Edwin, Patrick, Jan (46. Hylke) Erik (65.Thomas), Marco, Ralf (60 Stefan), Arjen (75. Hans), Ard, Winnie, Ronnie, Pieter

Describing 16 goals against us but none in our advantage within a time span of 7 days is a little bit too much for your favorite weekly chronicler; he might catch an antidepressant addiction and after all it's just a game. An important one that is and therefore he decided to do it differently this week. Instead of a meticulous minute-by-minute match report he brings the usual format to the next level: a match analysis (credits go to Ed, thanks) that would even make many seasoned football analytics smack their chops.

Beautiful field indeed this Saturday, that new SCC pitch at Harding Road, but the result was once again a ridiculous one of course. Mitigating circumstances were a list of absent players (Gijs, Bas, Jasper, Frits, John, Jacco, Rogier, Rene, Barry, Arjen), which could form a high-quality team on their own; however, results like this don't belong in football.

Credits go to Hotspur as they played great out of their organization. Backs and Winger took the field wide and were therefore always in position (Jasper always does that as well, the difference is that we don't play the ball to him). Without exception goal kicks were taken short. They had sufficient time to build up an attack from behind and wasn't it possible to build up an attack over the left flank, there was always someone calling 'Switch it!" - after which the game was moved to the right flank. And only if there was an opportunity, the ball went deep.

On the other hand, our goal kicks were always long, two exceptions only. Though Ard and Ronnie won the first ball regularly, their headers were not picked up by our attackers. Only sporadically, we managed to get the second ball and capture some ground. But mostly the opponent headed the first ball back and was in no time in front of our goalie. As our midfield would always be in a more offensive position there was no way that they could be back on time to help our defense.

Net we defended for 85 minutes and it was no surprise that the pipe was empty after 60 minutes; even regular fitness sessions would not have been able to prevent that!

One of our main problems is that we are not confident enough to build an attack from the back, as we anxiously try not to loose the ball in defense. And though we certainly will know a few anxious moments, if not one or two goals against in a clumsy way; on our current average that isn't that significant. In addition, if we have the ball at the foot while crossing the halfway line, you can also go into a duel, and maybe even provoke a foul against. On a whole, our free kicks and corners always appear to be dangerous, thanks to our strong air force.

What we can learn from the Hotspurs is the fast connection of the lines. Ralf already noticed in the first minute that he was right by indicating that he was facing not only one but two men. Hence, we are continuously put under pressure. If our players on the flanks were ran over, our central defenders often moved away from the center to support at the sideline, but on the same hand offering clear shooting chances to their upcoming Midfielders, both on the sixteen and on the penalty spot. Though this wasn't so obvious in the first half, this happened time and time again in the second half.

If one plays 3-5-2 you need two men on the flanks who have the thankless task to running up and down from defense to attack and back during the entire match. We don't have two of those men in the team who're able to do so. 4-5-1 with a defensive central midfield suits us better. Then we also don't need men like Jasper and Arjen to defend. Besides that we should have more players in the back who are skilful on the ball: a player like Ronnie, Ard, Winnie, would create a lot more rest.

Was there still something to enjoy? Yes, it was nice to see Jan grumble when we got a very legitimate PK rewarded against us. Patrick is getting better and better in defense and was often there with his big toe breaking up Spurs' attacks. Ard, was an example for all of us with his hard work and strong tackles until the final whistle.

Mom: Ard, for his continuous battle

Ref: Up-to-the mark

Pitch: Flat as a table billiard, but with some nasty and sneaky pebble stone here and there