United 1 WBA 1 - report/ratings

[Carlton Blade]

Of course you are entitled to your opinion, as people are to challenge it.

If you genuinely think that was staggeringly dull, I can only assume you started watching us in 2016/17, because compared to some of the shit I've seen in the last 55 years, it was okay. Not great, but we had some decent passing moves and tried to play football. It didn't come off, but no-one died.

Calling it staggeringly dull isn’t the same as saying it was catastrophic, and it doesn’t require inventing a backstory where I only started watching in 2016.

You think it was okay. I thought it was staggeringly dull. That’s it.

 

[KMC-1889]

Manager: Wilder 2/10 – Hard to be positive about him and what we saw. We did not lose I suppose but the whole set up, team selection, subs and the way we failed to address any of the issues in game, is down to him and his coaching staff. He continues to throw the players under the bus after the game and chose to have a go at a ‘punter’ (that phrase is disrespectful too) for saying we were faffing around with it- saying we are a possession-based side – but we are 9th (so almost the same as our league position!) and that is wrong. We were faffing around. The caller on Radio Sheffield was right. We were too slow, too many touches and went sideways and backwards (Wilder did agree with that tbf). We had two midfielders doing the same thing. The defenders took too long to come out with it – we had no threats out wide as they bottled Brooks up and Hamer came inside. He is right -the front 4 offered little but whilst they could have done more, we got the ball to them too late or under pressure as the whole shape of the team was wrong with us too deep and there being gaps between the departments. There was little to no movement and no urgency in anything we did. The team were incredibly fixed and easy to play against. We had 2 shots on goal I believe all game – none when we were winning – that is against an awful side who are losing almost every week. However, him and Knill have opportunities to change it but he does not and when he does it almost like for like (Rothwell) and waiting till 3 minutes from the end to introduce Seriki is beyond baffling.

He bristled again at the suggestion we were dull, stating we were pragmatic and got 92 points and nobody moaned (we did – perhaps wrongly) but we were dull last year and in the end the 92 points mattered not one jot as we failed to go up. He will take this 92-point thing to the grave – it is boring now. We did great and most other seasons we would have gone up but we did not and it has gone now. This season weirdly it has been more entertaining at times (granted not as won as much) but today not only did we did not win but we were awful to watch. So, he had to take it on the chin and look inwards rather than slating fans or calling out young players. He has steadied the ship and done well to move us up the league (I think anyone with a acumen of managerial ability would have kept this group up despite the handicap Selles gave us) but now we need to look to next season. I am deeply concerned that the coaching of the team is still substandard. I think we rely a lot of moments of magic from individuals rather than a structure or way of playing and even for all the criticism of Hamer- if/when he moves on and we might lose a Brooks too – be interesting to see how we go next season with poorer players as we will have to have a structure or way to create and similarly defend as a team. Yesterday was not even average – it was a crap performance and he has to think about what they can do a coaching team to ensure that does not happen – but sadly we see one of these maybe 1 or 2 in 5 despite some good performances.

Fantastic summary, and I agree with your comments about his treatment of Seriki. There must be something behind this because the way he's treated all of our right backs has been very odd, he was even trying to replace Baldock when he was at his peak.

As you've rightly pointed out, falling back on '92 points' argument is completely irrelevant when the manager that finished on 74 and tactically outclassed him on 3 occasions is currently sitting 11th in the premier league.

We could have picked any number of managers that would have been an improvement on Selles, look at how both Southampton and Norwich have rocketed up the league (or when Hecky took over from Slav). Dragging us away from relegation is not the massive achievement his clique would have you believe it is.

There's a reason he couldn't find a job in the summer.

 

[KMC-1889]

This to me is the basis of our problem. We do not look well coached and seem unable to change tactics mid game in response to the opposition. Plus bizarre decisions that make no sense are become more and more regular. Not playing 2 up top against a struggling WBA team, when we had a flurry of games where we scored 3 goals around Christmas. Not playing Seriki, when his partnership with Brooks has been the standout element of the season. Changing like for like in substitutions instead of making a positive change, in a game like yesterday why not make a statement change and take a chance, we are not going down, so throw caution to the wind.
Plus I think we are in a difficult situation. If we stick with CW and things don’t improve, then the owners could be reticent to sack him, having made a mistake once before. Alternatively we make a change, things don’t go well, and we are back to this season.
Personally I still think he has enough good will to let him have another shot, but at the same time to have a plan ‘b’ for if it goes badly.

And this is the problem with him. If he's here he's lord and master and will actively fight/kick up a fuss if the club makes an attempt to modernise (like he's done before). Take him out and you have to revolutionise the club in 4 weeks through June, an impossible task.

 

[Tarqs]

Calling it staggeringly dull isn’t the same as saying it was catastrophic, and it doesn’t require inventing a backstory where I only started watching in 2016.

You think it was okay. I thought it was staggeringly dull. That’s it.

It was... and as for blaming the fans... there was absolutely nothing to get excited about.

Some will say it's a 2 way street, but I guarantee free flowing energetic football gets fed into the fans the and they react. You can't say that if the fans upped the volume, all of a sudden the play on the pitch gets more adventurous.

Give an example, when we pulled a goal back against Boro, the energy in the stadium went up and all of a sudden the fans were boisterous.... yet we didn't create a single opportunity the rest of the match. In fact, we were still passing it amongst the back 4 with a few mins to play with very little intention of actually throwing something at them.

 

[GeorgeDonis1889]

tactically outclassed him on 3 occasions

Outclassed him by losing 1-0 at Bramall Lane

 

[KMC-1889]

Outclassed him by losing 1-0 at Bramall Lane

A wilder tactical masterclass that included them missing a pen and Davies scuffing one off his shin

How did the one that really matter go?

 

[GeorgeDonis1889]

A wilder tactical masterclass that included them missing a pen and Davies scuffing one off his shin

How did the one that really matter go?

So it's all about the result when we lose. If we win you dismiss it due to performance. We also missed a penalty in the away fixture. Gloating about the play off defeat. Nice.

 

[Valley Blade]

A wilder tactical masterclass that included them missing a pen and Davies scuffing one off his shin

How did the one that really matter go?

We lost. We were by far the better side for the majority of the match, and but for one extremely unfortunate decision, would highly likely have won. We certainly were not outclassed. Don't make things up to make a point.