My take ...

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pommpey

THE FUTURE ... AS IT USED TO BE
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A win's a win, however much we tried at one time to throw it away. Happy with certain aspects of today's game, namely when we brought a bit of class on the pitch to augment the areas which were showing endeavour, if not gash finishing.

Stoke may be in the playoffs but they flatter their position. Today they were fairly pedestrian and a better equipped strikeforce would have smashed them out of the park. Sure, they rode their luck in the first half and many begging chances shoulda-woulda-coulda gone in but I'm fed up of the excuses to be honest. They really hardly troubled Olsen today if but for a decent one handed save and of course their goal, which was similarly struck.

For us though we still clearly have Wilder in our bloodstream and the frustrating tendency to get it wide and into the crossing zone and fuck about endlessly still keeps manifesting itself. As said on previous occasions, once it's at the feet of MGW and Ndaiye, then we're off and they are running at, flicking it past, playing neat triangles (usually not receiving the ball back though) but at least doing something positive. We didn't look much troubled at the back but our central midfield is so fucking suspect with Fleck and Norwood. In defence of them however, they did give us glimpses of capability, but that was outweighed by shockingly sub-division levels of basic shit play. In other areas I thought we looked capable and together when building the attack ... at least up to 55 minutes ... but it just wouldn't go in. No surprise when they scored - this happens so much these days and like most I thought we were sunk, Not even Moussett or Hourihane could add to things but when Didsy came on there was intelligence and promise and suddenly Moussett is clear on goal and we are level. Deserved? Not really. But fuck it. Three minutes later we are at them again and Didsy himself slots in the winner. Deserved? Fucking too right. That is what I want to see. Us wanting to eat the game and fucking WIN.

Olsen 6/10: Not much to do. Tends to take too many touches, which makes me shit myself a bit. Good stop in the first half
Bogle 6/10: Thought it was a decent turnout for him. Got himself involved in some attacks
Egan 5.5/10: He still misses O'Connell, doesn't he?
Davies 5/10: He is a bit frail and vulnerable. Put it this way, if O'Connell is playing in his shirt, would you feel safer?
Stevens 6/10: Off/on outing for him. Looked clumsy and free-kick prone in the first half, but was in the right place to deliver in the second for Didsy's goal. Unlucky not to have scored with his cross shot
Norwood 4/10: One decent cross in the first half to the back stick but the rest was typical Norwood. Fragile, beatable in midfield and always apt to play a silly ball into trouble
Fleck 5.5/10: Slightly better from him but he's still bordering on Jimmy than John. And he's so easy to dispossess
Osborn 5.5/10: I think he has reached the zenith of his output now. His performances don't improve much, plenty of hustle and bustle but fuck all end product.
Ndaiye 6.5/10: He has skill and ability and reads the game well, but he can't do it on his own
Gibbs White 6/10: Another one, like Ndaiye, who looks hopelessly out of place in a team full of WIlder adherents. Both players' styles and approaches are so at odds with everything else. They want to run at oppositions and beat them into the box with clever approach work and one twos, the rest just want to get bogged down wide and dispossessed. He'll be gone in January.
Sharp 4/10: Not so Sharp today

Moussett 5/10: Two points on his actual score for actually scoring. Everything else was headless-chicken, clumsy and match rusty
McGoldrick 6.5/10: Always, when this bloke appears, our game changes. He's by no means the fastest, but he can see a goal opportunity and the killer place to be ten seconds before it is played
Hourihane 4/10: Not really sure why the fuck we have signed him TBH. Didn't Norwood just change shirts with him and come back on?

Really pleased with the three points. Really pleased with the win. Really pleased with our fightback. Not quite so pleased as to why we make it so much fucking hard work.

pommpey
 

Very fair and encouraging assessment Pomps overall
I would tend to raise up Billy a notch or two for the interplay with McGoldrick to set up the first goal and the headed clearance off the line
Could have done for better with the header opportunity in the first half of course
Similarly I would raise Gibbs white a notch for the tracking back and breaking up of some of the Stoke possession
I am lowdown in the South stand so saw more of Osborne’s involvement in the first half - was integral to a lot of our play and drove in some decent crosses
Bogle surprised me by how good he was defensively, did not expect that.
Stevens, Fleck, and Norwood, some great stuff and some disappointing stuff - The question that you accurately raised Pomps Is whether this is the best we can hope for or are they finally turning the corner and dropping the dust of wilderball off their boots…
Egan yes not as confident as he is playing for Ireland and that’s even though he plays LCB for them - answer is Davies as you eloquently highlighted, he most certainly is not JOC
You didn’t give Slav a rating today
I would say 6/10
Substitutions accumulatively did make a difference, and as you rightly highlight McGoldrick was the jewel in the crown
What stood out for me was the constant stream of messages from Slav, “Go the other side, go left, go right, pass to Osborne Stevens, don’t go backwards etc.”
Still seems a way to go from what Slav is instilling and what happens on the pitch in real time.
Anyhow great assessment Pomps
 
Thought there were some positives h first half as we go forward with our passing not sideways and backwards. We would never have comeback to win without this most basic of tactics . Go forward as often as possible and attack . Crazy but it seems to work
 
A win's a win, however much we tried at one time to throw it away. Happy with certain aspects of today's game, namely when we brought a bit of class on the pitch to augment the areas which were showing endeavour, if not gash finishing.

Stoke may be in the playoffs but they flatter their position. Today they were fairly pedestrian and a better equipped strikeforce would have smashed them out of the park. Sure, they rode their luck in the first half and many begging chances shoulda-woulda-coulda gone in but I'm fed up of the excuses to be honest. They really hardly troubled Olsen today if but for a decent one handed save and of course their goal, which was similarly struck.

For us though we still clearly have Wilder in our bloodstream and the frustrating tendency to get it wide and into the crossing zone and fuck about endlessly still keeps manifesting itself. As said on previous occasions, once it's at the feet of MGW and Ndaiye, then we're off and they are running at, flicking it past, playing neat triangles (usually not receiving the ball back though) but at least doing something positive. We didn't look much troubled at the back but our central midfield is so fucking suspect with Fleck and Norwood. In defence of them however, they did give us glimpses of capability, but that was outweighed by shockingly sub-division levels of basic shit play. In other areas I thought we looked capable and together when building the attack ... at least up to 55 minutes ... but it just wouldn't go in. No surprise when they scored - this happens so much these days and like most I thought we were sunk, Not even Moussett or Hourihane could add to things but when Didsy came on there was intelligence and promise and suddenly Moussett is clear on goal and we are level. Deserved? Not really. But fuck it. Three minutes later we are at them again and Didsy himself slots in the winner. Deserved? Fucking too right. That is what I want to see. Us wanting to eat the game and fucking WIN.

Olsen 6/10: Not much to do. Tends to take too many touches, which makes me shit myself a bit. Good stop in the first half
Bogle 6/10: Thought it was a decent turnout for him. Got himself involved in some attacks
Egan 5.5/10: He still misses O'Connell, doesn't he?
Davies 5/10: He is a bit frail and vulnerable. Put it this way, if O'Connell is playing in his shirt, would you feel safer?
Stevens 6/10: Off/on outing for him. Looked clumsy and free-kick prone in the first half, but was in the right place to deliver in the second for Didsy's goal. Unlucky not to have scored with his cross shot
Norwood 4/10: One decent cross in the first half to the back stick but the rest was typical Norwood. Fragile, beatable in midfield and always apt to play a silly ball into trouble
Fleck 5.5/10: Slightly better from him but he's still bordering on Jimmy than John. And he's so easy to dispossess
Osborn 5.5/10: I think he has reached the zenith of his output now. His performances don't improve much, plenty of hustle and bustle but fuck all end product.
Ndaiye 6.5/10: He has skill and ability and reads the game well, but he can't do it on his own
Gibbs White 6/10: Another one, like Ndaiye, who looks hopelessly out of place in a team full of WIlder adherents. Both players' styles and approaches are so at odds with everything else. They want to run at oppositions and beat them into the box with clever approach work and one twos, the rest just want to get bogged down wide and dispossessed. He'll be gone in January.
Sharp 4/10: Not so Sharp today

Moussett 5/10: Two points on his actual score for actually scoring. Everything else was headless-chicken, clumsy and match rusty
McGoldrick 6.5/10: Always, when this bloke appears, our game changes. He's by no means the fastest, but he can see a goal opportunity and the killer place to be ten seconds before it is played
Hourihane 4/10: Not really sure why the fuck we have signed him TBH. Didn't Norwood just change shirts with him and come back on?

Really pleased with the three points. Really pleased with the win. Really pleased with our fightback. Not quite so pleased as to why we make it so much fucking hard work.

pommpey

Very harsh on Davies, I thought he was our best player until McGoldrick mugged him in the last 15min.
 
Norwood was poor yesterday. The trouble with him and Fleck is, much like United, they do not put consistent runs of good performances together. Fleck has shown flashes but both continue to be soft as shit and are too slow in what they do offensively and to get back and cover defensively.
 
Don't bring stats into it evey blade knows we need a whipping boy, flecks found a bit of form, Robinson and Brewster are no longer in the team, someone has to take all the abuse.

I think it’s reached a point with a lot of these reports where the posters have long since determined their evaluation of the team’s prospects this year and fit their ratings around that, rather than the matches themselves.
 
Very harsh on Davies, I thought he was our best player until McGoldrick mugged him in the last 15min.

He is neat and tidy on it but watched him carefully yesterday and any physical challenge he tends to look unconvincing. He lost three 50-50 high balls/blocks in quick succession 2nd half. Another who is too soft and weak. Needs to impose himself much more. He us decent on the ball I agree.

Overall a signing that has been a bit meh. He's better than Jack Robinson but is he better than Bash? It's only his left footed-ness that he has over him really.

Him, Olsen and Hourihane have had minimal to little impact so far. The latter barely playing and seems a waste of a loan. Gibbs White is the only signing of the 4 that has made a big difference.

We have to do much better in January after another seemingly poor recruitment with sizeable loan fees not really being justified. Yet.
 

Not even sure you were watching the same match??

Davies - easily a 6.5 if not 7 out of 10 for me
Norwood - a couple of poor passes in the first half but a 4/10 is a joke. Easily 5.5/10 for me.
Fleck - he had a great first half, was actually running at defenders and played some lovely through balls. 2nd half he had a sloppy 15 mins (as everyone did) but finished strongly. Easily a 6.5 if not 7/10 for me.
Mousset - he was hit and miss but actually caused their defence some problems and took his goal well. Comfortably a 6/10.
 
I think it’s reached a point with a lot of these reports where the posters have long since determined their evaluation of the team’s prospects this year and fit their ratings around that, rather than the matches themselves.
Bang on the money !
 

Don’t get me wrong, I love seeing a well drilled pass across the pitch and there’s times when it’s a good option. However the pass before he came off yesterday typifies 2021/22 Norwood for me. Showboat passes that look good when they come off but shit when they don’t.

Playing a cross field ‘ping’ to the winger/full back is all well and good, but the rest of the team doesn’t seem to know how to support them when they’ve got it. Unless it’s MGW and he can actually drive at the defence. The problem is that Norwood tends to only pass cross field from right to left.
 
He is neat and tidy on it but watched him carefully yesterday and any physical challenge he tends to look unconvincing. He lost three 50-50 high balls/blocks in quick succession 2nd half. Another who is too soft and weak. Needs to impose himself much more. He us decent on the ball I agree.

Overall a signing that has been a bit meh. He's better than Jack Robinson but is he better than Bash? It's only his left footed-ness that he has over him really.

Him, Olsen and Hourihane have had minimal to little impact so far. The latter barely playing and seems a waste of a loan. Gibbs White is the only signing of the 4 that has made a big difference.

We have to do much better in January after another seemingly poor recruitment with sizeable loan fees not really being justified. Yet.

I just think he adds abit of pace to the back 4 mops up and is comfortable on the ball and can pass. He is a bit suspect in the air and I agree he could be abit stronger but he's certainly an upgrade on Robinson.
Totally agree on Hourihane and Olsen.
Hourihane has a good delivery but not seen him do anything else infact you don't really notice him when he plays. Which seems to be exactly what Swansea fans said about him.
Olsen just doesn't inspire me with any confidence at all, he is good with the ball at his feet, but that's not really a Goalkeeper's top priority.
Out of all our new signings he's probably the one I'm most disappointed with, an International (for not a bad International side) and a Seri A and Ex Premiership Goalkeeper I expected more.
 
I think it’s reached a point with a lot of these reports where the posters have long since determined their evaluation of the team’s prospects this year and fit their ratings around that, rather than the matches themselves.

It's reached a point where a lot of these commenters have long since determined their opinions of reporters based on their own feelings about the reporters rather than the report of the match itself and the fact that opinions are like arseholes, etc ...

pommpey
 


You know, I could possibly play a half for United and smack some long lofted passes across the pitch. The fact that they get to the player who is already being closed down or that that player is in a position completely bereft of outlets (apart from backwards and back across the defence and up the other wing into the dead zone) might still get me the 'stats' where observers might get excited by.

My question is this: How many assists has Norwood got this season? For all his pings, how many result in goals, or at least attempts on target? How threatening is Norwood's gift to the opposition. Compare if you will, to the gift that giving a free kick away outside the box against Southampton is when James Ward-Prowse steps up to take it or a breakaway attack involving Kevin de Bruyne has when he is driving the counter through the centre of the park. Put simply, when Norwood gets the ball a third of the way into our half, all opposition players know exactly what is is going to do (i.e. Hollywood ball into no-mans land) and not going to do (i.e. take the ball up the field and lay off a killer ground pass or even have a crack on goal - being as he has such sweet feet, apparently)

pommpey
 
Love reading your reports Pompey - well written, funny and just the right length. However, feel that the criticism of Fleck and Norwood is not warranted. Feel they are being stigmatised from last season - we need to forget that and judge them on what they are doing now. Both played well for me. Neither are really Premiership class - but both performed brilliantly up there for 1 season until the wheels came adrift.

Now they are getting back their form and confidence - lets give them some slack please. I would not expect Norwood to be providing that many assists as he is the holding midfielder - and has players around him now that are more than capable.

I enjoyed yesterday's match and found some of our attacking play quite brilliant to watch in the first half.
We are improving - but we are a long way off Prem standard yet, so lets be patient.
UTB
 
Love reading your reports Pompey - well written, funny and just the right length. However, feel that the criticism of Fleck and Norwood is not warranted. Feel they are being stigmatised from last season - we need to forget that and judge them on what they are doing now. Both played well for me. Neither are really Premiership class - but both performed brilliantly up there for 1 season until the wheels came adrift.

Now they are getting back their form and confidence - lets give them some slack please. I would not expect Norwood to be providing that many assists as he is the holding midfielder - and has players around him now that are more than capable.

I enjoyed yesterday's match and found some of our attacking play quite brilliant to watch in the first half.
We are improving - but we are a long way off Prem standard yet, so lets be patient.
UTB

Fair counter comment but I'd add that Norwood is still playing the game Wilder bought him for but Slav seems to want other strategies. The team set up and the routes of attack are completely different from three seasons ago when it was very effective. Teams simply couldn't deal with Norwood distributing the ball into the wide channels and the overlapping centreback overload. We scored many goals that way. Now, it is dead. If Norwood can't change his tune, he is yesterday's player as far as I am concerned.

Fleck has brief spells of influence, but as seen yesterday, coughs up possession in a manner he didn't when he played in that great trio of Duffy and Coutts. He was dangerous and creative back then, now he's apt to overplay or just become a bollard to go around. On attack, he heads into areas where his vision is limited or he turns round and passes backward. He's not got the legs and stamina to seize control of midfield and gets beaten down and simply disappearing too often, resulting in him not touching the ball for five, six, seven minutes, which for a creative midfielder is a bit shite. We need the old Fleck back, not quite Michael Brown, but box to box and 'involved'. He's shown he can score ... so let's have more of that.

pommpey
 
He is neat and tidy on it but watched him carefully yesterday and any physical challenge he tends to look unconvincing. He lost three 50-50 high balls/blocks in quick succession 2nd half. Another who is too soft and weak. Needs to impose himself much more. He us decent on the ball I agree.

Overall a signing that has been a bit meh. He's better than Jack Robinson but is he better than Bash? It's only his left footed-ness that he has over him really.

Him, Olsen and Hourihane have had minimal to little impact so far. The latter barely playing and seems a waste of a loan. Gibbs White is the only signing of the 4 that has made a big difference.

We have to do much better in January after another seemingly poor recruitment with sizeable loan fees not really being justified. Yet.
I think that Olsen is an improvement. So far has has not had to make any outstanding saves, but has made several good ones.
What we don’t know is what positive effect he is having on Egan and Davies by his very presence.
 
Bit harsh on Hourihane, he played a big part in the winner I think.
 

How did you miss his brilliant headed clearance off the line?

Just remembered! You werent at the match.

Fuck me. It's like a madrassa in here isn't it? Rows and rows of Billy Big Blade adherents kneeling, chanting, smashing their foreheads into their carefully crafted stats books and following the mantra of 'unless you are physically sat in Bramall Lane, your opinion is invalid'. You're a convert Silent. Like Sitwell, your ovaries have packed up and the night sweats have started, and now you are in 'the change'. You never used to be like this. You used to be a very knowledgeable and wise owl on these boards with the kudos that you've attended plenty of games in your life but let's face it, you could have attended every fucking minutes of every match ever played since you were spat out of your mum's undermeats but your Bladeyness is zero point zero more credible than say, many of the remotely placed Blades overseas or even those sat in Sheffield and don't know where Bramall fucking Lane is.

So take your 'You weren't at the match' bollocks, craft it into a comfortable cigar shape, give it a moisten, lay on your side, lift a leg if needed and slip the fucker deep into your back passage, eh? Sharp's header? It gets 1 of the 4 for that. He was wasteful yesterday when offered the rare chance and wasn't the real Billy Sharp we have seen and know would have got a lot more. Elsewhere he wasn't much involved in attack save maybe for the build up to our first.

Happy, oh revered King of the Blades?

pommpey
 

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