TeamGeist

Thanks Sijie! =)

Time for a quick update (while we have a 2 week hiatus). It’s been a while since I last posted, updating this blog requires more discipline than I thought..especially when we are not thrashing our opponents..but that’s not to say we are runaway leaders either.

If this was a report book, we deserve a B. Not as good as we expected (at start of season) but considering the number of players we have been missing the past few games (gabriel, qihui, eddie, ziquan, cheney, keehuat, shengda, kueychee), I say  we are okie. There was also that spell in mid-season where we kept losing our lead, and of cos, the current spell where we keep losing our head (has it been 3 games in a row we got someone sent off??)… Some thoughts on how the season has panned out:

1. Attendance: For me, I want to win, but really it’s as much about having an excuse to meet up regularly with old friends (dhs or otherwise) of 14 years +-. Who else you know meets up like what, 40-50 times a year??  I’ve been playing regularly with 2 old teams (average 40+ years old), and I see how much they treasure this opportunity. We will be like that too, but I hope not when we are 40ish, but soon.

2.  Tactics: I think it’s time to show our appreciation for the gaffer. Not just in terms of him playing regularly despite nursing bad knee injuries, but for the willingness to take charge. It is never easy to lead a bunch of opinionated guys. I was reading an old post

"And yes Gabe, please speak up more. Im at a loss during matches sometimes also so i need input and help from everyone. I don’t know how i ended up being the gaffa presently but since i’m here i’ll try my best, but doesnt mean my decisions are always on the right track. For example, if you think i should be off during the last 25 min of the game for Eddie, please tell me. Because in the match i was quite heated up, and didnt make a decision to sub myself off when there wasn’t anyone advising so… no need to be too subtle, just tell me straight in the face…!"

Another line,

"Probably you will disagree with my changes but I really would wanna experiment around . I think the first season we should just experiment around with players formations? Please feedback - the 5 -2 -3? To end the mail, i really think today was just bad luck and a pair of bad boots. So let’s just win the next and prove to ourselves we still got something left in us. Remember - ‘Ntg aint gonna be too big for us.’"

As an afterthought, we could have done more to experiment and tried out the gaffer’s ideas. Of course, sometimes it’s easy to point fingers at tactics and too many substitutions when things don’t go well but the key takeaway here is that we should remember that this is a season for experimentation.

3. Next season: Will there be a next season? Should we trim the squad? Does anyone else care? I hope to keep this team alive, but it is a difficult period now, with so many players injured and others a bit less dedicated due to work or other personal reasons. But I read other football blogs (eg. Tusser) and I realise this is a common problem. I think it is easier to form a team of good players that focuses on winning than a team of good friends that wins together. But nobody wins forever (don’t say arsenal..) and it will be the team of friends that take tough times better and emerge stronger.

meanwhile, let’s end the season on a high with 2 out of 2!