Subject: Canada Senior NT Discussion

Hopefully no injuries throw a chink in our lineup without time to correct for it

Shouldn't be an issue. Actually, an injury to Borden or Jobson would be perfect timing for me, as long as it is at least 9 or 10 days.

BTW, thanks to Canucks for the help and advice in the transition.

Great work in your debut! Solid result with lots of guys seeing action!

Good game indeed. They had a strong Midfield, and Thelen was a threat. Considering their Midfield might be better than ours anyway, we left it to them and secured the back with a 5-3-2, playing long ball. That went perfectly in 1st half since they were limited to 1ST and 1SW. We need to use as much players as possible, that's why we had 6 substitutions. In case we were ahaead, it was planned to switch to a more defensive 5-4-1, with a possession tactic this time. Too bad they switched tactic to long ball, and they've been able to score twice and dominate 2nd half.

I'm disapointed that our 2 goals were scored by our CDs, and our attack has been totally shut with no ST by fwds, and by an Dutch defense that is just average. We'll try some solutions in the next games to see what we can do about that, but it's better keeping this quiet for now .

On the good side, we've learned a lot with this game, and we can be happy with Roberge. Ivan Gow, with more Chem, will be a regular very quickly. Borden and Patry have equal IGR, Grebe is just 1 point ahead.

You can expect to see games with lots of substitutions until we start qualifications, even if it costs us some points. We need to see as many players on the field as possible until then.

Borden will likely get passed in IGR but I urge you not to consider that the only determining factor for what earns playing time. PM me if you want more details as to why.

We should be glad to have several options. And if it's not enough, energy will be key anyway so we'll need all if them.

Bad game yesterday. I was unsure whether England would play the same tactic as the game before. I thought they would change to try something else, but they didn't. Even if they kept 5 mids, I was hoping ours would perform better. That was almost tie, except on the left where Dawdy has been outclassed by his opponent, and it has cost us a goal. Once again, our forwards have been shut by the opponent with 4 defs, we'll need a solution. I find it hard for our midfields to play 3-5-2 or 4-5-1. The way they are trained for def, off and shooting doesn't match very well with their prefered side.

Anyway, the main objective of this game was more to give playtime to most players. Next game against Scotland U20 will be another one to try some things. I'll check to see who hasn't played yet that we need to see.
After that, I think we'll go with a regular roster of 22 and prepare for the qualifications.

We play Scotland U20 on Saturday. Settings are ready. Players who haven't played yet will have their chance; so that we have an initial IGR measure from everybody.

Well, result from yesterday's game is... embarrassing. They played N vs. we went VL, long ball vs possession, we had several substitute on the field.

I'm still surprised we didn't end up with higher possession since our mids were much better than theirs. Also surprising is they had more shots in 2nd half when we played 5-4-1.

Anyway, 3 friendlies remaining, we'll start focusing on a regular roster from now on.

I agree, quite shocking. To be honest, I don't think it was through any fault of our own. We wanted to get data on players who haven't played yet and that's what we got. We should have won, but that's soccer. So long as we don't lose to the Vatican in competitive play we're good

We play Turkey today on the road. They have a good team, it won't be easy. We'll still make a few experiments, though the roster is stabilizing.

I'm pleased to report a victory against Turkey on the road, despite a PK missed by Frenette during 1st half.

Beyond the win, I'm pleased to see we dominated ST, though they had 8 SW, which is too much. I don't like the fact we've been dominated in possession despite having played with 5 CM and possession vs. their long ball.

Nice job man!

Everything is set for game tomorrow. Big game against our US friends and neighbours.

NKJD's players being on TC, I've removed them from the roster so they can enjoy their full TC bonus and give the chance to other players in the meantime.