What a difference a game makes.

[SandyMcBlade]

Of late with the Blades being the only consistent local winner I have really enjoyed reading this board and it's appreciation of Nigel's quality's, for most on here seemed to be in agreement about enjoying his common sense no nonsense approach to management, some with the odd dig about his lack of strikers of course but for the most part happy with the way things are progressing .
Then we lost a game, not just any game I agree but one against one of our local rivals and at home and suddenly the boards go manic.
Many posters who have been conspicuous by their absence during the winning spell, some appearing only in the odd post to lambast the board or Mr McCabe have all come out of the wood work some even suggesting Nigel hasn't got a clue!!!
That wins over teams from the Championship and the Premiership prove nothing, and although his win record while in charge has been very good some saying the kind of football he is playing has not been exciting enough, all this while admitting the team isn't even the finished article yet?
It's not that long ago the cry was "it's not the winning that counts, it's all about how we play the game" and many poster called for a manager who could take the club back to grass roots and change it's style of football from just kicking the ball to a big man up front with the mid field just watching the ball go over their heads, please remember that..
So while agreeing that there are people on here who have participated at various levels of the game I would also like to point out that so has Brian the Blade.

Thank you and UTB

 

[Fulwood Blade]

One games makes the difference to some Blades, but we are still in ALL four competitions we entered.

We are slowly getting better and sometimes it's two steps forward and one back (Chesterfield/Barnsley) - that eventually will lead to 3 steps forward and no steps backward.

Have faith - come Jan we will be in the top 3, by Feb/March as our large squad comes into it's own as others struggle with injuries/games/suspensions etc we will be in the top 2.

By April we will be taking 4-5,000 to away games and possibly 6-7K to the dingles in April.

We'll go up...........

UTB

 

[djbaldken]

One games makes the difference to some Blades, but we are still in ALL four competitions we entered.

We are slowly getting better and sometimes it's two steps forward and one back (Chesterfield/Barnsley) - that eventually will lead to 3 steps forward and no steps backward.

Have faith - come Jan we will be in the top 3, by Feb/March as our large squad comes into it's own as others struggle with injuries/games/suspensions etc we will be in the top 2.

By April we will be taking 4-5,000 to away games and possibly 6-7K to the dingles in April.

We'll go up...........

UTB

Can I have some of what Fulwood has been drinking please. I do agree with his first two sentences. I wish I had his optimism regarding the last two though.

I do hope you are right Fulwood. But I wont be holding my breath.

 

[Fulwood Blade]

Can I have some of what Fulwood has been drinking please. I do agree with his first two sentences. I wish I had his optimism regarding the last two though.

I do hope you are right Fulwood. But I wont be holding my breath.

We are getting better -take out the disastrous first 2 games and it's not that bad - Barnsley and Chesterfield were both lucky on the day, but that's football. Chezzer should have had a man sent off at 0-0, Barnsley were a nice, steady, Danny Wilson type team, but on balance of play we were better. Barnsley will play better and lose, we have played worse and won (Colchester away as an example).

I am sure NC has wanted Higdon as the lone striker since game 1 - but injuries and silly suspensions have dashed that - perhaps we have to wrap the 30 year old up in cotton wool instead of this mass training regime, Certain older players need managing right and if Higdon is the NC ace in the hole then we have to look after him better.

Keep the faith........and I've only had 1 beer tonight

UTB

 

[pommpey]

Can I have some of what Fulwood has been drinking please. I do agree with his first two sentences. I wish I had his optimism regarding the last two though.
I do hope you are right Fulwood. But I wont be holding my breath.

Me neither. Without a consistent strike force, we are pissing into the wind. Like the OP, I have been around these boards long enough and heard enough of 'let the team settle', 'give him ten games' and 'it's a marathon, not a sprint'. Tell that to Bristol City, who in seasons past have flattered to deceive and hardly ripped any trees up, yet with some astute signings are running away with this season already. Call me stupid, but I feel that is possibly where we should be, not capitulating to a patently shit Dingles squad, and not even grazing their net. The three points on Saturday may not mean much to some on here, but come May they might just bloody-well mean a lot. Given our poor start to the season and failure to impose any sort of pressure on the top positions, we are not really in a position to just chalk this one down to a 'well, we won the past x games, eh?' Already people are talking about the playoffs as some sort of achievable status come May yet we have proven time and time again that we are shit with shit aspects, even with Wembley half full of Unitedites. Playoffs aren't anyone's option and we shouldn't just resign ourselves to imagining they are.

As for 'those in the woodwork' when we are winning, there are far more who disappear when we lose and questions need answering, believe me.

pommpey

 

[BerksBlade]

I wish I shared your optimism Fulwood. If we're going to get automatic promotion, then slip-ups need to be kept to a minimum. I'm worried that we've had too many already what with the first couple of games, Chesterfield and now Barnsley. We might end up needing a late-season run like last season to get anywhere, and I'm not sure we can repeat it.
Then again, maybe this is the season we storm through the play-offs!

 

[metalblade]

Me thinks Fulwood Blade has been mixing his one beer with some dodgy chemicals

 

[Large Mendonca]

Me neither. Without a consistent strike force, we are pissing into the wind. Like the OP, I have been around these boards long enough and heard enough of 'let the team settle', 'give him ten games' and 'it's a marathon, not a sprint'. Tell that to Bristol City, who in seasons past have flattered to deceive and hardly ripped any trees up, yet with some astute signings are running away with this season already. Call me stupid, but I feel that is possibly where we should be, not capitulating to a patently shit Dingles squad, and not even grazing their net. The three points on Saturday may not mean much to some on here, but come May they might just bloody-well mean a lot. Given our poor start to the season and failure to impose any sort of pressure on the top positions, we are not really in a position to just chalk this one down to a 'well, we won the past x games, eh?' Already people are talking about the playoffs as some sort of achievable status come May yet we have proven time and time again that we are shit with shit aspects, even with Wembley half full of Unitedites. Playoffs aren't anyone's option and we shouldn't just resign ourselves to imagining they are.

As for 'those in the woodwork' when we are winning, there are far more who disappear when we lose and questions need answering, believe me.

pommpey

Nail on the head pommpey. We may end up going up, but what a missed opportunity to rip this league a new arsehole. As you say, Bristol are doing it, and I can't see why we can't, given our great support and supposed "game changing" investment.

Frankly, there will be a lot of Lane legends turning in their grave right now with this "false number 9" bollocks, especially at home. It's fucking league one, not La liga.......

 

[pommpey]

Nail on the head pommpey. We may end up going up, but what a missed opportunity to rip this league a new arsehole. As you say, Bristol are doing it, and I can't see why we can't, given our great support and supposed "game changing" investment.

Frankly, there will be a lot of Lane legends turning in their grave right now with this "false number 9" bollocks, especially at home. It's fucking league one, not La liga.......

I think Clough would like to play two up front, Quinn/Phillips: Sunderland style and bag ourselves a hatful. Except he hasn't the midfield to impose and pressure, he hasn't the wingers to get round the back (save for Murphs when he can be arsed) and he hasn't the defence he trusts to do the job properly and hold the fort. And most importantly, he has a clutch of strikers and an attacking midfielder that he knows not what to do with to get them kicking the ball in the net without opposition defences sussing them out and cancelling their threat.

Ditching Porter, giving Higdon a bit of a talk-to and doing something ... anything with McNuts will help.

And spending cash on a brace of strikers. We need goals and wins now.

pommpey

 

[davidpinder]

We'll go up where? Because it won't be to the championship without a new striker.

 

[Large Mendonca]

I think Clough would like to play two up front, Quinn/Phillips: Sunderland style and bag ourselves a hatful. Except he hasn't the midfield to impose and pressure, he hasn't the wingers to get round the back (save for Murphs when he can be arsed) and he hasn't the defence he trusts to do the job properly and hold the fort. And most importantly, he has a clutch of strikers and an attacking midfielder that he knows not what to do with to get them kicking the ball in the net without opposition defences sussing them out and cancelling their threat.

Ditching Porter, giving Higdon a bit of a talk-to and doing something ... anything with McNuts will help.

And spending cash on a brace of strikers. We need goals and wins now.

pommpey

This is what i can't fathom - is it Clough who's being ultra negative and this is his master plan to get out of league one ?? or is he doing the best he can with the resources ? Eitherway, he signed the resources he's having to chop and change and make fit. That's why I can't work out if it's Cloughy to blame for our uninspiring / tedious attempts to penetrate teams, or if it's the board who are not being honest with the resources that's being made available.

I know we get a lot of people on our backs for moaning "after one defeat" but jesus, is anyone happy with this playing no strikers bullshit ? I could understand it if we were in the Premiership and trying to survive.

 

[pommpey]

I can't work out if it's Cloughy to blame for our uninspiring / tedious attempts to penetrate teams, or if it's the board who are not being honest with the resources that's being made available.

I think we all know exactly what the answer is. The lack of spending activity, the idiotic proclamations of future spends if we are promoted, the apparent disappearance of our Saudi cash-cow and the never-repeated Game Changing Investment statement ... there's little else to believe, is there?

Still think Clough has gone to McCabe with the Freeman's Catalogue of mid-ranking Championship/Premiership bench warmers and never-get-a-game-unless-it's-the-League-Cup players and has been met with a dismissive shrug with each and every one of them, in a Alan Partridge/Monkey Tennis manner.

That doesn't say, we want to go up, and we ant to go up as soon as possible, does it?

And isn't McCabe's mouthpiece a bit quiet of late?

pommpey

 

[metalblade]

I think we all know exactly what the answer is. The lack of spending activity, the idiotic proclamations of future spends if we are promoted, the apparent disappearance of our Saudi cash-cow and the never-repeated Game Changing Investment statement ... there's little else to believe, is there?

Still think Clough has gone to McCabe with the Freeman's Catalogue of mid-ranking Championship/Premiership bench warmers and never-get-a-game-unless-it's-the-League-Cup players and has been met with a dismissive shrug with each and every one of them, in a Alan Partridge/Monkey Tennis manner.

That doesn't say, we want to go up, and we ant to go up as soon as possible, does it?

And isn't McCabe's mouthpiece a bit quiet of late?

pommpey

You can't just blame the board, Clough has to carry the can for the crazy formations and team selections, playing a team with no strikers against a struggling Barnsley was the last straw for me. I'm quite confident Negative Nigel will never win us promotion as much as I'm confident the board are happy to plod along in this league while ever 20,000 turn up every other week.

 

[Large Mendonca]

I think we all know exactly what the answer is. The lack of spending activity, the idiotic proclamations of future spends if we are promoted, the apparent disappearance of our Saudi cash-cow and the never-repeated Game Changing Investment statement ... there's little else to believe, is there?

Still think Clough has gone to McCabe with the Freeman's Catalogue of mid-ranking Championship/Premiership bench warmers and never-get-a-game-unless-it's-the-League-Cup players and has been met with a dismissive shrug with each and every one of them, in a Alan Partridge/Monkey Tennis manner.

That doesn't say, we want to go up, and we ant to go up as soon as possible, does it?

And isn't McCabe's mouthpiece a bit quiet of late?

pommpey

I'll always be sceptical of our board, and given our history who wouldn't ?? But i'm becoming increasingly worried about Cloughy too....I'm starting to worry about what the Derby fans warned us of....

 

[WhiteHawk]

With a decent striker (IE, a Beattie or an Evans) we'd rip this league a new arsehole. As it is though, I can see us still being in this division net year. We are playing well and dominating games but when we're as abysmal upfront as we were against Barnsley, I just don't see how we're going to get promoted.

 

[OllyBlade]

If people complained when we were winning, they would be accused of being miserable gits. Complain when we lose, and its crawling out the woodwork. Some people love to complain, some people love to complain about the complainers. Can't we all just get along?!?!

 

[pommpey]

You can't just blame the board, Clough has to carry the can for the crazy formations and team selections, playing a team with no strikers against a struggling Barnsley was the last straw for me. I'm quite confident Negative Nigel will never win us promotion as much as I'm confident the board are happy to plod along in this league while ever 20,000 turn up every other week.

Me and you disagree there metal. I think with the right resources, Clough would have us top of the table with some clear space behind us by now.

How would you think Mourinho or Wenger would be with the likes of our back four and midfield now, let alone or shit strike force?

pommpey

 

[BeatleBlade]

I wouldn't be too worried just yet. Saturday was a missed opportunity to go 3rd and from the sounds of it we played rather well despite losing 0-1. We must remember that we did lucky at the start of the season playing so badly for most of the games to still come away with 3 points more often than not.
Last week everyone was bigging us up about how we had promotion form but now it's all doom and gloom again and I know that being in this league for so long has caused fans to have little patience nowadays but we must remember that there is a long way to go.
I'm not saying that there are no problems, I do find a lack of striker on the pitch puzzling just like the rest of you but we can still go up this year. Despite his faults I still trust in Clough and if he doesn't do it this year we will start next year in a far better position to do it with hopefully a bit more investment. Changing manager isn't going to give us a miracle like some suggest.

 

[Hartley Hare]

I am with Fulwood and Beatle.

We can do it, trust Nigel, and have some faith.

HH

 

[wizadry]

I am with Fulwood and Beatle.

We can do it, trust Nigel, and have some faith.

HH

Nigel would get an hell of a lot more trust from the fans when he starts playing a striker,simple as that really.

It got to the point on Saturday where i was crying out for him to even put Porter on and that's saying something as i really don't rate him one bit,just so we'd got a striker on the pitch,it was so evidently obvious we needed something.

Were still in a decent position but i can't help but think it could have been a whole lot better.

 

[Large Mendonca]

Nigel would get an hell of a lot more trust from the fans when he starts playing a striker,simple as that really.

It got to the point on Saturday where i was crying out for him to even put Porter on and that's saying something as i really don't rate him one bit,just so we'd got a striker on the pitch,it was so evidently obvious we needed something.

Were still in a decent position but i can't help but think it could have been a whole lot better.

I think that is what the main gripe is really....and come to think of it, why did we even give Porter an extension when we don't play the one's in front of him in the pecking order ?? some strange decisions are going on in S2........

 

[wizadry]

I think that is what the main gripe is really....and come to think of it, why did we even give Porter an extension when we don't play the one's in front of him in the pecking order ?? some strange decisions are going on in S2........

In my near 30 years of supporting the Blades,resigning Porter has to be one of,if not thee most baffling decisions ever.

 

[GRUMPY BLADE]

With a decent striker (IE, a Beattie or an Evans) we'd rip this league a new arsehole. As it is though, I can see us still being in this division net year. We are playing well and dominating games but when we're as abysmal upfront as we were against Barnsley, I just don't see how we're going to get promoted.

Its two strikers we need, the 2014 version of Deane and Agana.

We might well have those two in Higdon and McNulty but it really worries me that we will NEVER start a game with those two on the team sheet.

 

[Cyprus Blade]

Last season we were fighting relegation. This season we should be looking for automatic promotion.Looking at the way we are playing it is definitely a case of spot the difference in my view.

NC inherited a squad he didn't know and didn't have confidence in. In those circumstances I can well understand the packed midfield and false No.9. and the "don't concede mentality". Grind out results and stop the drop. A couple of decent loan signings and we were rising up the table like some waking sleeping giant.We more than avoided the drop. And that could be part of the problem with NC and the Board. We nearly got there with a 3 wheels on my wagon approach so why spend loads on key players?

Come the summer NC does buy virtually a new team (none of them particularly expensive) top heavy with midfielders (did NC see the midfield as particularly weak I wonder). Once again we start with the same system and tactics (but some weird player selections which cost us) and once again we grind our way as though the focus is to avoid the drop, not smash the league. It doesn't really show NC oozing with confidence in what is "his" team and makes him look like a one-trick pony. I sincerely hope he isn't.

Midfield still has to have 5 (or 6) in it - why? Is it because its the latest trend or that we don't have a midfield pairing capable of holding their ground and creating - the fact that Doyle is back in the team and being raved about might be a bit of a giveaway (I don't dislike the bloke but his passing is generally poor, he isn't great in the air, he lacks pace and is not in the least creative).

Baxter gets stuffed with the false 9 job even though no way is it his best position and he seems to be getting the brunt of criticism for what is essentially a very negative tactical approach. We have a striker who at least looks like he will score (MM) yet he spends a load of time on the bench and gets singled out for criticism when there are other players who perform worse. (I don't remember Scougall getting a public roasting for missing that header v MK Dons) Bollock him in private Nigel not to the press, it makes it look like you are arse covering.

I'm not feeling those positive waves Nige. Please be more positive. Its the paint thingy this week - try 4-4-2 - (or at least 4-4-1-1) what have you got to lose?

 

[boo radley]

Last season we were fighting relegation. This season we should be looking for automatic promotion.Looking at the way we are playing it is definitely a case of spot the difference in my view.

NC inherited a squad he didn't know and didn't have confidence in. In those circumstances I can well understand the packed midfield and false No.9. and the "don't concede mentality". Grind out results and stop the drop. A couple of decent loan signings and we were rising up the table like some waking sleeping giant.We more than avoided the drop. And that could be part of the problem with NC and the Board. We nearly got there with a 3 wheels on my wagon approach so why spend loads on key players?

Come the summer NC does buy virtually a new team (none of them particularly expensive) top heavy with midfielders (did NC see the midfield as particularly weak I wonder). Once again we start with the same system and tactics (but some weird player selections which cost us) and once again we grind our way as though the focus is to avoid the drop, not smash the league. It doesn't really show NC oozing with confidence in what is "his" team and makes him look like a one-trick pony. I sincerely hope he isn't.

Midfield still has to have 5 (or 6) in it - why? Is it because its the latest trend or that we don't have a midfield pairing capable of holding their ground and creating - the fact that Doyle is back in the team and being raved about might be a bit of a giveaway (I don't dislike the bloke but his passing is generally poor, he isn't great in the air, he lacks pace and is not in the least creative).

Baxter gets stuffed with the false 9 job even though no way is it his best position and he seems to be getting the brunt of criticism for what is essentially a very negative tactical approach. We have a striker who at least looks like he will score (MM) yet he spends a load of time on the bench and gets singled out for criticism when there are other players who perform worse. (I don't remember Scougall getting a public roasting for missing that header v MK Dons) Bollock him in private Nigel not to the press, it makes it look like you are arse covering.

I'm not feeling those positive waves Nige. Please be more positive. Its the paint thingy this week - try 4-4-2 - (or at least 4-4-1-1) what have you got to lose?

View attachment 9752

WOOF WOOF WOOF

 

[grafikhaus]

Its two strikers we need, the 2014 version of Deane and Agana.

We might well have those two in Higdon and McNulty but it really worries me that we will NEVER start a game with those two on the team sheet.

I've heard that Higdon will be out for weeks. Therefore, if we see him put in a long, consistent run this season, it will be a surprise. Time to forget him and realise that our striker problems just got a whole lot worse. Over to you, NC.

 

[Kenilworth]

Do you know what? If, I mean IF we make it into the top 6 and IF we get to the final of the play off's and IF we manage to eventually overcome the hoodoo and actually prevail I think I will be standing there and go, "Meh."
Why?

• Been to so many and seen us fail so often that I think I have become desensitised.
• It's nothing more than we should expect - to prevail against shit opposition - it's not the FA Cup final FFS
• I will be fucked off cos we should have pissed this league already IF we had invested ina fucking decent striker - AND played the fucker on the pitch.