From the Bramall Lane Upper

[Bert]

Did the Shapla play?

Snap sitters

 

[alcoblade]

Gangway E

Hmmm. Great start with Evans's opener, and what a strike. Well taken, cool finish. We looked very much in control against a Boro side who seemed to be still asleep most of the time. If they weren't giving the ball away they were going in heavy to win it back or deny us possession, which is where Leadbitter saw red. Evans's second was a sweet strike as well, right in the corner. Really, we should have been three up at half time, Clarkey fluffed a sitter as well.

Second half Pulis had obviously had a word and their 4-4-1 seemed to negate any numerical advantage in midfield. Many times I looked to find that extra man but Boro seemed to cancel anything out we had. They scored a typically sloppy goal for United to concede and consistently forced us onto the back foot with our midfield never really controlling. Even a switch to 4-4-2 made no difference. Quite relieved to hear the whistle at the end.

Moore 7/10. Not much to do. No chance with the goal. Stopped a few standard gatherable efforts

Wright 7/10 Decent game

O'Connell 7/10 Managed some crucial headers and interceptions. Worked okay on the overlap

Basham 7/10 Good game for him. Fucked up a second half chance though

Stevens 7/10 Decent game blocking out any threat down the flank

Fleck 8.5/10 Busy as fuck. Made one error all game

Lundstram 6.5/10 Not a fan. Decent long balls but faffs about endlessly and has no finish on him

Evans 6.5/10 Great finishes but fucking hell, him and Lundstram don't half overplay it

Baldock 7.5/10 Another busy day for him and tried to get forward but the killer ball just wasn't there

Brooks 8.5/10 Thought he had a good game. They didn't know what to do with him, but leg him over

Clark 5/10 Not even at the races tonight. Fucked up the only real chance

Subs

Duffy 6.5/10 Made a bit of difference when we switched to 4-4-2 but not enough with Evans and Lundstram dicking about

Donadson and Leonard - not on enough to score

Ref: 3/10 Rubbish. Gave decisions he shouldn't have, allowed ones he should have punished.

Half time tea: 2/10. Too hot

Curry afterwards (Shapla, Moorfoot) 9/10

Crowd: Great

In summary:

Too much dicking about in the final third and not enough balls to strikers. And for fuck's sake Blades, kill teams off!

pommpey

Some fucking ridiculous scoring there.




















Shapla, only 9/10?

 

[pommpey]

Did the Shapla play?

*looks up*

Bert's characteristically slow with his legendary wit.

Off you go, son. Early bath.

pommpey

 

[sitwell]

Snap sitters

Nice snap Bert, can recommend it anytime .

 

[Jesus_was_a_Blade]

Curry afterwards (Shapla, Moorfoot) 9/10

More info needed... What curry, what sides, did you go for a starter?

 

[Sean Thornton]

More info needed... What curry, what sides, did you go for a starter?

The tablecloth was an unnecessary expense l believe....

 

[joe casey]

Gangway E

Lundstram 6.5/10 Not a fan. Decent long balls but faffs about endlessly and has no finish on him

pommpey

No finish on him yet still has the most goals of all our midfielders this season???

 

[S5Blade]

The tablecloth was an unnecessary expense l believe....

Should have gone without, doesnt make the curry taste any nicer, should have spent the money on better chicken in the Korma rather than wasted money on a table cloth.

 

[coaxingstar71]

Gangway E

Hmmm. Great start with Evans's opener, and what a strike. Well taken, cool finish. We looked very much in control against a Boro side who seemed to be still asleep most of the time. If they weren't giving the ball away they were going in heavy to win it back or deny us possession, which is where Leadbitter saw red. Evans's second was a sweet strike as well, right in the corner. Really, we should have been three up at half time, Clarkey fluffed a sitter as well.

Second half Pulis had obviously had a word and their 4-4-1 seemed to negate any numerical advantage in midfield. Many times I looked to find that extra man but Boro seemed to cancel anything out we had. They scored a typically sloppy goal for United to concede and consistently forced us onto the back foot with our midfield never really controlling. Even a switch to 4-4-2 made no difference. Quite relieved to hear the whistle at the end.

Moore 7/10. Not much to do. No chance with the goal. Stopped a few standard gatherable efforts

Wright 7/10 Decent game

O'Connell 7/10 Managed some crucial headers and interceptions. Worked okay on the overlap

Basham 7/10 Good game for him. Fucked up a second half chance though

Stevens 7/10 Decent game blocking out any threat down the flank

Fleck 8.5/10 Busy as fuck. Made one error all game

Lundstram 6.5/10 Not a fan. Decent long balls but faffs about endlessly and has no finish on him

Evans 6.5/10 Great finishes but fucking hell, him and Lundstram don't half overplay it

Baldock 7.5/10 Another busy day for him and tried to get forward but the killer ball just wasn't there

Brooks 8.5/10 Thought he had a good game. They didn't know what to do with him, but leg him over

Clark 5/10 Not even at the races tonight. Fucked up the only real chance

Subs

Duffy 6.5/10 Made a bit of difference when we switched to 4-4-2 but not enough with Evans and Lundstram dicking about

Donadson and Leonard - not on enough to score

Ref: 3/10 Rubbish. Gave decisions he shouldn't have, allowed ones he should have punished.

Half time tea: 2/10. Too hot

Curry afterwards (Shapla, Moorfoot) 9/10

Crowd: Great

In summary:

Too much dicking about in the final third and not enough balls to strikers. And for fuck's sake Blades, kill teams off!

pommpey

I enjoyed this match report almost as much as I enjoy reading Deadbat 's but for entirely different reasons! I would encourage pommpey to do them more often.

By the way, I'm not sure if you can 'unfuck' something but you should be able to.

 

[pommpey]

No finish on him yet still has the most goals of all our midfielders this season???

In both the Cardiff games (3 times) and last night (twice) his efforts have ended up in row z.

Hence 'no finish in him'.

pommpey

 

[Fulwood Blade]

No marks out of ten for the desso?

a little bit of a go at pomps

What was of interest to me was the difference in our pitch and Barnsley on Saturday. Sure, the dingle pitch had a load of grass on it, but it still played like a pitch at the end of a season.

The Desso - as usual, was a magnificent surface to play football on - even in April.

UTB

 

[siblade]

a little bit of a go at pomps

Nah not really, just couldn't resist

 

[stringer]

Can you see if the linesmans flag goes up as Bamford approaches the ball?

Play doesn't stop when the lino puts his/her flag up... play to the whistle and all that

 

[Sean Thornton]

Play doesn't stop when the lino puts his/her flag up... play to the whistle and all that

The forum thanks you for stating the bleeding obvious. My point was that the player is deemed to be offside - in this case clearly - when the lino indicates to the referee and therefore, as I thought at the time, Bamford did it, knowing he was offside.

 

[stringer]

The forum thanks you for stating the bleeding obvious. My point was that the player is deemed to be offside - in this case clearly - when the lino indicates to the referee and therefore, as I thought at the time, Bamford did it, knowing he was offside.

Sure the flag didn't go up until he touched the ball. Remember being baffled at people booing Bamford for touching the ball in open play. And, until the referee blows, it doesn't matter a jot that the flag is up and the play is still active.

 

[pommpey]

a little bit of a go at pomps

What was of interest to me was the difference in our pitch and Barnsley on Saturday. Sure, the dingle pitch had a load of grass on it, but it still played like a pitch at the end of a season.

The Desso - as usual, was a magnificent surface to play football on - even in April.

UTB

Mate ... I am not turning this game review into a Desso debate, despite the boring one-notes on here wanting it to be. The pitch was wonderfully playable last night. It was wonderfully playable two seasons ago when we lost eight games on it. It didn't stop Boro coming at is in the second half last night though.

pommpey

 

[Davie Blade]

Sure the flag didn't go up until he touched the ball. Remember being baffled at people booing Bamford for touching the ball in open play. And, until the referee blows, it doesn't matter a jot that the flag is up and the play is still active.

Sorry if I am misreading/ interpreting this pinhead discussion but the laws are
The linesman can only flag after the attacker has touched the ball. i.e. interfering with play.
It is not an offence in itself to be in an offside position.

Wasn't the lino wrong on this occasion for flagging way before he touched it?
t

 

[Sean Thornton]

Sorry if I am misreading/ interpreting this pinhead discussion but the laws are
The linesman can only flag after the attacker has touched the ball. i.e. interfering with play.
It is not an offence in itself to be in an offside position.

Wasn't the lino wrong on this occasion for flagging way before he touched it?
t

It was I who said he had is flag up not Danny.


Edit

A player in an offside position (A) may be penalised before playing or touching the ball, if, in the opinion of the referee, no other team-mate in an onside position has the opportunity to play the ball.

 

[stringer]

Sorry if I am misreading/ interpreting this pinhead discussion but the laws are
The linesman can only flag after the attacker has touched the ball. i.e. interfering with play.
It is not an offence in itself to be in an offside position.

Wasn't the lino wrong on this occasion for flagging way before he touched it?
t

Less of the pinhead when you can't even quote the right person in a two-person discussion, eh?

 

[Sean Thornton]

Less of the pinhead when you can't even quote the right person in a two-person discussion, eh?

Not only that, he's not correct either.

 

[Davie Blade]

Less of the pinhead when you can't even quote the right person in a two-person discussion, eh?

It was discussing the finer points of misunderstandings which usually takes two.

The fault lied clearly with the lino who incorrectly flagged too early.

 

[Sean Thornton]

It was discussing the finer points of misunderstandings which usually takes two.

The fault lied clearly with the lino who incorrectly flagged too early.

But he wasn't incorrect.

 

[wizadry]

Not on the video I've watched. It was obvious he was offside (by about 20 yards) and like I say it was time wasting but the decision was offside and you can't get booked for that.

Agreed but I don’t think he’ll have been time wasting at 1-0 down, if he was he’s a daft twat.

 

[loyalblade95]

Whistle had not gone. Bamford's dink then allowed the ref to blow offside.

The flag went up just as he touched the ball the ref blew about 5 seconds later when the ball was nearing the net

 

[Pinchy]

Did the Shapla ? Actually just swerved it after the game and went to the Noodle Inn instead 8/10.
Fleck 8.5/10 ? wow ,wait till you see him have a decent game.

Fleck was poor by his standards. A central midfield player who scores both goals in a 2-1 win (especially two wonderful strikes) is almost certain to be man of the match as, indeed Evans most certainly was.

Jonny Lundstram played well and covered a lot of ground.

Only in S2 is passing the ball to each other characterised as ‘dicking about’. It’s all rather predictable, I’m afraid.

 

[Scooter_mcgavin]

Fleck was poor by his standards. A central midfield player who scores both goals in a 2-1 win (especially two wonderful strikes) is almost certain to be man of the match as, indeed Evans most certainly was.

Jonny Lundstram played well and covered a lot of ground.

Only in S2 is passing the ball to each other characterised as ‘dicking about’. It’s all rather predictable, I’m afraid.

Just like we were dicking about for 5 mins before Clarke should have buried it.

 

[Pinchy]

Just like we were dicking about for 5 mins before Clarke should have buried it.

He should, but he’s doing fine generally.

I Dickinabart.

 

[pommpey]

Fleck was poor by his standards. A central midfield player who scores both goals in a 2-1 win (especially two wonderful strikes) is almost certain to be man of the match as, indeed Evans most certainly was.

Jonny Lundstram played well and covered a lot of ground.

Only in S2 is passing the ball to each other characterised as ‘dicking about’. It’s all rather predictable, I’m afraid.

There were quite a few opportunities to put a through pass to Brooks or Clarke. The amount of overplaying last night led to us predictably losing possession or allowing Boro to move the play into the central third where we still struggled in a 3 versus 2 midfield.

Evans's strikes were indeed very good, but aside from that both he and Lundstram were (in my opinion) not as effective as they should have been with Fleck, who despite a hamstring niggle, covered a lot of the pitch to cover for the indecisiveness and said 'dicking about'.

And the least said about the ball which ended up in the kop near the end, the better. I'd at least expect to see the keeper tested from twenty yards with a ball to feet coming across the box.

pommpey

 

[Pinchy]

There were quite a few opportunities to put a through pass to Brooks or Clarke. The amount of overplaying last night led to us predictably losing possession or allowing Boro to move the play into the central third where we still struggled in a 3 versus 2 midfield.

Evans's strikes were indeed very good, but aside from that both he and Lundstram were (in my opinion) not as effective as they should have been with Fleck, who despite a hamstring niggle, covered a lot of the pitch to cover for the indecisiveness and said 'dicking about'.

And the least said about the ball which ended up in the kop near the end, the better. I'd at least expect to see the keeper tested from twenty yards with a ball to feet coming across the box.

pommpey

I think Evans played the best ball of the night through to Leon? A defence splitter.

What is dicking about and what’s your alternative?

We’ve disagreed about the chairman and our wonderful playing surface in the past but I haven’t previously thought you to have an affinity with hoof. I’m disappointed.

 

[pommpey]

I think Evans played the best ball of the night through to Leon? A defence splitter.

What is dicking about and what’s your alternative?

We’ve disagreed about the chairman and our wonderful playing surface in the past but I haven’t previously thought you to have an affinity with hoof. I’m disappointed.

Absolutely not. Typical 'play the man and not the ball on S24SU bollocks'.

In the second half their central midfield shut down any midfield advantage and we could not get forward enough to feed Brooks (who many times was ready to run onto in space for that very through ball. Instead the man in possession dillied and passed sideways or backwards. Where have we seen that before? Patterson? Doyle?

We did not make that extra man count last night and that responsibility lies with the midfield because that is where the 'hole' is opened up.

The 'dicking about' is epitomised by somewhere around the 70th minute where we did get it forward and it ended up back behind the centre circle in a joust off between three of our players and somehow ended up with Boro on the attack bearing down on our 18 yard line.

Unless you have another explanation about our lack of penetration and incapability to get a shot on target in the second half last night?

pommpey