Is it now time to rest a few?

[Balham]

They had by far the strongest penalty shout!

Are you joking? Handball has to be intentional - Doyle's wasn't. That doesn't mean that those kind aren't given but I haven't seen a penalty shout as strong as Maguire's in a long time. It was ridiculous.

That said, Clough called it when he said that we should have had that penalty but that it would have been undeserved.

 

[Wapping Blade]

Are you joking? Handball has to be intentional - Doyle's wasn't. That doesn't mean that those kind aren't given but I haven't seen a penalty shout as strong as Maguire's in a long time. It was ridiculous.

That said, Clough called it when he said that we should have had that penalty but that it would have been undeserved.

On Maguire's I think the ref saw "6 of one" as HM pushed off on the defender first.

 

[ScoobBlade]

Didn't want to say it before cos i knew i'd get called a ****, but no way is the play-offs gonna happen.
Was never gonna happen. Probably won't even finish within 10 points of Peterborough. Had a great run against nobodies, but the team is nowhere near good enough to sustain it through this period of non-stop games against the best teams in the division.

Clough has performed miracles, he deserves all the credit he gets, maybe if we drop off now and finish about 12th it will be a good thing. The board need to know we need investment for next season, i worry if we keep this going and finish 7th or 8th they may get complacent and think we're going to challenge next season, even if several players leave and aren't replaced. Without Brayford, Coady, possibly Maguire and a few others we'll be staring straight at another relegation battle. We need to keep as many as possible and add to it with a striker or 2. Otherwise all the progress Clough has made will be worth nothing and before we know it we'll be on the new manager rollercoaster to nowhere yet again.

I don't know if you're aware , we didn't actually lose last night. A backs against the wall job it may have been but 6 months ago we would have lost that, but they fought together and from a defensive standpoint thoroughly deserved a point. If you can get negative after 10 wins and a draw from 11 games you will never be happy.
Ps. Villa, Fulham, forest, charlton, Peterborough are all above us and that makes it a remarkable run so to call them nobodies is pretty bloody harsh

 

[Junior Soduko]

Fuckin hell fire, Preston haven't lost in the league for 12 straight games. Since the turn of the year they have played 18 games in all competitions and lost 2, against wolves and forest respectively.

This is a truly well earned point away from home against a side that are exceptionally difficult to beat. Yes we were lucky to come away with a point but that's football, if you said to me we would have drawn 0-0 away at preston before the game i would have snatched your hand off.

We now play wolves at home, which has the makings of a cracking game between two in form sides. Instead of the doom and gloom, the play offs are over chat just because we haven't won 11 straight games, dare to dream for a little while.

 

[Punk Blade]

0-0 was a good result last night, extending the unbeaten run to 11 and another clean sheet. The fact I was slightly disappointed because I now expect to win shows just how far we've come. Our play-off chances were never going to be decided by whether we won at Preston.

We may have the toughest run-in of the play-off chasers on paper, but the four of the top five still to visit the Lane will not relish facing us on this form. Walsall, Swindon and MK fans won't be chucking the towel in just yet, and neither should we.

As for player rotation, I trust Mr Clough to make the right decisions for each game, as he has done faultlessly for the last 11.

Keep it up lads.

 

[Northyorksblade]

0-0 was a good result last night, extending the unbeaten run to 11 and another clean sheet. The fact I was slightly disappointed because I now expect to win shows just how far we've come. Our play-off chances were never going to be decided by whether we won at Preston.

We may have the toughest run-in of the play-off chasers on paper, but the four of the top five still to visit the Lane will not relish facing us on this form. Walsall, Swindon and MK fans won't be chucking the towel in just yet, and neither should we.

As for player rotation, I trust Mr Clough to make the right decisions for each game, as he has done faultlessly for the last 11.

Keep it up lads.

Expect to win, flipping heck, we're not Man United! Oh, I forgot, Man United aren't Man United anymore

 

[OllyBlade]

A football match happened. Neither team won. Life goes on.

Also, UP THE FUCKING BLADES! We're in the semi of the cup, 10th in the league and should aim for 7th, can cross fingers etc for higher, and just set a club record for consecutive clean sheets.

Sure, not the best last night, but we dug in. When the ball fell to them in the box, their player instantly was charged down by hungry, ferocious guard-dog-like bladesmen. A stirring sight to see.

 

[madeinsheffield]

I thought we did well against a team who are playing and winning a lot of games, we defended well and stayed confident, and came away with a point. We simply aren't good enough yet to steam roll every team we play. Remember where we were a few months ago.

Love to hear NC come out after games and be honest and thinks about what he's saying, what a refreshing change, Grayson needs to learn that from him! Also full marks to Doyle for what he said about the 'handball' described it as I saw it and thankfully was honest saying the ball did hit his hand.

The 6th place is still a dream, let's get not get carried away and be disappointed if we don't make it, and until it's not possible we need to keep momentum and winning which will hopefully attract and help keep better players for next season.

 

[boo radley]

Not read all this but stop mollycoddling them. If you tell someone enough they look tired they will start to believe it.
If we'd gone out of the cup and been struggling you'd want none of them to rest.
You'd be asking them to give everything in every game.
They will have an off day now and then and if last night was one then we did well to get 0-0.
There is rotation in the squad already and plenty of it. If NC suddenly went without Collins everyone would panic.

 

[blade too long]

Any lingering play off hopes, and I never seriously thought they existed, are over now .

why , we dont have to win every single game , we need 78 points we could lose 2 and still get in them , deary me some people are so very very negative

 

[blade too long]

They had by far the strongest penalty shout!

Face it, we were battered tonight and very lucky to get out of there with a point. They had far more possession and chances and overran us at times.
.

And every team thats ever been in a play off has never lost or got a point they didnt deserve
whats behind some peoples thinking , wait till we dont win then say thats it its over , we need 75 /78 points maximum
we fought hard drew ugly as they say , how many times do man utd and chelsea win ugly
Chelseas titles hopes went then when they lost at Villa

We drew 0-0 in our hardest away game left , cracking point
ball hit hand with Doyle , their defender deliberately pulled on Maguires shirt I know which was the stronger appeal

 

[Woodwardfan]

Sorry if I'm repeating anything but I've just looked at our fixtures before Wembley - 6 against teams above us or , in the case of Crawley effectively above us maybe. Hull have only 4 fixtures and relatively easy ones for the Premiership, if there are such games.

Last night we looked leggy again. NC will make up his mind about priorities and simply what is possible. Last night I would have played Paynter and maybe even Porter from the start, specifically for that game and also to rest a few. Against Wolves I'd do the same and battle for an hour and see whether we need our mobile players.

If we drop points we'll back off anyway but at present we still have the chance to catch Peterborough who are dodgy; we are also the best bet in the chasing pack. We h ave to go for it but perhaps falling out of the race will help us for Wembley.

If we do back off in the league though we could lose our momentum in our play. It's difficult to know what's best. This is a squad game though and such as Hill, Paynter, Kennedy, Miller, Diego, Davies, McGinn, have a lot to offer

Clearly Hull have the big advantages but if they do badly in those four fixtures against bottom teams they will be rattled,

 

[Guesty]

Are you joking? Handball has to be intentional - Doyle's wasn't. That doesn't mean that those kind aren't given but I haven't seen a penalty shout as strong as Maguire's in a long time. It was ridiculous.

That said, Clough called it when he said that we should have had that penalty but that it would have been undeserved.

Of course it was, Doyle turned his body but kept his arm in the way. To top it off he threw his hands to his face to cover what he'd done!

And every team thats ever been in a play off has never lost or got a point they didnt deserve
whats behind some peoples thinking , wait till we dont win then say thats it its over , we need 75 /78 points maximum
we fought hard drew ugly as they say , how many times do man utd and chelsea win ugly
Chelseas titles hopes went then when they lost at Villa

We drew 0-0 in our hardest away game left , cracking point
ball hit hand with Doyle , their defender deliberately pulled on Maguires shirt I know which was the stronger appeal

Oh I agree, a fantastic point and very hard fought. I have no issue with team's winning points under such cirumstances. My point is that despite our outstanding recent form, Preston are clearly a better side than us. They battered us from pillar to post. And Wolves are too, we'd do very well to get a similar result on Saturday. But it's not impossible that we will.

 

[travellingblade]

Quite - we WON a POINT, i.e. we didn't LOSE.

Let US believe in NC and let HIM select the team.

"One game at a time".

 

[SouthEssexBlade]

Take the next game deal with that and then prepare for the one after.

By the way, Peterborough will lose their next two games!

 

[Pinchy]

Good Lord - Wolves, the team of all the talents, beaten at Crawley!! Can it be true?

Staggering it is. The biggest upset since Goliath lost to David. My word, we'll get the backlash on Saturday. Tremble, fellow Blades, tremble!

 

[Swanseablade]

Going back to the title of the OP & picking up on a few points:

Yes it probably is time to rest a few.
Whilst I agree with s24su's own "special one's" view on being down on ourselves as Blades, I think it's worth remembering that:
Cloughie hasn't been with us a full season & the "recent groove" that we have got in is a joy to behold BUT:
Could a small(ish) squad maintain that for the whole of next season?
Do we need 2 x Scougs? (For example).
Do we need more strength in depth to maintain a serious promotion push next term?
I think we probably do........