United fans and pessimism

[Darren]

With Hill moving to Left back?

Have I missed a reason that Taylor hasn`t played since the Walsall game???

2 games played, 2 defeats and 6 goals conceded perhaps?

Maybe Wilson saw him as a weak link in that defence.

 

[Balham]

He's just come back from a serious injury. I think he was rested for the Brentford game as he probably wasn't as fit as Williams and, as Darren has pointed out, we'd conceded 6 goals in a 120 minutes. Once we beat Brentford and kept a clean sheet, the decision to keep the same side at Colchester made sense.

I'd guess he's not made the bench as Egan has been the logical choice: an injury at centre half and he'd come on, an injury at full-back and Hill could move across. Add to that Wilson's preference of GK + DF + MF + FW + FW as his substitute line-up and that would probably be why he's not featured.

 

[Selly]

2 games played, 2 defeats and 6 goals conceded perhaps?

Maybe Wilson saw him as a weak link in that defence.

I think that would be extremely harsh. If there was a weak link in the defence against Oldham, its that Lowton got himself sent off, and against Walsall, it was clearly Ertl and Hill that dropped the bollocks...

---------- Post added at 10:41 AM ---------- Previous post was at 10:40 AM ----------

He's just come back from a serious injury. I think he was rested for the Brentford game as he probably wasn't as fit as Williams and, as Darren has pointed out, we'd conceded 6 goals in a 120 minutes. Once we beat Brentford and kept a clean sheet, the decision to keep the same side at Colchester made sense.

I'd guess he's not made the bench as Egan has been the logical choice: an injury at centre half and he'd come on, an injury at full-back and Hill could move across. Add to that Wilson's preference of GK + DF + MF + FW + FW as his substitute line-up and that would probably be why he's not featured.

This makes more sense to me...

 

[99.9%Blade]

Hill did concern me at centre back tues night, he is a small lad, that said the colchester striker was a colossus of a striker and made him look even smaller.

 

[Selly]

Hill did concern me at centre back tues night, he is a small lad, that said the colchester striker was a colossus of a striker and made him look even smaller.

Height isn`t everything, Hill gets up well for a "small" lad, whereas Peter Crouch actually seems to get shorter when he jumps.

But if you aren`t marking your man when he goes for a header (as he didn`t for Walsalls third), it doesn`t matter how well you jump...

 

[Balham]

Hill did concern me at centre back tues night, he is a small lad, that said the colchester striker was a colossus of a striker and made him look even smaller.

Height isn`t everything, Hill gets up well for a "small" lad, whereas Peter Crouch actually seems to get shorter when he jumps.

But if you aren`t marking your man when he goes for a header (as he didn`t for Walsalls third), it doesn`t matter how well you jump...

Colchester's manager noticed in the first half that Hill was staying left and Maguire right and switched his front two to put Odejayi against Hill in the second half. We didn't react to that change and Odejayi became much more effective. Hill might have a decent jump but he struggled in the air from that point forward - it moved away from directing headers to just getting his head on the ball - as you can see from their goal.

We should have spotted that mismatch in the first half and told Maguire to pick up Odejayi whenever their keeper or centre half had the ball as it was obvious what they were going to do.

 

[Kenilworth]

If any of you are thinking that McDonald will be straight back to match sharpness and fitness after a few weeks out with a hammy - think on.
It will take him at least three games to get back into the rhythm of things.

Collins coming back should make us more solid at the back and concede less but the form may not be back to what it was before Preston for a couple of games more.
Question is - will we still turn out the results needed before that happens and what will the other teams do in the meantime?

 

[Ollessendro]

If any of you are thinking that McDonald will be straight back to match sharpness and fitness after a few weeks out with a hammy - think on.
It will take him at least three games to get back into the rhythm of things.

Collins coming back should make us more solid at the back and concede less but the form may not be back to what it was before Preston for a couple of games more.
Question is - will we still turn out the results needed before that happens and what will the other teams do in the meantime?

Your point on K Mac is right. I am concerned about this. When he started this season he looked really talented, yet overweight and unfit. It took him several games to get right. In fact he only really started to look good after Wilson dropped him. If he hasn't trained or played for 3 weeks, he's likely to be blowing out of his arse after 10 minutes. He'll still have the skill, but I don't expect to contribute significantly for a few weeks yet. It might be early April by the time we see a sharp McDonald playing again. The plus note is that Collins will immediately sure up the defence. Even without K Mac, we can be solid and win games. With the back 4 of Lowton, Maguire, Collins and Taylor/Hill I think we'll be solid. With a striker on fire and lots of opther potential goalscorers, I think we still have enough to beat teams. I expect games to be scrappier and it to be a case of us being more clinical. We might have to wait for McDonald's return to fitness to see us controlling games again.

 

[Kenilworth]

Yep Olle. Expect a lot of games at this stage of the season to be a grind. So many teams fearing the trap door and scrapping with everything they have.
Other teams on the push to try to nab one of the remaining play off places.
The good teams will control the games still. My concern is that we are limited in midfield and lack any real creativity when McD is not on form and playing.
Even when we have wingers we don't appear to get the ball out to them quick enough for them to exploit any space behind the opposition.
With McD we stretch teams because we switch play with a tempo they struggle to deal with.
With others next to Doyle we take longer to control the ball and miss out on getting it into the wider positions to create opportunities for the front men.
This results in a long punt up to Porter or Cresswell and we lose the ball again.

 

[raul]

Height isn`t everything, Hill gets up well for a "small" lad...

I take it Bergen is en route and unable to post at this juncture?

 

[Pinchy]

I take it Bergen is en route and unable to post at this juncture?

The Shawcross Redemption?

 

[Rustyrobin]

2 games played, 2 defeats and 6 goals conceded perhaps?

Maybe Wilson saw him as a weak link in that defence.

This post just reminded me of how pessimistric my lot are. It hasnt been such a happy valley of late...a sluggish limp over the line for us, and moaning all the way.

 

[BladeFisher]

Mate that is why we will never do owt, its your attitude that sums up many many Blades fans, beaten before we get on the pitch. Our fans were so quite in the Burnley game it was embarrassing , I wonder sometimes if we really gave the lads our all ,whether we could help them over the line instead of barracking and critisising the lads.

No blue its not my attitude. Its the team's results!

I expect United to win when I go and see them, not roll over and die. With respect you are confusing my feelings after the event rather than my actual actions at the ground. Take tomorrow I expect United to draw, but want a win. On the face of it they should win, but it depends on Tranmere's attitude. If they take the game to United I don't expect a win by the Blades. We should win, but I don't expect it. Next tuesday I expect a draw too.

 

[Bergen Blade]

I take it Bergen is en route and unable to post at this juncture?

Back now.

It's true that Hill is good in the air for his size. Tranmere had a pretty tall lad at right wing, and sometimes they tried diagonal balls up to him, but Hill won every one of them. Having said that, was it Hill that lost the same player when he nodded in the corner?

Like Balham says it is an option to let the centre halves switch sides to follow the striker they're most 'suited' to mark. But what if they keep switching sides and make cross runs? For me there's an increased chance of confusion and dilemmas when centre halves' positions are dictated by the movement of the opposition strikers.

 

[Balham]

Like Balham says it is an option to let the centre halves switch sides to follow the striker they're most 'suited' to mark. But what if they keep switching sides and make cross runs? For me there's an increased chance of confusion and dilemmas when centre halves' positions are dictated by the movement of the opposition strikers.

I accept that might happen but I was suggesting that the two centre halves should have picked up specific men in the Colchester game as Odejayi (1.91m) was 21cm taller than Hill (1.70m) and that directly led to him winning a lot of the first balls. Colchester picked up on this and aimed every goal kick and free kick in that direction. Would Maguire (1.88m) have stood a better chance?

The other point I've made is that we need a leader at the back to marshal the positions of the back four. That's been lacking recently.

 

[Bergen Blade]

I accept that might happen but I was suggesting that the two centre halves should have picked up specific men in the Colchester game as Odejayi (1.91m) was 21cm taller than Hill (1.70m) and that directly led to him winning a lot of the first balls. Colchester picked up on this and aimed every goal kick and free kick in that direction. Would Maguire (1.88m) have stood a better chance?

I know what you're saying. In any case with Collins back we should now be able to cope.

Maguire is surely taller than 1.88 though? There must be snaps around to prove that he towers above most players. ;-)

 

[Balham]

I know what you're saying. In any case with Collins back we should now be able to cope.

Maguire is surely taller than 1.88 though? There must be snaps around to prove that he towers above most players. ;-)

Not according to the OS or the BBC. Whenever I see him on the pitch though he looks enormous - like a slightly smaller version of me.