Sheffield United vs Burnley

EFL Championship Matchweek 23 - Thursday 26th December 2024 - 15:00 - Bramall Lane
Please keep all discussion related to the match within this thread.

Player Ratings:
Matchday Stats/Player Ratings - https://www.s24su.com/forum/match-day/match/sheffield-united-vs-burnley.720/

Officials:

Referee: Oliver Langford
Assistants: Mark Stevens and Nigel Lugg
Fourth Official: Ollie Yates

Coverage:

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[The Crab]

Absolutely agree.

I’ve also long held the opinion that a manager shouldn’t be treated any differently to squad members upon promotion.

There should be fair assessment over whether the manager is up to it.

Agreed.

Tubthumping motivation will only get you so far.

Even Warnock got found out

 

[Bell4]

We've done incredibly well to be in amongst it at this stage of the season.
Now we need to strengthen

Exactly this tbh

Our squad has very little depth in quality - but we knew that - we have been rolling along on three wheels recently but wilder , hook or by crook , had managed some fantastic outcomes .

He now needs proper support in Jan from the new owners as what we all feared would happen re the squad is happening.

 

[BarcaBlade]

And if Harry is out then that’s the next three games done for me … by far and away out best defender

Yep. We've lost every game he's been missing for.

 

[Jimmy Fleck]

Well that’s 6 places higher than you predicted after our last defeat so we are obviously doing something right

Yep gutted we’ve been on such a good run

 

[Sheffsteel]

Tight match as expected.

Thought we had control of the 1st half without looking threatening. Burnley offered nothing and were clearly aiming to get to half time at 0-0, then they caught us on the break with a rare attack.

1-0 at half time and though Burnley were a bit lucky to be leading.

2nd half we upped the tempo as expected but again didn’t really look like scoring, thought Burnley defended really well and made us look quite limited up front.

Their 2nd goal was a very lucky, a long shot which took a huge deflection and spun into the top corner.

Positives:
Thought Davies looked class, calm and composed on the ball and Peck played well too. Thought we kept some good possession controlling the game but we didn’t do much with the possession apart from past it around the back line.

Negatives:
Hamer had a bad game and Moore just wasn’t in it either. Our attack was pretty much non existent today but you have to give credit to Burnley.

 

[Rochdaleblade]

Have to admit that result has been coming for a while. We haven’t played well but have nicked results through dogged determination but little attacking flair.
I can’t help but feeling that we didn’t show any intent from the start and set up to be defensive, despite the attacking players on the pitch.

Zero width and zero creativity particularly first half.

Thought Davies was good again. Would have preferred to see him and Vinny from the start.
Wilder has done wonders since the end of last season but I think we should have showed more attacking intent for the start.

Burnley are solid without being that good and I think we have played better attacking teams than that so far.

Still top and with some strengthening in the next couple of weeks, we should be ok.

Agree with all of that. We haven't looked the same since we lost Arblaster. Davies looks the most natural replacement for Olly. Peck and Vini are too similar for me.

 

[petcharlie]

Exactly this tbh

Our squad has very little depth in quality - but we knew that - we have been rolling along on three wheels recently but wilder , hook or by crook , had managed some fantastic outcomes .

He now needs proper support in Jan from the new owners as what we all feared would happen re the squad is happening.

I agree having little depth in the squad is starting to catch up with us .We have done well up to now but the cracks are starting to show and the injuries are stacking up .

 

[KiwiBlabe]

We are in a false position, today showed that. Leeds and Burnley are a million miles ahead of us and will open up a gap now.

How did today show we are miles behind? 2 well organised teams. One poor goal we gave away and one very lucky, helped by poor reffing.

Disappointed, yes, but we were not outclassed today.

 

[Belvedere Blade]

 

[Bell4]

Tight match as expected.

Thought we had control of the 1st half without looking threatening. Burnley offered nothing and were clearly aiming to get to half time at 0-0, then they caught us on the break with a rare attack.

1-0 at half time and though Burnley were a bit lucky to be leading.

2nd half we upped the tempo as expected but again didn’t really look like scoring, thought Burnley defended really well and made us look quite limited up front.

Their 2nd goal was a very lucky, a long shot which took a huge deflection and spun into the top corner.

Positives:
Thought Davies looked class, calm and composed on the ball and Peck played well too. Thought we kept some good possession controlling the game but we didn’t do much with the possession apart from past it around the back line.

Negatives:
Hamer had a bad game and Moore just wasn’t in it either. Our attack was pretty much non existent today.

Agree with most of this - good write up.

My thoughts are - if we had been playing Burnley away, they would have ripped through us as nearly every team at the top seem to dominate , with energy and pace. Quite a few teams we have played who are at the top end have done this to us - Midds / Leeds / Sunderland (home of course) - plus the likes of Coventry - even Weds coped quite well .

So yes , it was a tight game for the reasons you say but we are the home team - and as i suggest above , if we had been the away team we would have been ripped apart - imo - the gap therefore is bigger than today shows.

Chris has done great and has got away with sticking plaster remedies - now he is in a position of needing to apply plaster casts and find a few wheelchairs as the squad is being decimated - you cant keep diluting the orange squash

He needs all the help he can get or else , as has been suggested , we may quickly fall away.

 

[KiwiBlabe]

View attachment 200341

A good summary. I would ask him why we don't swap left and right. Hamer was getting the shits from the off with the RB which took the edge off his game. Brewster, left or right would have been equally ineffective.

Hopefully Harry is not too bad, but it looked very bad to me. Looked like his knee to me, hope not

 

[petcharlie]

thought Davis looked good but our defence looked dodgy which is strange , Thought both full backs had a bad game giving their wide players acres of room .

 

[moody1889]

He’s absolutely terrified of being completely exposed. I think these setups are a safety blanket for him. We aren’t exactly rolling over the dregs of the division either. A year on I’m still far from close to understanding the long term sense in bringing him back.

If we go up to the Premier League and resorts to these tactics you can guarantee that we will end up in the same position or worse than when he left last time.

There is a very good reason why I have little confidence in us when it comes to crunch games like this and that is because of the way we set up.

We don't seem to learn from past mistakes and that is the most frustrating part about it.

If Wilder had set up with an attacking team and gone for it and we had lost playing attacking football I can take that but the stats highlight just how poor we were yet again.

The on question I would like to ask Chris Wilder is why is it that we always worry about the opposition instead of letting them worry about us.

We have arguably one of the best midfielders in Hamer yet he was absolutely stiflled in terms of shots on goal these tactics do not suit his game at all.

 

[moody1889]

We were more or less even until Burnley scored. Neither team looked like scoring. Then our right back switches off and we're one down.

Start of the second half, were piling on the pressure and an equaliser is vert much a possibility. Then they get a freak goal and it's game over. We know we're never going to get two against the Burnley defence.

So, not a good performance, but seriously not wrist slitting stuff..

But the difference is we all knew Burnley would set up that way and would look to kill us on the counter with pace and skill firing crosses into the box.

It was all too predictable what was going to happen.

 

[paidsy]

If we go up to the Premier League and resorts to these tactics you can guarantee that we will end up in the same position or worse than when he left last time.

There is a very good reason why I have little confidence in us when it comes to crunch games like this and that is because of the way we set up.

We don't seem to learn from past mistakes and that is the most frustrating part about it.

If Wilder had set up with an attacking team and gone for it and we had lost playing attacking football I can take that but the stats highlight just how poor we were yet again.

The on question I would like to ask Chris Wilder is why is it that we always worry about the opposition instead of letting them worry about us.

We have arguably one of the best midfielders in Hamer yet he was absolutely stiflled in terms of shots on goal these tactics do not suit his game at all.

This is precisely it for me. What has he demonstrated that he's learned from the last few experiences he’s had? Very little for me. Continually talking about this team like it’s a bunch of Sunday leaguers is laughable too.

 

[ReeceofBDTBL]

Anyone saying we only need a couple of additions in January is living in cloud cuckoo land.

It’s a miracle we’ve got this many points with such a thin squad, we had six academy kids on the bench today.

People just brush over stuff like that last half an hour against the pigs where we’ve got a teenager blowing out of his arse up front.

 

[jt64]

Anyone saying we only need a couple of additions in January is living in cloud cuckoo land.

It’s a miracle we’ve got this many points with such a thin squad, we had six academy kids on the bench today.

Ignoring that I can only see five, one of which (One) we brought in externally anyway, you just can't tar them all with the same brush as you are trying to do. I can give you Baptiste and Blacker, but trying to chuck Brooks under the bus in the same way is poor. I'm pretty sure Man City would not be regarding Phil Foden as "an academy kid" in the same way as you are. Or even Oscar Bobb if fit.

 

[Harrisblade]

I’m not saying I’m right, it’s just how it looks to me.

If we do go up, we need a waaay better strategy than last time

It might also help to have a few waay better players then last time?

 

[Keen Blade]

Their wide players are pretty strong and will cause us some big problems, especially down our right.

Very perceptive - did Alfie tell you in advance he was continually going to give their LW loads of space so he could put crosses in without any challenge ?

 

[Keen Blade]

Gilchrist way out of position for that

Miles away , as always

 

[Keen Blade]

Strong bench, Davies will be influential

Have you seen Burnley bench ?

When CW says he needs some experienced quality players , he joketh not

 

[John Street West Terrace]

Reality check for us today … we don’t have the squad depth for a top 2 finish unless the new owners are feeling frivolous .. we did ok first half without hsving the composure in the the last third & they sprung us on the break . I went in at half time confident we’d get summat out if this but the 2nd goal killed us.
After that they controlled the game & our bench of defenders & kids showed we had nothing to change the game … top of the league which isa fantastic achievement in its self all things considered but it’ll be play offs for us unless we add 4 more & keep what we’ve got ….came up well short today … their keeper never had a shot to save in 90 mins

 

[Keen Blade]

Shit time to concede, both crap tbh. We seriously need to do better

Alfie miles away from his man - third time he's given him loads of space to cross unchallenged -:Alfie is a CB and simply drifts into a CB position - no clue how to be a RB

 

[Snowflake]

Was the Prince's first game as the owner a win ? Just wondering the new owners will be a lucky talisman for today.

..or not

 

[Varkanoid]

..or not

Good time to lose, reality dawns for owners if the want PL football they need to spend. Day before JTW window meeting where CW presents his wants list couldn't have come at a better time

 

[Keen Blade]

First goal would win this; both great defensively, can’t see us scoring against them now, we have created very very little. They’re aren’t great, we’ve given them far too much respect. Get at them second half.

We haven't given them respect
We simply don't know how to get through them or even take a corner
Did we have one realistic chance all game ?

 

[Keen Blade]

Bit of a premature ejaculation.

Try comparing the two squads and wage bills , especially if you deduct the worthless Brewster £1.5m pa from ours

 

[Keen Blade]

Burnley haven't been that good, we've just been predictable and awful. Peck always passing backwards under no pressure or launching a crap ball forwards. Brewster not in the game because no one is passing down the right and Gilchrist looks for Cooper or Peck. Everyone else is playing hot potato and not wanting responsibility to keep the ball. For me, Moore needs to drop back when attacks start to bring O'Hare, Hamer and Brewster into advanced attacking positions, but he always stays up top alone waiting for a hollywood ball.

Don't forget Moore is getting on a bit so can't be running around like a spring chicken

 

[Tony_Kaufman]

Don't forget Moore is getting on a bit so can't be running around like a spring chicken

Or expected to do much isolated up top alone against the best defence in the league with no service and no support. Naive approach from Wilder with that one. Instant advantage to Burnley.

We needed 4-3-3 today not 4-2-3-1 with One and Brewster flanking Moore and Hamer, Souza and O'Hare behind them.

 

[Keen Blade]

I don't care too much about the result. We did not deserve to lose, but then we have won games we did not deserve to win as well. Just normal variance. In a match between those two teams it was always very hard to come back for either if the other one manages to break the deadlock.

However, injuries to Vini (I assume that's why he came off at HT) and Souttar are very bad news. At least we might be able to send Souttar back to Leicester if this is season-ending and bring in someone else?

e: Also, did not understand people saying JRS was not a miss before the game and still don't. In games like this players who can create from nothing are a huge asset as both teams "playing normally" would just result in a 0-0.

Sorry but we did deserve to lose because we never found a way to threaten them but Alfie gave their LW 3 chances to cross unchallenged and they were bound to score from one of them.
0-1 was the proper score.

0-2 reflected the ref getting ever more bent in their favour.