Asunto: Israel U20

Well, hard to say something after the 2:3 loss ... What a missfortune
1) From the two games 19 shots wide and only 6 shots on goal.
2) Yadid couldn't play against Turkey because of red card against Paraguay.
3) Narkis injured just before the match against Turkey and it's our best player.
4) Agaist Paraguay we were without Motzkin because of cards from the previous season.

Turks used to play very offensive 4-3-3, so we played 3-5-2, because we were in need of 3 points. We were better, but we weren't able to shot on goal. In 47th minute Ergi Büyükerman scored, so we switched to "all-in" 3-4-3. We scored twice, however our oponent scored twice as well ... I hope I'm wrong, but I think that the qualification for the World Cup is gone This fact DOESN'T change anything. We will be working as hard as possible to win every game we play. Our preparations WON'T be worse and we will try at least pull Israel towards PPM Challenge Cup this season. We need to be 48th in world's ranking or better. Now we are right 48th. So next weak against Moldova. I hope, the luck will be with us for now

To be honest I was watching the game
I saw the team's ability, saying that there is no need to despair.
Alignment was true, correct tactic, this recipe for good results.

Just a short review: We lost the match against Moldova. The game can be divided into 2 different parts:

I) 0-20 min
It seems like we weren't on the field because Moldova produced 3 shots on goal, scored two times and we did nothing.

II) 20-90 min
We had 16 shots in total (8 on goal, 8 away), Moldova had only 1 shot on goal, we had better ball possesion, tactic was good. We scored soon in 25' but it was all. Change from 4-3-3 to 3-4-3 with even bigger our superiority (final ball possesion was 56.1%) didn't result in another goals ...

We are very disappointed and confused as well. The squad, tactic, substitution, ... all were ok, we prepared well for this match and it goes baggy
From three matches against the weakest teams in our group we have only 1 point ... Next week away against Austria with team strength 164 (our is 126), with 9pts., with score 6:0 and they played only with best teams in our group.

Israel 0:2 Ukraine
We played in defensive 4-5-1. I used mainly 18-19yrs old players to increase their chemistry for the next season and save A-team's energy for the last two home matches. Our defense worked well until the 81' (!!!) minute. My mistake, there should be a substitution which would sent our best players on the field in tie game (0:0) e.g. in 60'-65'. However, we played 5th good game without some huge mistakes but ... I'll do my best (and jonnty as well) to not finish the season with only one point and low in the world's ranking.

At this moment I have all Israeli players in age 15-17 scouted. This week I'll start to communicate with owners to correct training at some players.

Israel 0:4 Belgium
With jonnty we have discussed three different strategies. All of them were based on catching their long passes (they used to play 4-4-2 long passes). They have strong defense, but it has weak point in LD sector. With ideal team we would rather play against good defense with short passes and 5 midfielders to get them under pressure, but with this team we agreed on long passes on good forwards. So here are the three discussed opinions 5-3-2 / 4-3-3 / 4-4-2. We choosed 5-3-2. I think 5 defenders catch all long passes. We got 3 goals, after switching to 4-3-3 was our game slightly better.

We are 7th in the WC qualifiers only thanks to better score than Paraguay. We would deserve better results, most of matches are very balanced, but with 3 goals ... Sad view is at the World's ranking table as well. We are 55th. Next season I will focus mainly on ranking. Qualification is over no reason to save energy in friendly matches.

And to end with good news. Almost all owners of 17yrs old players agreed on improving training ratio, so new players for the next season should be trained properly

Israel 1:1 Germany
Strategy was set by Jonnty, because I was focusing on my National orienteering championship qualifiers (and I had success and qualify to the Nat. champ. ). We presented ourselves in 4-4-2 with long passes (I would use the same tactic). The Germans were dominating in the first half although the ball possesion was equal. The game dramaticaly changed in the half time, we switched on higher level of agresivity and tempo. Notice the stats in both halves:
Shots total (1st half): 4-8
Shots on goal (1st half): 1-5
Shots total (2nd half): 8-1
Shots on goal (2nd half): 1-0
We overshoted Germans but 8 from 9 shots went wide ... About a month ago I started to ask managers for higher shoting training, I hope it will be more visible next season. At least we scored from our one shot on goal. But this was a win-match from the half time, we had advantage in ball possesion. But it's better to end with 2 pts then with only one.

My assistent Jonty resigned after this match because of results, but he did great work, we weren't just lucky this season.

I hope I will stay in my position. But this is only yours decision, if you still trust me. I have database of players for the next season, I have already communicated with owners of players in terms of training changes. Players should be prepared well. Because we used quite many 18-19yrs old players they have good chemistry. It could be higher, but we were using the strongest squad possible. Because of almost no reactions here in this thread I reduced my posts only on post-games review (like this post) with short comment. This will maintain in the next season.

Next week is the last match, it's against Kazakhstan. We are going for the VICTORY!

I hope you will continue next season overall you did a good job and I believe the results will be shown soon
Good Luck

"Rome wasn't built in a day".
I really hope you`ll stay, It`s importent to stick with a plan.

I recommend that you should continue to lead the young team

you doing a great job
keep up the good work
I will vote for you

Thanks for your support guys!
By the end of this week, I'll introduce here the changes for the next season, players who will leave the team because of their age and new players joining the team. And I'll also mention a season preview with our targets.

make sure that you will advice to the new manager of israel about the players that you cant use anymore....good comunication will bring good results

Aaaawww, shame on me! I wanted to send in 60' SHOFAR to the attack but I sent there SHWARTZ ... He was on the field so they just switched defender to the attack and forward to the defense ...

I started with "U19" team to increase their chemistry with CD Shwartz and CFs Shofar, Narkis ready to substitute. Shwartz was set to substitute immediately after Kazakh's goal (it's the substitute in 10' in report). At the half time there was a substitution sending Narkis to the play. And I wanted to strenghten attack more in 60' but that's the error mentioned above ...

We started in 3-5-2 focused at the center. I expected them to use their stupid 6-3-1 squad, which would be impossible to score using side sectors because of 2LD and 2RD. But his 5-3-2 doesn't matter, I wanted to build on strong CM to get their defense under big pressure. We took this sector but we as in all games this season had problems wit shoting, 2 shots on goal - 10 shots wide.

I've also expected more from Narkis, 0 on goal - 2 wide + 2 fouls, that's not enough considering his quallities.

The only positivum from this game is building chemistry for the next season (and I can say that we will start with uncomparable better chemistry then this season)

the sun will shine Friends

My season preview with team changes will be delayed (but will be for sure published before the end of season).

But I would like to inform you, that my ex-assistent jonnty is candidating for the Israel U17 manager! He's twofold medalist (bronze with Czech U17 and bronze with Czech senior hockey team) and great strategist! We are almost everyday in touch, discussing tactics and gameplay. Leading both U17 & U20 we could cooperate together to build stronger players, sharing databases, scouting players, looking for talents and so on

Here is his speech: soccer.powerplaymanager.c...