tonight

[spadge]

Cant knock the performance tonight, in the first half we totally out played them, if we play like that on april 18th may be a day to remember. Up the Blades

can i also say loving the layout of the forum now

 

[BuryStEdmundsBlade]

Thought we played well and deserved a point tonight. Was nice to see a more positive performance after seeing the Scunny home match!

 

[WhiteHawk]

The ball didn't seem to fall for us at all in the second half, there were a few occasions where it just wouldn't drop to anyones feet on the edge of the area for us to have a shot.

Nosworthy was awful though. Was he supposed to be playing at RB? Cause I don't think I actually saw him in his position for the entire duration of the game.

 

[scouseblade]

Agree. Played very well and the game turned unfortunately because Morgan made a mistake. Surely he should have heeded the refs warning. I dont get it.

Positives tonight rather than negatives.

 

[Toronto Blade]

Morgan should have known that ref was looking to please that crowd he was warned although it was soft ,it happens every week in every match and goes unpunished.A rule that is rarely used and usually goes punished .
Tough that they couldn't get into halftime 1 up ,they did play well for a patched up lineup.Camara and Ward would have made a difference.

 

[Guesty]

To be honest, if Lovenkrands had worn his shooting boots, that would have been embarrassing.

All the players arguing about the penalty (including Speed) were just cretinous though. Morgan was repeatedly warned and was stupid in the extreme.

 

[WhiteHawk]

To be honest, if Lovenkrands had worn his shooting boots, that would have been embarrassing.

Thats actually a good point. Newcastle could and should have had quite a few goals tonight.

 

[Guesty]

Thats actually a good point. Newcastle could and should have had quite a few goals tonight.

I think you might find that sentiment very familiar

 

[Large Mendonca]

The ball didn't seem to fall for us at all in the second half, there were a few occasions where it just wouldn't drop to anyones feet on the edge of the area for us to have a shot.

Nosworthy was awful though. Was he supposed to be playing at RB? Cause I don't think I actually saw him in his position for the entire duration of the game.

I very rarely post these days, but one such performance from a supposed right back has convinced me to use my login in anger.

If Mr Nosworthy earns more than a couple of thousand quid a week (and thats generous) he's robbing a wage from us..........

 

[Bergen Blade]

Thought we fought very hard tonight and we did better than I feared. Despite us lining up with a very slow side, the players clearly wanted to give a good account of themselves and for a long time we frustrated them.

I think Nosworthy did well most of the time when one on one against the dangerous Gutierrez, but he was often so focused on him that he drifted out of the back four, and didn't care when other players made runs down our right hand side. I wonder what his instructions were.

 

[DP8789]

Well done to the lads tonight, although i have to say Andy Taylor was terrbile. Agree with Bergen about nosworthy, but to be fair Gutierrez is an Argentinian World Cup player, so not a bad night for him. Season is sadly over for us now, we would need to win all 4 and hope the majority above us have a good couple of slip ups, ah well. Carry on Regardless. UP THE BLADES.

 

[William Large]

It was a decent enough performance tonight, we played the ball to feet on the deck mainly and although Newcastle had some good chances I thought a draw would have been about right. Even squinn had a good game. Taylor is dog shit tho but better than Stewart. Is it time to stick or twist? Blackwell pisses me of with his constant bleating about debuts and loan players but he does have a point. We need mccabe to come out and tell the fans what the immediate future holds. You kind of feel that Blackwell just has to get on with it and take all the shit from the fans. Or is he a buffoon that needs to go? If so who to replace him? Speed? Curbishley? Maradona?

 

[William Large]

But we desperately need some pace. Thought the penalty was a bit harsh but Morgan is a cock For grabbing the pikey's shirt after he'd just been bolocked by the ref. He never learns does he? Always has to try and prove he's the hardest on the pitch.

 

[Large Mendonca]

Well done to the lads tonight, although i have to say Andy Taylor was terrbile. Agree with Bergen about nosworthy, but to be fair Gutierrez is an Argentinian World Cup player, so not a bad night for him. Season is sadly over for us now, we would need to win all 4 and hope the majority above us have a good couple of slip ups, ah well. Carry on Regardless. UP THE BLADES.

Jeez if you are in agreement that Nosworthy did ok then i need to take up a different sport.

By the way, that's not a dig at people's judgement (i reckon Bergen has a very good knowledge of the game) i think i REALLY need to watch something else......

 

[Elsecar_Blade]

I don't agree about Nosworthy having a bad game; I thought he was much better and more reliable tonight than any other time he's played for us. True, I was three mile above sea level looking down on the pitch but I thought he did OK. He struggled against Gutierrez in the second half but ANY right back in the Championship would have struggled against Gutierrez second half - he was awesome and looked a class above anything else on the pitch. Sometimes you have to hold your hand up and say that someone is better than you - Gutierrez was a better left winger than Nosworthy was a right back. That doesn't necessarily mean Nosworthy did anything particularly wrong.

I also don't agree about Taylor; he was much better than usual. Got forward well at times and - a couple of incidents aside first half - he dealt well with a very quick Wayne Routledge.

Morgan and Seip were rock solid. I can't comment on the penalty - it looked soft - but if what is said is true, then he was stupid. That's not a first for Mr Morgan either.

Midfield were much more effective in the first half but I thought they could have got closer second half. Maybe tired legs having played Saturday came into it. Harper was much better and Quinn - had his first touch been better - had a couple of dangerous positions for us. Thought Williamson needed to be believe in himself more; he had a good game but I would have liked to have seen him go at Enrique more instead of playing safe. Biggest grumble in the middle - and I'm not a big Monty knocker - was at Montgomery. He didn't get close enough to do what he does well and his passing was as poor as usual.

Front two worked well at times but I don't think they are a long term option. There were a couple of crosses from Taylor and Harper that were crying out for one of them to gamble on but they haven't the pace to get there. Henderson held the ball better tonight and Cresswell made some clever runs but they just lacked something together. They did - between them - get the goal so kudos for that.

I was a little bemused by the substitution of Williamson for Little. I didn't see how Little could improve on the situation with Gutierrez; nothing against Little but it opened Nosworthy up to Gutierrez and Enrique. I'd have been tempted to go with Geary on the right wing. Defensively, he could have helped Nosworthy out; and he has some attacking sense on the wing too. That would have left Little maybe as an option just off Henderson when Cresswell went off or in the middle of the park.

Blades fans were excellent - back to the Blades of old. Humour by the bucketload, an acceptance that we would struggle but that wouldn't stop us shouting and everybody UNITED. No criticisms, just support for 90 minutes. We completely out-sung the Geordies on their big night. The 'We're sending them down' chant could be catchy - although it would need adapting for Hillsborough and hopefully afterwards! The garden shed song and the 'Shit Ground, No Fans' chant was pretty cool too!

SJP is an amazing ground even if we couldn't make out who was who at times. A ground worthy of the Premier League. Newcastle should be OK if they keep their expectations down and simply go for survival. A goalscorer and a defender should suffice for them I think.

All in all, completely enjoyable day out. Up the Blades.

 

[sitwell]

Agree with all that ,and would also add that our keeper is top quality ,and thought you were a little harsh on Monty.

 

[Elsecar_Blade]

Agree with all that ,and would also add that our keeper is top quality ,and thought you were a little harsh on Monty.

Agree on Simonsen; would have no arguments with SUFC signing him as our number one. Unfortunately, it won't happen.

Monty - I'm thinking of two or three very poor balls and I wanted him to get on Guthrie more. He always seemed to be half a second too late tonight. I could be wrong.

 

[breeny]

But we desperately need some pace. Thought the penalty was a bit harsh but Morgan is a cock For grabbing the pikey's shirt after he'd just been bolocked by the ref. He never learns does he? Always has to try and prove he's the hardest on the pitch.

Agree totally - I am really proud to be a blade today after that performance but we do need pace up front (Camara would have been great last night) and what was Morgan thinking?! I'm looking forward to getting behind them on Saturday when hopefully we'll see more of the ball played on the deck...

 

[LouTheBlade]

I have read some of the positive comments about the performance on here and agree to an extent. United were good for large parts of the first half, particularly in midfield. I think a few of you are getting a little carried away though.....

Newcastle were nowhere near their best but still found it very easy to get in behind us repeatedly. We looked quite naive defensively and our delivery from the wide areas (other than the corner that led to the goal) was fairly poor. The good thing was that we were positive, showed no fear and had a go. But we have a lot of work to do over the summer!

Last night's game was a very good indication of where we are in terms of quality. We have a good core of hard working players with a little bit of talent, but we aren't incisive and inventive enough. The big difference was Newcastle's far superior use of the ball in attacking areas. I suppose they pay good money for that though. Not a bad effort from the Blades, but much improvement still needed.

 

[Elsecar_Blade]

I have read some of the positive comments about the performance on here and agree to an extent. United were good for large parts of the first half, particularly in midfield. I think a few of you are getting a little carried away though.....

Newcastle were nowhere near their best but still found it very easy to get in behind us repeatedly. We looked quite naive defensively and our delivery from the wide areas (other than the corner that led to the goal) was fairly poor. The good thing was that we were positive, showed no fear and had a go. But we have a lot of work to do over the summer!

Last night's game was a very good indication of where we are in terms of quality. We have a good core of hard working players with a little bit of talent, but we aren't incisive and inventive enough. The big difference was Newcastle's far superior use of the ball in attacking areas. I suppose they pay good money for that though. Not a bad effort from the Blades, but much improvement still needed.

Agree completely with all the above bolded parts.

I thought the crossing from wide wasn't too bad. I thought that the lack of a gamble on two or three of them - Cresswell from a Harper cross on the right where he cut back onto his left foot as one example - from the front two made them look worse than they were.

I think you have to question why Newcastle were nowhere near their best though; particularly first half, was that not because United didn't let them? Make no bones about it, they wanted to put on a show last night and United stopped them.

Still a lot of improvement needed BUT that was more like it. That was my United, that was the United that the rest of you all love. The battling underdog frightening the big boys to death. With a bit more belief, you never know ...

One thing I missed last night: it shows the importance of taking your chances. Right before Nolan's goal, Harper had a glorious chance to make it 2-1 to United. Had that gone in, it might have been very different.

UTB.