Reaching our Ceiling?

[SwissBlade]

No shame in saying it that we have reached our ceiling, in so many way's at Anfield against the Champions of Europe and barring a disaster, the Premier League Champions. Liverpool were far and away better than any other side we've played this season. Outclassed, Outfought, Out thought. But i'm actually ok with that.

When we were in the Championship and lost to Boro and Cardiff I did wonder how we would recover. Then when we faded during the later parts of that season I had a few moments to wonder again how we would come back. Last season, we got the hammer blow at the end of the Millwall game, we were almost done. At least so it seemed.

This season, VAR setbacks, defeats at home and now two away against the top two sides in the league. I didn't need to worry back then and I don't think we need to worry now. At least not too much.

Last night told me, despite it also being an offday for us, we've reached our ceiling. The current one.

I've been sat here at work listening to the Wilder Podcast and just also flicked our tunnel music on, Comeback Kid by Kasabian. How appropriate. This club is learning from mistakes and setbacks. The character is there for all to see.

The major difference between this side and the other two United sides that got promoted to the top division in the last 30 years is that we're not at our limit. We're constantly evolving, Wilder, Knill and the backroom staff haven't run out of ideas. We'll be back against West Ham at home, Comeback Kid turned up to the max in the tunnel.

And these players know that whilst we've reached the ceiling, its just a ceiling, we can build again and test ourselves against the top teams. We won't play a more intimidating side again this season, we won't be dominated again like that.

Smash the ceiling and take us to the next level.

 

[Paulus]

I'm always gloomy when United lose and now we've lost two on the spin I can't pretend I'm not a bit pissed but realistically everyone picked out this part of the season as a bit of a nightmare as soon as the fixtures came out and it doesn't get much easier over the next few fixtures either. I thought we looked tired and we really didn't get into any sort of rhythm, which was disappointing but give the A team the weekend off and then we go again, for Christ sake they turned Leicester over by 4 at their place and put 4 past Barcelona a few months ago. Love the Blades me.

 

[Rodders]

No shame in saying it that we have reached our ceiling, in so many way's at Anfield against the Champions of Europe and barring a disaster, the Premier League Champions. Liverpool were far and away better than any other side we've played this season. Outclassed, Outfought, Out thought. But i'm actually ok with that.

When we were in the Championship and lost to Boro and Cardiff I did wonder how we would recover. Then when we faded during the later parts of that season I had a few moments to wonder again how we would come back. Last season, we got the hammer blow at the end of the Millwall game, we were almost done. At least so it seemed.

This season, VAR setbacks, defeats at home and now two away against the top two sides in the league. I didn't need to worry back then and I don't think we need to worry now. At least not too much.

Last night told me, despite it also being an offday for us, we've reached our ceiling. The current one.

I've been sat here at work listening to the Wilder Podcast and just also flicked our tunnel music on, Comeback Kid by Kasabian. How appropriate. This club is learning from mistakes and setbacks. The character is there for all to see.

The major difference between this side and the other two United sides that got promoted to the top division in the last 30 years is that we're not at our limit. We're constantly evolving, Wilder, Knill and the backroom staff haven't run out of ideas. We'll be back against West Ham at home, Comeback Kid turned up to the max in the tunnel.

And these players know that whilst we've reached the ceiling, its just a ceiling, we can build again and test ourselves against the top teams. We won't play a more intimidating side again this season, we won't be dominated again like that.

Smash the ceiling and take us to the next level.

I agree Swizzler, Wilde’s taken us as far as he can.

 

[SwissBlade]

I'm always gloomy when United lose and now we've lost two on the spin I can't pretend I'm not a bit pissed but realistically everyone picked out this part of the season as a bit of a nightmare as soon as the fixtures came out and it doesn't get much easier over the next few fixtures either. I thought we looked tired and we really didn't get into any sort of rhythm, which was disappointing but give the A team the weekend off and then we go again, for Christ sake they turned Leicester over by 4 at their place and put 4 past Barcelona a few months ago. Love the Blades me.

I love that teams like Liverpool and City are putting their best sides out against us. Michael Owen said it was a bit of downside to our success, but surely you want to play the best players in the best sides.

And you're right, this side hammered Leicester, hammered Barcelona and we've had just 3 goals put past us in two games against them and opportunities to score (Fleck in the first game and McBurnie last night). Some negatives, but lots of positives to take away.

Can't wait for Friday's game against West Ham

 

[Superblades]

As long as we stay up then I’m more than happy. It reminds me of the first season back in the Championship, started off well but then we hit the second part of the season and kind of stalled. That is in no way a criticism of this team before I get shouted down. As long as Wilder is given the backing then I think we will be stronger next season.

 

[finlaytheblade]

I agree Swizzler, Wilde’s taken us as far as he can.

I think you have taken Swissblade out of context Rodders,The squad as it is has maybe reached its pinnacle but Wilder and Knill have ideas I'm sure to move us forward.
In other words theres more to come from CWAK we have to move on and evolve which is a constant in football.

 

[A Storm of Blades]

Imagine how good we can be with CWAK at the helm, if we can stay in the league earning elite money. There’s no reason we can’t emulate Leicester in 3-4 seasons.

 

[SwissBlade]

I think you have taken Swissblade out of context Rodders,The squad as it is has maybe reached its pinnacle but Wilder and Knill have ideas I'm sure to move us forward.
In other words theres more to come from CWAK we have to move on and evolve which is a constant in football.

I think it might've been a little tongue in cheek from Rodders

I don't know whether the squad has reached its pinnacle, but i think we have to look at the performance and every aspect (including the players available) and review what went wrong. How can we get the next level of performance from the team? Is it a personnel issue, fitness, tactics, system, fatigue?

Its what i love about this set up, we learn from mistakes and move on

 

[JackSUFC]

Results at Liverpool and Man City away were never going to define our season though. In a way it’s good we’ve had those games back to back and out the way.

Time to get a positive result against West Ham and kick on for the rest of the season.

 

[SwissBlade]

Results at Liverpool and Man City away were never going to define our season though. In a way it’s good we’ve had those games back to back and out the way.

Time to get a positive result against West Ham and kick on for the rest of the season.

Of course the results don't define our season, but we can measure how far we've come from milestone games.
We can also measure how far off we are from the likes of Liverpool, Leicester C, Man City and Wolves

Wolves, Villa and Norwich are probably our best measures for this season as we've played them in the last couple of years.

But Liverpool is a great benchmark to take forward to next season, providing we're still here

 

[Rodley]

8th in the league with our toughest run of games coming to an end by Feb.

 

[Moosie]

Last night reminded me of the Wolves match in our first season back in the championship. We were beaten by a team of far better players. Even Wilder said in his interview how much he admires what Liverpool have been doing.

We've just lost two on the bounce, one to the best club team in the world & Europe in Liverpool, and one of the best in Europe in City. There's no shame in that. Leicester got turned over by both teams far easier than us and they didn't have a sniff of the ball in each match. At least we can say we may have got something from the City game with better finishing and well, we'll not got there.

We move onto Friday, we bounce back. Surely everyone's expectations this season was to try and stay up? We've got 29 points and need another 10-11 for safety in 17 games. Unless we have a catastrophic downturn in form, I'm certain we'll get that total before the end of the season. We've shown we can bounce back from defeats before, so why can't we do it again.

Then we build on this success like we did in the championship and go again next season.

 

[Kozzy_is_my_Dad]

Tried a good set of ladders?

 

[hidesbehindapseudonym]

Next 6 games are going to be interesting. We were piss poor last night.

 

[Rollerball]

As a pool fan said, looked like the players wanted no part of the Liverpool team, granted the early mistake/goal certainly knocked the stuffing out of the whole team, especially baldock, the right side looked shell shocked , the defence tho solid looked half a yard slower, not said this before but Liverpool out worked the Blades.
On a plus side I really believe wilder and knill will have took notes and as always learnt from a quite painful lesson, I sincerely doubt any other team for the rest of the season will be as good as what we saw at a field nor the Blades play so star struck. Valuable lesson dissect it, learn from it, move on. Fa cup for the fringe players then back to it vs the hammers. Onwards and upwards.

 

[Greasy Chap Butty]

No shame in saying it that we have reached our ceiling, in so many way's at Anfield against the Champions of Europe and barring a disaster, the Premier League Champions. Liverpool were far and away better than any other side we've played this season. Outclassed, Outfought, Out thought. But i'm actually ok with that.

When we were in the Championship and lost to Boro and Cardiff I did wonder how we would recover. Then when we faded during the later parts of that season I had a few moments to wonder again how we would come back. Last season, we got the hammer blow at the end of the Millwall game, we were almost done. At least so it seemed.

This season, VAR setbacks, defeats at home and now two away against the top two sides in the league. I didn't need to worry back then and I don't think we need to worry now. At least not too much.

Last night told me, despite it also being an offday for us, we've reached our ceiling. The current one.

I've been sat here at work listening to the Wilder Podcast and just also flicked our tunnel music on, Comeback Kid by Kasabian. How appropriate. This club is learning from mistakes and setbacks. The character is there for all to see.

The major difference between this side and the other two United sides that got promoted to the top division in the last 30 years is that we're not at our limit. We're constantly evolving, Wilder, Knill and the backroom staff haven't run out of ideas. We'll be back against West Ham at home, Comeback Kid turned up to the max in the tunnel.

And these players know that whilst we've reached the ceiling, its just a ceiling, we can build again and test ourselves against the top teams. We won't play a more intimidating side again this season, we won't be dominated again like that.

Smash the ceiling and take us to the next level.

We have for now, I agree.
Most of us came into this season with our expected ceiling for the season to be anyrhing above 4th bottom.
I hoped we'd pick up enough points, and also prepared myself for some proper thrashings at City and Pool.
Coming away from that, well beaten but only by 2-0, and could have nicked a bit better, makes be pround and amazed at what our current ceiling is.

 

[finlaytheblade]

I think it might've been a little tongue in cheek from Rodders

I don't know whether the squad has reached its pinnacle, but i think we have to look at the performance and every aspect (including the players available) and review what went wrong. How can we get the next level of performance from the team? Is it a personnel issue, fitness, tactics, system, fatigue?

Its what i love about this set up, we learn from mistakes and move on

I think you can throw all those things into the mix Swissblade. For me it's really to improve the squad I'm not critical of anyone as the squad has done great for us.
Right from day 1 when CWAK came in they have improved the squad the team now is far different from the league 1 champions ,
the nucleus is still there but the team around that has changed as we got better and better.
We have reached a point now where it gets really difficult to improve the team when we have a tight budget( no criticism of the owners there we are where we are ) can CWAK pull some more rabbits out of the hat ?.We will be trawling Europe now as getting bargains is difficult in England now we are in premiership. They are still there but prices will go up steeply , premiership prices.
Going to be another interesting window.

 

[GRUMPY BLADE]

I agree Swizzler, Wilde’s taken us as far as he can.

For fucks sake.

 

[Melbourne Blade]

How the fuck can we expect to compete with Liverpool in our first season back?! It's ridiculous.

Half our team were league one players two years ago yet here we are, sitting 8th in the premier league and only lost 2 nil to the best 2 teams in the prem.

I think a lot of fans are overreacting right now and should just shut the fuck up.

 

[SittingontheBall]

Hopefully last night was a one-off.
Out of possession we were ourselves in terms of our defensive structure but in possession we were mostly woeful, not ourselves at all.
Don’t agree it was the early goal. Straight from the kick off we passed backwards and then lumped the ball out of play for their goal kick. Mostly we were poor when we had the ball only a couple of times did we move the ball well.
Not sure if it was the occasion that got to us or the if relentless pressurising by Liverpool caused it but we appeared sluggish and were under hitting simple passes.
Back to normal next week!

 

[John Street West Terrace]

We never realistically expected anything from either of our last two matches but last night I thought we looked tired a bit leggy . Liverpool are an exceptional side but I think they won in third gear last night , as well as the obvious talent they have they looked fitter & stronger than us but that’s the advantage that depth of squad offers you when the games come thick and fast over the Christmas period .As said no shame in either defeat it’s probably a measure of how good we’ve been and the high standard we’ve set when there’s a tinge of disappointment losing away to the European Champions on their own ground !! I don’t know maybe I was just hoping that we might have pushed them like Brighton , Watford & Wolves had recently but I think the exertions of Thursday took there toll a bit last night .
Lets get back to business & against West Ham in a week & hopefully add a new face or two to bolster the squad as we still have some tough games ahead & hopefully we’ll be back challenging on 4 cylinders again .

It’s been an incredible 12 months ... UTB

 

[finlaytheblade]

You have a good point there Melbourn , it's up to CWAK to move on that. We have to be carefull we dont throw the baby out with the bathwater having said that to maintain our progress improvements have to be made and CWAK will be on the case..
No matter what happens next the journey has been fantastic so far.
The money now at the top level has made a bridge which is full of holes and many promoted teams fall through one ,hopefully we can negotiate that and make it to the other side.I dont think Wilder will be happy just to reach the other side.We have to progress which so far has been remarkable.
Can we bridge the gap between mid table and the top 8 ? Tough but I think that's what Wilder will drive for.
We are not ready for top 8 ( european football would be a step too far at the moment ) wont stop us having a crack if it happened though.
Would rather have a good cup run ,that would make the juices flow

 

[ChipButtyBlade]

Will the roof cave in if we lose our next four games,3 at home and 1 away.

Home form is unpredictable,we should piss all over Fylde but with 11 second stringers playing who knows.

Then West Ham rock up and for many reasons their fans would love a victory at the Lane,i could not rule it out.

Then Arsenal away a rejuvenated Arsenal at that under Arteta.

Then Man City role up to Bramall Lane,to see how strong those acro props are holding that ceiling up.

 

[dublin 10 blade]

Imagine how good we can be with CWAK at the helm, if we can stay in the league earning elite money. There’s no reason we can’t emulate Leicester in 3-4 seasons.

Be close to a 1/4 of a billion £’s after 2 seasons
Sir Chris and AK will be able to recruit players to the next level ( wolves / Leicester maybe ) but hopefully top 10 on a regular basis if we stay up

 

[Badger Blade]

This Liverpool team are the best team that any of these players and coaching team have faced and may ever face and lets face it, we've gone the way of everyone else before us so I wouldn't be disheartened by going there or the Etihad for that matter and getting beaten.

We've picked up results in the games we expected to and once we play City at home, we've managed to get these games out the way in one go so we can focus on picking up points elsewhere because as we've already seen now, there's nobody to fear.

 

[CarlMcBlade]

Looking on the bright side. Our first and much anticipated “reality check” has come 21 games into the season.........

 

[Cerberus Blade]

This Liverpool team are the best team that any of these players and coaching team have faced and may ever face and lets face it, we've gone the way of everyone else before us so I wouldn't be disheartened by going there or the Etihad for that matter and getting beaten.

We've picked up results in the games we expected to and once we play City at home, we've managed to get these games out the way in one go so we can focus on picking up points elsewhere because as we've already seen now, there's nobody to fear.

It was the manner in which we lost which was so disappointing. Totally accept that Liverpool were immense, but we played awful. We lost by the same margin to Man City the other night, but played a hell of a lot better at City and I came away from that game accepting of the result and performance. I felt let down last night by the way we played. I didn't expect us to win and even a draw would have been a great result, but I did expect us to be us - and we weren't. Watford gave Liverpool a much harder game two weeks ago. It was so uncharacteristic of everything we've come to expect from the Blades under Wilder. Maybe it's to do with having two gruelling games against the best two sides in Europe in the space of a few days? I'm pleased that Wilder tells it as it is as well. He said himself that it just wasn't a good performance from us - and he's right. Liverpool were great - but we could have been a lot better - and we weren't. That's what is so disappointing - not the result.

Anyhow - onwards and upwards - hopefully! If any good has come out of this then I think it may have strengthened Wilder's arm in the transfer window?

 

[tincan]

We have for now, I agree.
Most of us came into this season with our expected ceiling for the season to be anyrhing above 4th bottom.
I hoped we'd pick up enough points, and also prepared myself for some proper thrashings at City and Pool.
Coming away from that, well beaten but only by 2-0, and could have nicked a bit better, makes be pround and amazed at what our current ceiling is.

Its just a matter of perspective, we've not reached our ceiling - we're on the floor of the next level. The fact its taken a great team on the third greatest unbeaten run of all time to stop us - thats some achievement.

 

[SwitchBLADE Smiles]

Let's be honest, if our ceiling is struggling away against arguably the best team on planet earth with a side where 4 of the players were in division 3 just three years ago, then I'm quite happy with that.

Our ultimate aim is to establish ourselves as a Premier League team for the forseeable future. No more, no less. In a couple of seasons time, who knows where we could be. Wilder, Knill et al need tying down to lucrative, long term deals this afternoon. The continual improvement we've seen as a side under their guidance has been unprecedented & if we allow them to just leave now we've made it to the big time, then more fool us.

 

[Badger Blade]

It was the manner in which we lost which was so disappointing. Totally accept that Liverpool were immense, but we played awful. We lost by the same margin to Man City the other night, but played a hell of a lot better at City and I came away from that game accepting of the result and performance. I felt let down last night by the way we played. I didn't expect us to win and even a draw would have been a great result, but I did expect us to be us - and we weren't. Watford gave Liverpool a much harder game two weeks ago. It was so uncharacteristic of everything we've come to expect from the Blades under Wilder. Maybe it's to do with having two gruelling games against the best two sides in Europe in the space of a few days? I'm pleased that Wilder tells it as it is as well. He said himself that it just wasn't a good performance from us - and he's right. Liverpool were great - but we could have been a lot better - and we weren't. That's what is so disappointing - not the result.

Anyhow - onwards and upwards - hopefully! If any good has come out of this then I think it may have strengthened Wilder's arm in the transfer window?

It does beg the question of the depth of our squad as the season goes on because within the 25 we've got, there are probably 3 or 4 within that who we wouldn't want anywhere near a starting spot so don't have the same luxuries the likes of Liverpool and many others have where they can rotate. Couple of additions in place of a few of the duffers still kicking around and we'll be fine, just don't lose to Fylde!