Bristol City vs Sheffield United

vs.

Championship Week 19 - Tuesday 1st November 2022 - 20:00 - Ashton Gate
Please keep all discussion related to the match within this thread.


Matchday Stats/Player Ratings - https://www.s24su.com/forum/match-day/match/bristol-city-vs-sheffield-united.623/

Officials:

Referee: Stephen Martin
Assistant Referee: Adam Crysell
Assistant Referee: Mark Stevens
Fourth Official: James Linington

Coverage:

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Need a VPN? - https://www.s24su.com/forum/threads/vpn-usage.87094/

Live TV Coverage (to be updated):

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




Original content from robbiez666 below:

As there's no match thread yet (I assume Dempsey & Makepeace are busy childing) putting this here.

Going to be a tough game. I fancied City at the start of the season but they've been inconsistent. They certainly have the attacking players to hurt us.

If everyone was fit enough to play, I'd go:

----------------------Wes

Baldock - Basham - Egan - Robinson - Osborn

--------Doyle----Norwood-----Fleck

-------------Sharp--- Ndiaye

Anel suspended and giving McBurnie a rest.

I reckon we're going to get a few surprises though listening to the press conference.

Sachdev and Arblaster not travelled with the U-21s so likely in the squad.

I reckon McAtee or Khadra will start. I have a feeling Ndiaye might not.

I reckon a draw might be the likely outcome.

 

[Blade58]

Great support from the travelling Blades, a credit to the club.

Yeah we’ll done to those that made the long journey

I see pig fans already having a pop at the “700” that made the journey

Wankers

 

[MancBlade85]

seeing a lot of praise on twitter for Hecky's post match interview. Anyone know what he said?

 

[Sheffsteel]

Horrid performance. how the hell we got 3 points I have no idea.

I would rather lose playing well and trying than that eye sore. Personally I would be embarrassed to put in that performance regardless of the win.

Bristol City deserved the 3 points IMO. Very worried for Burnley at the weekend, think I will give that game a miss.

You‘re missing the obvious tho.
One off great or poor performances are pretty much irrelevant, all the top teams have had crap games and all the bottom teams have had 1 off great perfirmances.

Judge us over a series of matches.
Eventhough we’ve had 10 players out injured most games all the XG data shows us as the 2nd best team in this league.
Overall we’ve been unlucky this season, so we are due some luck.

When we get our players back we should win the league, if we avoid more bad luck with injuries.

 

[Colombia Blade]

Robinson stays in for me

Wouldn't complain if he did to be fair

 

[Sheffsteel]

If he comes on air for the interview and praises that fucking horrific excuse for a performance the man is deluded.

I’m also not taken with the idea of keeping g injured players in the pitch risking worse injury.

Agree…..we’ve lost/ drawn some games when there’s been positives regards the performance.
So let’s see if he’s honest enough to call it the other way, our quality was terrible but the conditions were difficult.
The only positive was the fighting spirit, also top teams manage to win even when having off days.

 

[Yellarbellyblade]

You can’t always play well

We haven’t played well in the last 8 games bar beating the worst team we’ve played all season WBA

And yet we’re third

 

[Keen Blade]

Fleck looks as though he's actively hiding at times. I'm sure he's not, but it's either that or he's forgotten how to find space and get involved.

Fleck is just taking the piss out of the club now , he's farting around on his nice contract.
It was like playing with 10 men , he contributed zero.
I watched him repeatedly when we had the ball move TOWARDS their defender , so we couldn't risk a pass to him.
Out of possession, he just trotted around aimlessly.
I have never seen a player HIDE so successfully.
Utterly stealing a wage , the fecker is.

 

[Keen Blade]

So disappointing Ndiaye didn't put Khadra through here:

View attachment 146993

True but without Ndiaye we are quite literally nothing

 

[FallowfieldBlade]

And yet we’re third

For the 8 millionth time

We are where we are because we have the best squad in the league we have lost 2/3 of our best players and we still have a strong side (bogle/Anel/berge)

We are where we are because we have such a good squad

If you put a chimp in an F1 car I’m sure they could do a fast lap around silverstone

The bloke ain’t good enough and today further proves that IMO

 

[robbiez666]

What a slog in terrible positions and the bounciest pitch I've seen in a long time

We certainly didn't deserve 3 points but Wes didn't have that much to do in the end.

We looked to stretch them with the formation but the pitch was so hard and wet that balls just bounced out of play. We looked better with the change of shape and fair play for the early change. We struggled though and we look poor without 3 CMs on the pitch.

We're a team on our last legs. Last man standing at the moment and how we'll put a team out at the weekend I do not know.

We created little and our defending was mixed but it was enough. We have a massive problem when we don't play 3 in CM but we only have 3 CMs. Massive recruitment oversight.

Wes - 6 - Came out recklessly early on and got away with it and a couple of juggles in the air but in horrible conditions he came and claimed balls.
Osbourn - 6 - Mixed. I thought he defended well most one and ones but once again Fleck was MIA on defensive duties so he kept being left exposed. Made a misjudgement on a header which gave them a chance but got forward a fair bit.
Robinson - 5.5 - First game back. I thought he was a bit hit and miss. Some good strong challenges but also some mistimed and sloppy. First game back so deserves a bit of slack
Egan - 6 - Did a lot of spade work tonight. Bit sloppy with the ball and played into an error by bash but stuck to his task. Went a bit awry when he moved to the right but you can see the logic in doing it.
Bash - 5 - slow and too reckless at times. Run out and gets turned. Semado made him look like a dope at one stage, just ran round him and he gets taken in and instead of covering gets pulled out of position. So much space between him and Baldock first half.
Baldock - 4 - Like a dickhead decided to get himself booked. This idiotic ill-discipline needs to be stopped. We can't afford to lose players to suspensions. Terribly out of position multiple times first half. Got better in the second and got forward better then as well. Loses a point for the booking.
Fleck - 2 - Hides. All the time. Reports again of his shitfaced at the weekend. If this is the case, he needs to be balled out in January. Bring a professional in. Was slow and avoided any responsibility. Jogs back, provides no protection and can hardly get forward.
Norwood - 6.5 - Man of the match for me. Constantly the one person in midfield doing any defending. Nothing came off for him going forward but the one getting stuck in.
Ndiaye - 5.5 - Composed for the goal with the keeper trying to take his head off, but otherwise largely poor. Made an awful choice when breaking with Khadra next to him and poor on the ball. He looks shattered and clearly needs a rest. Struggled through again at the end but we need to keep him fit.
Khadra - 4 - For once he put some workrate in. 75% but much better than normal. Had one good bit on the ball and unlucky not to be played in after running half the pitch but he's so poor on the ball. Wasteful. Runs down blind alleys. Can't protect the ball. He got pulled early, which was harsh, but we needed to change shape.
Sharp - 5 - Deserves credit for forcing their player to head to Ndiaye for the goal (that and the fact he was offside means it should have been ruled out) and putting himself about. Gave us a bit of stability upfront with little help. He looks shot but did a job tonight.

Subs

McAtee - 5 - Put a good ball in for the goal and generally used the ball pretty well. The problem is he just can't tackle. Put the work in, got another booking for a terrible excuse for a tackle. Looks like he might be done until after the world cup after being on the receiving end of a poor tackle.
McBurnie - 6 - Better with him on the pitch made a nuisance of himself and gave us an outlet
Stevens - 5.5 - Did ok. Good to see him getting minutes
Clark - 5 - Picked up a booking and I'm really not convinced. He was badly out of position a couple of times.

Hecky - 6 - Set up trying something different but our tactic to knock it into the channels clearly didn't work with the weather on the pitch. Deserves credit for the early change. We looked better but mostly second best. He really is at the stage of picking who is fit and that's it. I do think we need to risk a youngster in midfield as McAtee can't play it and playing two means we lose.

Bristol City

The better team and looked dangerous going forward. They were set up well and use their CBs like we used to. They'll feel hard done by, which is fair, but they hardly tested Wes. I think they'll be play-offs bound. Too many good signings and clever players. Scott was head and shoulders the best player on the pitch. 19 as well.

 

[Sheffsteel]

Serious. I agree with that statement if we put in a good performance every now and again. Trying to think of the last time we last played well. 3 points is definitely a positive. But its not pretty or entertaining in anyway, quite the opposite.

Now I know you’re on the wind up.

You only need to think back 10 days to last week Saturday afternoon.
First half we were half asleep, really poor but secong half against Norwich we were superb creating loads of chance in a very entertaining match.

Norwich are ex PL and one of the big favourites for promotion but we had then under the cosh with almost non stop attack.
Play like that against Burnley and we’ll win no problem.
Also once we get our players back we’re the best team in the Championship and should go on a long unbeaten run playing entertaining football.

 

[robbiez666]

For the 8 millionth time

We are where we are because we have the best squad in the league we have lost 2/3 of our best players and we still have a strong side (bogle/Anel/berge)

We are where we are because we have such a good squad

If you put a chimp in an F1 car I’m sure they could do a fast lap around silverstone

The bloke ain’t good enough and today further proves that IMO

You don't understand football at all.

You're also a muppet. Won away and calling for the manager's head. dickhead.

 

[SUFCinks]

Seriously??

Couldn't be more serious. Awful. If you enjoyed it then good for you. Apart from the 3 points i don’t understand what enjoyment you could get out of that. It was an hour and a half with very limited footballing ability on show.

 

[BettingBlade]

Now I know you’re on the wind up.

You only need to think back 10 days to last week Saturday afternoon.
First half we were half asleep but secong half against Norwich we were superb creating loads of chance in a very entertaining match.

Norwich are ex PL and one of the big favourites for promotion but we had then under the cosh with almost non stop attack.

Arent we ex Premier League and one of the favourites for promotion?

We were completely out of that game until it all kicked off. Baffles me why we dont take games by the scruff of the neck, especially at home. We either have to be a goal down or we need something to kick off before we start looking like an above average Championship team.

Not sure what Hecky’s plan is away from home but it bores the tits off me quite frankly.

 

[Sheffsteel]

Couldn't be more serious. Awful. If you enjoyed it then good for you. Apart from the 3 points i don’t understand what enjoyment you could get out of that. It was an hour and a half with very limited footballing ability on show.

Agree, we were pretty much rubbish and didn’t even deserve a draw but this is just one match.

Taking the season as a whole based on ”expected goal”data it shows us as the 2nd best team in the league behind Burnley.
The facts taken from a neutral point of view suggest we’ve either been unlucky or had poor finishing.
How we regularly (almost every match) create more chance than the opposition. Tonight was different, we robbed Bristol City.

 

[Dave9777]

Fackinell WTF was that game

Hope we bum Burnley on Saturday however if that fails let’s at least win the weekly brawl!

 

[FallowfieldBlade]

You don't understand football at all.

You're also a muppet. Won away and calling for the manager's head. dickhead.

“Dickhead” by the sounds of it you probably are one

Couldn’t care less if we won we didn’t deserve too and that’s the worst we have played all season up there with Coventry away

Carry on like that we won’t be going up this year

 

[Freddie]

Definitely offside but who the hell cares

Nigella Pearson?

 

[Sheffsteel]

Arent we ex Premier League and one of the favourites for promotion?

We were completely out of that game until it all kicked off. Baffles me why we dont take games by the scruff of the neck, especially at home. We either have to be a goal down or we need something to kick off before we start looking like an above average Championship team.

Not sure what Hecky’s plan is away from home but it bores the tits off me quite frankly.

Agree regards the away performances, it’s very different to the Wilder teams.
Hecky sets us up to contain and be defensively strong, then we manage out victories by restricting chances to the opposition.

I suppose he has a good excuse because he has loads of injuries and very tired players, we’re like the walking wounded.

 

[Yellarbellyblade]

For the 8 millionth time

We are where we are because we have the best squad in the league we have lost 2/3 of our best players and we still have a strong side (bogle/Anel/berge)

We are where we are because we have such a good squad

If you put a chimp in an F1 car I’m sure they could do a fast lap around silverstone

The bloke ain’t good enough and today further proves that IMO

And just out of interest who are we replacing him with?

 

[bakeblade]

Couldn't be more serious. Awful. If you enjoyed it then good for you. Apart from the 3 points i don’t understand what enjoyment you could get out of that. It was an hour and a half with very limited footballing ability on show.

I Didn't enjoy the performance but loved the goal and the 3 points.

 

[SUFCinks]

Now I know you’re on the wind up.

You only need to think back 10 days to last week Saturday afternoon.
First half we were half asleep, really poor but secong half against Norwich we were superb creating loads of chance in a very entertaining match.

Norwich are ex PL and one of the big favourites for promotion but we had then under the cosh with almost non stop attack.
Play like that against Burnley and we’ll win no problem.
Also once we get our players back we’re the best team in the Championship and should go on a long unbeaten run playing entertaining football.

we played well for 45 mins against Norwich. Apart from that not done much for about 8 games, maybe more.

I like your optimism but even playing against city today they were miles better on the ball than us. 1 touch passing, playing out of danger, composed and technical at times. Apart from the 45 against Norwich we have played very little football for a while and prefer smashing it clear or floating hopefuls forward to chase.

Its poor. It’s crap to watch and we can do better.

 

[Sheffsteel]

“Dickhead” by the sounds of it you probably are one

Couldn’t care less if we won we didn’t deserve too and that’s the worst we have played all season up there with Coventry away

Carry on like that we won’t be going up this year

Not sure you realise that all clubs steal results they don’t deserve, tonight it was us to be lucky and steal the points.
However in the past, especially at BL we’ve totally dominated teams but cruelly lost with a last minute clincher.

Agree about your last sentence but isn’t that just stating the obvious?
If we play like that for the rest of the season we’ll be closer to relegation than promotion, might even get relegated, we were that bad.

However that was easily one of our worse performances and we won’t play like that too often this season.
In General, almost every match, we are better than the opposition based on good chances created.
There’s grounds to be concerned but this is a marathon and we’re nicely positioned just behind the leader.

 

[robbiez666]

Couldn’t care less if we won

Sums you up

 

[Keen Blade]

Arent we ex Premier League and one of the favourites for promotion?

We were completely out of that game until it all kicked off. Baffles me why we dont take games by the scruff of the neck, especially at home. We either have to be a goal down or we need something to kick off before we start looking like an above average Championship team.

Not sure what Hecky’s plan is away from home but it bores the tits off me quite frankly.

Hecky's "plan" tonight was totally misconceived , playing Khadra as a striker with old man Billy + Ndiaye deep ... But for once he admitted his mistake + changed it in first half , making Khadra his scapegoat.
Basically we looked like we had no plan whatsoever.
I'll always take the 3 points but that performance was terrible.
We naturally looked better when he finally decided to play McB & Ndiaye upfront in their blossoming partnership - which should have begun the game.
And if I was Hecky is would tell Fleck I'll break his other leg for him if he thinks he can get away with hiding for 90 mins.
The manager's view from the dugout is as very flat trajectory and it's hard to see players hiding - Hecky needs to watch the video + see if he can find a single thing that Fleck did in that game apart from moves to ensure that he never became involved in it.
I know we're short of players & money but Fleck must know he isn't getting another contract and should be sent on gardening leave before he stinks the place out.
But unfortunately Hecky won't do that coz he's either blind to such laziness or too nice

 

[Keen Blade]

we played well for 45 mins against Norwich. Apart from that not done much for about 8 games, maybe more.

I like your optimism but even playing against city today they were miles better on the ball than us. 1 touch passing, playing out of danger, composed and technical at times. Apart from the 45 against Norwich we have played very little football for a while and prefer smashing it clear or floating hopefuls forward to chase.

Its poor. It’s crap to watch and we can do better.

Hey don't give our secrets to the upcoming opposition

 

[LW_Blade]

Bash is seriously crap - sad to see. He looks totally devoid of confidence

Wins man of the match.

 

[FallowfieldBlade]

Sums you up

I was talking about the performance you Pleb

 

[biggiesablade]

“Dickhead” by the sounds of it you probably are one

Couldn’t care less if we won we didn’t deserve too and that’s the worst we have played all season up there with Coventry away

Carry on like that we won’t be going up this year

We won't go up if we keep getting points!

 

[ChipButtyBlade]

what's this?

Looks like a brawl.