Sheffield United Pre-Season Friendlies 2022-23

[originaltrueblade]

Losing 3-0 WTF

 

[Silent Blade]

Not great though is it

So we lost 3 points?

 

[Ndiayewillalwaysloveyou]

6 goals conceded vs Scunthorpe and Mansfield

 

[originaltrueblade]

6 goals conceded vs Scunthorpe and Mansfield

Pork

 

[El Volví]

Sloppy play from the Blades again tonight. Poor in defence and no real threat up front.
At lot of work to do before 1st August!

 

[JT89]

Mansfields 3rd goal was probably the highlight of our pre-season so far, which probably isn't a good thing

 

[haich1889]

Very concerning.

 

[Klaatu Barada Nikto]

 

[Ricardo Mantelban]

It looked like they couldn’t be bothered, apart from furious George. Anel looks class though. Brewster carrying a lot of timber.

 

[Overthehills]

Is what it is… don’t expect world beaters in pre season friendlies and to be honest I don’t really give a toss about the results in the either.

When the is first kicked in the league, I want a response…

The only thing I will say is that I hope that the board can see that we definitely still need these attacking reinforcements. The may be the most expensive acquisitions, but we need them.

 

[TCsLoveChild]

After watching the Blades for over 50 yrs one thing I can tell you Is that pre season game results bare no relation to actual season results. UTB

 

[Vass Borbokis]

Robbo has looked like the same player that started last season, worryingly. Big part in all 3 goals conceded. Egan not much better.

Really gutted about Doyle bring injured because he should walk into this midfield. Our best midfielder so far seems to be an 18 year old kid with no senior appearances.

There's a distinct lack of creativity in this team.
I had high opes before watching the last two games. We look miles off.

 

[SufcBilly]

weeeerz qwaliteh yooooonited

 

[Addison]

Mansfield never laid a glove on us for 65 minutes. We had control of the ball but created little. The flat 3 again didn't work with Ndiaye and Brewster having to come deep to get the ball. Anel looked good at CB and our passing from the back was crisp but build up play was so slow.

Robinson had as bad a 30 minutes second half as Broadbent did against Scunthorpe. Even the lower league teams have worked out how to stymie the flat 3 3-5-2 formation. Sit back in numbers hit us on the break with quick crosses into the box and wait for the mistakes which we duly obliged with again.

The obsession with playing 3-5-2 isn't working. When we went 1-0 down we began to move up the pitch and had a good goal disallowed. We then get done with another first time ball into the box and the back 3 are invisible. It may be pre season but 2 games in a row where we are making the same mistakes against lower league opposition is concerning.

 

[El Volví]

It looked like they couldn’t be bothered, apart from furious George. Anel looks class though. Brewster carrying a lot of timber.

apart from furious George

...and he went off injured!

 

[Ricardo Mantelban]

Interesting that the commentators said they could hear the bench telling Berge to drive on… just as he passed it sideways to one of their players. No fans doesn’t suit us.

 

[Lower Drop Blade]

So we lost 3 points?

Obviously not but I will say again it's not great

 

[Digs blade]

Not going to get panicky but that wasn’t good enough tonight.

I expect to see a bit of commitment and patterns of play in these friendlies.

First half we were okay, 2nd half created nothing.

As someone else mentioned, s lot of work required in the next 2 weeks

 

[Dkc]

For a few seconds there they cut the volume on Gages commentary you could hear the players I thought they have finally got the message…it lasted all of three seconds now Gage is back FFS

This might not be the most popular opinion but I think Gage's commentary has improved recently. He has a good knowledge of the squad and where we need to improve. His voice is still liable to send you to sleep though.

 

[Bladeinleeds]

We can’t play the formation without an attacking midfielder or 2 behind a single striker.

We need a couple of signings there imo. Or we won’t score enough to be challenging

 

[Tony_Kaufman]

In fairness, we had no pre-season last season and lost in the play offs in a penalty shoot out. So losing in pre-season is annoying and looks bad, but it probably won't reveal what a season we're going to have.

Maybe Hecky needs to be meaner in coaching as he always seems to come across as Mr Nice, whilst Wilder had a Mr Nasty Bastard that came out when needed, much like Warnock and every top manager there has ever been.

 

[Jon Bon II]

There are already cry babies in the Shoutbox

I don't go in there. It's like the bar in Star Wars crossed with the Hen and Chicken down near the old market.

 

[billyblademan]

In fairness, we had no pre-season last season and lost in the play offs in a penalty shoot out. So losing in pre-season is annoying and looks bad, but it probably won't reveal what a season we're going to have.

Maybe Hecky needs to be meaner in coaching as he always seems to come across as Mr Nice, whilst Wilder had a Mr Nasty Bastard that came out when needed, much like Warnock and every top manager there has ever been.

We started pretty awfully last season, and were notably out of puff late on in our early games. I’d attribute that to a crap pre season.

 

[Tony_Kaufman]

We can’t play the formation without an attacking midfielder or 2 behind a single striker.

We need a couple of signings there imo. Or we won’t score enough to be challenging

Personally I've always felt that our biggest downfall has been our predictable build up play. Get it wide, cross it in. Rinse and repeat. Few players run with the ball and keep it and try to go for goal themselves. Those that did often held onto it too late and instead of slipping a through ball to the strikers feet in space, instead would reach the outside edge of the 18 yard box and, yes you guessed it, cross it into the 6 yard box.

Even then the crosses are always, and I mean always to the edge of the six yard box or inside it, which is more often then not easy pickings for the keeper. We rarely cross it inside the 6 yard box for players running into it. Our crosses from wide to the six yard box are the equivalent of a dead ball free kick in open play.

Last season we were predictable and easy to defend against as Stevie Wonder can see what we're going to do. Drop 8 men into the box to defend and our best chance to score is set pieces, and Norwood's free kicks and corners are woeful but Hecky will continue to let him take them.

Let's hope we see some changes to tactics this season and evidence of a plan B existing which doesn't just comprise of making subs from 80 mins onwards when the game has already slipped by us.

I like Hecky buy he is tactically naive at times and relies too much on doing the same thing and changing personnel when those on the pitch don't deliver his one and only plan.

 

[JayGreen17]

It was bout 32degs out there….

 

[SUFCScorecard]

At the end of last season the formation was clearly 343 with MGW and Berge as AMs. It seems like we have reverted to 352, which doesn't make sense when we have 1 senior striker "fit".

Unless Hecky told them to go out there and not get injured, he should be very worried (not least because our only RWB just got injured). If I were him my list of transfer needs just extended significantly over the last two games. Problems to solve all over the pitch. The area of the pitch that looks the most well stocked, CB, seems to be the biggest issue.

 

[Northyorksblade]

It was bout 32degs out there….

Wasn't it the same temperature for Mansfield?

 

[Tony_Kaufman]

At the end of last season the formation was clearly 343 with MGW and Berge as AMs. It seems like we have reverted to 352, which doesn't make sense when we have 1 senior striker "fit".

Unless Hecky told them to go out there and not get injured, he should be very worried (not least because our only RWB just got injured). If I were him my list of transfer needs just extended significantly over the last two games. Problems to solve all over the pitch. The area of the pitch that looks the most well stocked, CB, seems to be the biggest issue.

Hecky said he identified 6 or 7 positions that need reinforcement. So far we've signed three players and only one is not a defender for a team that struggles with creativity and goal scoring.

Will this be another deadline day last minute scramble like last season?

 

[Foxy]

Wasn't it the same temperature for Mansfield?

Nope, they went Surridge Sports and have the latest in textile technology. Their kits were on time and helped them feel a lot cooler than us.

 

[originaltrueblade]

This might not be the most popular opinion but I think Gage's commentary has improved recently. He has a good knowledge of the squad and where we need to improve. His voice is still liable to send you to sleep though.

We need crowd we need atmosphere Gage talks too much and most of it is tripe