Alan Shearer

[Bruce Wayne]

So why has Norwood been binned?

 

[Wards]

So why has Norwood been binned?

Cos he appears to have lost any mobility he previously had. His performance v Fulham was almost embarrassing second half in how they continually drifted past him. I like Norwood but he’s been a bit of a passenger since lockdown.

 

[mattbianco1]

He’s just absolutely nailed his analysis of us on MOTD with as much passion as any one of us Blades.

McBurnie and Brewster should be absolutely raging at their lack of service today. We can all see it when we watch the match but when the examples are broken down, it’s clear to see that our insistence on pissing about on the wings is costing us big time.

Wilder talks about adapting all the time, he talks about how they’ve done it successfully in the past and how they won’t stand still. Well here is an example clear as day as to why we aren’t even close to scoring from open play.

For all the moaning we do about lazy punditry, it’s only fair we point out when they get it spot in.

I was going to respond with something similar to this

Yes but in fairness, we've done it in every successful season and match in this system under Wilder.
It's not like we're just neshing getting it in the box, we do recycle and recycle, looking for the overlap or underlap (as Bash does constantly) into the box.

It's driven us all mad at times but it's brought a hell of a lot of success. We can't pretend we've just noticed and that's what's wrong because results are poor and they've stated the bleedin obvious on MOTD.

Having said all that, I think now might be a decent time to keep doing what we do but fling it in a bit earlier yes!

100% agree. We have built our success on this. We work and work and work on creating a proper goalscoring chance. It's why our xG performance is usually very good.

The problem currently IMO is that we don't play a #10. Duffy was the key to our free scoring success using this style of play. Goals dropped off last season because we didn't play a #10 (and because defenders are better) and it's continuing to drop off now.

The current squad of players means that Didzy is our only realistic #10 that we have. This would mean overloading the midfield, or losing a midfielder altogether. Even then, I don't feel Didzy is made for this role. He's a striker that drops deep to link up the play. Duffy used to have a free role.

Example A:

Ramsdale
Basham - Egan - Stevens
Baldock - Berge - Ampadu - Lowe
McGoldrick
Brewster - McBurnie​

Example B:

Ramsdale
Basham - Egan - Stevens
Baldock - Berge - Ampadu - Osborn - Lowe
McGoldrick
Brewster
​

I can't see us changing to either system as a first choice. We'll tinker with it during games, I expect, but we don't have the quality to play the #10 in the PL AND remain tight. It's remain tight OR a #10 for me.

If we had an Ozil or a David Silva etc. we'd be fine, but we don't.

 

[The Crab]

Much as I hate to say it, even Steve Mcmanaman made a similar point in tv commentary.
He was pointing out how many times we got the ball to a crossing position, but then tapped it backward and forwards between ourselves before actually putting the ball into the box.
He noted several times that McBurnie and Brewster had done their bit by being in the box waiting, but the ball never came in early enough.
To make it worse, despite the time taken, the ball that did come in was often rubbish

Too many times Baldock hit the cross to high

 

[The Crab]

That pissing about got us to 10th last season and got us into the Prem

You're right of course, the pissing about isn't the whole story though. Too many times crosses are hit too high imho

 

[Badger Blade]

I imagine Wilder will just basically say "how many promotions has Alan Shearer had as a manager?". I think Shearer is right though on this; Steve McManaman was saying the same in real time during the game.

Exactly this, he'll likely huff and puff and moan about it but if there are two people who know anything about providing service to strikers and putting the service into the net, it's McManaman and Shearer regardless of any achievements (or not) as a manager.

 

[kevreedy]

The thing that pisses me off is a cross from a corner/free kick that does not get past the first defender.

 

[guancheblade]

Yes but in fairness, we've done it in every successful season and match in this system under Wilder.
It's not like we're just neshing getting it in the box, we do recycle and recycle, looking for the overlap or underlap (as Bash does constantly) into the box.

It's driven us all mad at times but it's brought a hell of a lot of success. We can't pretend we've just noticed and that's what's wrong because results are poor and they've stated the bleedin obvious on MOTD.

Having said all that, I think now might be a decent time to keep doing what we do but fling it in a bit earlier yes!

The key difference is that where previously we'd work it until the opening presented itself and pull the trigger, now when we do work it to the same position we bottle it and continue to play it safe. This is why Wilder will persist with the system, because it's the players not doing as they're told. Just a confidence thing.

 

[Bennyand the Blades]

We can talk about how much better the opposition players where, or how good their tactical play was all week, but what won that game for Man city was a simple shot on goal by Walker through a crowd of players, that's all it took, one defender jumping into the air instead of staying on the ground and that turned out to be the difference in the score line between us and a multi million pound team,
The simple message is shot on sight because if you keep the ball on target and you hit it as hard as you can through a crowd of players there's always the chance it could go in or create a chance for some one else , no matter how good the opposition...

Problem is of course the only two guys we have who are willing to try that (McGoldrick and Lundstram) couldn't hit a cows ass with a Banjo....

 

[Kozzy_is_my_Dad]

I've just watched MOTD back and Shearer's analysis, and he's absolutely BANG ON.

GERRITINTBOX YOONITED!! Those 3 examples are perfect illustrations of the balls that could be played. There's no analysis or work for Wilder and Knill to do, just show the squad that.