Somerville left unhappy yet again
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Kildare County’s FAI Cup campaign ended at the first attempt last Saturday, and Director Of Football Joey Somerville felt that the way the game panned out for his side was almost a mirror-image to the way they have been defeated in recent league encounters.
"It was the same old, same old from our point of view. We conceded two ridiculously sloppy goals, and didn’t take our chances when we got them," he explained.
The beginning of the second half saw Athlone enjoy a crucial period of dominance, but Somerville feels that the decision to revert to three at the back was one of the reasons why Brendan Place’s side began to find openings.
"They did indeed [have a period of dominance], but that’s because we went to three at the back to try and chase the game. It’s always difficult to go to three at the back when you’re chasing a game because you’re going to leave gaps, there’s going to be openings, and there’s going to be situations when you’re going to have to scramble to get things clear.
"The whole idea to playing that is that you’re committing bodies forward to try and cause problems for them at the back, but we didn’t do that for long periods in the game, and when we went back to 4-3-3, we cut out the mistakes, and we cut out the little gaps and we started to dominate a bit. It was just a case of trying to find the right balance."
The Kildare County squad that featured in the match was somewhat depleted due to the fact that none of the new signings were available, but Somerville was quick to dismiss this as an excuse for the loss.
"I look forward to playing anybody, who doesn’t have everybody available. Ideally you could say ‘if he’d been available and he’d been available’, if we could have picked from everybody, we could have won the game and all that, but that’s not the point. The point is that, we played 11 players against 11, and our 11 were good enough to beat them, and we didn’t beat them, simple as that," concluded Somerville.
"It was the same old, same old from our point of view. We conceded two ridiculously sloppy goals, and didn’t take our chances when we got them," he explained.
The beginning of the second half saw Athlone enjoy a crucial period of dominance, but Somerville feels that the decision to revert to three at the back was one of the reasons why Brendan Place’s side began to find openings.
"They did indeed [have a period of dominance], but that’s because we went to three at the back to try and chase the game. It’s always difficult to go to three at the back when you’re chasing a game because you’re going to leave gaps, there’s going to be openings, and there’s going to be situations when you’re going to have to scramble to get things clear.
"The whole idea to playing that is that you’re committing bodies forward to try and cause problems for them at the back, but we didn’t do that for long periods in the game, and when we went back to 4-3-3, we cut out the mistakes, and we cut out the little gaps and we started to dominate a bit. It was just a case of trying to find the right balance."
The Kildare County squad that featured in the match was somewhat depleted due to the fact that none of the new signings were available, but Somerville was quick to dismiss this as an excuse for the loss.
"I look forward to playing anybody, who doesn’t have everybody available. Ideally you could say ‘if he’d been available and he’d been available’, if we could have picked from everybody, we could have won the game and all that, but that’s not the point. The point is that, we played 11 players against 11, and our 11 were good enough to beat them, and we didn’t beat them, simple as that," concluded Somerville.
About Daire Walsh
Daire Walsh began reporting for Extratime in 2009, when he covered Kildare County's games in the League Of Ireland First Division. He currently reports on games involving the league's Dublin sides and also Bray Wanderers. … View Full Profile