My take on the game last night:
In the first half, T&T was effectively passing the ball, and finding the open man. We were moving the ball, controlling the tempo, with fellas playing into the space, and moving to attack (though unsuccessful) when the opportunity presented itself. T&T played a 'team football' and seemed to play to the 'flow' of the game, instead of trying to force the action and chasing the game. Except for the poor defensive clearance, the focus on defense was pretty admirable, with pressure being applied to the opposition --- although much improvement is still needed. In the first half, the defense also contributed to the attack by distributing the ball with short passes to the open man to alleviate pressure from the opposition attackers. This was a far cry from the amateurish defensive long-boot we always utilized, which in the past would effectively give the ball back to the opposition, and thus allow for constant counter-attacks on our goal. The 1st half, our defense played with cool heads (until the 43rd minute), tackling, marking, retrieving the ball, and distributing it from defense and working the ball forward into attack with short passes.
In the 2nd half, everything broke down. Our ball movement and passing became almost nil. Fellas all of a sudden decided to play one-on-one football, instead of the team game that was evident in the 1st half. The small-ball passing-into-the-space ceased, and the silly over-dribbling took over. The 2nd half was a return to our 'Hero-Ball' mentality; Our defensive pressure also ceased, and we ceased 'working' the ball from defense. We fell into past bad habits of trying to force the play, and we paid the price.
I'm not sure if it was a mental thing or what. The team don't yet seem to have an 'identity' as per what defines its game. From what I see, Hart is rightfully attempting to instill a 'total football' style of play with the team, but probably with the lack of practice time and friendlies, everyone on the team are not always on the same page --- or they not always on the same page for long. IMHO if T&T played the same game they played in the 1st half, we would have had a higher probability of seeing a better result --- of course nothing is guaranteed, but I am hoping that we do not fall into the trap of throwing-out-the-baby-with-the-bathwater.
There were some good things from last night's game, but those positives could only really be found in the 1st half.