Director of Football Jez George reviews CRC's 2010 pre-season.
It only seems like yesterday that we were returning from France having retained the trophy we won in Dourges the previous year to mark the end of the season.Unbelievably, we have now almost completed our preparation for the forthcoming campaign and are ready to get back to competitive football.Most pre-season friendlies are a means to an end and no real indication of what is to follow.It is a case of getting the players fit, organised and in our case, giving another fresh faced intake of scholars their first few tentative steps into the real world.The schedule can be broken down almost in half.The first two weeks is almost purely concerned with getting a base level of fitness into the players by prescribing the right amount of work at the right time.Just as importantly, the players need to understand the necessity to live right, eat right, rehydrate properly and do everything to aid their recovery from intense activity.They are given all the tools - skins, ice baths - all the right advice - regarding diet, nutrition, rest - but ultimately it is their choice.The ones who are professional to the nth degree will get fit and be motivated by striving for the one per cent gains that when added together will make a difference.The others won't or worse still will get injured by not looking after themselves properly.
Once the hard physical work is completed, we can start to concentrate more on the technical and tactical aspect of the game.That said, Nolan works the players hard with a ball so most of their fitness sessions will be done in match specific situations.Once the games start, the emphasis shifts to the team shape, pattern of play and the individual and collective responsibilities of each player in possession, out of possession, in transition and at defensive and attacking set plays.To this end, we spent a week in Lievin, a training camp in Northern France, before returning to face Crewe Alexandra on the Friday evening.We played some really good football in the first 70 minutes of this fixture, creating the better chances in the first half and more than matching opponents that play the likes of Liverpool, Everton & Manchester City each week.In fact their previous pre-season game had been away at Manchester United! It is interesting talking to their staff as there is a healthy respect between both youth schemes and we each yearn for a bit more of what the other club enjoys.For example, we would love more fixtures against technically and tactically able opponents that Crewe face in their academy league whilst they see the massive benefit of how we develop our scholars in senior football and would love their lads to experience this more physically and mentally demanding environment.
Since Crewe we have experienced the good, the bad and the ugly.We were hugely disappointed by our lifeless display at Kings Lynn, which was a timely reminder that success only ever comes before work in the dictionary.We didn't show any of the qualities required to win a football match and got exactly what we deserved - a good hiding.Against Cambridge City we showed what potential we have in our group of young players.They applied themselves properly, played some excellent football and showed fantastic spirit, character and discipline to recover from a two goal deficit at half time to draw 3-3.Apart from the GK, we started with an Under 20 team and with the pre-planned withdrawal of Adam Marriott and Sam Ives at the interval, we were even younger with five Under 18's.To perform so well against a team two leagues higher in the pyramid to our youngsters was very pleasing.The next night was worse than Kings Lynn as the young players who did not feature against Cambridge City lost to their equally young reserve team.Everything we showed 24 hours earlier was absent and showed a worryingly large gap in performance levels from CRC's first XI and the rest.It is something these players must address quickly.
Our final match saw us narrowly beat Godmanchester Rovers thanks to two excellent finishes by JP but we played enough good football to be satisfied by the performance.We need to be more clinical in the final third to convert good situations into chances and chances into goals but apart from an ankle ligament injury sustained by Luke Allen, we have a clean bill of health going into the season.I hope to see some of you for at least one of our three home fixtures this week…
Talking of which, I would like to add my own congratulationss to Mick and Ian for their achievement of winning the Groundsman of the Year award. Not only do they have to operate on limited resources but I'm sure there are not many other pitches in the Conference that hosts more than 50 games a season. Considering the severity of the winter last year, Ian and Mick performed absolute miracles to get so many games on and win this award.
CRC face Woodbridge Town on Saturday 7 August, 3pm kick off. Tickets are £5 for adults £2 for concessions.
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