Observations

[fuerstenberger]

I am resident in Germany, having had a career in the lower leagues here. I am now completing my UEFA pro badge. I have always supported the blades and kept upto date via every method possible. I use this forum, as I find supporters really have their fingers on the pulse, so to speak. Anyway, I needed to assess a few games, so I chose Blades v Wycombe. I came over with an assessor, (A dutch ex pro with his pro badge), who was assessing my assessment. Confused?
I thought I would share some of the points we agreed on.
1: SUFC were far better technically than Wycombe. In fact we were both shocked at how poor some of the Wycombe players were. Some wouldn't get into Bezirks Leagues here (don't know what the equivalent is in England, but it's not good)

2: SUFC looked lathargic at times, particularly towards the end, possibly not enough planning re food and Bio rythms, general physiological conditioning. We weren't sure.

3: Simmonson's general positioning and footwork was excellent from a technical point of view. I know he comes in for some stick on here so I thought I would mention it. His dithering at corners maybe due to lack of trust.

4: The outstanding player Technicallly was Evans. Body shape, footwork were all excellent. We both felt he suffers from Berbatov syndrome, works like hell, but looks like he isn't trying. More physiological evidence against video evidence would be needed to support this. we felt he would flourish in a team with more technical players. (Sorry)

5:Support from midfield was generally poor, awareness of players around was also poor. We both noted how little the players looked around when off the ball and when moving into space. This was particularly evident in the last 25 mins.

6: Porter was well out of his depth at this level, the list of faults was too numerous to mention here. Surprised he wasn't replaced earlier.

7: Quinn was played out of position, we both felt his best position would be in the middle feeding diagonal runners.

We did feel, that the better the oppostion technically, the better we would do. On that basis I think we will beat Charlton.

I don't want to sound like I know everything, I don't. The game, despite having played professionally, is still a bit of a mystery to me. This result being a perfect example. There was an SUFC fan behind us who was making some very salient comments through out the game. Probably knows more than me.

I enjoyed seeing the Blades after seeing them last season, when they looked very poor. I have to applaud D Wilson for what he appears to have done so far, with what is essentially, the same bunch of players. I do believe we will get better and should be in the mix at the end. (For what that is worth)

Appologies for my English, it has been a while since I have used it to this extent.

 

[raul]

Top stuff that.

Berger, meet Bergen, Bergen...Berger.

 

[Woodwaaard]

Excellent analysis.

Thanks for sharing it with us
Good luck woth your badge

Please can someone forward this to DW, it may be of assistance and every little helps!

 

[judge]

Really interesting read that
Makes a nice change from the usual shir stirring
Thanks Berger

 

[Kenilworth]

Interesting stuff - thanks

On the Eeyore front - he certainly has technical attributes and can time the ball very well when he is composed but his main weakness is his mental agility. This affects his reading of the game and his positional play. He tends to react to situations too late rather than anticipate what could happen (like the best strikers do). As an example he does not get in front of defenders when a cross comes into the near post. He is a very frustrating player to have in your team - I don't agree that its down to others with greater technical ability since he had a hatful of chances to score on Saturday and several situations he failed to capitalise on.

 

[PeterNdlovu081]

Who did you play for fuerstenberger?

 

[fuerstenberger]

MSV Duisburg, Hessen Kassel and Rot Weis Essen some in div 2 North which shows how old I am.

 

[Kentblade]

Very interesting read having been at Wycombe.
At least someone shares my views re Porter.
Have always thought that Quinn is more suited to playing in the middle.
Sometimes we Blades fans need to receive independant views on our game as some posters can only see one aspect probably including myself on occassions.
Cannot disagree with any of the comments made.
UTB

 

[Micalijo]

Very interesting read having been at Wycombe.
At least someone shares my views re Porter.
Have always thought that Quinn is more suited to playing in the middle.
Sometimes we Blades fans need to receive independant views on our game as some posters can only see one aspect probably including myself on occassions.
Cannot disagree with any of the comments made.
UTB

Let me assure you Kent, plenty of people share your view of Porter. It is impossible to go up with him or Cresswell (or heaven forbid both) playing every game. It is very worrying if this is what Wilson's signings are like, although clearly his room for manouvre is limited. In fact I imagine the only people who don't are Foxy, Linz and Cooperblade.

 

[Sothall_Blade]

Who was the Dutch Ex-Pro with his Pro badge? Are you allowed to say? Was it Len De Goey?
Who was the Blade who was making salient comments and knew more than you? Probably not lendegoey ;-)

 

[Balham]

Danke Fürstenburger.

Always good to hear reasoned views on here! Maybe if you ask our Danny there would be an opening for a pro-licenced coach at Shirecliffe?

 

[beechblade]

Thank you it was good to read your assesment of the game and how we set up. I also think Quinn would do better in the middle, enabling him to be more of a focal point in our build up play. He has to drift inside too often to commpensate for not starting in the position.

 

[LSF]

A good read. Are we still so behind Europe when it comes to diet, conditioning etc? I thought we may have caught up, maybe not?
Thanks FB, left us with a few head scratchings here and if you played in the old North & South system, you must be knocking on quite a bit!

 

[Jehovah]

Thanks for that, enjoyed reading it. Particularly interesting regarding the technical ability of Evans And Simmo. A good counter argument for "HES FOOKIN WANK THAT KEEPER"
which I am sure was the title of a thread once.

 

[Bergen Blade]

Top stuff that.

Berger, meet Bergen, Bergen...Berger.

Interesting comments Fuerstenberger, would welcome more of the same.

Regarding poor support from midfield, I feel we have some decent midfielders now, but struggle to get the balance right. We seem to have scrapped the idea of out and out wingers for the time being, and look to our full backs' overlapping to provide us with width. While I think this can work, I think it would work better with more mobility and pace up front.

I also feel that a weakness among our selected midfielders vs Wycombe is that none of them are particularly good at making off the ball runs. Quinn, Williamson and McDonald like to get on the ball early in each attack and when the remaining midfielder is the holding Doyle there can be too little movement, especially against an opposition that's happy with the result and defending deep.

 

[secretchief]

It's good to have a thread with assessments of how effective we are as a team and individuals in a properly critical way.

I wouldn't mind a bit of further clarification, though. If Evans is so good technically, why is his movement so poor? Why does it take him so long to get shots off? What does 'body shape' mean? Why does he never score one-on-ones, ever? Is this confidence or technique?

We've got big problems as regards strikers. I'm already way past the point of regarding Porter as a viable option. Watching him I just can't believe he was signed.

 

[fuerstenberger]

His movement should be dependent on the players around him. This can be coached on the training ground. I was fortunate to play with an ex international at the very end of his career. Believe me we all made him look very poor. He would make passes that he made in the past, but we were not on the same wavelength. Result, he looked rubbish. He also made runs close to the defender that required inch perfect and perfectly weighted passes. 2 skills none of us were able to combine. Result, he looked rubbish. He was a quality player and I knew he found it very frustrating playing with us. I'm not saying Evans is a great player, but he has all the technical attributes to be good, if not very good. It's up to the coaches to tell him where to move, (If he lacks intelligence) and have the other players drilled so they are able to put the ball in EXACTLY the right place.

By body shape I mean in order to benefit from situations the body needs to be alligned in a certain way. He seems to do this naturally. I can only assume he lacks confidence, and pratice in a match situation.

I have only seen Evans once, so that was my view and the view of my assessor. As I said I am open to the idea of me being wrong and as you see him week in week out, I accept your opinion. The problem could be in his head. A good manager should get the best out of him, which at this level should be outstanding.

I will be away from my computer for the next week, so please accept my silence. I am not being rude.

 

[secretchief]

Thanks for your thoughts, fuerstenberger. I would like to think that a good manager might get the best out of Evans. Many have already tried though (though they might not all be considered 'good').

 

[JohnDenver]

I was fortunate to play with an ex international at the very end of his career. Believe me we all made him look very poor. He would make passes that he made in the past, but we were not on the same wavelength. Result, he looked rubbish.

Please explain this to my 5-a-side buddies - they won't believe me...

 

[sitwell]

The two things I would pick you up on is the lack of width you fail to mention, and your slight obsession with technique. Great footballers and managers do not necessarily have great technical skills and too much coaching and emphasis on it doesn't always help players. I have my level 2 and have worked with coaches at all levels ,(I am at the moment observing one who is working with Utd) however the gulf in opinions between coaches of the same level can be massive. Also the perceived tiredness towards the end of the game could just as easily be explained away by anxiety in chasing a game we should have won ,psychology can play a massive part in a players make up.
Its all about opinions anyway and I think you have opened up a very interesting thread.

(much more than how many will Preston get tonight zzzzzzzzzz)

 

[CopenhagenBlade]

Always find it strange that fans have derogatory names for their own players, yeah call the opposition players names but your own team??

Interesting stuff - thanks

On the Eeyore front - he certainly has technical attributes and can time the ball very well when he is composed but his main weakness is his mental agility. This affects his reading of the game and his positional play. He tends to react to situations too late rather than anticipate what could happen (like the best strikers do). As an example he does not get in front of defenders when a cross comes into the near post. He is a very frustrating player to have in your team - I don't agree that its down to others with greater technical ability since he had a hatful of chances to score on Saturday and several situations he failed to capitalise on.

 

[GRUMPY BLADE]

Missed a word

Eeyore up front

 

[S64 Blade]

Good report and interesting you mention food. I follow a few footballers on Twitter, some Premier League ones; and I'm surprised at some of the food they say they have. Having a strict and well-planned out diet would certainly enhance performance.

 

[Tuns]

4: The outstanding player Technicallly was Evans. Body shape, footwork were all excellent. We both felt he suffers from Berbatov syndrome, works like hell, but looks like he isn't trying. More physiological evidence against video evidence would be needed to support this. we felt he would flourish in a team with more technical players. (Sorry)
.

Was your assessor employed as a scout by the Blades around July 2009?
Can you circulate your and your assessors findings to all loaded and gullible Championship clubs?

Actually thanks for posting interesting thoughts. I'm now a part time false Blade so can't comment on many of the points.

However I have watched Evans dozens of times and in my humble opinion he is not very good whatever way you look at it.

This seems to be an opinion at last shared by the majority of Blades and unfortunately it seems by the scouts and managers of other football clubs who didn't want to buy him in the summer (his wages would not have blocked the deal as we would have been willing to pay off part in the circumstances).

 

[Revolution]

I've said it before and I'll say it again: I have a suspicion that one of the problems with Evans' game is that he isn't very bright...

 

[Trafford]

I tend to agree re Ched's technical abilities, the bit he struggles with is situations where he has time to think about what he's going to do. Classic example on Saturday - poor free quick but the instinctive volley was excellent. Most of his goals this season have been reactive efforts - his free kicks, one on ones etc have mostly been poor.

 

[raul]

I was struggling with this dichotomy last night. On one hand Fussy states he has the best technique etc in terms of positioning his body which to me suggests a hell of a lot of coaching and yet by common consent we all think he's best when he doesn't have any thinking time. Or, is his positioning instinctive too? In which case to utilise his gifts better we need to work harder on giving him lots of think-free chances.

 

[Micalijo]

Raul matey - you've made 2 posts in the last 15 mins or so and I haven't got the faintest idea what you are on about in both. Are you ok? Or, is it me?

 

[Trafford]

A role playing behind a centre forward would seem most likely to suit him - would stop him being offside so much and position him to benefit from knock backs, blocked shots. That would leave us very narrow unless we play a diamond system but I could see a diamond working, with Doyle or Monty at the back and Quinn /ANO on the edges. But that leaves no room for MacDonald, who is our most creative player. So do we sacrifice Him to compensate for Evans' development areas or fund another striker - decisions, decisions!!

 

[raul]

Raul matey - you've made 2 posts in the last 15 mins or so and I haven't got the faintest idea what you are on about in both. Are you ok? Or, is it me?

Trafford's got it Mic. Doesn't mean I'm making sense necessarily though......