Coaches give their take on McClaren’s first game 0-0 draw against Cuba

Despite the Reggae Boyz’ disappointing result against Cuba in their Nations League match on Friday, there were a lot of positives and promising signs, according to two coaches who gave their take on the game and new national coach Steve McClaren.

Vassell Reynolds, the current coach at Kingston College and Andrew Price at rivals Calabar High both said the Reggae Boyz’ performance was underwhelming but that this was not totally McClaren’s fault.

According to the men, the players failed to capitalise on the many goalscoring opportunities that came their way.

Price who played and coached at Boy’s Town and Premier League club Humble Lion, said he was expecting the new coach’s first-game intensity would provide a positive result.

“I think the performance was underwhelming. It was less than what we expected with the new coach. We expected a first game bounce but it didn’t materialise,” Price told Our Today.

“We had good territorial advantage. We had a lot of possession but I believe in the penalty box is where we were let down. We should have been a lot more clinical in front of goal as we got numerous chances,” he pointed out. As the game wore on, things started to move more in our favour but we didn’t take advantage of it especially when the Cuban defender got that red card late in the first half.

Price said the Boyz should have been more aggressive in the game, which ended in a nil-all draw.

“Tactically the team looked very sound defensively. The Cubans didn’t offer a lot but I believe where we were let down was in the final third where if we had made some proper decisions and been more clinical in front of goal, we could have defeated the Cuban team by a wide margin,” Price reiterated.

He added: “But it’s a learning curve and there will be days when the team do not perform up to expectation. But what we have to do is put this game behind us and prepare ourselves for Honduras on Tuesday.”

Jamaica and Cuba are joint third in the six-team group with one point each behind Honduras and Nicaragua on three points. The Reggae Boyz will face their sternest test against Honduras on Tuesday, September 10.

Meanwhile, Reynolds who ironically took over from Price at Humble Lion last December, noted that everyone went to the National Stadium to see if there was a clear picture or any picture as to the difference in approach with Steve McClaren and the previous coach.

“It’s early days yes. I am figuring that to some extent it is obvious that the present coach wants the team to play quicker behind the opponent’s defence. It seems as if the way the team is set up is to run in behind the opponent’s defence when there is an opportunity and to get this ball whatever way through or around or over the press as quickly as possible,” Reynold observed.

“I also recognised that there is an overload situation, especially in the right wide areas with our winger and right full-back which goes into attacking position almost every time.

“From a neutral point of view, I would have seen slight adjustments in the approach and of course just like Hallgrimson did, there is some evidence of patience,” said Reynolds.

“For me though, as a coach, I feel the movement of the ball was a little bit too slow, especially in mid-pitch and the attacking area and so in that way when you meet a team like Cuba that plays a mid-block or a low block, we are going to have difficulty in breaking them down because of how slow the ball is being moved at times,” Reynolds pointed out.

He continued: “The positives for me were the attacking runs out of midfield, the combination plays between the midfield and the strikers, and how regularly we got the ball in behind the Cuban defence and as a result, we would have created a number of chances.

“It’s been a long while I have not seen a Jamaican team create so many opportunities and all we had to do was to score two, three or maybe four goals and that would have reflected the performance. It was a pretty good encouraging performance albeit we didn’t score a goal which is what took the sheen away from the effort of the team.”