Stevens

[Sheff de party]

Genuinely thought Stevens did ok. Got forward, some clever touches. His crossing was abysmal though, but then again they all were.

 

[Sean Thornton]

Do you go to matches Sean? Or do you just sit on here trying to argue?

Stevens is grim.

Yes. I do go to matches. It's a pathetic jibe btw. Akin to "your mothers fat" jokes. Old, dated and irrelevant.

You can see my comments on the game on various threads which are based on what I saw today rather than having a hard on for one particular player. Even though no one - including me - claimed Stevens was decent - despite him getting JO'C out of the shite twice in the first half - You called Nick Jansky an idiot for speaking the truth. About the level we're at. He didn't defend Stevens, Yet you appear to blame Stevens for the defeat whilst ignoring the fact that several players, including a couple of crowd favourites were also notably poor. In fact Wilder criticised Basham for the goal, after charging upfield - harsh I thought because they had pace in spades - rather than Stevens overall.

The way to judge a players performance is comparison to his teammates. Not lined up to reflect your personal prejudices.

As for arguing, are you referring to a post you made but then pretended you haven't? And still haven't explained what you meant?

 

[finlaytheblade]

sorry nick but that was garbage wrong formation wrong players wrong tactics.. went ahead and lost again it’s like last season never ended yet we still have stevens lundstram and evans in the team .. we’ve been chronic since Christmas
and the long balls .. o connells worst game in the shirt he was hoofing it in the air .. 8 million my arse clarke on the pies
i drive 1000 miles for that
worst i’ve seen us under wilder fucking shambles

There were times when hoof ball was the pathway as swans closed us down very quickly leaving us with no options .Our defence was stretched for the entire game as the pace they had opened us up.
We were asking for trouble down the flanks all game and got punished in the end.
Playing against pace with our formation will always leave us open to the counter attack down the flanks.
Leicester destroyed us in a similar way in the cup last season (( league cup ).We recovered from that last season we need to do the same again.

 

[SuperDuperBlades]

It was a poor performance resulting from poor team selection and lack if imagination.

 

[WeareBlades]

Honestly don't know why some constantly look for a scapegoat or a player to slag off, had we won today would this thread exist? They were a few not at the races today maybe a couple of tactical changes would have been better but it's first game of season against a side probably pushing for top 6. Wish everyone would calm down, it's up to the team to turn it around and I'm sure they will.

 

[ucandomagic]

There were times when hoof ball was the pathway as swans closed us down very quickly leaving us with no options .Our defence was stretched for the entire game as the pace they had opened us up.
We were asking for trouble down the flanks all game and got punished in the end.
Playing against pace with our formation will always leave us open to the counter attack down the flanks.
Leicester destroyed us in a similar way in the cup last season (( league cup ).We recovered from that last season we need to do the same again.

Spot on. Demarai Gray took us to the cleaners with pace and close control.

Yesterday George scored on 62 minutes and on 63 Montero came on and changed the game. In the space of a few minutes he created at least 4 clear scoring opportunities - remember the header just past the post and the shot against the bar - all after his runs opened us up. George and Bash were totally incapable of coping with him- and our system left him loads of space to run in.

I’m sure that all the doom mongers on here were up and cheering when we went one up, and the posts would have been very different if we had held on, and that was two thirds of the game.

For me, we were just us for that first hour, but we ran around a lot in 25 degrees and were then asked to face a fresh player at a skill level that we are unfamiliar with. In the end we beat ourselves by running ourselves into the ground. They were like a boxer playing rope-a-dope, and then KO’d us with skill and pace. We need a way to deal with someone like him, but fortunately there are not many like him.

Magic Postponed - but only temporarily!

 

[WeareBlades]

Spot on. Demarai Gray took us to the cleaners with pace and close control.

Yesterday George scored on 62 minutes and on 63 Montero came on and changed the game. In the space of a few minutes he created at least 4 clear scoring opportunities - remember the header just past the post and the shot against the bar - all after his runs opened us up. George and Bash were totally incapable of coping with him- and our system left him loads of space to run in.

I’m sure that all the doom mongers on here were up and cheering when we went one up, and the posts would have been very different if we had held on, and that was two thirds of the game.

For me, we were just us for that first hour, but we ran around a lot in 25 degrees and were then asked to face a fresh player at a skill level that we are unfamiliar with. In the end we beat ourselves by running ourselves into the ground. They were like a boxer playing rope-a-dope, and then KO’d us with skill and pace. We need a way to deal with someone like him, but fortunately there are not many like him.

Magic Postponed - but only temporarily!

Thing is with these players that former premier league teams can pull off bench who are on 30k+ a week can probably produce special moments. Don't worry tho a lot of our fans think that no matter who comes off bench we will always deal with any pressure/chances

 

[LJBlade]

I'm fairly sure he miss hit his cross and baldock just happened to be in the space, don't think he was looking for him. Worse crosser of the ball since Jordan Stewart.

You mean the cross for our goal, which Lundstram put in?

 

[Eric Cartman]

Yes. I do go to matches. It's a pathetic jibe btw. Akin to "your mothers fat" jokes. Old, dated and irrelevant.

You can see my comments on the game on various threads which are based on what I saw today rather than having a hard on for one particular player. Even though no one - including me - claimed Stevens was decent - despite him getting JO'C out of the shite twice in the first half - You called Nick Jansky an idiot for speaking the truth. About the level we're at. He didn't defend Stevens, Yet you appear to blame Stevens for the defeat whilst ignoring the fact that several players, including a couple of crowd favourites were also notably poor. In fact Wilder criticised Basham for the goal, after charging upfield - harsh I thought because they had pace in spades - rather than Stevens overall.

The way to judge a players performance is comparison to his teammates. Not lined up to reflect your personal prejudices.

As for arguing, are you referring to a post you made but then pretended you haven't? And still haven't explained what you meant?

In YOUR opinion Nick spoke the truth. That’s down to a matter of opinion rather than fact.

I’ve said on another thread JOC was terrible today, takes nothing away from the fact Stevens is awful.

And you say ‘nobody says he’s decent’ - but Chris obviously must think he is because he’s starting every week with absolutely no mention of strengthening that area of the pitch. The bloke has been woeful for 9 months barring the odd decent performance. That is a fact.

And Chris for me is wrong to single out Bash. He was poor today but the goals came from the left side, not the right. They easily could’ve though when Baldock tried to shepherd it out and Montero got around his and somehow McBurnie managed to wrap his head around it.

Best striker I’ve seen against us since we’ve been in this division I think despite his shit goal. His all round game is fantastic.

 

[Kevincarterversion2.0]

I think most of the team was pretty poor yesterday. While think comments such as garbage and sh1t to describe Stevens are excessively harsh, he needs to do more IMO. Our threat yesterday was mostly from the right, and it reminded me of towards the end of last season.

Stevens needs to up his game, I dont think it's being harsh to say that.

 

[Sean Thornton]

In YOUR opinion Nick spoke the truth. That’s down to a matter of opinion rather than fact.

I’ve said on another thread JOC was terrible today, takes nothing away from the fact Stevens is awful.

And you say ‘nobody says he’s decent’ - but Chris obviously must think he is because he’s starting every week with absolutely no mention of strengthening that area of the pitch. The bloke has been woeful for 9 months barring the odd decent performance. That is a fact.

And Chris for me is wrong to single out Bash. He was poor today but the goals came from the left side, not the right. They easily could’ve though when Baldock tried to shepherd it out and Montero got around his and somehow McBurnie managed to wrap his head around it.

Best striker I’ve seen against us since we’ve been in this division I think despite his shit goal. His all round game is fantastic.

The opinion is based on fact. Not enough funds for better signings. Surely you aren't arguing against that?

That is a fact, he's not playing well. Most agree. That's questionfor Wilder. Maybe he'll tell you it's not his priority at the moment because he's looking at strengthening elsewhere and he's only got so much money to spend (which brings us bank to Nick Janskys point about where we are)

I said I thought the comment re Basham was harsh, yes he got skinned but maybe he might not have been so far up the pitch if the central midfield had more about them on the day. The second goal came from the right btw and was scored from the middle.

 

[Bashar Al Asaba]

He's a shit Jordan Stewart.

 

[Eric Cartman]

The opinion is based on fact. Not enough funds for better signings. Surely you aren't arguing against that?

That is a fact, he's not playing well. Most agree. That's questionfor Wilder. Maybe he'll tell you it's not his priority at the moment because he's looking at strengthening elsewhere and he's only got so much money to spend (which brings us bank to Nick Janskys point about where we are)

I said I thought the comment re Basham was harsh, yes he got skinned but maybe he might not have been so far up the pitch if the central midfield had more about them on the day. The second goal came from the right btw and was scored from the middle.

We could surely loan someone better? Jay DaSilva at Chelsea for one. Also when we’ve apparently ‘not touched the Brooks money’ yet, and you’ve got to assume we won’t be spending it all on a striker. So there should be funds available should we need them.

Sorry, you’re right. Was thinking about the effort from McKay that hit the crossbar while he was basically unmarked.

 

[BerksBlade]

Yesterday George scored on 62 minutes and on 63 Montero came on and changed the game. In the space of a few minutes he created at least 4 clear scoring opportunities - remember the header just past the post and the shot against the bar - all after his runs opened us up. George and Bash were totally incapable of coping with him- and our system left him loads of space to run in.

Agree Montero was the difference.
I need to go back & watch it again, but my impression was that a couple of times Stevens opted to move inside to protect the goal rather than mark someone. So we had 3 players around McBurnie but left other players unmarked.
Don't know whether it's because Egan is still settling in, but I didn't see much organisation & unity there.

 

[Chali 2na]

Look at this discussion, how a few games can change things eh?

Stevens has responded to his poor start well and has looked great recently - can it really be all down to the speculation/signing of Johnson?

Looking fitter, defending better and making better choices going forward.

 

[DronnieBlade]

Look at this discussion, how a few games can change things eh?

Stevens has responded to his poor start well and has looked great recently - can it really be all down to the speculation/signing of Johnson?

Looking fitter, defending better and making better choices going forward.

Stevens did not have a great start.

But it was hardly poor.

One player that I certainly think has copped for a lot more stick than has been justified, tbph.

Genuine lack of understanding by many of what his role actually demands. Most of which, he executes consistently well.

UTB

 

[Chali 2na]

Stevens did not have a great start.

But it was hardly poor.

One player that I certainly think has copped for a lot more stick than has been justified, tbph.

Genuine lack of understanding by many of what his role actually demands. Most of which, he executes consistently well.

UTB

I didn't go to Boro, I only saw him against Swansea and I'd say he was maybe below average, either way the response has been first class.

He does play his role well, but I felt at times last season he was found out of position and I just found him slightly frustrating going forward; making the wrong decisions or over-hitting crosses

I'm delighted to say, in the last 4 games he's been great, really seems to be kicking on and addressing some of the flaws in his game.

 

[Fulwood Blade]

Whether it is Norwood that has had an influence on his game, I am not sure, but he has stepped up in the past few games.

Much much better - more consistent and perhaps he's getting 7's out 10 now.

Just needs to keep it up.

UTB

 

[Blade56]

Clean slates all round, players and fans. Pull together

 

[Eric Cartman]

I think I said after Norwich he’d improved. In fairness he wasn’t bad at QPR.

I think we bottomed out at Boro. A lot of players learned some harsh truths after that I believe. Big improvement all round since then - coinciding with the arrival of Norwood.

 

[Rodley]

Look at this discussion, how a few games can change things eh?

Stevens has responded to his poor start well and has looked great recently - can it really be all down to the speculation/signing of Johnson?

Looking fitter, defending better and making better choices going forward.

Think it’s Norwood being at the base of the midfield. Gives us loads more balance so less play is compressed on the left side. Enda can receive the ball more on the front foot.

 

[The Jackdaw]

So we’ve gone from “fucking garbage, get rid” to “did great today” all in the space of 32 days. Is this a new record?

 

[Cerberus Blade]

In the future there will be better left backs. For now, he’s perfectly good enough.

 

[Iceybabey]

Imo, Stevens struggled due to our midfield. I think with Norwood in the side it has allowed Stevens to concentrate on going forward, rather than worrying about Evans slowing things down and playing him a sideways pass when he's under pressure.

 

[Shirty Blade]

Imo, Stevens struggled due to our midfield. I think with Norwood in the side it has allowed Stevens to concentrate on going forward, rather than worrying about Evans slowing things down and playing him a sideways pass when he's under pressure.

I entirely agree! A central midfield of Norwood and Fleck enables the wing backs to shine! A midfield which comprised of Evans and Lundstram put serious limitations on what the wing back could contribute. Stevens and Freeman are looking sound! I reckon that Baldock will also benefit and Johnson when he gets his chance.

 

[coaxingstar71]

Think it’s Norwood being at the base of the midfield. Gives us loads more balance so less play is compressed on the left side. Enda can receive the ball more on the front foot.

^^^^ This.

When Evans and Lundstram passed the ball, the receiving player invariably had to check and take a touch before getting it under control. Note that when Norwood passes the ball, it invariably arrives right on the toe of the receiving player which means they can instantly get it under control and move forward at the same time. It's making a big difference to the way that #EndaDefenda is able to play. It's the timing too, as the receiving player you call and that's when you need to receive the ball, not 3 seconds later when the opportunity has gone and you're under pressure.