or win four, which will be hard (but not impossible).
--This team has a LOT of young talent--at least 8 freshman or redshirt freshman played tonight, 9 if you count Kupritz (first signficant playing time this year as a soph), all but one of them getting significant minutes, and all of them (I think) playing either midfield or forward. And that doesn't count McClung and Neal up front. But I'm not sure Pensky has a handle on the personnel yet. Nice problem to have. He seems to be trying different players/combos in the midfield and at forward--Bialczak has been playing some midfield, it appears, and Marcano seemed to be playing forward tonight briefly. I guess you can hope to wear teams down with numbers and lots of substitutions--or you can build chemistry. Both would be ideal, but it's not easy to build chemistry with some many different personnel combinations. A lot of potential yet to be unlocked, and who replaces Ferguson and Santorio on the back line next year (important spots) also figures in.
--I'm surprised that, trailing by a goal throughout the second half, Pensky did not get Marcano in the game--a young player who, if nothing else, clearly is an attacking talent. How do you not sub out, say, Baldwin, a defensive midfielder, for Marcano at, say, the 70 minute mark? There is no point of keeping a defensive midfielder in the game for the last 20 minutes. Makes no sense, IMO, to leave a potential weapon on the sideline when you desperately need a goal. Oh, well: an admirable effort tonight...
That said, I rather expected us to lose to florida in soccer tonight. They have a better team. The Vols played their guts out in a steady, fairly heavy rain--very tough match-and florida won it 2-1, after scoring two killer goals late in the first half after UT had taken a 1-0 lead on a beautiful goal by M. Flynn off a nice through-ball by M. Gouner. That was the difference--no goals by either team in the second half.
Florida is an excellent possession team--better than we are; an excellent technical team all over the field, better than we are--and that was the difference in the end. Pensky played a 4-3-3 against florida's 3-5-2 to start. I thought that was risky--would we get overrun in the middle of the field? The Vol formation worked for 10 minutes--we pressed Fla. hard with our forwards, bothered them, got turnovers, had a couple of half-chances--but Fla.'s back line is composed, and they passed their way out of pressure, which is something UT could not do. Pensky said they changed their formation midway through the first half--but the bottom line is that Florida began to slowly take control the game with their ball and possession skills, forcing UT to chase the ball a lot. That seemed to wear down our forwards--and florida began spending a lot of time deep in our half of the field. Outside of the Flynn goal, we didn't create many quality chances at all in this game--which is a recurring problem. It was difficult because florida is good defensively--their centerback Falknor is one of the best in the game--and because our midfielders and forwards were playing so deep, playing so much defense, that going forward after getting the ball was not easy. The Vols were competitive, played very hard, just not well enough, and a couple of defensive lapses cost us. Both teams seemed spent at the end. With luck we might have eeked out a tie, but florida was better in the run of play. Other thoughts:
--Vols defensive back four need to play with more composure and technical skill. They are all very diligent and hard-working--but it is hard to stay with good possession and attacking teams if you can't possess the ball out of the back yourself--meaning it bring it forward, with help from mids, keep it with crisp passing and player movement. Unable to do that much, the Vols kicked the ball away from our box a lot, but many of the clearance kicks weren't good and even the good ones just get picked off by the opponent, all of whose players are on our half of the field, and so they were coming right back at the Vols--and after a time this starts to create confusion, players lose their marks, which results in goals against us. And while UT is young in the midfield and at forward, our defenders are all veterans--good players, dependable, but not as technical as they need to be. The Vols just have to become a better possession team overall--back, midfield, forwards
--After this loss, the Vols will have to put together a string of wins to have any hope of making the NCAA tourney. UT does not have a quality win this year--and that is something the selection committee will notice. Still a chance, however, if we win three of the next five and have a good SEC tournament, in my estimation, or win four, which will be hard (but not impossible).
--This team has a LOT of young talent--at least 8 freshman or redshirt freshman played tonight, 9 if you count Kupritz (first signficant playing time this year as a soph), all but one of them getting significant minutes, and all of them (I think) playing either midfield or forward. And that doesn't count McClung and Neal up front. But I'm not sure Pensky has a handle on the personnel yet. Nice problem to have. He seems to be trying different players/combos in the midfield and at forward--Bialczak has been playing some midfield, it appears, and Marcano seemed to be playing forward tonight briefly. I guess you can hope to wear teams down with numbers and lots of substitutions--or you can build chemistry. Both would be ideal, but it's not easy to build chemistry with some many different personnel combinations. A lot of potential yet to be unlocked, and who replaces Ferguson and Santorio on the back line next year (important spots) also figures in.
--I'm surprised that, trailing by a goal throughout the second half, Pensky did not get Marcano in the game--a young player who, if nothing else, clearly is an attacking talent. How do you not sub out, say, Baldwin, a defensive midfielder, for Marcano at, say, the 70 minute mark? There is no point of keeping a defensive midfielder in the game for the last 20 minutes. Makes no sense, IMO, to leave a potential weapon on the sideline when you desperately need a goal. Oh, well: an admirable effort tonight...
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