Kevin Gage Article

[Sothall_Blade]

http://www.thestar.co.uk/sport/foot...effield-united-s-recent-winning-run-1-8135969

Good to hear such positive comments from an ex-player who has been part of successful Blades teams and should know what he's talking about.

 

[Fulwood Blade]

interesting article and it's just how I saw the game - GREAT for 30 minutes..........seems the other 60 minutes aren't mentioned by Gage as we didn't actually do a lot after that except defend what we had and be resilient.

Looking at the BBC possession stats it came out at 46% Blades, 54% Posh - but reckon the 1st half was 70/30 in our favour.

Just goes to show how P'boro pushed us back when we changed to 4-4-2 at HT - a project that I hope WIlder analyses, recognises and doesn't try again too often.

So, the lesson from Saturday - great pressing for 30 minutes - players aren't fit enough yet, so perhaps at Scunny we return to the type of away performance we had v Gillingham - flood the midfield and control the whole game.

UTB

 

[PokerBlade]

interesting article and it's just how I saw the game - GREAT for 30 minutes..........seems the other 60 minutes aren't mentioned by Gage as we didn't actually do a lot after that except defend what we had and be resilient.

Looking at the BBC possession stats it came out at 46% Blades, 54% Posh - but reckon the 1st half was 70/30 in our favour.

Just goes to show how P'boro pushed us back when we changed to 4-4-2 at HT - a project that I hope WIlder analyses, recognises and doesn't try again too often.

So, the lesson from Saturday - great pressing for 30 minutes - players aren't fit enough yet, so perhaps at Scunny we return to the type of away performance we had v Gillingham - flood the midfield and control the whole game.

UTB

Think Lafferty was a forced change, and Scougall was the natural replacement to keep up the harassment of the opposition higher up the pitch. But yeah, it didn't help us. I do think we handled the pressure from Posh very well second half. Limited them to only one major opportunity and still created a couple of chances ourselves. Certainly a position we'd have crumbled in a few games ago.

 

[SUFC Handsworth]

Quite frustrating in the second half v Peterborough seeing the ball played forward and it coming straight back as the forwards on the pitch were incapable of holding it up effectively. Especially as we have a forward at the club, Clarke (who is excellent at making sure the ball sticks at the right end of the park, taking pressure off the rest of the team and with the right forward alongside, not 20 yards deep, punch a few holes in the opposition defence), who wasn't even on the bench (I take it that must have been down to injury).

As an attacking force imo we'll look much better pairing Clarke and Lavery (or Done) and playing them both on the shoulder of the opposition defenders. I reckon they'd tear this division apart. We'd even have the luxury of a plan B with Sharp on the bench.

 

[stringjunior]

I think our Kev might be getting a little bit giddy. It's great to read, mind....

 

[Cerberus Blade]

Think Lafferty was a forced change, and Scougall was the natural replacement to keep up the harassment of the opposition higher up the pitch. But yeah, it didn't help us. I do think we handled the pressure from Posh very well second half. Limited them to only one major opportunity and still created a couple of chances ourselves. Certainly a position we'd have crumbled in a few games ago.

Lafferty was poor tbh. I'm glad Wilder spotted that.

 

[SwitchBLADE Smiles]

As an attacking force imo we'll look much better pairing Clarke and Lavery (or Done) and playing them both on the shoulder of the opposition defenders. I reckon they'd tear this division apart. We'd even have the luxury of a plan B with Sharp on the bench.

Honestly, I'm glad you're not our manager if you think leaving out our current top goal scorer is a way of improving our attacking capabilities.

Lavery has played the grand total of 10 minutes & Clarke has a single goal to his name so far this season.

 

[Fulwood Blade]

Think Lafferty was a forced change, and Scougall was the natural replacement to keep up the harassment of the opposition higher up the pitch. But yeah, it didn't help us. I do think we handled the pressure from Posh very well second half. Limited them to only one major opportunity and still created a couple of chances ourselves. Certainly a position we'd have crumbled in a few games ago.

yes, think you are right - we'd have fallen apart before.
It helps having 2 decent centre halves and competent defenders who know what they are doing.
Still think we should stick with something based around 3-5-2 though.

UTB

 

[PokerBlade]

yes, think you are right - we'd have fallen apart before.
It helps having 2 decent centre halves and competent defenders who know what they are doing.
Still think we should stick with something based around 3-5-2 though.

UTB

It's a system I've always liked since Spackman. It asks a lot of certain roles and is harder to put together than typical 442 variants but if you've got players capable, which I suspect we have, it can be very effective. It's going to depend on how well Freeman/Lafferty (given what fans said when he signed, Hussey might be better off in this role too if needed) continue to do. It needs them to be very versatile and get forward and back a lot during the game. When Spackman played it he had Quinn and Borbokis who were perfect for it. It's also going to need Duffy and Coutts/Fleck to take hold of games and move the ball well in times they might be outnumbered in the middle.

 

[bricktop]

It's a system I've always liked since Spackman. It asks a lot of certain roles and is harder to put together than typical 442 variants but if you've got players capable, which I suspect we have, it can be very effective. It's going to depend on how well Freeman/Lafferty (given what fans said when he signed, Hussey might be better off in this role too if needed) continue to do. It needs them to be very versatile and get forward and back a lot during the game. When Spackman played it he had Quinn and Borbokis who were perfect for it. It's also going to need Duffy and Coutts/Fleck to take hold of games and move the ball well in times they might be outnumbered in the middle.

We went to 3-5-2 last season under Adkins. The big difference being that under Wilder we seem to be more comfortable playing this system, and I think that Wilder has planned and prepared it as his plan B, whilst Adkins seemed to change to it on a whim out of desperate and he seemed to have a lot of square pegs in round holes playing it.

 

[Kenilworth]

We went to 3-5-2 last season under Adkins. The big difference being that under Wilder we seem to be more comfortable playing this system, and I think that Wilder has planned and prepared it as his plan B, whilst Adkins seemed to change to it on a whim out of desperate and he seemed to have a lot of square pegs in round holes playing it.

That and he didn't have (sign) any centre halves to play in the 3

 

[AlienBlade]

Honestly, I'm glad you're not our manager if you think leaving out our current top goal scorer is a way of improving our attacking capabilities.

Lavery has played the grand total of 10 minutes & Clarke has a single goal to his name so far this season.

The current top scorer, yes… but how many should he have had by now… on opportunities alone,

Clarke may have only scored 1… but has only started in half the games Sharp has. You make it sound though Sharp has already hit double figures… he is on 4 goals and one was from the spot! Which is just 3 more than Clarke despite starting twice as many games as him (or in terms of ratio Clarke is 0.2 Sharp is 0.4)
Done has played upfront 4 times this season and has scored 2 goals… Billy Sharp has played 10 times up front and scored 4 and one was a Penalty. It was obvious that him and Clarke didn’t get on, but that’s not to say Clarke wouldn’t form a better partnership with Lavery or Done (who actually knows how to play off a big man) if you look at Sharp when Clarke is on the pitch it’s like there is a bad smell emanating from Clarke the distance Sharp stands away from him.. that isn’t a strike partnership… maybe if we could get a strike partnership going we could see more than 1 or 2 goals in a game on a regular basis…
What I have also noticed about Sharp is that when he scores… its “look at me” pushing away those attempting to celebrate with him… rarely goes to his team mates to celebrate his goals, however when others score… he is the first in there hugging the scorer and getting in on the limelight…

 

[PokerBlade]

We went to 3-5-2 last season under Adkins. The big difference being that under Wilder we seem to be more comfortable playing this system, and I think that Wilder has planned and prepared it as his plan B, whilst Adkins seemed to change to it on a whim out of desperate and he seemed to have a lot of square pegs in round holes playing it.

Yeah, it's a terrible system without players that can handle it. Done was utterly lost in those games, being neither good enough in attack or defence while needed for both. One of the benefits of 442s is that it's fairly flexible to the players within it. All positions are naturally supported by the shape, and the defence and midfield aren't easily susceptible to being outnumbered or overrun. But when you have players that do complement the system, it can really emphasise some characteristics. Freeman is the one, based on his start so far, that looks like he'll thrive. He strikes me as a weaker Lowton, which is no bad thing. Basham is getting to play something closer to a purely disruptive role, which suits him to a tee. Duffy can be somewhat free in the attacking midfield role, and Done and Sharp both have the workrate to press high up.

It's not what I expected but I can see us making this work.

 

[HoodedClaw]

Said it before, personally I don't think we have the players to just play 2 in the middle of the park.

We played 2 in the middle at the start of the season, and this to me was a big contributing factor to us losing.

 

[Grecian2000]

The current top scorer, yes… but how many should he have had by now… on opportunities alone,

Clarke may have only scored 1… but has only started in half the games Sharp has. You make it sound though Sharp has already hit double figures… he is on 4 goals and one was from the spot! Which is just 3 more than Clarke despite starting twice as many games as him (or in terms of ratio Clarke is 0.2 Sharp is 0.4)
Done has played upfront 4 times this season and has scored 2 goals… Billy Sharp has played 10 times up front and scored 4 and one was a Penalty. It was obvious that him and Clarke didn’t get on, but that’s not to say Clarke wouldn’t form a better partnership with Lavery or Done (who actually knows how to play off a big man) if you look at Sharp when Clarke is on the pitch it’s like there is a bad smell emanating from Clarke the distance Sharp stands away from him.. that isn’t a strike partnership… maybe if we could get a strike partnership going we could see more than 1 or 2 goals in a game on a regular basis…
What I have also noticed about Sharp is that when he scores… its “look at me” pushing away those attempting to celebrate with him… rarely goes to his team mates to celebrate his goals, however when others score… he is the first in there hugging the scorer and getting in on the limelight…

So, to sum up.

Sharpe has scored more goals in more starts, but not many when playing alongside Clarke, and Clarke has not started in ANY game we've won but ALL those we've lost.
Remind me again why we should have Clarke in there.

As for the last paragraph. Really? We're actually critiquing celebrations now!

 

[Revolution]

The current top scorer, yes… but how many should he have had by now… on opportunities alone,

Clarke may have only scored 1… but has only started in half the games Sharp has. You make it sound though Sharp has already hit double figures… he is on 4 goals and one was from the spot! Which is just 3 more than Clarke despite starting twice as many games as him (or in terms of ratio Clarke is 0.2 Sharp is 0.4)
Done has played upfront 4 times this season and has scored 2 goals… Billy Sharp has played 10 times up front and scored 4 and one was a Penalty. It was obvious that him and Clarke didn’t get on, but that’s not to say Clarke wouldn’t form a better partnership with Lavery or Done (who actually knows how to play off a big man) if you look at Sharp when Clarke is on the pitch it’s like there is a bad smell emanating from Clarke the distance Sharp stands away from him.. that isn’t a strike partnership… maybe if we could get a strike partnership going we could see more than 1 or 2 goals in a game on a regular basis…
What I have also noticed about Sharp is that when he scores… its “look at me” pushing away those attempting to celebrate with him… rarely goes to his team mates to celebrate his goals, however when others score… he is the first in there hugging the scorer and getting in on the limelight…

Well, hopefully Clarke and Lavery will be fit at some point. I'm not holding my breath.

As for a bad smell emanating from Clarke - ever wonder why he moves around so much?