Tappa's coaching style and yesterday's practice.

[Jawge]

Erm Mo have mr.Cole ever gone
up against Brasil's senior men's team of his time? Just curious.

[Exile]

Ha...you may be happy now..but Tappa has to prove himself as a COACH now, not a player...coaching lesser mortals than himself.

[Exile]

Some of the basics missing included clean trapping of the ball, poor first touch and accurate passing while under no pressure at all i.e. with time and space.
Defensively, we seem to get caught standing or "ball watching" quite a lot as well...although at times they closed down the play pretty fast. A lot of slide tackling too. The poor outfield didn't help at all...maybe that's why players started to resort to air passing.

[Mosiah]

Jawge, I think if Skill Cole was out there it would be an imprudent move to rush him too.

And some did rush Tappa, and win the ball too, so don't get carried away. Yes, Khari is probably out for a couple weeks after Tappa shifted him yesterday, but...

[Mosiah]

They made some serious effort, esp. in the 2nd half I thought, to play some 2-touch football last night.

And I agree. The excessive dribbling the other day was...excessive! If it was done to nice up the place as we get back on track with Burrell, then perhaps it worked.

[Mosiah]

If I said Tappa spent the evening tobogganning down the cycling velodrome you would have found the good in that.

You have some unusual talents!

[Karl]

Hope when they get TESTED they can perform. Thought our players were holding the ball just a little too much,in fact a lot too much vs El Sal. as if they were trying to impress their girlfriends in the stand or Tappa. The play was just lacking in BASIC footballing.

If I am understanding you correctly - I would say the basics were there...but, your point of dwelling on the ball too often too long is dead on!

...the other thing was some times during the game some players 'paused' on supporting - moving and supporting. Loss focus or lost focus...intermittently?

[Jawge]

I think it was Tappa; remember
Tappa plays like a Brasilian and passes alot.

[Jawge]

Mo if Brasilians from the senior
men's team won't go rushing in on Tappa, do you expect these young ones to? Unnuh nuh sreiously realize how good Tappa is it seems. He is the BEST OUT OF JA TO DATE, MAN IS A GENIUS.

[Exile]

Hope when they get TESTED they can perform. Thought our players were holding the ball just a little too much,in fact a lot too much vs El Sal. as if they were trying to impress their girlfriends in the stand or Tappa. The play was just lacking in BASIC footballing.

[Karl]

Thank you!

Styles of teaching differ.
...and, we all know that Tappa has the weapons to demonstrate a great many, many good things!

[Mosiah]

Well, I saw 1 1/2 practice sessions recently. Tappa scrimmaged with the 2nd team yesterday. The day before they split up into smaller groups using a smaller field. Tappa directed traffic as he played. Yesterday, Bradley Stewart was the one shouting corrections to the players and making subsitutions.

The players got on very well with both coaches. Tappa high-fived the players and joked around. It seems like he was under no danger of the players losing their respect for him. And the respect was there when he had the ball. It was not wise to go rushing in when Tappa had the ball.

The only time you may realise that Tappa was a coach and not a player was when he huddled with Bradley from time to time.

The scrimmage itself was impressive. I have been to other practice sessions where some poor football is played. Yesterday scrimmage was tight - good ball movement for the most part, and decent shooting from some. Crosses still sucked generally, I thought, with Chris Walker being the main culprit there.

Shelton had his way with Kerr in goal, but Kerr did not look particularly convincing. Ricketts, on the other hand, did not have much to do. Shelton is faster in real life!

The rivalry and competition between players was healthy. Shelton battled Oneil Thompson on many occasions. I think Bigga proved tough to beat, even if he had to resort to some illegalities. Austin is a terrier and a terror in midfield and protected the ball well, even while looking careless.

Fuller opened the scoring against Kerr but hesitated on other occasions. Just not a real goalscorer for me. Try him at midfield or not at all is my view. Great ball handling skills, but we know that.

And I heard again that he and Shelton are not friends. I don't have a problem with that but it should not be demonstrated on the field. Sadly, that might be the case.

Pepe? He held his own. Did not appear particular slow as some would expect. Marshall was strong in the air and firm on the ground.

Generally, the players looked fit and ready.

By the way, Demar Stewart is a Mack Truck. I wouldn't tackle him any time soon. The other Demar is a handful of energy.

I get the feeling that the players will play their hearts out for Tappa. Let's see what happens later.