Dear Forumites
The road to Brazil has begun and while we started on a positive note taking 3 points at home and a clean sheet in the process…it seemed to me that half the team still had not gotten out of bed. Some still had yampee in they eye and a few others should have used the bathroom at home instead of putting it down on the HCS field.
That said, some players did show up and there were some positives and Otto Pfister showed his metal, making some crucial substitutions and tactical adjustments at the right time.
After the India game, I saw some positives with the team. I saw an improvement in possession, tactics, intensity of play and attitude and I had high expectations for this game as Pfister assembled the strongest T&T squad since the 2006 WC. I was aware that some of these players had never played together before and with a new coach in charge, the team would need time to gel…but I did not expect certain experienced players to look so poor especially playing at home.
I arrived at the match venue about 3:30 and the TSTT girls in their TSPCA outfits greeted patrons, handing out vuvuzelas to eager fans. Bermudez was on point with the free Dixie biscuits again and after getting a few beers and some water, I settled in the stands, sweating like a pot cover, sun BEATING down on the small crowd which swelled eventually to about 5,000 near 4:30.
I ent go lie…I real cuss mehself for not going in covered stands.
I managed to get the end of the team warm ups and TT looked very business-like doing shuttles, small jumping and passing exercises and stretches. All the overseas players looked fit, with Daniel, Peltier, Hyland and Thompson looking more muscular than when last we saw them.
Warner was in goal, striking the ball with both feet, making clearances, doing some routine catches and at that point…may I stress…that point…he was looking good. Technique on point, proper backspin and lofted kickout, decent throw etc.
Bermuda to me looked like amateurs, from the fat old big belley red men that beat us in the Marvin Lee Stadium last time around,…they assembled a number of youths, some slim veteran looking old men and about 4 players who resembled Hobbits from the Shire. None of their players looked like proper footballers and the most portly of the Hobbits actually started and was their midfield general. To put his height in perspective…Tinto was taller than him.
The teams went into the dressing rooms and we were entertained by the DJ…”we are the warriors” the new offering was being played to hype up the crowd (More on this later) and after a pomp and ceremony entrance complete with the horn sample from Tuesdays Independence Parade. The acting President, Prime Minister, Minister of Sport and TTFF President walked onto the field to shake the player’s hands.
It was at this point Ollie Camps got a chorus of BOOS, Fatigue and Insults from the crowd and they were quite vocal.
“God Save The Queen” and “Forged From The Love of Liberty” were sung and T&T lined up in a 4-4-2 formation attacking the movietown goal. The starting line-up was Warner in goal. Carlos at left wing back, Power and James as stoppers. Anthony Wolfe at right back. Tinto on the right wing, Birchall and Hyland in the middle of the park, with Roberts of the Left and Stern and Jones up top.
I must give a round of applause to Stern John for playing in difficult circumstances. May you find strength to get through this difficult time and thank you for your contribution today. I would also like to applaud Kenwyne Jones who as captain led by example. Both players were class today, miles ahead of any other player on the field. Their skill is evident and both players took on men, were aggressive, tackled, fought for the ball. Shot when needed supported each other and played off each other well. I was pleased with their link up play and it is only when you see Kenwyne live you realize how fast and strong he is. I especially liked the fact that he was taking on men, beating and looking to run at goal…a good game today and he was unlucky not to have scored another today.
TT then got the ball rolling and we were downright terrible for the opening 15 minutes. Errant passes, poor clearances, mistrapping and the three main offenders were Hyland, Roberts and surprisingly Carlos.
Carlos in particular was having a torrid time, not linking with Roberts on the wing, opting to cut inside and try a lofted pass “TO Who” or attempting to dribble and losing the ball each time. What really summed it up was a piece of miscommunication and he made a bad back pass to Warner across the face of the goal that went for a corner.
Warner then had some antics of his own…after looking so stellar in the warm up, he attempted a kneeling down thigh trap, that inadvertently bounced off his knee. Then another speculative shot/cross from a Bermudian player was totally fumbled by him and it went for a corner…arggh.
After that the crowd just started to ketch kicks off the man and any time he held the ball he was applauded sarcastically. He actually had one good save to make in the 1st half getting down well and holding a shot to his right from a decent shot. In the second half he showed his footskills or lack thereof and did a chest trap and some ball/hand juggling when coming out to cut out long balls. To his credit his reading of the game is good and he is quick off his line. His throws are ok but his kicking needed work. Brilliant one minute and calamitous the next, not sure of him right now, but he did communicate well with his back 4 and was vocal and set up his wall when needed and was good on corners and crosses.
Roberts lacked confidence and looked very uncomfortable on the left side. Whereas he looked the real deal vs India, he looked a little more ordinary today , however to his credit he worked hard and every time he lost the ball, he worked double hard and won it back…this was well appreciated by the crowd and eventually he settled down and was back in the game. Funny enough both he and Carlos were responsible for the only goal of the match.
Hyland looked powerful, showed a few moments of brilliance… but was totally off. A flick to no one, getting screened off the ball, bad pass, mistimed tackle you name it he did it and I couldn’t believe how bad he fell off. What made it worse was that it was a hobbit in the middle with him, a youth man and some other thin nashy fella. …Those players = food …but instead they mannersed him and he just couldn’t get his passing game together today.
Birchall was the engine in the middle and worked very very hard…winning everything, putting in the tackle and applying pressure. His touch has improved but he was at fault for some intercepted passes or bad decision making. He did not take it to them as he usually does and he made a few runs but did not shoot like before.
Tinto was lively, running at them but with little or no penetration in the first half. Many dribbles were unsuccessful…a poor cross or he would just cut it back for stern or KJ or pass it to Hyland who lost the ball.
But for all the indecision and poor playing…Bermuda didn’t cross the half and only had one shot at goal which Warner dealt with. I don’t particularly remember any threat, any meaningful attack or any bits of skill or brilliance. It was just a scrappy midfield battle. With T&T having the advantage.
From a cross or a corner…not sure…Power or KJ got down low and put in a header which hit the post.
Also from another cross Roberts did well chest trapped the ball and struck a bullet which unluckily came off the underside of the bar with the keeper beaten. On another attack KJ put in a header and the Bermudian goalie did well to get down and tip it around the post.
After 30-35 minutes only then did T&T settle but it was because of Otto and his first sub. Yes the German coach was fed up of the mistakes and lack of fluidity to the T&T team and had Keon Daniel warming up.
I was unsure as to who was coming off as Carlos, Roberts and Hyland all looked like candidates given the pile they were putting down at the time. But when Hyland came off, Daniel went into center midfield…which was a surprise given he is a left flank regular and T&T looked a bit more lively.
Daniel was greeted by being pongs off the ball from a flyweight Bermudian player and he was not convincing in the tackle, pointing and jockeying..when the ball is right there to be won or losing the 50/50 ball. However he was the catalyst that started the TT attack.
He kept possession well, moved the ball around and made good passes into the channels. He is silky with the ball at his feet and his dribbles were successful and he did not lose the ball like Hyland. This resulted in sustained offensive pressure by T&T…attack after attack and a few corners well in a row.
It was in this spell that T&T scored it’s first and only goal for the afternoon…it was coming and you could have seen it and it started with carlos cutting inside and playing a ball down the line for Roberts who sprinted well to reach it…beat his marker and whipped in a cross for kenwyne to arrive last post and nod home from about 10 yards.
Good goal and the timing was perfect..just before the half and it deflated the visitors.
The half time came and a new artiste decided to promote his Warriors Anthem tune. Now the tune ent all that bad, but its not suited I find to a football setting…more a kinda fete, techno jump up happy tune.
But partners was in covered stand in a red jersey, flag draped on his shoulders and a white pencil jeans. He also had a hype man with him in the same kinda garb and one of them start to jump and make split on the running track infront the stands…I know he must be was feeling d vibes eh…but those antics just get a steups and complete turnoff from all in the grounds section. Big hardback man in a white pencil jeans doing spilt…c’mon breds..
Nobody ent take him on and a few were asking if the song have more than one line to it..I don’t know maybe a remix is needed but the masses ent feeling it.
The second half starts back up and Bermuda is on the attack…trying to run at T&T but never making more than 3-4 passes before being stifled out by Birchall or being dealt with by the back 4.
I was pleased by Power, James and Wolfe. They did suffer from miscommunication at times..2 of them going for the same ball. But as time went on they won everything in the air, were aggressive, played an offside trap well and Powers actually got hurt throwing his frame to block a shot and collecting a bullet to face in the process. Good sacrifice for the team.
Wolfe is not a natural right back and it showed..but he is a good footballer and he is being groomed for the position. He came into his own as the game wore on and he tackled well, recovered well, made good passes and overlapped occasionally. Nothing beat him in the air and he read the long cross balls well. He is a work in progress and coming along.
James is also a decent player. Not too good with his kicking and clearances, but good header of the ball, aggressive and good in the tackle.
The game was not dirty by any means, very few stoppages and only one yellow card to a Bermudian player for diving. A good clean game and the ref had the action flowing nicely.
After 5 minutes of soaking up pressure Stern got a long ball and was unlucky not to score, scuffing the shot and hitting it over bars. It was his last contribution and he got a round of applause for his play and determination playing under difficult circumstances. Well done #14.
Peltier then came on and impacted on the game almost immediately making darting runs down the flank and trying the through ball to KJ far post. After a few penetrating runs the Bermuda coach made a change putting on a new wing back and after Peltier ran at him a few time Pfister then switched Peltier to the opposite flank for Tinto.
Roberts then moved up top with KJ and this new partnership started to look promising with more and more runs by Jones or Roberts into the area. KJ was the recipient of a few tackles and I suspect this is what resulted in him coming off.
He passed the arm band to Carlos and like the armband have some kinda power…cause Carlos stopped playing shit and started to look like a General on the left..darting up and down the line making the overlapping run and looking like the Carlos of old. He is still unable to cross a ball properly with either foot and the cutback and turn getting predictable, but he can still skip and glide past players. His speed has slowed down a bit but the 2nd half was all Carlos a complete turnaround from the first half.
It was here with 15 min to go Pfister switched it to 3 at the back …with Daniel having a free Role..Tinto playing in the middle rather than the wing and allowing Wolfe the space to push up. This left Birchall playing right back and moving around the middle cleaning up wherever was needed.
I was pleased at this development and it was here the T&T confidence came, we started passing the ball around, faster and with intensity and the Bermudians were now on the back foot.
We created a few shooting chances and one or two crosses into the box but these were either gathered by the visiting keeper or scrambled away.
With these moments of transition and increasing possession...the lack of a playmaker became evident. Keon Daniel while useful on the ball was not effective off it and did not show for the ball or come to support the play. Tinto was also guilty off not showing, neither was wolfe..so what happened was a period of the game where the back three stroked the ball amongst themselves..eventually playing it long down the flank for peltier ot wolfe to chase.
It was a glaring gap…backs and fwds and nobody coming to demand the ball. Also there was little or no knock with the two central p[layers. Most of the link up play was Jones/Kenwwyn/Roberts ..the fwd players and it is a bit worrying that this does not occur with the middle pairing.
Then the last sub came on…Clyde Leon to solidify the middle and wear down the clock for the last 10 minutes.
The formation then changed to a 4-5-1…Roberts playing the lone striker and T&T crowding the middle and playing keep away.
I like what I saw from Pfister…making changes in tactics immediately when a problem arose. Both with personnel and system. Full marks to the coach.
Honestly Bermuda didn’t do much and India looked like a better opponent. However, T&T never stamped their authority in the game. We looked shakey at times and I would say for the most part we looked disjointed. Players took a while to wake up and get into the game and we labored through most of it.
The pace of the game was slow, but in all fairness the sun was hot and our opponents did not step up the pace dramatically either.
In conclusion a fan seeing the score or the team for the first time would be disappointed. We did not look convincing. But there were little patches of possession, skill, flair and movement to get excited about. It is definitely an improvement from the previous two coaches and we can only get better.
Also remember this is Pfisters first look at these players in a proper game and it will be a learning experience for both players and coach. But everything will iron out eventually as the games progress.
Three points in the bag and a clean sheet = a good start. This is WCQ, it’s all about 3 points and we have been successful. Looking forward to another 3 points vs Barbados next week. We have enough quality to beat these teams and I am confident of a good semi-final round from this team. We will only get better, give it time.
Team Rating – 6 – A win and a clean sheet.
Player ratings
Warner- 5 – Fair but many shakey moments not 100% confident in him yet
Wolfe, Power, James -6 All did well and were competent
Carlos-4 first half 6 second half an avg of 5….You can do better.
Tinto – 6 Lively and worked hard.
Hyland – 4- Pulled stones for the 30 min he was on the field.
Keon Daniel – 7 positive impact when he came on
Peltier – 7 very good impact sub, good touch and created opportunities
Birchall -7 hard worker and was a boss in the middle mashing up plays.
Roberts -6 got better as the game went on but not near his best
Stern -7 good fight, good link up play with Jones.
Kenwyne- 8 – very impressed by the strength, speed and leadership by Kenwyne looks a different player and led by example…tackling and all. Plus scoring a goal.
Leon- N/A too little to make an assessment.