Meath Forum

Meath V Down

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For this game it was very much a case of take your goals and your points will follow...

bert09 (Meath) - Posts: 1790 - 26/03/2018 14:58:33    2088317

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Replying To Jinxie:  "Spot on fella.

If we were to win anything with this team it would seriously unsettle a handful of Meath "supporters"."
I have been saying that for the last number of years. Good to get the wed and hopefully we can follow it up in six days time against Louth. Take nothing for granted.

MeathWawa (Meath) - Posts: 61 - 26/03/2018 15:46:09    2088343

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Replying To Meath_True:  "You should have gone to the said game to come up with those statements . If there's space in front of you , you generally move into it . The support players should get there to help out . Its normally lead by the person on the ball with support coming from the L or R , yesterday Meath broke out of defence and then stalled the horses on numerous occasions ( putting a large number of hand passes together to go backwards is maddening , and most definitely not progressive , and things got slowed down allowing the Down defence to get back and defend . Stalling the horses on the oppositions 20 M line is totally different to doing it on their 45M line . Which is what we've done on a number of occasions . Meath scored / created the 4 goals by penetrating runs , not by the lateral movement that a lot of Meath supporters have now gotten to abhor."
Actually the goals came from long ball into FF Line or moving the ball around until a gap opened up.

If you watch the top teams you will see how they deal with packed defense or ask to have it explained to you,

Dublin consistently play lateral balls across and back with patience and confidence until the opportunity comes off. The few Meath Players who are forward thinking enough to do likewise are subject to criticism by followers who do not understand how the game is played in the 21st century. If you don't like how the game was allowed develop as I don't blame the rulemakers not the players.

Meath True get the game explained to you and then comment, Would sound better.

Ashrules (Dublin) - Posts: 518 - 26/03/2018 15:58:18    2088347

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Replying To Ashrules:  "Actually the goals came from long ball into FF Line or moving the ball around until a gap opened up.

If you watch the top teams you will see how they deal with packed defense or ask to have it explained to you,

Dublin consistently play lateral balls across and back with patience and confidence until the opportunity comes off. The few Meath Players who are forward thinking enough to do likewise are subject to criticism by followers who do not understand how the game is played in the 21st century. If you don't like how the game was allowed develop as I don't blame the rulemakers not the players.

Meath True get the game explained to you and then comment, Would sound better."
Ashbornules,

you have a very simplistic way of looking at things , a long ball in your mind is not a direct ball , and a penetrating run where the guy is taken down going in on goals is not a penetrating run . will you ever go back to Harold's cross and learn the difference . this is not soccer , playing the ball laterally in defence is exactly that , it's in defence defending . In attack it's a different act , its allowing the opposition defence to organising themselves, to build layers . What's the point in having a F1 car if you impose a 40Km an hour speed limit on it when you get on the motorway .
You may be right , maybe the system is to break out of defence , catch the opposition off guard with their britches down , start to play laterally , thus allowing the opposition to get their britches up , and continue to that till they get a belt on themselves as well .

Somehow , I don't think that Dublin wait till the opposition defence re-organise themselves before they tear in for a score after breaking out . And I don't think that that is a plan .
I believe that there is indecision , and hesitancy in our attack . That we are not quick enough to get up and support the guy on the ball and that's why EW was slowing everything down when he got possession .Then again , I was at the game , what would I know...... Seeing is believing

Meath_True (Meath) - Posts: 285 - 26/03/2018 16:12:10    2088351

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Replying To Meath_True:  "You should have gone to the said game to come up with those statements . If there's space in front of you , you generally move into it . The support players should get there to help out . Its normally lead by the person on the ball with support coming from the L or R , yesterday Meath broke out of defence and then stalled the horses on numerous occasions ( putting a large number of hand passes together to go backwards is maddening , and most definitely not progressive , and things got slowed down allowing the Down defence to get back and defend . Stalling the horses on the oppositions 20 M line is totally different to doing it on their 45M line . Which is what we've done on a number of occasions . Meath scored / created the 4 goals by penetrating runs , not by the lateral movement that a lot of Meath supporters have now gotten to abhor."
I actually like the technical aspect of the lateral passing. The hoof it up in hope game is dead. And by trying to keep to it has done Meath untold damage at every level. Let's remember that for two of the goals there was passing back prior to delivery of ball. This is the way we have to go to get somewhat of a success.

royaldunne (Meath) - Posts: 19449 - 26/03/2018 17:18:14    2088388

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Replying To MeathWawa:  "I have been saying that for the last number of years. Good to get the wed and hopefully we can follow it up in six days time against Louth. Take nothing for granted."
Me too

royaldunne (Meath) - Posts: 19449 - 26/03/2018 17:36:09    2088397

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Replying To Jinxie:  "Spot on fella.

If we were to win anything with this team it would seriously unsettle a handful of Meath "supporters"."
Ah I think thats unfair. I do not agree with everything everybody says here but I think we all want the team to do well. I have no problem with someone who might think that yesterdays performance may be more to do the level of opposition we were facing than any great turnaround in our ability and likewise I have no problem if someone goes away from the game yesterday feeling that things are looking up. Each in their own way still wants Meath to succeed.

I went away from the qualifier game last year with Donegal disappointed we lost but reasonably happy with the performance. Yes we made mistakes but I thought that generally they tried their best and I could see we were making some progress yet Donegal had some class players that got them across the line.

I probably had to re- evaluate that somewhat when Galway destroyed Donegal in the next match and in truth looking back at the game it was obvious that Donegal were no great shakes.

So everybody sees things differently but we all want Meath back in the top 8/10 counties and being able to compete against the best teams

ROYALOPTIMIST (Meath) - Posts: 179 - 26/03/2018 18:39:35    2088427

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Replying To srgt_slaughter:  "i must be the only one who didn't think it was a good performance yes they played well at times during it but its still to negative at one point we had 15 men inside our half, eamon wallace are quickest player seem to be playing more defensively which is ludicrous. midfield is a problem, but the big problem that i took away from sunday is our speed of transition way to slow at this level. there was times we did make breaks up the field but had no options as we sat back to much. if we had kept at least two up top instead of funnelling men back we could have one by more. just my opimion but its not good football to watch"
To quote micky Harte , if the opposition doesn't have the ball they can't score.

royaldunne (Meath) - Posts: 19449 - 26/03/2018 19:30:05    2088440

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Replying To Ashrules: Playing lateral balls across and back with patience did not work very well for ye against Monaghan.

browncows (Meath) - Posts: 2342 - 26/03/2018 19:53:54    2088452

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When did Meath last score 4 goals?

bert09 (Meath) - Posts: 1790 - 26/03/2018 20:05:16    2088457

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Replying To royaldunne:  "To quote micky Harte , if the opposition doesn't have the ball they can't score."
Why should we listen to what Micky Harte says? Why can't Meath have their own brand of football instead of mimicking teams who play defensive football which very rarely wins anything anyways!

Westtip (Meath) - Posts: 24 - 26/03/2018 23:09:55    2088540

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Replying To Westtip:  "Why should we listen to what Micky Harte says? Why can't Meath have their own brand of football instead of mimicking teams who play defensive football which very rarely wins anything anyways!"
Tyrone donegal Dublin Kerry all have defensive systems. What has hoof it high won for any county this century? I believe we must have a modern approach to the game. Look what happened last time we went man to man with Dublin. Football has changed, for better or worse, we have to change too.

royaldunne (Meath) - Posts: 19449 - 27/03/2018 07:11:17    2088573

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Replying To royaldunne:  "Tyrone donegal Dublin Kerry all have defensive systems. What has hoof it high won for any county this century? I believe we must have a modern approach to the game. Look what happened last time we went man to man with Dublin. Football has changed, for better or worse, we have to change too."
In fairness every county team in Ireland, including Meath, have defensive systems in place. However, we have struggled to properly execute ours so far but it's a work in progress hopefully.

RoylerKing (Meath) - Posts: 809 - 27/03/2018 10:31:08    2088610

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Our system like a lot of teams relies on us getting off to a good start, we really struggle when we go a few points behind (Roscommon aside) When we get a bit of a lead we actually look half decent. sitting in, and hitting teams on the break following a turnover, when we do it at pace, we are quite effective. the problem is when it is not done at pace we are quite poor in possession and take a lot of bad options, a lot of hand passes go astray and we find ourselves turned over far to easily, But on Sunday, lads seemed to get it.... players were quite confortable in their positions and seemed to understand what was expected.

longroadback (Meath) - Posts: 324 - 27/03/2018 11:15:47    2088633

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Replying To royaldunne:  "Tyrone donegal Dublin Kerry all have defensive systems. What has hoof it high won for any county this century? I believe we must have a modern approach to the game. Look what happened last time we went man to man with Dublin. Football has changed, for better or worse, we have to change too."
i dont think anyone is advocating just hoofing it the first goal came from a long diagnal ball. defensive systems are great but its breaking and transition that needs to be worked on you need an out ball when you break. im not saying a big target man but some sort of outball that can relief pressure, personally dont see the point in breaking quick to midfield and then having to turn back giving the opposition time to reset there defence

srgt_slaughter (Meath) - Posts: 462 - 27/03/2018 13:25:38    2088692

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Replying To longroadback:  "Our system like a lot of teams relies on us getting off to a good start, we really struggle when we go a few points behind (Roscommon aside) When we get a bit of a lead we actually look half decent. sitting in, and hitting teams on the break following a turnover, when we do it at pace, we are quite effective. the problem is when it is not done at pace we are quite poor in possession and take a lot of bad options, a lot of hand passes go astray and we find ourselves turned over far to easily, But on Sunday, lads seemed to get it.... players were quite confortable in their positions and seemed to understand what was expected."
This is exactly it. When we click we are quite a good side, with good speed in transition from defence into attack, in order for that to work we need a have a lead and not be chasing the game. The Down defence was quite slack and left lots of holes, they didn't have much of a choice they had to case the game thanks to our hot start.

While no one enjoys defensive football to complain about holding onto a sizable lead in an absolute must win game is madness. This team has a long and extremely distinguished history of blowing leads like this. If playing defensively prevents another collapse ala Roscommon etc etc etc bring it on!

pauk123 (USA) - Posts: 189 - 27/03/2018 14:05:15    2088716

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Replying To bert09:  "When did Meath last score 4 goals?"
Against Carlow in 2014 when we scored 7 in total?

ISupposeSoSheehan (Meath) - Posts: 86 - 27/03/2018 14:15:12    2088723

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I think its import to remember who we were playing on Sunday, at the end of the day we have beaten Down, not any of the big team and ultimately the preformance from my own perspective was not at the required level although it was a major improvement. This one game does not paper over any of the crack which we have.

1. No midfield
2. Half Forwards - while they are ok going forward when on front foot, they do not work hard enough nor are the scrappy enough to win dirty ball, also none with the ability to control a game and make good decision under pressure.
3. Primary forward - we do not have a marquee forward who any team will fear. Biggy is the closest we have but teams know they can take him out of the game very easily.
4. Workrate - I dont believe as a team that the work rate is high enough, too many lads do not empty the tank when on the pitch

juicy (Meath) - Posts: 399 - 27/03/2018 14:21:27    2088727

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Replying To MillerX:  "I agree some supporters shouting "kick it in" with nobody inside makes you wonder have some people a clue at all. Not clued in to the modern game. I suppose we are trying to copy the Donegals and the Tyrones of the past 10 years but with a bit of fine tuning to do? And not having somebody up front needs to be addressed or perhaps we could do with maybe developing a new type of game to suit the players we have. You know most ot the media referred to Sean Boylan's approach as typical 'catch and kick' and never really understood that team's game plan!! I remember one day in Croke Park when we were given a free about the middle of the field, Liam Hayes carefully placed the ball and Liam Harlan ran up and off the ground delivered a kick on to Bernard Flynn's chest and a lad beside me, from another county said "Ja..s that Harnan is even too thick to place the ball...just f...ng boots it" next thing Bernie had the ball over the bar....no point in trying to explain anything to a lad like that. It was also not noted that then we always had a good big fielder in every line so the option for a quick ball and thereby vary our approach was always there and even to this day can counteract the blanket defence.

If we could address midfield, get a typical old style No 6 who would hold the centre and a good strong targetmam we would be on the road to recovery. Ideally that target man would be in the mound of Colm O'Rourke or Graham Geraghty. Now I know they don't grow on trees but somebody in that mound is required.

The dream lives on but we must win the battle of the Boyne mk2018 first."
Just on this comment
"get a typical old style No 6 who would hold the centre"
I agree with you are weak in the middle and we do need a someone to hold the middle. But this is something I taught about. And with modern defenses is this role not resigned to history ? As its not normally just one on one anymore. and you hit the man a shoulder. They attack in waves now so one man holding his position is not much use. Also defenses tend to retreat deep in towards there own goals way beyond where they half back would typically hold there position.
Its more collective defense rather than. one man holding the middle. Anyway that's my take on it.

bobkarlgees (Meath) - Posts: 1263 - 27/03/2018 14:37:10    2088738

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Replying To juicy:  "I think its import to remember who we were playing on Sunday, at the end of the day we have beaten Down, not any of the big team and ultimately the preformance from my own perspective was not at the required level although it was a major improvement. This one game does not paper over any of the crack which we have.

1. No midfield
2. Half Forwards - while they are ok going forward when on front foot, they do not work hard enough nor are the scrappy enough to win dirty ball, also none with the ability to control a game and make good decision under pressure.
3. Primary forward - we do not have a marquee forward who any team will fear. Biggy is the closest we have but teams know they can take him out of the game very easily.
4. Workrate - I dont believe as a team that the work rate is high enough, too many lads do not empty the tank when on the pitch"
Even if we do have cracks, we will beat an awful Louth on Saturday who have not won a single game yet. Its going to be a fairly dirty game as per, the 2 Cilles men are guaranteed to be targeted from throw in. To say Biggy will be taken out of the game very easily is untrue, he will be a marked man but he wont go down that easy. I dont believe we just have to turn up to win because everyone knows Louth will make sure this is going to be the best game they have played and will do what they can to prevent us from winning it. But we will win it.

Loyalroyal17 (Meath) - Posts: 627 - 27/03/2018 16:05:02    2088782

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