Sheffield United vs West Bromwich Albion

V.
Championship Week 28 - Wednesday 9th February 2022 - 19:45 - Bramall Lane
Please keep all discussion related to the match within this thread.​

Matchday Stats/Player Ratings - https://www.s24su.com/forum/match-day/match/sheffield-united-vs-west-bromwich-albion.582/

Officials:

Referee: Leigh Doughty
Assistant Referee: Nick Greenhalgh
Assistant Referee: James Wilson
Fourth Official: Rebecca Welch

Coverage:

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Live TV Coverage:

TO BE UPDATED:




SUTV Live - https://live.sufc.co.uk/

 

[Alex Cheeseright]

A typical championship promotion chasing battle. On another we could have lost but today, with confidence back, showed we are not a push over anymore. Good performance over a side that we really up for a game.

 

[Nagima]

Winning games breeds confidence and momentum which leads to winning more games. We are on a roll and we need to keep going. Sorry to see Didsy getting an injury. But good to see MGW back. We need a bit more work in midfielders making runs into the box. But I thought Baldock did well and turned up in central positions wanting the ball.

 

[Greg.]

View attachment 129924

 

[GreenhillBladeinToronto]

I'd have loved to have been at BDTBL tonight

Me too

 

[Gerritforud]

Squad rotation was spot on today, many doubters pre match. Hecky knows this squad!

 

[petcharlie]

I'd have loved to have been at BDTBL tonight

Me to Billy the hero AGAIN

 

[Old Programme seller]

I think as a club we need a long winning run just to prove to ourselves that we can do it and we can stop feeling sorry for ourselves

 

[Wincobank S9 Blade]

Another win and clean sheet UTB. Squad rotation, wasn’t amazing but business end of the season with a lot of games and never easy when we play against 10 men got the job done on to the next.

 

[Tony_Kaufman]

W8 D2 L1 in our last 11 league games with 7 clean sheets.

W4 D1 L1 in our last 6 league games with 3 clean sheets.

We've won our last 4 league games with 3 clean sheets.

We're undefeated at home in our last 4 league games since drawing against Coventry with 4 clean sheets.

Granted Hecky wasn't in charge for some of those matches and we haven't always played consistent well for 90 minutes, but something special seems to be happening.

 

[robbiez666]

Strange game. They started much better than us and the first 25-30 they looked a better team, without creating very much. We struggled with their press. Then the goal and sending off and the game is completely changed. Second half they again started stronger and I thought we were far from great. We did have some good spells though and we looked more dangerous going forward than in previous games.

Wes - 6 - Solid. Made a good punch and kicked ok but had very little to do
Baldock - 6.5 - Good to see him back. Stopped a certain goal (well, maybe not, but it should have been) when Diagana dawdled but if he was onside Baldock let him run. Got stuck in and determined to get to the ball first.
Robinson - 6 - Put a lovely tackle in on Diagana early on looked ok, apart form a couple of lapses in concentration and sloppy play. Got forward pretty well and seems to be more involved in attacking play as the season progresses.
Egan - 5.5 - Had the task of marking Carroll, although he kept dropping onto the other CBs. 50/50 in the battle but did enough
Basham - 6 - A couple of lovely balls early on and got forward well but also gave the ball away badly. Got almightily skinned twice by Grant.
Bogle - 6 - He's been one of our better players of late but didn't have a great game. Still dangerous going forward but struggled a couple of times defensively
Hourihane - 6.5 - Put some quality balls in from crosses and set-pieces. Also got stuck in more. One of our best players first half but thought he faded in the second half
Norwood - 5.5 - Radar still off and struggled a bit with their number in midfield. His Achilles heal seems to be against teams who close down quickly.
Ndiaye - 5.5 - Thought he was largely poor first half. Possibly our worst player. Got caught on the ball a couple of times and his passing was off. Still not great second half but caused a lot more problems.
McGoldrick - 5 - Some great runs to link up play but also lots of lowlights as well. I thought our 3 upfront were far from great tonight in open play.
Sharp - 7 - I thought he was ineffective much of the time and while he uses his experience he's also guilty of too many fouls and offsides. Took both goals really well and perhaps the difference tonight.

Subs

McBurnie - 6 - Another impressive cameo where he did little wrong
Gibbs-White - 6 - Good to see him back. Had a few tricks but helps us control the game
Berge - only a trot

Heck - 6.5 - I think we were all a little surprised by the team but we defended a lot better against their aerial threat than earlier in the season. I do think we struggled with their attacks far too much considering and they had almost as many shots as us, even if they were poor attacking.

WBA - They pressed really well for 25 minutes but the goal then the red card changed the game. I thought they were poor at the back, although they made some good blocks and Johnstone was up there with Billy for man of the match. Diagana looks a mess.

 

[Balham]

View attachment 129928

What's even more impressive is that 6 of those 8 were away.

 

[PeterNdlovu081]

W8 D2 L1 in our last 11 league games with 7 clean sheets.

W4 D1 L1 in our last 6 league games with 3 clean sheets.

We've won our last 4 league games with 3 clean sheets.

We're undefeated at home in our last 4 league games since drawing against Coventry with 4 clean sheets.

Granted Hecky wasn't in charge for some of those matches and we haven't always played consistent well for 90 minutes, but something special seems to be happening.

We've only got 5 points fewer than we had at this stage during the 2018-19 promotion season.

 

[Tony_Kaufman]

What's even more impressive is that 6 of those 8 were away.

Second best goal difference during those games too.

 

[Balham]

Second best goal difference during those games too.

Just a shade behind Fulham's

 

[FallowfieldBlade]

Fallowfield in solitary?

Been at the match some player is barndoor bill

 

[FallowfieldBlade]

I see Alan Roberts' Jinking Run Drunk blade Tom Bott have been to the lane tonight

 

[ShockingBadBuy]

Fallowfield in solitary?

 

[William Large]

Overall I think that was one of our best performances of the season considering we played against the best side to come to the lane so far.
We started slowly and their high press was really effective. I thought Carroll looked good in the first half also.
When we kept hold of the ball and played with some urgency, they struggled to cope with us and that was the same for the whole game.
They only really had one decent chance and we could have scored 4 or 5 if we were more ruthless.
I thought (the two times he was skinned aside) Basham was excellent tonight.
Ndiaye was ineffective and missed a sitter. MGW did well when he came on and for the most part I thought we controlled the game well .

 

[Edgar Allan Poo]

Took a us a while to get going but when we got a bit more physical things started to happen. Pure class from Billy tonight.

 

[Gerritforud]

McGoldrick 5....? Jeez he saved the game from running away from us with his holding.... 5!

 

[tyke1889]

Good movement by MGW as well

Made the difference in the build up to the 2nd, we were panicking a bit and going long, but when he came on he calmed it down a bit and wanted to pass the ball which led to the 2nd

 

[Keen Blade]

Great finish by sharp could of had a hatrick

could HAVE darling , could HAVE ....

 

[Keen Blade]

My bad. Either way only making it to half time is worse than him only lasting 60 mins for us.

It's nice to see we've finally had someone else's pants down for a change.

you think they're paying his wages ? Ha !

 

[Keen Blade]

Me too

Your ST awaits you , just hop on plane mate !

Don't bank on waiting for those playoffs - if Livermore had kept his head , we were struggling tonight in reality and rode our luck.

I've never seen us give the ball away so much as we did in that first 30 , midfield totally over-run.

But a win's a win and Billy's my hero.

Look , Sharp !

 

[Greenwich Blade]

I'm as happy and as satisfied about United as I have been since before Lockdown after that result and performance tonight. Don't worry though, folks - every thing else in my life is a bit shit and far from satisfactory!

 

[Keen Blade]

W8 D2 L1 in our last 11 league games with 7 clean sheets.

W4 D1 L1 in our last 6 league games with 3 clean sheets.

We've won our last 4 league games with 3 clean sheets.

We're undefeated at home in our last 4 league games since drawing against Coventry with 4 clean sheets.

Granted Hecky wasn't in charge for some of those matches and we haven't always played consistent well for 90 minutes, but something special seems to be happening.

players appear to know what they are supposed to do if they want to win a game of football ?
stop feeling sorry for themselves
push forward
try hard
Christ knows what Slav was saying to them
but they couldn't understand him any better than I could understand his selections , tactics or owt else really
or anything he said in interview
he just mumbled shit

whilst Hecky obviously talks their language and mine -
out run , out fight , out think + you might have a chance
I know they're Wilder's words but they're sound enough

 

[Keen Blade]

I'm as happy and as satisfied about United as I have been since before Lockdown after that result and performance tonight. Don't worry though, folks - every thing else in my life is a bit shit and far from satisfactory!

how can you say "don't worry" ....... then say things are bit shit for you .... I'm worried for you now mate
hope things improve

 

[Greenwich Blade]

how can you say "don't worry" ....... then say things are bit shit for you .... I'm worried for you now mate
hope things improve

Thanks mate. It's not that bad really; I'm doing that old trick of mine of exagerating for comic effect. The biggest problem is I work for the NHS and it's ridiculously busy at the moment, even in the safe environs of Admin. I overslept by two hours this morning as well, but was in the end only an hour late for work, so I clawed half of it back.

 

[Sheffsteel]

West Brom were one of the best sides to come to Bramall Lane this season (altho weirdly we've hardly played any of the top 8 at home this season)
First 20 minutes we were like the away side, they pressed high up the pitch and we just couldn't gain any possession.

Then we scored out of the blue...against the run of play....their heads dropped a bit and it became a more even game.
Although for all West Broms good build up play....they were toothless in front of goal and rarely looked like scoring.
Our goalie hardly had anything to do....where as their goalie had to make several good saves.

Then WBA has a player sent off, seemed harsh, quite similar to the Lundstum challenge the other year
but in the current climate even if you win the ball....steaming into a challenge is deemed a red card these days.

After the sending off....the WBA heads dropped even more....they stopped pressing us....probably tired
and we finally started to dominate possession and in the 2nd half it turned into a comfortable win.

Still think WBA can be a good side....but they are obviously struggling for confidence.

 

[Houston_Blade]

Everyone was at least 6/10 today and it really helps.

Special mentions for Norwood, Robinson and Hourihane, who I thought all had good games despite a lot of last criticism.

Baldock was excellent and that tackle when the linesman didn’t bother flagging was world class.

Wes - safe hands and ok in possession.

Bash & Egan - Dealt with Carroll well, Bash got done twice 2nd half but I’ll forgive him.

Bogle - decent-ish performance, defended much better than earlier in the season, was less effective going forward.

Didzy and Ndiaye - not great but not poor. They create things and the opposition don’t like them. Ndiaye really should have buried his chance.

Sharp - 2 goals, say no more.

McB and MGW - looked ok, MGW had a hand in the 2nd goal. McBurnie was his normal unconvincing self. Won a few balls and stuff.

Great 3 points