"Vi vogliamo così." Serpiolle 0-3 IUE

Monday 15th October, 2007. Scorers: Irial, Dave H, David BS.

"Vi vogliamo così" is what our fans would have been singing at the end of last night's game in Sesto against Serpiolle, after we dominated the whole game, playing excellent simple and organised football. We didn't have any fans though, except Leo's dad, who came to meet us in the changing room after the game. A simple and deserved 3-0 win is the kind of result I have been pining after for over a year. Here it is at last. Ci voglio così.

Nothing involving la squadra fantastica can pass off without a little drama, however, and even not being on the pitch didn't stop Markie Jones almost starting riot after a Serpiolle players broke his own leg colliding with one of his teammates as the simultaneously attempted to crock Davie Horan. At this point we were 2-0 up, but a near-20 minute wait for an ambulance could have knocked us off guard after our fantastic start. Not a bit of it. We stayed collected and calm, saw out the half, and the second period was played at a pace that was a couple of gears below what we were doing in the first 40 minutes, not that that stopped David getting a debut goal at the death to give us a deserved winning margin, all this on a horrendous pitch, that looks like one of those 300 grand astro efforts but is actually some dodgy mafioso scam where they just laid concrete, put their Nan's carpet over the top, paint it green and sprinkle some rubber bits on in. How are everyone's knees and ankles today? Mine: very bad.

After Leo and Jaime's hints of brilliance in the opener there were full debuts for them, at left midfield and seconda punta respectively. Luis came in to the middle for his first game of the season, with Davie Horan next to him. We started off simply but brilliantly, doing exactly the things I had been saying in the changing room - flat back four, high line, keeping the ball moving, hitting the wingers from the back and from midfield - using the very wide pitch, and lots of movement from the strikers to disrupt their three man central defence. Strangely the one part of the team that didn't click, at least going while we were on the ball was the central midfield partnership, which should be the hub of everything we do. It didn't matter as we looked dangerous from the off, and secure at the back. We varied our attacking play with a mix of short passing, dribbling and crosses, leaving them nervous and on the back foot. When the EUI get a free kick thirty yards out, the Mason-Glynn combination has always served us well. I loop in it in from the left to the on-coming Irial. Goal. Irial washes the kit.

We continue to play well and look like getting another goal. It comes from a corner on the left, which I whip in the the edge of the six yard box, blocked header, comes to Davie Horan who controls it and whacks it into the back of the net. Cruising. Playing well. Leo gets called offside when he was through on goal and five yards (literally) onside. Davie Horan outpaces a defender and goes one on one with the keeper who stands up and makes a good save. Serpiolle player tries to break Davie's leg (as revenge for a supposed 'foul' by Leo), and breaks his own. I don't really want to comment further about this.

20 minutes waiting for an ambulance. We keep our cool while getting cold. We carry on where we left off. Luis plays a brilliant ball to the back post where I stretch to reach it 10 yards out but it goes over the bar. Should have scored.

A positive team-talk and positive mood at half time. Excellent play, but still room for improvement. The excellent Leo and Jaime are replaced by Mate and Norberto. Nate comes on for me after a while, and manages to get into another fight. Don't ask me, and Sebastian comes on for Luis and David for Irial, and we eventually wake up from our slumber to create a few chances in the last twenty minutes, instead of just going through the motions (don't get me wrong, going through the motions is something we should be doing every week after we have secured the win). Mate bursts down the inside left channel and dinks the ball over the keeper. Just wide. Mark comes on for Dom, and his first meaningful contribution is a wicked cross from deep that almost leads to a goal. Nate puts in a similar one from the right, after avoid another attempted leg break. Sebastian heads down and David gets a debut goal. I think a lot of us believed their complaints about offside. Couldn't have been: the man who went across to block Nate's cross (who had been on David) was still on the goals line near the corner flag. We passed it around quite well for the dying seconds, in particular Sebastian, who gave us the continuity we needed in our short passing game. Horan decided to hang out by the touchline quite a lot. We'll have to talk about that. An excellent defensive performance, they only got in behind once, and they blazed over. Igor was outstanding when he was called upon.

Lads, an excellent performance that we should be very proud of. But I am sure we all know why we played so well: discipline, unselfishness, running and doing the simple things well. I was particularly happy about everyone doing the job they were meant to be doing, and doing them very well. Once you get all of this right, the rest will take care of itself. We attacked spectacularly at times in the first half, without anyone trying the spectacular. Something else of note: only three outfield players have played every minute and we are only two games in. Rafa would be happy, and so am I. Ci voglio così.

Team:
Igor - Dom (Mark), Dave M, Arnout, Andrew - Luke (Nate), Luis (Sebastian), Dave H, Leo (Mate) - Jaime (Norberto) - Irial (David)