Sunday drink

[GreasyChipBeattie]

My two penneth.

So far we have seen Brayford miles off form. Personally think due to finding out we wanted rid of him. He's a bit of a wet lettuce it seems and needs to be loved.

Sharp- scored goals last season for Adkins. Played nearly all games, missed some real sitters and took penalties. Is pretty slow, and so far has done nothing to justify role as captain, and done nothing to suggest he would even get into double figures. Not even a particularly good penalty taker.

Done- another who's done very little. Been given plenty of game time and not done the job needed by the manager.

McNulty- despite what the manager said when he came in, the fact he's not played despite clear deficiencies up front with Sharp and Done says enough to me. The club want rid, and at her than release him felt they would get a fee if they bide their time.

So if the OP's mate is right....we lose 3 players who have so far looked crap, or don't fit in with what the manager wants. Freeman has done nothing wrong so deserves the chance to prove he can do the job Wilder wants.
We get an experienced centre half, and a lot more genuine pace in the side.
Might piss a few off, but might also have us closing down opponents quicker, beating opponents with pace and generally a more dangerous team.
I hope he is right. Completely fresh start....patience and we will be a lot better long term.

Hey up Grizz,
Next time I want to post something on here, can I just ask you do it for me please?
Maybe you're a mind reader or maybe it's just co-incidence, but already I trust you to post my thoughts without needing to tell you what they are first!!!

 

[him behind you]

Agree, that's what Wilder has to get right.

In recent history we've had a well-balanced team playing really good football on these occasions:

• 2002/03 - Top scorer: Michael Brown 16 (highest scoring striker: Carl Asaba 11)
• 2005/06 - Top scorer: Neil Shipperley 11
• 2011/12 - Top scorer: Ched Evans 29
• 2013/14 (last third) - Top scorer: Chris Porter 7

There's a lot to learn from how those teams were composed, but making one player net 20 goals doesn't have to be key.

Beattie's 22 goals in 2007/08 and Sharp's 21 goals in 2015/16 were decent individual achievements, but who will remember those seasons with any fondness at all? Blake got 17 in 1994/95; Marcelo 16 in 1998/99; Bent 15 in 1999/00; Gray 15 in 2004/05, all rather forgettable seasons.

That's all well and good Bergen but you either need a high scoring striker or lots of goals from other players (ideally both but let's not get silly). The unfortunate thing is that if we don't make sure we have the striker we are well and truly fooked because the rest of them don't even look like they want to get near the area let alone take responsibility for having a shot at goal. So it's rely on a 20+ goalscorer in this team or look forward to far too many "Sheffield United Nil" scores.

 

[Bladesway]

Fuckin el danny you are bitter, how do you know so much? How do you know that if, a big if as well, sharp goes it is without doubt because mccabe has said so and definitely not Wilder, I realise a lot of people are not lovers of our Co owner but sometimes you have to stand back a little and consider what you are saying

One thing in all this mess is a constant. Kevin McCabe. I'd be in agreement in isolation that Wilder hasn't had the best start but I can guess he didn't sanction selling Adams in the same way Adkins didn't sanction Murphy, Clough didn't sanction Harry etc etc.

Our owners are behaving like utter cretins who appear unable to stick to any plan and have smaller bollocks than a vole.

 

[DronnieBlade]

Hey up Grizz,
Next time I want to post something on here, can I just ask you do it for me please?
Maybe you're a mind reader or maybe it's just co-incidence, but already I trust you to post my thoughts without needing to tell you what they are first!!!

Grizz / GCB.

You obviously both agree that Wilder is correct to offload Spark Sharp and Done, in favour of building an offensive strategy around Clarke.

How would you suggest we replace these players with players that will compliment Clarke in order to reach the required quota of goals / assists etc. ?

Any (realistic) names / targets ?

UTB

 

[Boxer Blade]

I'm bitter? 6 years in fucking league 1 and the only real prospect of leaving it this year is to the old 4th, I'd be ashamed of myself if I wasn't.
The bloke is a sack.

We are all bitter not just you, I just do not go along with this everything that isn't working is, as you say, the sacks to blame, i get the impression he could bring in a premier league manager,give him 10 million to spend and if after 4 games we are bottom it would be mccabes fault not the new manager.we are all angry and pissed off danny I just try to be a bit level headed about it, hard as it is.:-S

 

[metalblade]

I think it is safe to say at the end of last season any Blade if asked would have said our best players or the ones with any re-sale value would be Adams, Brayford and Sharp. Anyone else see a pattern emergimg here? I would not be the least bit surprised if Sharp is offloaded to me it is just a cost cutting exercise that Wilder has very little control over he is just there to take the flack at the end of the day. I can see things getting much worse before they get better the main reason I did not re-new my season ticket for this season.

 

[The Crab]

And we don't have one with or without Sharp in the team. As someone from the Keith Edwards school of goalscoring I cannot for the life of me think why you would sell the bloke who last season pretty much kept us away from relegation.

Right now Adkins isn't looking such a bad manager and Clough looks like a god.

I could really only see the rationale behind selling Sharp IF we had a decent replacement lined up. I've capitlised the "if" because I have very little faith that we would. It'll be something else from the bargain bin and we have quite enough strikers of that ilk already, thank you very much.

And the real rub for me, what "decent" striker will come to a club thats had the start we have had? a striker of the required quality will more than likely have options, and we don't look a very good one at the moment.

So on balance, stick rather than twist, and play a system that is going to suit him.

 

[DronnieBlade]

I think it is safe to say at the end of last season any Blade if asked would have said our best players or the ones with any re-sale value would be Adams, Brayford and Sharp. Anyone else see a pattern emergimg here? I would not be the least bit surprised if Sharp is offloaded to me it is just a cost cutting exercise that Wilder has very little control over he is just there to take the flack at the end of the day. I can see things getting much worse before they get better the main reason I did not re-new my season ticket for this season.

Add Done, McNulty and Coutts to that list.

And I do see your point.

And many believe a £100k journeyman is a "good" signing !!

UTB

 

[Ricky]

Whilst it isn't ideal to have significant wage disparity in a squad, if Sharp's possible departure is mainly finance driven, then that's poor and proves genuine backing isn't there. Get rid of Brayford and Adams, fair enough, but we shouldn't be having to sacrifice Sharp to fund the squad we need.

If it was football based, then it's surely worth keeping him around to try him in a team that actually functions properly - even if that may take a bit of time.

 

[Rodders]

The decision to make Billy captain is the most worrying aspect of this squad rebuilding. It smacked of Adkins decision to make McEvely captain but I kept my powder dry from myself convinced I was just feeling negative.
In hindsight it suggests it was as bad a decision as the McEvely one.

As for the rest of the squad rebuilding its like looking at a pile of logo bricks and thinking when it's done it will be the Empire State Building. Problem is we 10% of the season has passed and we've got 1 point. That's a running rate of 10 points this season and everyone's saying we're only four games in, don't panic, well feck that....
AAAAAAARGGGGGGHHHHH AAAAAAARRRRGGGGGGHHHHHHH AAAAARRRRRGGGGGGGHHHHH

Billy's programme notes vs. Rochdale said that the squad last season were too quiet on the pitch; I wonder if it was just a case of Billy being the loudest, plus I can see that he may have been made a "talismanic" captain in the same vein as Beckham for England was.

 

[metalblade]

Add Done, McNulty and Coutts to that list.

And I do see your point.

And many believe a £100k journeyman is a "good" signing !!

UTB

You have to consider wages too Coutts will be on high wages not sure Done or McNulty will be, one of thse two will replace Sharp if we find a taker for him.

 

[Grizzly blade]

Grizz / GCB.

You obviously both agree that Wilder is correct to offload Spark Sharp and Done, in favour of building an offensive strategy around Clarke.

How would you suggest we replace these players with players that will compliment Clarke in order to reach the required quota of goals / assists etc. ?

Any (realistic) names / targets ?

UTB

I believe in building an offensive strategy, Not one built solely around Clarke...or Sharp for that matter.
I favour one that's fluid in its style and type, one that sees maybe 4 players getting double figures in goals. Yes it's nice having a striker scoring 20plus goals and in a fluid, unpredictable attacking system we may well have someone surpass that figure too.

For too long we have been predictable. We have relied on inch perfect crosses when teams have had numbers back....poor conversion the result as we don't have the players good enough to deliver. What we should be looking for is Pace. Pure and simple. Pace and movement, quick passing and ball retention. Move teams around, exploit gaps, run at them and make them double up to leave space elsewhere to exploit. When have we done this? Who in recent times have we had that can do this for us....Murphy...and to a lesser extent Adams....and once every 10-15 games JCR.

Duffy is capable, but needs others to work with. McNulty also looks good at that type of game...Scougall too. But we need the pace more than anything, so if these lot aren't doing it then cheerio.

I don't do names, I don't make suggestions and that's down to not having seen sufficient evidence. I watch Sheff United, and the premier league games on Sky. Don't have the time to spend looking for players.
Seen players look decent against us but that isn't enough to think they are for us, but it's not my job. Mitchell is here and being paid to do it with the manager, Knill and also Binnion.
I'm more than happy to let them do their job, after all it's their job that will be gone if they don't do it well.

Here's hoping Mitchell has a little black book full of top targets from lower leagues.

 

[DronnieBlade]

Billy's programme notes vs. Rochdale said that the squad last season were too quiet on the pitch; I wonder if it was just a case of Billy being the loudest, plus I can see that he may have been made a "talismanic" captain in the same vein as Beckham for England was.

Suspect the talismanic bit is hitting the nail on the head. But is it working ? Will it work ?

As has been said by many, and I agree, a captain really needs to be more centric in the overall formation, so ideally a CM or CD.

Tufty really has dug himself a hole here.

He may very well see the solution as being to sell Sharp, thus giving himself a get out of jail free card to appoint a replacement captain once Sharp is out the door.

But is this cutting your nose to spite your face ?

I would pull Sharp to one side, tell him he is relieved of Captain duties with immediate effect, and requesting he focuses his energy on what he is good at, as the captaincy is getting in the way of him doing this.

A fully fit, motivated, and firing on all cylinders Billy Sharp, potentially, could make a massive difference to any L1 club, even ours !

UTB

 

[VLYDONIMIR]

Big Harv = Three years.

THREE YEARS.

 

[DronnieBlade]

You have to consider wages too Coutts will be on high wages not sure Done or McNulty will be, one of thse two will replace Sharp if we find a taker for him.

Big Harv = Three years.

THREE YEARS.

Question is, will Wilder swallow his pride, realise he has dropped a bollock (as he most certainly has, and will privately admit before too long) and do the correct and, bluntly, only thing he can do to sort out this mess ?

Mmmmmmmm...........
UTB

 

[Bergen Blade]

That's all well and good Bergen but you either need a high scoring striker or lots of goals from other players (ideally both but let's not get silly). The unfortunate thing is that if we don't make sure we have the striker we are well and truly fooked because the rest of them don't even look like they want to get near the area let alone take responsibility for having a shot at goal. So it's rely on a 20+ goalscorer in this team or look forward to far too many "Sheffield United Nil" scores.

It's vital that several players score goals. A successful return of 20 for Sharp and 15 for Clarke won't give us more than 35 goals, which if no one else chipped in, obviously would see us relegated.

 

[Silent Blade]

I said this on Saturday, but I personally think Billy Sharp is only successful under one manager who can get the best out of him. I'd hazard a guess that he has scored 70% of his league goals under 1 manager, and that is the bloke we sacked last season.

I wouldn't be too disappointed if he left, same goes for Done, however I have got an inkling that Coutts and Freeman will perform better under the tutelage of Wilder

Interesting that you now think that Freeman may not be as bad as you thought! I am unsure about him but hope you are right in thinking that he will do well under Wilder.
I have always rated Coutts and I hope he stays with us

 

[Bladesman]

If you are an outsider it will be interesting to see how all this plays out. The McCabe years will become a case study of how not to run a football club.

The only other case study would be the Oystens at Blackpool.

 

[The Crab]

The only other case study would be the Oystens at Blackpool.

What they have done, and are doing, is far worse than anything Mcabe has done. In my view, ours is (usually) well intentioned incompetence. It's a very different fish over there.

 

[Silent Blade]

Coutts wants out.

Does he? Wilder transfer listed him two months ago but I have been told that Wilder now thinks Coutts is a better player than he thought and might change his mind by taking him off the transfer list

 

[Silent Blade]

Big Harv = Three years.

THREE YEARS.

Message from Harv

 

[VLYDONIMIR]

"Chrissy Wilder, Alan Knill
Bibbedy-Bobbedy-Boo
Put 'em together and what have we got
Bottom o' Division Two..."

 

[VLYDONIMIR]

Big Harv = Three years.

THREE YEARS.

Ched served less.

 

[Bergen Blade]

I said this on Saturday, but I personally think Billy Sharp is only successful under one manager who can get the best out of him. I'd hazard a guess that he has scored 70% of his league goals under 1 manager, and that is the bloke we sacked last season.

Didn't Warnock make a comment on what it took for a team to work with Billy Sharp up front? Can't find the quote though.

 

[sheffielder]

Does he? Wilder transfer listed him two months ago but I have been told that Wilder now thinks Coutts is a better player than he thought and might change his mind by taking him off the transfer list

By all accounts there are teams interested in taking him, however they won't pay all his wages and want us to supplement it. If that changes...

 

[Deadbat]

I would not have signed Clarke but then I would not have signed Sharp back. There said it.

He did really well last year and was our player of the season. He is a decent striker but you have to play a certain way to accomodate his strenghs. The stuff about playing a certain way due to Clarke applies to him aswell.

Maybe they cannot play together. Maybe we have now got two ageing on the way down strikers (all those saying a Champ club will sign Sharp - I am not sure he is good enough - he could not get in a struggling Leeds team 2 seasons ago). Maybe they aare the problem but seriously I think there are bigger problems all over the team and maintain whatever issues, they both would still score a reasonable amount of goals at this level if we created chances - we have created zilch, nothing, nada so far. The issue I have with both of them is that at times even despite this they have not offered nuisance factor/threat and let centre halves have an easy game - Sharp suddenly came to life for 10 mins v Rochdale but I will be honest and say he has gone through the motions so far this season in every game. Clarke has not benn great but has actually put some effort in, up to Saturday where both did not bother. The poster who said he has barely broke sweat not sure what games he has seen but whilst he has not been great Clarke has probably toiled far more than Billy.

As others have said lets try and play to their feet and see if they can hold it up and bring others into play? Get wide and get some crosses in? Get midfielders in front of them and beynd them to give them space if defenders have to pick other players up?

We have done none of these things.

Our bomb scare defence, weak as water midfield that cannot pass forward and lack of wing threats and pace all over are far bigger factors. I dont know what style wilder is trying to instill but with some of players we have such as Basham, Coutts, Scougall, Done etc we are really restricted as none can beat a man, none can win a tackle and none can get into the box and score goals (maybe Done in a different position).

I think there are far more problems than Sharp/Clarke in the side. I was at Millwall and they were lazy and crap but I do have to say they did not have one ball to their feet all game and not one good cross of note all game. That has been pattern in most games.

We could change 1 or 2 strikers, get rid of both either, but stiill will not score many goals with the personnel behind and how we are playing. We have three departments of the team that are so far apart.

 

[VLYDONIMIR]

Maybe they cannot play together.

Hypothetical Q?

Surely Wilder would know both player's strengths and weaknesses before Big Harv was fetched in?

One is his signing.
The other he made Captain.

There's no win/win as far as I can see (for now)....

 

[HermitageBlade]

So if we hadn't had Sharp we wouldn't have signed someone else?
Pull the other one.
Adkins brought him in. He paid him Championship salary. No other player would KM have allowed this BTW...it's cos he's a Blade.

Much like Hammond....Sammon....you can't tell me that for the fee and wages paid we couldn't have found a player elsewhere capable of scoring 20 goals. We might well have had him at the club already if Adkins had played Done there....or McNulty as you say. In fact I would go as far as to say, Done would have got 20 if he'd played the games Sharp had in the same position.

Completely agree I made all these points in March (see Adkins and Sharp thread) still stand by it. As for people having a go at Clarke I was unsure when we signed him but having missed my first game on Saturday I have to say I have been quite impressed so far, I'd like to see him and Done given a chance up front.

 

[GreasyChipBeattie]

Grizz / GCB.

You obviously both agree that Wilder is correct to offload Spark Sharp and Done, in favour of building an offensive strategy around Clarke.

How would you suggest we replace these players with players that will compliment Clarke in order to reach the required quota of goals / assists etc. ?

Any (realistic) names / targets ?

UTB

DB,
I'm not suggesting we should build around Clarke.
I like what I heard about CW's 'pressing football' and was looking forward to seeing us use pace to put teams under pressure.
As we know, this has so far failed to materialize, so by off-loading more high-earners (Sharp/Done) we will have more than enough for their replacements.
Personally, I'd give McN a chance in the new system, but as Grizzly pointed out, his card might already be marker for an exit.
As for who we get in instead, no idea mate. I just hope CW has earmarked the necessary replacements to instil his preferred style.

 

[him behind you]

It's vital that several players score goals. A successful return of 20 for Sharp and 15 for Clarke won't give us more than 35 goals, which if no one else chipped in, obviously would see us relegated.

And take those 35 out we'd be relegated with the worst ever record because can you really see goals coming from anywhere else in the team? I can't.