Match Thread Sheffield United v. VfB Stuttgart - 5th August 2023

[Large Mendonca]

we are going to have to improve on alot by next saturday, hopefully it is just preseason, & the motivation will change with a full crowd

but what was happened to defensive organisation as it was our biggest strength last season, 1 of things that could bring confidence. with 10 men v burnley & when man city only really opened us up once at wembley. now we were extremely vulnerable to pace on the counter almost every time also we going to have to retain possession far better. we cant keep give possession away as easily as we did

although that bloke in family stands header, was the biggest cheer of the match. probably says alot for the entertainment value

I agree about the defensive organisation. Osborn floats a corner, goalkeeper catches, rolls it to someone and they’re 4 on 3??? I mean, wtf !!

 

[Frank the tank]

Osborn is too slow physically and mentally

 

[haich1889]

Positives

Berge: excellent
Ousala: great hold up, running & positive play.
Ozzy: very busy, active, positive on the ball.

My mum is always busy & active and at 84 probably would make as much impact in the Prem as Ozzy.

 

[Shawy24]

Second half thoughts;

No improvement they could have had 2 or 3 more.
Egan had a mare with the ball at his feet and pulled all over the place by their centre forward.
Didn't get to grips in the middle of the park and they continued to walk through us like a red hot knife through butter.
Left hand side of Larouchi, Robinson and Osborn poor defensively too much space allowed for opposition.
The flat 3 failed again and looked more like the invisible 3 when in possession. We are at our best when we play with 10's. If we continue with this formation dark times ahead imo.
The difference in class was evident and they were in a relegation battle last season.
Osula and Traore worked hard for little return.
Anel got better as the game went on.
Without Berge we have nothing in the middle. Time and again he had to turn back with the ball because of the formation we were playing.
Not sure who is playing in the behind doors game this afternoon but we need Trusty, Mcb and Norwood to be playing just to get some bodies back.

Good assessment generally however I’d sort of disagree over Berge. If Berge had been in the middle we might have had a chance but it seemed he spent more time nearer Wes than Egan did and when he did move out with the ball there was this bloody great gap in the middle where he used to be which was filled by Stuttgart players. Basically if Berge could have passed to himself we might have had a chance. There simply was no effective midfield all game.

 

[haich1889]

Hi Stegosaurus here,

Big thanks to N'Diaye for leaving us in the lurch and fucking Hecky around for weeks, teasing he was going to resign, so any potential strikers we could have signed have already been snapped up.

not to mention getting Billy to fly to Portugal & make the video where he hands over the No 10 shirt. Gone from hero to zero & Legend to leg end.

 

[Sheffsteel]

Hi Stegosaurus here,

Big thanks to N'Diaye for leaving us in the lurch and fucking Hecky around for weeks, teasing he was going to resign, so any potential strikers we could have signed have already been snapped up.

Thats totally wrong.

We knew he was leaving at the start of the Summer and have been lining up potential replacements for many weeks.
Seems N'Diaye surprisingly back tracked and it looked like he was staying, then he quickly changed his mind again.

Anyhow we still have the targets lined up...they've not been snapped up yet.
Reminds of the "we'll never sign Brewster" comments and the "we'll never sign Berge" comments.

Let's wait and see which strikers we sign before the deadline, then it's fair to criticise and I'll be joining in with we don't significantly improve the squad.

 

[SUFCinks]

My mum is always busy & active and at 84 probably would make as much impact in the Prem as Ozzy.

I’ve been a critic of his but i don’t think he was bad today. Others were worse today.

 

[haich1889]

I’ve been a critic of his but i don’t think he was bad today. Others were worse today.

thanks for reassuring me.

 

[Greystones Blade]

I think the SUTV commentator said that Notts Forest were interested in buying the Stuttgart no 9 - Guirassy. Anybody know what the rumoured fee is? We could make good use of him tho I don’t know what JLT would say to it!

 

[Addison]

" Numbers we are way short. We need to get bodies in we've got a lot to do with a few days to go".

Manager sending out message to those holding the purse strings?

Norwood, Basham, Lowe and Trusty whose clearance has now come through playing behind closed doors this afternoon.

 

[ATL Recs]

Sharp would have buried that

If you mean the one on one Sharp would have been caught before he got inside the box

 

[Grey Blade]

Enjoyed the Germans chanting in English. We had "football in a library" but I don't think they got round to " shall we sing a song for you".
Out classed skill wise and mobility wise. Also they were good at niggly little fouls to break up play ( as well as going down easily). Jack will have to get used to that in the Premier league - all top teams are masters of the dark arts

 

[originaltrueblade]

What does make a difference? you claimed that team today was our strongest for next week, but bringing in Lowe, Norwood and McBurnie would make it stronger, still not great, but slightly stronger and slightly stronger might be the difference between points or not against Palace.

Palace last season were the best counter attacking team even when Zaha was injured. Good news though he’s no longer there

 

[A Storm of Blades]

Patches of good stuff, left back we are a disaster

Yeah agree with this. We did ok first half (goals aside) but our left side was a train wreck, pointless having decent spells when they could walk in down their right

 

[originaltrueblade]

I think the SUTV commentator said that Notts Forest were interested in buying the Stuttgart no 9 - Guirassy. Anybody know what the rumoured fee is? We could make good use of him tho I don’t know what JLT would say to it!

Didn’t they just buy him for £10M

 

[Gaini Blade]

It was a friendly. Not going to lose any sleep over that.

 

[ATL Recs]

Basically, Ndiaye gone = were completely fucked.

Ndiaye would not have made much difference today the weakness and lack of quality between LCB LWB and LM is clear to see

 

[JohnDenver]

Two words taken slightly out of context, but the truth is there: “Way short”

 

[ATL Recs]

How about Trusty with Robinson at LWB ?

For now yes

 

[ATL Recs]

I’ve been a critic of his but i don’t think he was bad today. Others were worse today.

When he was bad today he was a liability

 

[St Annington]

Put his energy and tenacity into berge and we would have a hell of a player

Berge does have the tenacity and energy of Osborne but because his limbs are twice as long it doesn't look like he has, it's an optical illusion. Put Berge up against Osborne in any challenge and I guatantee Berge will come out tops.
Put wee Jimmy Cranky up against Usain Bolt and it will look like Bolt isn't trying, but we all know who will win.

 

[BigBed]

Ndiaye would not have made much difference today the weakness and lack of quality between LCB LWB and LM is clear to see

There were far more weaknesses than just that, and the players need picking up, as I think their heads are down and the fact Ndiaye has gone has affected them all.

 

[Greystones Blade]

Didn’t they just buy him for £10M

Looks like it’s £17m if he’s guaranteed first team football…

https://www.hitc.com/en-gb/2023/08/03/striker-will-make-potential-17m-nottingham-forest-move-on-one-condition/

 

[haich1889]

tennacious, hard working, busy, active etc no one is disputing. The same kind of description given to Paul Rogers. Bobby Ford, Nick Montgomery & Michael Doyle none of which were ever PL class. Does it not concern you that he has played more minutes than any othe midfield player & is taking 95% of set plays?

 

[haich1889]

Looks like it’s £17m if he’s guaranteed first team football…

https://www.hitc.com/en-gb/2023/08/03/striker-will-make-potential-17m-nottingham-forest-move-on-one-condition/

that's us f##ked then he'll struggle to get a start with us

 

[Le Cynique]

Seems like there’s lots of bed-wetting going on. Personally I’d rather we looked shit in pre-season and prevented our players from getting injured, especially given our history with the Shirecliff Sniper, but apparently we should be treating every pre-season nothing game like a cup final and our players putting their bodies on the line.

 

[ancientblade]

well today only made it clearer that if we dont bring at least 5 more good quality players in we will go down in a whimper at least 2 midfielders 2 strikers and a keeper to challenge wes are our minimum requirements just one other thing i agree with an earlier poster i think jack robinson could play lwb with trusty lcb i would say he would be better than both lowe and larrouci plus the advantage of his long throws set pieces are going to be very important to us this season

 

[jt64]

Wonder if they’ve been told not to get injured ?

The best way to get injured is to play trying not to get injured

 

[St Annington]

For me there was only one clear difference between the teams today . . . . although the difference amounts to winning or losing - so quite a significant difference. Out of possession neither team particularly pressed the opposition they sat patiently waiting or the other team to make a mistake. The difference being that Stuttgart rarely made a mistake whereas we, using a phrase i've used consistently over 40 years of watching the Blades, were the 'architects of our own downfall'.

 

[Greasy Chap Butty]

Who was the Stuttgart player getting clapped off?