Tough game with a negative result. The team tried their best to score and deal with the intensity of the game. However, it was tough as we only had 4 players available and no goalkeeper. The highlight of the game was when Zach got fouled and he got on his feet still trying to get the ball back, as well as the team pushing and being resilient despite the result.
The player of the match was Zach, this was due to the intensity with which he played and he showed the Bloomsbury value of positivity throughout the game. This was a huge help for the team.
Training did not have much impact as only couple of players attended. However, we are working every week to improve the players’ technical and tactical ability as well as developing their motor skills. We are focusing on passing and working together. The goal is to get the players using to using their teammates, and feeling like they are a part of the team.
Goals from Ahmed, Labren and Beau saw off a difficult opposition in this match. A very hard fought game, with players giving it their all for the entire length of the match, ensuring victory for the team.
The boys looked in control for most of the game, and were the better side on the day by a mile. Our second goal came from a fantastic build up play, involving almost all players on the pitch. Quick passing, working the ball out wide and then a lovely cross into the box for Labren to control and tap home to give us the lead again. Brilliant play!
The player of the match was goalkeeper Ian. A fantastic performance from him again, denying the opposition on many occasions, and distributing the ball well to keep our attacks flowing.
We have been working on playing through the thirds, and looking at our passing priorities. The team always looked to play forwards when possible, but were not afraid to play it sideways or backwards when needed, ensuring they kept possession before working the ball forward again. Going forward we need to take our chances a little better when they present themselves, and work on supporting the player with the ball a little better.
A tough fixture made easy. Heard rumours that LSS were unbeaten until they came up against the Might U9 Golds! All jokes aside a fantastic game with many chances and complete dominance. The only LSS chance came from a mistake.
This game was full of brilliant goals from Ezekial x2, Louis x2, Luca and Rocco. We were unstoppable! My favourite moment was when Oli nutmegged a player (on purpose) and smashed it down the wing to Ezekiel who had nice small touches to take it past 2 players and square it for Rocco (the goal machine).
My player of the match has to be Ezekiel this week! After missing last week, it was a worry for me how he would integrate back into the squad. However, he only made the team better with his positive touches into space and dangerous shooting ability. He could’ve scored a hat trick as well after taking it past the keeper and missing an open goal which we both laughed about.
Last week’s training was good for us as we learnt to be patient against teams when they sit off and boy did it work! The majority of our goals came from counter attacks and retaining which brings a massive smile to my face. This week it’s all about finishing and how, when put under pressure, can we stay composed and put it in the goal. Behaviour was an improvement but still some players are letting us down and they know who they are!
A tough battle all around, some quality passing and dribbling around the field but also some poor defending and positioning which is definitely something we need to work on. Some unbelievable goals from Charlie x 2 (free kick) and Ismail. When I saw Charlie step up for a free kick and whispered “no charlie doesn’t” and he smacked it in top bins! It was a wonder goal and made me chuckle. My player of the match is Maleek. To come up from dev team for this week and show determination and grit to want to win was fantastic. He was so respectful as well always helping players up and apologising when making mistakes which was brilliant to see.
Training focused on retaining the ball last week. Some players in the team didn’t understand which could’ve resulted in our poor positing but there are still so many weeks to improve. This weeks topic is finishing focusing on the short range finishes. This should be a fun topic for the boys as they’ve been non-stop getting onto me about doing a finishing topic.
A dominant performance from the gold team. Our best overall performance of the year. Very precise in all the small details in possession, such as creating triangles and resetting the attack when there are no forward options. Defensively very solid with Tommy having to make a few world class saves. Goal scorers: Laurence x3, Pax x1, Marco x1, Matty x1. Tough to pick as two moments stood out. Ayan’s beautiful cross field ball into Pax’s right foot who took it down expertly and then applied a cool finish to make it 3-0. But also Matty’s unbelievable long range strike. So very tough to pick from.
Laurence was our player of the match. Dominated the defending team with his pace and skill. Scored 3 goals from and had a great game overall. This we we worked on how to manipulate the ball and space in order to score/make opportunities. This worked well as we created goals from different avenues. We could have better communication at times as players were getting stuck in similar positions. But honestly really not picking here. Great performance.
This team are now playing some serious football and got the result that they fully deserved.
Having drawn against this team earlier in the season with fewer players – there was motivation to get the win. From the start of the game we dominated possession and were able to keep the ball well. Edgar coming into midfield from defence meant that, along with Kurt and Joao, we created several overloads. However, we weren’t able to get many shots at goal and couldn’t find that final pass. The breakthrough came with Deniro winning the ball from a goal kick, tapping the ball into the corner. This goal was fully deserved and it was soon doubled with Joao giving the ball to Edgar who cut in onto his left shot to place the ball into the bottom corner.
At half time we spoke about how we were using the ball, the importance of keeping a clean sheet and the hard work we had put into the the rest of the game. This talk didn’t translate onto the pitch – we started sloppily, not keeping possession well and struggling to deal with long balls from the back. This resulted in the opposition forcing Rex into a save, hitting the bar and then eventually scoring a deserved goal. This seemed to spur on the boys and a goal came – Deniro, on the right this time, cutting in and crossing for Yasser to tap in at the back post. The goal then relaxed the team and they started to play their football again, moving the opposition around and getting shots at goal with Joao and Kurt having shots saved. The pressure then paid off with Deniro cutting inside and arrowing a shot into the top corner.
Then came THE team goal. A Bloomsbury corner was cleared by Winchmore and they had a counter attack. We were outnumbered but Andi stood up the player, delayed him and made a brilliant tackle. A sensible ball was played into Kurt, who the played it to Joao. Joao switches it to Deniro, Deniro to Basti on the overlap. Basti first time cross. Santi tap in. INCREDIBLE GOAL. An outstanding all-round performance from the team who are now getting the results that their performances have deserved.
Santi’s goal, as mentioned above, was my highlight of the match. Football back to front with about 5 players involved in the move. Started from Andi’s tackle and finished with Santi’s tap in from Bastian’s cross.
Deniro Elleston was our player of the match. He is always pressing the ball and not giving the defenders time on the ball. His first goal came from this pressing to score from winning the ball from a goal kick.
In the second half, we managed to get another goal and assist to cap a wonderful performance. During training, we have worked on transitions both defensively and attacking. Attacking-wise we did this well – moving at speed and numbers. Defensively, we managed to close down the ball quickly when we lost it. However, we need to make sure we follow our runners rather then just ball watching. We need to make sure that we can play the correct pass in the right areas. We struggled with that in the first half but this changed in the second half and we started scoring more goals through picking the most effective pass.
After a frustrating 2-2 game last time, the team were motivated to put things right and get the win. This show of intent was immediately clear with Marlei taking the ball and arrowing the ball into the bottom corner! This was the perfect start and the early pressure showed with Santi bagging another goal early on to double the lead! However, this didn’t last as the opposition managed to get a rebound and tap into the goal. The boys could have let the goal affect them but they instead went again with both Marlei and Fallon grabbing two more excellent goals, Lachlan playing a key role in both, getting the assists.
At half-time, we spoke to the team their desire and work rate to keep pushing! We didn’t start the second half well and let the opposition score another goal. Again, the team were not overcome by the challenge, with Santi coming on to complete his hat trick with two brilliant finishes! The goal scoring wasn’t done there though with Fallon managing to tap home a deserved seventh! Another performance where the team demonstrated their skill and hard work makes for a very proud manager.
Marlei scoring an early goal was the moment where I saw the team were ready for the game and ready to work for the win. Santiago Caicedo was our player of the match. Santi scored an excellent hat trick, went in goal and made some saves to boot! An exemplary attitude as well! We worked on making sure that final pass was accurate and the correct choice. They did this really well and scored some great goals. We need to make sure that on defensive transitions we track our players rather than standing still or watching the play.
A high scoring game at Market Road with Miya scoring 4 goals, Mila scoring 3 goals and Ilva scoring 2. It is important to note that the opposition only had 5 players, however we ensured to played our football and played through the thirds effectively. The smiles and joy of the BFA players after the match was my highlight, it was a long awaited and deserved win.
Miya scoring 4 very good goals and her work rate through the match made for her winning player of the match. We worked on our first touches and constrained touches in matches to improve moving the ball quickly with 2/3 touch passing. We can use and exploit the wide areas to improve. During the match we worked it well in the middle which created space out wide which we will practice using more.
A tough game against a strong and tall opposition. A few chances but we couldn’t find the final ball to create a shooting opportunity. Lauren made a great save in the first half to keep us in the game. Ilva’s footwork and ability to dribble through players was my highlight of the match.
We are working on improving team cohesion led to the team being in good spirits despite a frustrating match. We need to work on using the wide areas, following from our match on Friday.
On the surface, a tightly fought loss to the league leaders with significant absentees isn’t the worst result in the world. But this feels like an opportunity lost. An opportunity to cause an upset; to send shockwaves through the WFL Red division. Unfortunately, it wasn’t to be. Having gone 1-0 up, it was disappointing to then concede two sloppy goals before half time. In the second half we battled but then eventually wilted, conceding three goals towards the end. Our bravery in the second half to play through their press was my highlight of the match. That’s the standard, lads, not aimlessly lumping the ball forwards when we have an incredibly small front-line!
Oli’s goal was excellent and he was unlucky to not have a few more despite not being at his best. Zak Dalvi was our player of the match. I was really impressed with how he rose to the occasion of playing in the Gold team. Zac worked tirelessly up and down the wing. He was rewarded for his excellent attitude in training. Keep up the work, sir.
Unfortunately, APY played mostly long-ball football befitting of Sean Dyche’s prime Burnley (some team, by the way). But we could have still been more on it with putting pressure on the ball. This, ensuring our game model is stuck to and not giving up at the first sign of struggle are key areas of improvement for us. We have to be building upon our learning in training, not bouncing from one topic to the next and forgetting what we’ve previously worked on.
Another close fought affair we’re frustrated not to have gotten the win. We started off strong, with Hackney wisely standing off our build up, evidently having previously scouted us. That being said, we were able to power through the opposition with a mixture of Zizou’s brute strength and Oli’s tenacity and guile. At the back, a nervy start by the Gold team new boy Chris was followed up by a player of the match display. Physically, Chris’s pure strength isn’t far off that of a man’s (I, myself, came up against this strength a couple weeks when I ill-advisedly asked him to demonstrate a shielding drill with me. Never again). That was in full view as he snuffed out attack after attack from Hackney. Composed on the ball and imposing off it – he looked well at place within the Gold team. After a rigorous disciplinary process saw Kez dropped for poor behaviour, he then came on to drop a top performance at full-back. Same level of application for playing CB please, fella.
However, it was from a high press that brought about our opener. Maxi – applying pressure on their right centre-back, curving his run to block off the pass to winger; Zinedine – covering the diagonal, trapping inside and winning back possession to force the turnover. Oli – being Oli and finishing off the move. Coach Milo was heard screaming on the sideline, ‘straight off the training ground!’ like a deranged man who’s marbles have been lost for some time. Anyway, credit to the lads for carrying out recent training on pressing high so well and for getting their rewards.
BFA continued to toil and largely control proceedings. Some excellent second half moves that should have finished off the tie were unfortunately unconverted, including a fantastic Maxi double movement perfectly timed for a straight pass, diagonal run set him through on goal, after which he rounded the keeper, squared it to Elijah who left his left foot at home. We hit the bar, missed 1v1s, but ultimately have ourselves to blame for not finishing the game off. Hackney came back into the game after their devilish left-winger sliced our defence in half and were unlucky not to win the game after a terrific save by Filipe onto the post right at the end.
Good performance lads, but we have to be clinical in the final third if we want to see off these games. Furthermore, we have to look to go through the thirds by supporting our offensive players ahead-of-the-ball. Support play and conflict could all improve. Lastly, knowing how to vary tempo: creeping forward and baiting pressure if opposition are sitting off, dynamically and rapidly forming triangles if the opposition are pressing high – being faster with build up.
It was a cold and rainy morning in the Girls Super League on Sunday and we knew it was going to be a tough game against top of the league MLS. Although the score line ended 7-0 to MLS, Bloomsbury rallied together and kept on attacking and tried our best all the way until the end. Ella and Jet had some great chances at the end of the game but it just wasn’t our day. Our passes weren’t going to feet and we kept diving in in the first half. Once we sorted these elements out the second half was a lot better but the rain and cold was definitely affecting our play. We will use our Thursday nights under the lights to prepare better for these sorts of conditions.
Annabel had to step out of defence to play central mid and work really hard. Kitty also stepped back into defence, blocking many of their shots. Esther as ever stopped a lot of their shots in the first half and marked very well on corners. Remai took a ball to the face early on but shook it off and was still keen to play her part and go in goal too, amazing attitude! Ela showed great tactical awareness and was able to give me feedback on the game once she came off. Good maturity! Captain O’Miya didn’t complain about going in goal and worked hard outfield the whole match to then do the last stint in goal.
Player of the match was Ella for incredible work rate on the wing. It is something that she has been working on and it really showed in this game how she is really doing well at tracking back and still starting attacks too. We worked on defending body position which showed in the second half. We will work on controlling the ball in the air so we are ready for those long high balls especially in 9v9.
Sunday afternoon kick off in Wembley for the U13 Golds, needing a win to stay top of the league and to continue our winning streak which now stands at 9 games in a row. Our confidence is sky high right now and it showed early on in this game with some great football being played. Combining to get in behind a few times in the first 5 minutes. Rupert took a short corner to Freddie, proceeds to overlap him. Freddie then set it for Rupert and a superb one time finish into the top corner puts Bloomsbury 1-0 up. Chances go astray for Bloomsbury and Maccabi get a free kick 30 yards out. They had a lot of height, using this to their advantage by lumping the ball into the box and fumbling the ball into the back of the net to equalise.
Rupert, the menacing winger, continued to cause problems down the left and created Philip’s first goal of the game crossing for him to have a easy finish at the back post. Our pressure continued to show when Philip threatened the defence and got a toe to the ball before the sliding defender to win a penalty. Philip bravely steps up to take and sends the keeper the wrong way to put Bloomsbury 3-1 up at half time.
The second half starts and we continue to win the ball in the opposition half, creating numerous opportunities but finding it hard to put them away. Our inability to take our chances comes back to haunt us, as Maccabi wins a corner and again, uses their height and power to force the ball into the net at the near post. Thankfully, a minute later, Rupert again causes the opposition trouble down the left wing and crosses to the back post for Philip to finish with his head. We could have and should have extended our lead by 4 or 8 goals but we were not clinical enough. Either way the boys played a great game and got the job done to a very good standard.
My highlight, despite 4 goals, was back to back defensive moments when the score was 4-2. Troy Selene made an incredible goal saving block in the 6 yard box, sliding across to block a shot destined for the back of the net. Following that, Luke Bahia made an incredible slide tackle stopping a superb run by the opposition winger nearly through on goal. Rupert Robinson was our player of the match. 1 great goal and 2, just as good – if not better, assists. A constant threat to the opposition. Morale was high from training. The boys enjoyed it and that showed going into the game. Still, we need to be more CLINICAL!
Our performance in the first half was exceptional, but unfortunately we missed a lot of chances and the opposition took advantage of the situation, scoring 2 goals to put us behind 2-0 in half time. In the second half our performance dropped and and the opposition scored 4 more goals as we lost our confidence completely. In the last 10 minutes the team found its tempo and we managed to score 2 goals. The first one was scored by Jasper and the second one from Elliot.
My favourite moment would be after the match all the players kept their heads up and their attitude,. They know they can win against anyone if we play with the right attitude. Jasper is the player of the match from our team. He played in 3 different positions (LB, CDM, CM) and performed exceptionally well in all 3. We had chances, we had a good attitude, and in general it was a positive impact. To improve we can focus on our finishing, our communication and our mistakes.
Heartbreak once again on a cold, icy and slippery night at Market Road. Our U14s this year have been connecting well all season but we have hit a bumpy spell. Although we dominated we just couldn’t find the back of the net today and we were punished in the dying seconds of the game, ending in 1-0 defeat. Coaches player of the match was Janet for stepping up to go in goal the first half, excellent defensive interventions and starting attacks from midfield. Gabby also used the slippery pitch to her advantage making some amazing sliding tackles.
Muzique took on board Beth’s coaching tips during the game and put them straight into practice. O’Miya played in a new role in midfield and dominated defensively. Kayla, Laura and Marwa were linking up well and were unlucky not to score in some great build up play. Shola as always blocked some powerful shots and started some attacking moves from goal. Tara hit the bar a couple minutes before they scored with a powerful left foot strike, a great piece of play but so demoralising when it missed! It just wasn’t our day.
We have have been working on defending technique/defending the thirds and we certainly are getting better at not diving in. Next time we need to take our chances and know when to come forward more before shooting.
It was a tough game especially with 10 players and having 9 for the last 20 minutes. We scored two goals in 25 minutes, kept possession well and moved it around. We really kept fighting and tried our best. If we had a full squad available the game would have been different. With the adversity we faced we played really well. This team beat us 10-1 in the reverse fixture. With that in mind it has been a massive improvement. This team has been improving slowly but surely during the season.
Daniel Afsharpour was our player of the match. Despite being two players down for a large portion of the game, Daniel never stopped working. We worked on possession and keeping the ball in training this week. We did this really well and added some really good through balls. We can improve in showing up to training and coming to matches when selected.
We faced off Friday evening against Clissold Rangers, both teams set up in a 2-3-1 formation and seemed to be cancelling each other out. Midway into the first half Bilal pounces on a loose ball from the defender,. He tees up Oscar who drags his shot just wide. Clissold Rangers are constantly going long, but we are coping with it well. They have a throw in our half, and the defender launches it into the box. Willem wins the header but it drops to their striker, who shoots but just blocked in time by Willem. A couple of minutes to go until the first half ends, Oscar wins the ball in midfield, he drives forward and passes to Bilal who’s free. Bilal slots bottom corner to make it 1-0BFA!! We go in at halftime with a lead!!
We start the second half brightly, keeping the ball well and working as a unit. Midway through the second half we get a corner. Its taken quickly along the floor by Markus, he finds Lamin who smashes home from close range. 3-0BFA!!! In the last 5 mins, Lamin picks up a loose ball in midfield, drives forward and finishes. The highlight of the game. 4-0 BFA!! 2 mins left on the clock, Bilal wins the ball in midfield, gives it to Lamin, who returns to Bilal. Bilal beats the defender and slots home!! 5-0 BFA!! It’s a good win at Market road. Up the blooms!!!!
Oscar was our player of the match. He controlled the midfield and was a threat in the opponents box as well. We worked on combinations and they played out during the game. I say this every week but we need to be more clinical in front of goal.
Following on from our previous victory against a strong Fusion outfit, BFA were keen to prove their superiority once more. The early exchanges saw BFA soak up the pressure applied by Fusion before beginning to dominate possession with some fast, fluid movement off the ball, leading to some good combination play. Although at times the final pass let us down. Heading into the half time interval locked level at 0-0, we were confident that our football would yield the result we deserved. Our pressure finally told just minutes into the second half as Cosmas smashed home inside a crowded box to put BFA in front. A second soon followed as Luke pounced on a through ball, beating the goalkeeper to it with his pace and bravery, slotting home for 2-0. With minutes left in the game, we rang some changes before conceding a late free kick which proved to be nothing more than a mere consolation in the end for Fusion as BFA saw the game out comfortably in the end.
The unity the team showed in all celebrating Luke’s goal together in the corner was my highlight of the match. Luke was our player of the match. His hold up play as a striker was key in our build up. Won the physical duel against his opposite number with ease. His link up play was superb and rounded off a solid performance with a well deserved goal!
Very few players at training as we are walking wounded at the moment. Still we managed to focus on some attacking play, shooting and 1v1 scenarios, despite the brutal weather! Big games coming up as we look to focus on capitalising on our goal scoring opportunities, being able to create more frequently, with calmness and control in the final third of the pitch.
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