D Touches Match Report TT vs Haiti

[Touches]

Ann3Boys yuh sit right behind me up until you left at halftime...I was in the orange jersey.

Disgruntled...Baptiste ent touch the ball atall. He was making up numbers, worse yet he had on the #10. They use him on the right wing but all the ball was on the left...connell side.

Sando my expectations for this TT team are very low.

All I ask is that we put 5 or more passes together. That we actually come out of our half with a purpose and look like we have an idea. A shot on goal would be nice or a deliberate attempt at going forward.

In defending I would like us not to concede. Not to hoof out the ball, to defend in a zone, tight and compact and to use the midfield a bit more.

I would like the midfield to at least maintain possession, thread a ball, create something, defend and tackle protect the defense.

I think the opposition and results speak for themselves. But for all who have not seen this team play since Maturana took over, I could understand your skepticism.

Honestly...I would be happy if we could look like how WIM had us in the Digicup.....that itself was poor but in comparison, it was a better more effective brand.

Wim making Pacho look like Morinho or Wenger.

[kiffysmooth]

I not too concerned about getting over played, the fact is both Jamaica and haiti will always out hustle us and we do not have the ball control to take that game away from them.

A 2-0 win is a win

At least we know our set plays working and that is a key attribute to what Birchal has to offer .

I do not see Yorke helping this side.

Better to leave Hyland, Whitley, Theobald, Birchall, Baptise etc etc in the middle

They are younger more hungry and will do more running which is what we need.

Yorke cannot help we any more

Maybe on the squad and coming off the bench but right about now no way no how I starting Yorke to try to get we to South Africa.[

quote]

KND....yuh mad!

[Youth Baller]

I hardly saw anything on Keevaughn Connell how did he play? Radio Commentry kept saying how quick he was...

[trinikev]

Ann3Boys yuh sit right behind me up until you left at halftime...I was in the orange jersey.

Disgruntled...Baptiste ent touch the ball atall. He was making up numbers, worse yet he had on the #10. They use him on the right wing but all the ball was on the left...connell side.

Sando my expectations for this TT team are very low.

All I ask is that we put 5 or more passes together. That we actually come out of our half with a purpose and look like we have an idea. A shot on goal would be nice or a deliberate attempt at going forward.

In defending I would like us not to concede. Not to hoof out the ball, to defend in a zone, tight and compact and to use the midfield a bit more.

I would like the midfield to at least maintain possession, thread a ball, create something, defend and tackle protect the defense.

I think the opposition and results speak for themselves. But for all who have not seen this team play since Maturana took over, I could understand your skepticism.

Honestly...I would be happy if we could look like how WIM had us in the Digicup.....that itself was poor but in comparison, it was a better more effective brand.

Wim making Pacho look like Morinho or Wenger.

Based on the previous statement. shouldn't that be the other way around?

[trinikev]

I not too concerned about getting over played, the fact is both Jamaica and haiti will always out hustle us and we do not have the ball control to take that game away from them.

A 2-0 win is a win

At least we know our set plays working and that is a key attribute to what Birchal has to offer .

I do not see Yorke helping this side.

Better to leave Hyland, Whitley, Theobald, Birchall, Baptise etc etc in the middle

They are younger more hungry and will do more running which is what we need.

Yorke cannot help we any more

Maybe on the squad and coming off the bench but right about now no way no how I starting Yorke to try to get we to South Africa.

The question is, why is that acceptable to u? We shouldn't be getting out-hustled by anybody, our effort should always be our very best. That is worrying if we just conceding that as fact.

[dinho]

Fellahs, i could only stop in for a quick second as you know how is pace when yuh visiting home.. I late for de beach right now!   

This is what I'll say..

I coming here to corraborate everything that Touches said in his match report as I see it with my own two eyes.  And to clarify, I never criticize Touches, I criticize the people who make in-depth analysis on games they not even privy to see. Well now I saw.

It is a big mystery to me how we could play so poorly and win a game and keep a clean sheet to boot.

Our play can be summed up as follows:

1. Ball played around the back four to reach Avery or Cyd... Avery or Cyd pass to the winger Connell/Baptiste who has 2 men pressing on him and will one touch back to Avery/Cyd who will then HOOOF to no one.

2. Ball played to from defense to any one of our 3 DEFENSIVE midfielders who are hustled by the haitian midfield and are not creative enough to do something constructive, so they play the ball back to the central defense. The clumsy pair of Hislop and Thomas will either HOOOOF the ball to no one or revert to play number 1 above and the ball with be HOOOOFED to no one.

and that is about it..

The way Haiti was playing, comfortable and in control at all times, never panicking, unhustled, stroking the ball the wrong and issuing some shake to boot really put us to shame. Plus it look like a young Haiti side, they could make the Hex with ah full squad. Also, they have a young right back that real impress me, skill to give away, touches, pace and overlapping and creating all game.

Anyhow, that is it for now...

Was good to meet a couple of the forumites like Patriot, Small Mag, Touches and Andre Samuel (who look lil overweight from all the pelau he eat last year).

Ah go vibes laterz..

PS: Connell was playing lazy, not tracking back to help Avery and not passing up responsibility by giving up the ball. But he was the only player who look capable of making something happen when he run with the ball. There is a difference between a good player who had a bad game and a bad player. Birchall, Glen, Cyd, Avery fall into the former category.

[dinho]

also, we need to get this stadium scene sorted out and cyah be playing on that COE surface in preparation for de qualifiers...

The ball does skid on that astroturf and it does run away from yuh when it rolling..  a whole different game does play on grass..

[JDB]

Honestly...I would be happy if we could look like how WIM had us in the Digicup.....that itself was poor but in comparison, it was a better more effective brand.

Touches I was just about to ask yuh if the all local team that Wim had was playing better than this.

From your reply I will take it as a yes.

[Pointman]

It is amazing how a team could be totally outplayed and outclassed, create no chances, have zero shots to goal and yet come away 2-0 winners.

That was exactly how I felt last year when T&T beat Cuba 2 - nil and was totally outclassed.

[pardners]

also, we need to get this stadium scene sorted out and cyah be playing on that COE surface in preparation for de qualifiers...

The ball does skid on that astroturf and it does run away from yuh when it rolling..  a whole different game does play on grass..

Former T&T and W Connection coach, Stuart Fevier was interviewed last week and mentioned that this MLS (COE) surface was giving his and other teams' players a lot of injuries.  He said a lot of the other PFL coaches were complaining about the same thing.  He mentioned a lot of ACL injuries, in no small measure due to the fact that the artificial surface does not 'give' under the players feet.

On another note.  I keep hearing in a lot of reports that a lot of the players are not fit.  It seems as though a lot of them are playing with niggling injuries as well.  But I noticing that fitness levels really low at this time in the campaign.  I could understand to some extent the guys who in preseason with their clubs, but the locals supposed to be in ripping form by now man.

[ribbit]

1.

Folks I wish we could look like Haiti….yes I said it.

2.

Boy Haiti are poor at defending set plays, especially when the ball is played behind the defense. We beat them right tru all night when Birchall swing in that ball, we won the header in the box everytime what we didnt do was attack the ball after the first header.

3.

I have seen Haiti play a few times over the  last couple of years, and finishing has always been a problem for dem. It seem as doh when dey reach near de 18yd line, dey does get tie up and eh sure what to do.

Touches, explain this nah? i up here in canada, so is a real rashomon experience trying to piece together what really happened. yuh saying that it would be better if this team were playing like a team that cyah finish and defend set plays?

[Jefferz]

sad days these.

sad days.

[elan]

also, we need to get this stadium scene sorted out and cyah be playing on that COE surface in preparation for de qualifiers...

The ball does skid on that astroturf and it does run away from yuh when it rolling..  a whole different game does play on grass..

Proper technique could sort that out. To play effectively on turf you need to have proper technical ability.

[Tallman]

PS: Connell was playing lazy, not tracking back to help Avery and not passing up responsibility by giving up the ball. But he was the only player who look capable of making something happen when he run with the ball.

Maybe he eh fully recover from dem strained ankle ligaments.

[MEP]

Touches as usual borse report but as Palos say yuh soundin a lil bit Alvinized ah guess yuh acrimony is from wantin ah better product. Judging from what you're saying it sounds as if the coaching staff doh have a blueprint for what they hope to achieve.

[Marcos]

Dred when we gonna fire this coach?

[andre samuel]

Touches, you know that u is meh pardner..........But sadly, i agree with palos.  You sounding ah bit too harsh.......

Haiti outplayed us in many areas, but they were not that good.

They passed the ball well, ran into spaces and supported each other nicely.  However, i would not go as far as to say that i wish we was playing like them.  Haiti were more physical, however we won everything in the air in our box and in theirs.

Their keeper looked lost most times as he allowed every ball played into his box to meet a trinidadian head.  What killed us tonight were our wing players........both baptiste and connell were horrible. 

I want to look at the positives today.  Our back line was fairly solid, especially in the second half.  Both Gray and Avery had good games.  They were made to look bad through the lack of work done by Connell and Baptiste. 

Haiti's shots on goal were from way outside the box and they all, baring one near the end, were either off the mark or straight at Phillip.

We played too deep.  Cornel Glen fought alone up front.  He found it difficult to get past his man, and when he did, he was fouled mercilessly. 

Theobald had a very good first half, but faded in the second.  Hyland didnt stand out but he had a good game.  Touches and Small Mag and them was only critizing him unfairly.   Even when he get beat, Touches blaming de man.   But in my opinion, he played well in front of the defence and switched the play a few times.

The pressence of Birchal raised the level of hustle that our team normally shows, but i cant remember him wining any balls due to his efforts.  (Imagine Small Mag say Birchall was de man of the match....lol). 

I know that we were outplayed, but it has to count for something when you play badly and still win.

The same way we take credit for the draw against sweden at the world cup when everyone knows that we coulda easily ended up with about 5, we should acknowledge the fact that we won a game and were not the better team. 

I am not saying to have a party since we still have some work to do.  But i dont think it is as bad as my pardner touches is making it out to be.

That 4-5-1 formation is not for us!!

ah love it!!

[weary1969]

Dark dayz I say go let d foreign base deal wit dat team we done have crime, traffic jam and God knows what else play dem games overseas we eh need no more stress.

[Touches]

The same way we take credit for the draw against sweden at the world cup when everyone knows that we coulda easily ended up with about 5, we should acknowledge the fact that we won a game and were not the better team. 

Andre if you are indeed equating Sweden with Haiti... ....it merely reinforces my point.

Worse yet you find Haiti ent all dat.

tsk tsk tsk

[supporter]

Whey Wim?

[weary1969]

Laughin at oui and waitin on d arbitrator 2 c if d TTFF have money 4 he. Not 2 mention he get a wuk as soon as he land in Holland so is only we found him 2 b a hound because while it eh AJAX he get a job ASAP

[andre samuel]

The same way we take credit for the draw against sweden at the world cup when everyone knows that we coulda easily ended up with about 5, we should acknowledge the fact that we won a game and were not the better team. 

Andre if you are indeed equating Sweden with Haiti... ....it merely reinforces my point.

Worse yet you find Haiti ent all dat.

tsk tsk tsk

I am not equating Sweden to Haiti, what i am saying is that we were happy when we went to the world cup and got a point in the first match when in truth and fact, we were totally outplayed.

We were outshot 18 to 6, but yet still we celebrated when we drew.  I am saying that we have to give credit for the fact that this year, we have been grinding out results even when we played badly.  

We are not brazil and will never be.  We are a nation who has a small population whose national team cant even play in its national stadium and even if we played there, we cant even get 2,000 people present during a match, except if it is ah crucial qualifier or a glamour friendly.

I am sure that all of us would take this performance and this result over the one against canada in the gold cup in 2000 when we totally dominated but lost 1-0 in the semis.

We have lots of work to do, but i dont think we could be this bad, and still come away undefeated against everyone except england.  (bermuda does count since we won the aggregate!)  

ah love it!!




 

[MEP]

Andre - Yuh fishin for excuses.....developmentally we should be a mile and half ahead of Haiti and we should be using games like that to work out the kinks...again look at the US as an example where players go into an established system where you have to play a disciplined brand of football. We doh even have one aspect of the game downpact...are we an attacking team are we a defensive team...right now it seems as if we're just throwing players out there to find an 11 that will work well together....

[spideybuff]

Touches boy...i was there and I was physically sick watching the entire spectacle. It feels like a chore to go see these games, especially at those prices and against weak opposition that not punishing us for the nonsense we putting out on the field.

I watch the anthem, look at Birchall, look around the stadium and I guess seeing him again just make it hit hime how far we really fall since that game against Bahrain on November 12th, 2005.

I watching a game in a stadium that probably would fit well with an Enlishh 3rd division side, where it have a setta pole blocking your view and people standing everywhere, where they not allowed to, just to find decent spots.
No vibes at all from the crowd and the rhythm section was just starting to sound like noise.
We playing a "non big name" side and doh know if we going to win.
I doh know bout half the team by face or number (not to even mention the bench.)
We consistently playing a 4-5-1 at home and even then we not looking solid defensively...so what is the point of sacrficing attacking flair then?

The whole thing just seem like a sad,sad state of affairs. I really wish I was still away like allyuh other men on the board, who just hearing scores and reading reports and still have that hope that 'nah, touches exaggerating, we  still win 2-0." or "the coach only lose 2 games, Yorke coming back, things will get better" and not have to actually see and experience this nonsense.

I doh know where allyuh get that idea that we beating Cuba twice. When last we look good against Cuba? All the games I recall against Cube have always been tight. When last any of our youth teams beat Cuba? And according to the papers today, we never play Cuba IN Cuba, eh. And on neutral grounds against them, we doh have a winning record. Our players ever went to Cuba? Raul Castro putting us up in 5 star hotel or u feel we have to deal with gamesmanship? Doh get tie up and feel August 20th is a easy game eh. And last time we went to Guatemala City we get 5 so even that eh easy. We have 3 games to win at home...and as i recall we never beat the states in a competitive fixture. I still have hope eh, but we really in trouble eh people. I hope allyuh realise that.

Honestly, has it ever been this bad in our football? From the old heads? Have we ever been this depressed about our football as a nation? Or maybe is jst those who went to the games really understand how bad we looking.

[zuluwarrior]

When wim was here we wanted him gone now we hav ah new coach we sayin he not good wah really goin on iz it that some ah these players cant take coachin or the coaches not good , me countfuse here .slim say something wah yuh .

[dinho]

Spideybuff, ah feeling wha yuh saying dread..

watch meh, it have nutten like sitting in the stadium watching de shit live and direct..

At half time, I actually tell dem men, "I feel allyuh desensitized yes, cause dis real bad!!". And all I studying is de $120, wait no ah come wit ppl $240 that ah spend to come in.

Ah wasn't seeing de positives and ah realize reading newspaper accounts does be ah misrepresentation.

Back page of the express today, "WARRIORS BLANK HAITI".   

Imagine the sum total of our attacking in a home fixture is some long range free kick into the box which their keeper shoulda really come out and hold or punch.

Ah saying it now, if we dont improve and soon, we will get whitewash from USA (with ah 4-0 minimum in de mix), we will get licks away to Guatemala and at best a draw at home to them, and we might even drop points to Cuba over the home and away legs.

and pelting in de foreign based last minute not fixing that either.

[pardners]

Spideybuff, ah feeling wha yuh saying dread..

watch meh, it have nutten like sitting in the stadium watching de shit live and direct..

At half time, I actually tell dem men, "I feel allyuh desensitized yes, cause dis real bad!!". And all I studying is de $120, wait no ah come wit ppl $240 that ah spend to come in.

Ah wasn't seeing de positives and ah realize reading newspaper accounts does be ah misrepresentation.

Back page of the express today, "WARRIORS BLANK HAITI".

Imagine the sum total of our attacking in a home fixture is some long range free kick into the box which their keeper shoulda really come out and hold or punch.

Ah saying it now, if we dont improve and soon, we will get whitewash from USA (with ah 4-0 minimum in de mix), we will get licks away to Guatemala and at best a draw at home to them, and we might even drop points to Cuba over the home and away legs.

and pelting in de foreign based last minute not fixing that either.

I just glad men finally start to come around and see for deyself what really going on with this football dread.  I was almost tempted to break mih personal strike line and go to the game...ah guess the big shower that fall just before was the deciding factor.  For once I would not have minded the entrance fee since ah was getting 3 games for for the price....but the load of shit ah woulda have to carry home....

Andre Samuel ah hadda go with Touches on this one...again.  We celebrated against Sweden because we fought gallantly to earn the draw...we played to a defensive strategy against one of the top teams in the world at the time and didn't concede...that was what the celebration was about.  Sweden would have been let down.  My opinion is that we only grinding out results in spite of playing badly simply because is shit teams we playing against.  From the moment we come up against a quality side we will be exposed so badly....

[Brownsugar]

1.

Folks I wish we could look like Haiti….yes I said it.

2.

Boy Haiti are poor at defending set plays, especially when the ball is played behind the defense. We beat them right tru all night when Birchall swing in that ball, we won the header in the box everytime what we didnt do was attack the ball after the first header.

3.

I have seen Haiti play a few times over the  last couple of years, and finishing has always been a problem for dem. It seem as doh when dey reach near de 18yd line, dey does get tie up and eh sure what to do.

Touches, explain this nah? i up here in canada, so is a real rashomon experience trying to piece together what really happened. yuh saying that it would be better if this team were playing like a team that cyah finish and defend set plays?

Ribbit, from what I saw it is the positive aspects of their game that I wish we could look like....the passing, the cohesiveness, the sense of team, like is 11 men who know each other and accostmed to playing together.....if we could look like that at this stage it would be so nice...

[Brownsugar]

Spidey, I could not have said it better myself.....boy I eh know if to laugh or cry....*sigh*

[Brownsugar]

They now showing a clip of the game on Gayelle....the commentator say de Haitians playing dey live right next to the Marvin Lee Stadium....