18/09/10 - Sheffield United v. Portsmouth

[Kopped]

What's your line-up today?

For me, after listening to Speedo all week, he's made a few hints at Quinn and Morgan and possibly someone different up front.

Here's what I reckon:

Simonsen

Lowton, Morgan, Bartley, Jordan

Calve, Britton, Ertl, Quinn

Ward, Bogdanovic

Subs:
Arksalu, Taylor, Ronny, Cresswell, Monty, Yeates, Evans

 

[Latters]

I fancy something along these lines with Ward, Quinny and Yeates pushing on.


Simonsen

Calve, Morgan, Nozzer, Jordan

Ward, Britton, Ertl, Yeates

Quinn

Bogdanovic

If we had any other options Ward would be straight out though as he's been dog turd of late.

As we're trying to play football Bartley should be dropped. He's the worst offender for aimless punts upfield.

 

[DuncDisorderly]

As we're trying to play football Bartley should be dropped. He's the worst offender for aimless punts upfield.

It may say more about the confidence he has in playing it about with Nos, than about his own ability...

 

[Northyorksblade]

As we're trying to play football Bartley should be dropped. He's the worst offender for aimless punts upfield.[/QUOTE]

Shame Nos didn't try some aimless punts upfield on Tuesday night. He scares the crap out of me when trying to play it out of defence.

 

[Highbury_Blade]

It may say more about the confidence he has in playing it about with Nos, than about his own ability...

Anyone know how much we're paying him a week?

 

[Elsecar_Blade]

Simonsen

Calve | Morgan | Bartley | Jordan

Ertl | Britton | Quinn

Ward | Evans | Yeates/Cresswell

SUBS: Yeates/Cresswell, Bogdanovich, Nosworthy, Lowton, Aksalu, Montgomery, Taylor

Can't make my mind up whether I'd drop Cressy at the moment. I think he's been below par but is still our best chance of a goal.

 

[Latters]

Shame Nos didn't try some aimless punts upfield on Tuesday night. He scares the crap out of me when trying to play it out of defence.

He does worry me too but, to be fair to Nozzer, it usually comes off for him. The other night was the worst performance I've seen from him but I still think him and Morgs are our best centre half pairing. Both strong, experienced, technically good enough and, despite people's view of Morgs, less likely to just lump it for the sake. With Britton sat just in front of them and two competent full backs, that should provide enough outlet for them not to need to welly it in the majority of circumstances.

Almost every time you see the ball bounce in front of Bartley, even when there isn't an opponent for miles, he just side foots it up in the air.

 

[SwissBlade]

3-1 Blades

 

[Foxy]

Anyone know how much we're paying him a week?

Couldn't tell you, but I'd hazard a guess he's on more than Davies was.

Davies we ended up paying his full wages at > £16k/17k

 

[Highbury_Blade]

Couldn't tell you, but I'd hazard a guess he's on more than Davies was.

Davies we ended up paying his full wages at > £16k/17k

Crikey! Davies was on that much? Hardly a bargain was he?

 

[Toronto Blade]

It should be a good contest they are coming off a midweek thumping as well.With only one home goal it is time that we banged a few in.

 

[JinBlade]

3-1 Blades.

I'd like to see Boggy on first half, and Ched the second. I'm not a fan of Evans, but I have a sneaking suspicion he's growing in confidence. I don't think it'll hurt for him to know though that his selection isn't a given.

 

[davidpinder]

Morgs only change is a surprise, speed will have to carry the blame if it goes tits up again

 

[Toronto Blade]

Sounds like they are being physical with us,Morgan missing is a big loss.

 

[Highbury_Blade]

Get in Chedster!

 

[Bergen Blade]

Evans!!!:thumbup:

 

[norfolkblade]

There's only one Chedwyn Evans!!

 

[Toronto Blade]

Big lift for Evans and the fans!

 

[Linz]

That bloody referee... absolutely appauling decisions. He's either incompetent or a cheat. Cotterill and his assistant (who nicely gestured that the home fans were "wankers" on more than one occasion) never gave over chuffing whinging about him and the bloody decisions they got! Ridiculous.

As for United... it was scrappy. There were moments of very good football tempered with more panicky, rash and downright stupid football. There still aren't enough clear-cut chances on goal and very little understanding between the forwards and with the midfield.

Britts played very well again and Simmo made some good saves. Quinny and Yeates also did well when they came on. I'd give it a D+... a pass but must do better.

 

[beechblade]

I wasn't thrilled by the game but it was a nice goal and certain lift for Chedwyn.

Portsmouth just came to kick us off the park and grab a point, second half they started throwing themselves all over the pitch, as Linz said the referee was utter toss, so inconsistent its unbelieveable. Brown and their left back should have been off simple as, Brown went in to take Britt's out as they couldn't deal with him, and their left back hacked down Calve got a yellow then got let off with the blatant handball. The officating in this country seriously needs looking at.

I totally agree too Linz the lack of communication between the forwards in that system really worries me, they're either too far apart or all stood on top of each other at one corner of the field. Scrappy game but a win.

 

[shorehamview]

Football? Pah. Look what we missed out on today - this bad boy!

It's also nice to see that whereas some footballers that get older make up for their lack of pace with a greater reading of the game so that they are always a yard or two ahead of play Michael Brown makes up for his lack of pace with a greater amount of fouling. He could have been the recipient of at least half a dozen yellow cards today. Dave Kitson did nothing to dispel the allegations that he is in fact a whining ginner twat either.

 

[Linz]

They were at it with the ref right from the handshakes. They surrounded him at half time and their bench were playing bloody hell with the fourth official.

Yet they got away with murder. Our ten yards and their ten yards were two completely different things according to the referee. A late and high challenge is the same punishment as standing next to a player who falls over. We can wait ten minutes to take our freekick for Kitson to tie his shoelace yet Ertl gets booked for letting the ball hit him on the back when jogging away from a freekick they wanted to take!

 

[LoughboroBlade]

I thought it was very poor for the most part, and we only started to play well further forward after we went one up. Officials awful, but not responsible for our lack of effectiveness.

Some quick ratings...

Simmo 9/10 - superb, made a number of excellent saves to keep us in it.

Calve 6/10 - got better as the game wore on but defensively looks a bit dodgy in my opinion.

Jordan 6/10 - not as amazing a step up on Tailor than I'd been led to believe

Bartley 6.5/10 - best defender on the day

Morgs - n/a. Nosworthy 5.5/10 - never a dull moment...

Monty 5/10 - started ok, but got noticeably worse as game wore on.

Ertl 5.5/10 - marginally better than Monty

Britton 7.5/10 - looks to have a level of intelligence far above those around him

Cresswell 5.5/10 - poor game I thought, improved slightly when he and Evans swapped

Ward 4/10 - I thought he was terrible. I like Wardy, but today he offered nothing - other than selfish and wasteful play.

Evans 6.5/10 - by no means great, but certainly our best attacker today. Created a super chance 1st half, but otherwise looked isolated in the middle. When switched with Cresswell and made the left sided forward looked much improved. Super finish from the free-kick, deserved some luck

Quinny - anonymous till after the goal, got into some great positions thereafter but his cut backs lacked quality

Yeates - looked good, and did more good work in his brief cameo than Ward did all game. Possibly deserves a start next game

That was the 1st time I've been able to get to the Lane this season. While there were signs of decent play, I am a bit worried. We never looked comfortable at the back, and the front three didn't look like they were on the same wavelength. We need an injection of quality into the team, because we rely too much on Britton to do everything.

Lastly, it's the quietest crowd I can recall in some time, which is concerning.

Oh, and can we not have the constant sales pitch for the MOTM texts in future? The final plug from Sinclair saw yells of 'shut up!!' from more than a few people.

 

[Linz]

I don't think I disagree with any of that LB... it's no coincidence that our goal came from a freekick but I'm just glad it did.

Our set pieces continue to be awful.

 

[Nick Jansky]

I thought it was very poor for the most part, and we only started to play well further forward after we went one up.

I thought Pompey set out to stifle us, and did a bloody good job of it. They were definitely playing for a point. We looked better after we scored simply because they had to go looking for a goal, so left more space for us to play in. I have been losing patience with Ched, but he did OK today. Britts is a class act, can't wait to see him & Williamson in the same midfield. Really pleased we ground out a result, that's 3 wins in 4 games now.

 

[Kev Gee]

I thought Britton was a class act today. And some of Calves cross field passes were awesome.
I thought our front 3 look really toothless. Its like their scared to take a shot. I lost count of how many times they passed instead of shoot. Have a go for christs sake!
Its a relief Evans got his goal, and i would have left him on & subbed Cresswell.
Nossworthy is a calamity waiting to happen! :lol:

Also the ref was a total joke. Do refs come here with the mindset of getting our backs up??

 

[LoughboroBlade]

They were definitely playing for a point.

They gave a very good impression of wanting to win the game then - the string of saves Simmo was forced to make certainly had me fooled, so too the numerous chances they created.

 

[Northyorksblade]

I thought Britton was a class act today. And some of Calves cross field passes were awesome.
I thought our front 3 look really toothless. Its like their scared to take a shot. I lost count of how many times they passed instead of shoot. Have a go for christs sake!
Its a relief Evans got his goal, and i would have left him on & subbed Cresswell.
Nossworthy is a calamity waiting to happen! :lol:

Also the ref was a total joke. Do refs come here with the mindset of getting our backs up??

Exactly as I saw it.

 

[DuncDisorderly]

They gave a very good impression of wanting to win the game then - the string of saves Simmo was forced to make certainly had me fooled, so too the numerous chances they created.

They were playing on the break really in the first half and I was almost pleased that Nos came on to deal with Nugent. Morgs looked half a yard short against him. They closed us down quickly and had enough quality to frustrate us too. When I looked at the quality in their side, I find it hard to belive they are where they are.

We really did very little that qualifies as 'good', but in the end a solid performance from Simondsen, and enough of a 'stick at it' attitude was enough. Second mediocre performance in the last three at home that we've won with a 'rocket', delighted for Ched...

3pts, onward and upward.

 

[PeterNdlovu081]

Ertl was absolutely awful today. He looked like someone who had never seen a football before in his life.

Nosworthy was poor too.