F.C. SE7EN 10-25 EASTERN PROMISE - 17.12.20

Well, another heavy defeat and this time we were beaten physically and mentally. We made some gains last week, but this was a big shock to the system. Player for player, we equalled their ability and we're at odds to comprehend how much of a thrashing we received.

At the start of the game, 2 of their players were late pfft (Tracy Chapman, not so Fast Car on this occasion, more to follow on him later), so we decided to play 4v4 for the early part and we had this in the bag, going 3-0 up with 5 minutes. Their tardy players turned up around 10mins in, and they weren't all that. BUT, 1 of them had high levels of fitness. If we needed a massive kick up our backsides as to what we are fundamentally missing; fitness......this game was it.

As soon as that 1 player turned up, our game went to pieces, he wasn't overly impressive as a baller, he looked a bit like Tracy Chapman in tracksuit bottoms in all honesty. But his fitness was what exposed us, individually and as a team.

I think because we were run ragged, we lost all semblance of organisation. I think without fitness, you can still stick to some basic formations and man-marking, but we were forever playing catch-up and the result showed this. Not long after this game ended, the UK government announced London going into Tier 4, basically the end of any Christmas gatherings and organised grassroots football. It was a major hammer blow.

But with many things, we at FC7 like to see positivity in the darkest of times. This is the perfect opportunity for us to take a minimum of 4 weeks out to really knuckle down on our fitness. Get trim, slim lined, more powerful and ultimately better. If at least 3 of us are in our prime physical condition or even 50-60% of our potential, we will improve loads as an outfit. We can challenge more for 50/50 balls, be first to stray passes, make space and move in attack and man mark more successfully in defence. These are the issues which are causing the defeats. We are pretty sure of this and the team are determined to get to a level of fitness which translates to results on the pitch.

The game itself was a tough one. First one where there was complete silence at the final whistle. We were broken. I think having the improvements from last game so emphatically wiped away, were a massive slap for us, but not in a good way, it broke our spirit.

As always, there were some comedy gold moments, me getting a shot rifling to my groin, was the moment I was pretty much taken out of the game. For the 1st 5 seconds I felt a sting, but then it kicked in, I was winded, and I'm 100% sure it triggered some sort of chemical reaction much to the laughter of Jumbo and Jan. Soon after my below the belt blow, I had shin splints, so bad I could hardly walk, I faded into the goalie role and even then I felt pretty much disabled and unable to stop a flurry of goals. It was made even more annoying as some chav outside was constantly on his phone, having one of those convos which just goes round and round in circles. SHUT UP DAPPY, get a job and stop annoying me. He had his moll in tow too, it was like watch Narcos but in the illicit trade of pix n mix and wine gums and the "gangsters" being tooled up to the teeth with water pistols and whoopy cushions, got these lowlifes annoy me.

One of our opponents, the male "Tracy Chapman", was quite funny too. He was wayyy too aggressive, singling out Billy Whizz for some rough treatment. In his head, he thought he was Ronaldo, but i'd say he was more Ronald McDonald. I don't think I've seen 1 player so bad at shooting before, thank God there's netting surrounding our pitches, otherwise we would of lost so many balls. Maybe Dappy could of started a new business line in footballs to go along with his pix n mix empire, u go bro, mums proud of you.......fool.

Ahhh Tracy Chapman, he really did look like her pre-dreads, however.......and to be honest he was a "Fast Car". I do love the characters we get to meet during football.

Anyways, football got cancelled and there's no games till January at the earliest. Personally I think we will be in lockdown for all of the month. It's a quiet time economically, so it makes sense. Hopefully the vaccine will be getting rolled out at a faster rate, so we can put Covid-19 behind us properly and look forward to a summer of football.

See you on the other side Se7enistas! Let's get:

FITTER, STRONGER.....BETTER!