"They don't look like a team challenging for the play-offs"

[Bladesway]

In a sense, Coady drove us forward last season, and Scougs at times. The ability of a player to get the ball and run through from midfield. It drives the team forward and gets the fans going.

He didn't look much until Clough showed up though did he?

 

[Bladesway]

Good post but.......

Grayson joined Preston in February 2013. Clough joined us in October 2013.

Anyway, it's the standard of incoming players which is my main theme . I think Nigel makes it hard for himself by appointing Simon.

If our team didn't look like a disorganised outfit of complete strangers then patience would be more appropriate. If N.Clough gets another season maybe S. Clough coud leave now.

What's up did he boff you up the Harris at the AGM or something? You really have it in for Simon Clough.

 

[metalblade]

Well considered post BushBlade.

I'd also like to add to this view about Clough going after players he's (mostly) familiar with. If a player NC has worked with and he has confidence in should be available, I can see no objection to trying to sign said player. Davies is a good example, we've needed a muscular presence and so far he's done well. Clough has made it clear that COG was his priority, but for various reasons it hasn't worked out (yet!). So I just don't get this sniping about which club a player has played for, it's petty and narrow minded criticism. I guess that those who snipe just wanted any six foot lump, and as Clough has made clear more than once, signing the right player is the priority.

So why did Clough sign Higdon ?

 

[itsinyerblood]

So why did Clough sign Higdon ?

Now, you wouldn't expect me to know that would you?

But taking a guess, I imagine Nigel would have hoped that Higdon could be more effective than we've seen so far.

 

[Maidenhead]

Good post but.......

Grayson joined Preston in February 2013. Clough joined us in October 2013.

Anyway, it's the standard of incoming players which is my main theme . I think Nigel makes it hard for himself by appointing Simon.

If our team didn't look like a disorganised outfit of complete strangers then patience would be more appropriate. If N.Clough gets another season maybe S. Clough coud leave now.

Which has given Grayson a whole extra summer recruitment and pre season to work with.

What ever happens in the play offs we have to stick with Clough for next season, and I believe we will.

UTB

 

[JohnDenver]

So why did Clough sign Higdon ?

Desperation.

 

[Lord Bos of Eckington.]

Well considered post BushBlade.

I'd also like to add to this view about Clough going after players he's (mostly) familiar with. If a player NC has worked with and he has confidence in should be available, I can see no objection to trying to sign said player. Davies is a good example, we've needed a muscular presence and so far he's done well. Clough has made it clear that COG was his priority, but for various reasons it hasn't worked out (yet!). So I just don't get this sniping about which club a player has played for, it's petty and narrow minded criticism. I guess that those who snipe just wanted any six foot lump, and as Clough has made clear more than once, signing the right player is the priority.

Again well considered post . We do want stability , but patience is a virtue , which not a lot of blades fans have , due to previous escapades and obvious reasons . This you cannot knock .. Clough did sign any six foot lump in Higdon in many peoples opinion , and he still has to prove himself . If we had a fully fit Higdon and Wallace , our season would have been totally different , and for the better . Clough signs players he knows for there life style and character , as well as football brain / skills . This is good management .


Working at the lane has got to be also character building , because we were in a bigger mess both on and off the pitch , before he arrived . The only downside that he lined himself up for a fall , was the CB issue , which is our weak point , but Basham and Brayford are a good pairing , as Clough intimated . What he doesn't say , it leaves us exposed at RB and CM .

Lets stick with Clough and see were we go , which can only be one way - upwards. As with the Clough choice of players , for a manager , and any walk of life - its better the devil you know.

It will also be the devil in the detail , for his tactics in the play offs , which we know he can get it right.

UTB

 

[Fulwood Blade]

[

The only downside that he lined himself up for a fall , was the CB issue , which is our weak point , but Basham and Brayford are a good pairing , as Clough intimated . What he doesn't say , it leaves us exposed at RB and CM .

UTB

Indeed, and we have to assume the "right" players haven't come along to solve that problem at CB. Clough won't be rushed, where as some fans want jam today.
There are times when, just for once, we drop a bit lucky in a "big" game scenario. Was talking to a piggy about when they played H'pool in Cardiff - he says they were very lucky on that day, and also in the run up as they had a very average season.

We need a bit of that..........just for once!

UTB

 

[Woodwardfan]

So why did Clough sign Higdon ?

My main grouse about Steve Davies is his career goal tally of just over 1 every 5 games.

 

[Lord Bos of Eckington.]

My main grouse about Steve Davies is his career goal tally of just over 1 every 5 games.

Woody , you would have a moan if we signed Messi . He would be too small or he wore pink boots. Steve Davies has brought another dimension to the side and what i have seen of him , he gives it all , holds the ball up well , and works hard at his game.

The goal ratio , will improve . Give him time , bearing in mind he is not a out and out goal scorer .

UTB

 

[itsinyerblood]

Again well considered post . We do want stability , but patience is a virtue , which not a lot of blades fans have , due to previous escapades and obvious reasons . This you cannot knock .. Clough did sign any six foot lump in Higdon in many peoples opinion , and he still has to prove himself . If we had a fully fit Higdon and Wallace , our season would have been totally different , and for the better . Clough signs players he knows for there life style and character , as well as football brain / skills . This is good management .


Working at the lane has got to be also character building , because we were in a bigger mess both on and off the pitch , before he arrived . The only downside that he lined himself up for a fall , was the CB issue , which is our weak point , but Basham and Brayford are a good pairing , as Clough intimated . What he doesn't say , it leaves us exposed at RB and CM .

Lets stick with Clough and see were we go , which can only be one way - upwards. As with the Clough choice of players , for a manager , and any walk of life - its better the devil you know.

It will also be the devil in the detail , for his tactics in the play offs , which we know he can get it right.

UTB

In post #64 I gave my view on the signing of Higdon.

Strange thing though, the signing of players, if you look at Moyes' signing of Fellaini, the player was abject and looked a complete waste of a dressing room seat. But now, under new management, or possibly the player's own determination to remain at Old Trafford, Fellaini looks to be the player he was when at Everton. So I guess Higdon was someone Clough considered worth a punt on. So far he's not convinced, not much to add to that.

Clough's managerial approach to signing players, good character, not likely to cause ripples of discontent amongst other players, and whatever else Clough considers as less than satisfactory, is ok by me. Someone like Ben Davies, apparently a top professional, someone who will act like a mentor to younger players, is the type of individual NC prefers, and you can understand why, can't you? Obviously we're looking to sign players who have a level of skill and/or attitude that will strengthen us.

In a couple of recent posts I've mentioned that I feel Clough won't need to add more than 5-7 players to strengthen us, at least two central defenders, similar in central midfield (begs the question of Wallace and Cuvelier's recovery from injury, but I've no doubt Clough will bear all of this in mind), plus at least one forward similar to Steve Davies (COG), and maybe one player who's versatile as cover.

 

[Bladesway]

Woody , you would have a moan if we signed Messi . He would be too small or he wore pink boots. Steve Davies has brought another dimension to the side and what i have seen of him , he gives it all , holds the ball up well , and works hard at his game.

The goal ratio , will improve . Give him time , bearing in mind he is not a out and out goal scorer .

UTB

Amen to that. Also if Done is getting the goals and Davies is setting them up who cares. 3 points is 3 points no matter who puts them in the net.

I am perplexed at Higdon because every time I have seen him he looks worse than Porter ever did. Davies however looks a class above. Better hold up play and better quality. I want better players in our team and Davies is that.

 

[Bladesway]

My main grouse about Steve Davies is his career goal tally of just over 1 every 5 games.

Having seen some of your posts WWF I'd assumed your main grouse was a famous one.

 

[Bergen Blade]

Thought we were ok at Orient. We dominated the game and weren't often troubled. Orient were poor, sloppy in possession and really looked like a relegation side, despite not looking too bad on paper. For me their table position finally made sense after seeing them, they have really gone backwards this season.

Our team selection was a pretty attacking one, interesting to see pace down both flanks and a decent target man in the middle. So why didn't we run riot and score five? First and foremost, I don't think we managed to make enough use of the pace of Murphy/Adams, and the two main reasons were:

• Playing style - Through Orient's sloppiness we picked up a lot of loose balls in our own half, but rather than launching quick counter attacks (which sometimes implies risking giving back possession ourselves), we chose to slow it down and pass it sideways and backwards a lot. When this becomes a norm the potential runs into space from Murphy and Adams will just stop as they are wasted. Our tempo is still too slow.

• Midfield running and aggression - With Coutts holding, Baxter prefering to pick out passes to players in front of him and Holt not really involved a lot in our build up (though he's shown he can pop up in the box), we do lack strong running on the ball from midfield to set up pacey front men, give them the ball as they are running forward themselves. Neither are great ball winners either and that's why we didn't win the ball more in their half.

In theory it sounds good with Coutts, a good holding playmaker, the vision of Baxter and the goalscoring of Holt in midfield, but I still think it's the department that's holding us back the most.

For me I think we'll have a better chance of Play Off success if we prioritise aggression and work rate in central midfield. If we can dominate that area more, it will help us to win the ball more often in good areas. They can then release the ball to our forwards earlier, enabling especially the wingers to run onto balls, not always having to beat their full backs from a stand still starting point. It should help us to keep a higher tempo.

Back to last night, I don't think it was a bad game. Marking for the headed goal was poor. Looked like we had Murphy marking the 6'2 centre half who scored. We are far too vulnerable on defensive set pieces. Freeman did very well for our goal, getting past five waiting opponents, then Baxter also did the right thing when he gave it to Harris. Most of the teams fighting against relegation did well yesterday, which shows these fixtures aren't always easy. Oh, and I think DCL did allright, looked stronger than I expected and made a leap that reminded me of Les Ferdinand.

 

[bladeinspaceandtime]

[


Indeed, and we have to assume the "right" players haven't come along to solve that problem at CB. Clough won't be rushed, where as some fans want jam today.
There are times when, just for once, we drop a bit lucky in a "big" game scenario. Was talking to a piggy about when they played H'pool in Cardiff - he says they were very lucky on that day, and also in the run up as they had a very average season.

We need a bit of that..........just for once!

UTB

4 seasons in League 1. I didn't realise (as I rarely look at League tables these days) but I see Watford have got promoted into the PL; good luck to them but it's a bit depressing (given that both clubs went up at the same time the last time Watford got there) when United can't even manage to get result against the likes of Fleetwood at home.

 

[Woodwardfan]

Amen to that. Also if Done is getting the goals and Davies is setting them up who cares. 3 points is 3 points no matter who puts them in the net.

I am perplexed at Higdon because every time I have seen him he looks worse than Porter ever did. Davies however looks a class above. Better hold up play and better quality. I want better players in our team and Davies is that.

Our manager doesn't play them together.

 

[alcoblade]

Grayson has, off the top of my head, one of the best recent records of getting clubs out of L1 and it's taken him two and a half seasons (at least) to sort Preston out. Why shouldn't Clough, or any other manager, be given the same?

Track record. I said it when we appointed him - when the going gets tough you have to apply blind faith without one.

You know if you stick with Grayson he will get you up. Statistics suggest you might have to wait 17 years for Clough to do it.

Laughably, when we played Preston there was a queue of people wanting to declare their happiness that we've got Clough, and not Grayson, who's team had the audacity to get the ball forward quickly.

The club, and some of the fans need to apologise for the Bassett / Warnock era has delivered the worst spell in the clubs history. Someone wake me up when it's over.

UTB

 

[Woodwardfan]

Having seen some of your posts WWF I'd assumed your main grouse was a famous one.

Playschool humour, suit yourself.

 

[Fulwood Blade]

4 seasons in League 1. I didn't realise (as I rarely look at League tables these days) but I see Watford have got promoted into the PL; good luck to them but it's a bit depressing (given that both clubs went up at the same time the last time Watford got there) when United can't even manage to get result against the likes of Fleetwood at home.

Agreed we have been shit at times, my point was really quite intended to provoke a response. As someone said earlier, Clough may well keep us in this division this season, but he is NOT responsible for what has gone on in the past before he arrived. There appears to be little charity with some fans where Clough is concerned. As I said, some want the jam now yet offer only complaints as to what is wrong and have no idea what so ever how to put it right - as though hindsight is some magic tool that our board should somehow possess.

UTB

 

[Bladesway]

Playschool humour, suit yourself.

We support a team who play a game. I don't ever want to be thought of as someone who takes myself or any of this too seriously. But you go ahead and play the grown up, it suits you.

 

[Going up]

Yes and No.

The disadvantage would be if you've got.someone in a more senior position with footballing knowledge then who would really be running the team?

Could just end up being puppetmaster and puppet.

Yes and those set ups always fail and go from one mager to the next, every five minutes because the board knows more than the manager. Seems like a club I knew before;-)

 

[Woodwardfan]

We support a team who play a game. I don't ever want to be thought of as someone who takes myself or any of this too seriously. But you go ahead and play the grown up, it suits you.

OK Bladesway, forget the "Playschool" written in a weak moment.

How about a single topic post which was written for it's own sake and irrelevant on a good thread, a total waste of space and a sort of simple, peurile humour demonstrating a play on words with grouse and a brand of whisky. The implication perhaps was to suggest that my posts are often written under the influence of alcohol and in the past you have frequently suggested it was the influence of Bostik and have often suggested I have missed my medication.

You have a certain type of humour which not everyone will find funny. Maybe we should have a "jokes thread" or even a " jokes tinged with character attack thread". Don't take that too seriously.

 

[Woodwardfan]

Woody , you would have a moan if we signed Messi . He would be too small or he wore pink boots. Steve Davies has brought another dimension to the side and what i have seen of him , he gives it all , holds the ball up well , and works hard at his game.

The goal ratio , will improve . Give him time , bearing in mind he is not a out and out goal scorer .

UTB

Good points My Lord, I should explain that my concern is playing Davies as the one up front in 4-5-1 at the expense of Done. I too like the all round play of Davies but to me he is not a sole front runner, he needs to play in a partnership up front and his partner can feed off his physical presence. In our 4-5-1 he is too isolated and when he wins headers it often goes to waste.

Also if you play 4-5-1 your front man needs to be a good goalscorer. Added to that, promotion teams need to have a prolific goalscorer amongst a "strong strikeforce of four" to coin a Clough phrase and obviously Davies would be plenty good enough to be one of those.

The Higdon signing was weird for similar reasons. I thought it was a signal that we were moving away from 4-5-1 but it never happened, more's the pity.

The attempt to sign O'Grady seemed to be a similar signal but when he played for us he was on his own up front. O'Grady is not a prolific goalscorer either.

 

[Cyprus Blade]

The signing of Higdon hasn't worked (so far at least). When we signed him we were not the only Div 1 club courting him - a move to Chesterfield reportedly failed on a failure to agree personal terms ( Higdon wanted too much in wages). So if we were duped others got a lucky escape. Our due diligence is questionable in this regard though given the physical condition he arrived in. My fear is that this will result in a transfer policy which is based upon "I know what I like and I like what I know" as a knee-jerk exercise in risk aversion. It does feel like it at times.

I don't have a problem with the "try before I buy" approach for loan signings/transfer targets but I do wonder about (and have frequently been one of those to criticise) the effectiveness of the scouting/transfer set up at the club. At the very least it is, self-confessed by NC, old fashioned. How well it is serving Sheffield United Football Club is debatable and needs looking at come the end of the season.

We are a big club for our level so it similarly concerns me that we haven't been able to replicate the kind of loan deals with Premiership/ top end championship clubs in the way that David Weir managed to secure when he got Coady. I don't know if this is a personality/reputation thing or what, but I would have hoped that,during his time in football, NC had developed sufficient contacts who trusted his development of young players to the point that we were getting loanee's from the higher end of the market.

For a myriad of reasons I think NC has not been able to field the side he wanted to see this season. In a way it has been another 3 wheels on my wagon season - and I do think he is a decent manager in these circumstances.To get us to the play-offs given the CH issues (and to a lesser extent the CF and midfield issues) IS an achievement. However, NC wanted total control over football matters and he has to take responsibility for creating many of the problems he has had to manage around and there's the rub.

UTB

 

[bornablade]

I have resisted posting on this particular thread but here goes.

Following the 1-1 away draw at Orient there was one random remark 'they just don't look like a team challenging for the play-offs' This has resulted in a 80+ post thread many criticizing everything Sheffield United including the manager's brother!

In contrast, Roy's excellent 'A View From... ' attracts 6 replies where the opposition state we should have won. If we lose and we get criticized by opposition fans Roy's thread is usually around top spot for a couple of days attracting loads of posts. If we get positive responses it gets relegated to Page 2 within 48 hours.

Bergen (post 74) added some reality - 'Thought we were OK at Orient...' But many Blades don't want to hear that. They'd rather keep the negative stuff flowing.f

S'pose it's the Blades Way

 

[Linz]

lowing the 1-1 away draw at Orient there was one random remark 'they just don't look like a team challenging for the play-offs' This has resulted in a 80+ post thread many criticizing everything Sheffield United including the manager's brother!

It wasn't following - it was during a very dire game of football.

And it was me who posted it on Twitter, who often gets accused of being a happy-clapper.

Why is my comment dismissed as negativity but Bergan's is considered "reality?"

 

[bornablade]

Linz, I didn't say your remark was negative. I stated your remark has led others to pick it up and turn it into a negative. Ask those who have posted on here criticizing the Blades?

 

[raul]

It wasn't following - it was during a very dire game of football.

And it was me who posted it on Twitter, who often gets accused of being a happy-clapper.

Why is my comment dismissed as negativity but Bergan's is considered "reality?"

Ma'am. NBW.

 

[Bladesway]

often suggested I have missed my medication.

After that little ditty I don't think I need to suggest any longer.

 

[Woodwardfan]

After that little ditty I don't think I need to suggest any longer.

Why not press the "ignore" button I would be delighted if you would.

We support a team who play a game. I don't ever want to be thought of as someone who takes myself or any of this too seriously. But you go ahead and play the grown up, it suits you.

The problem is YOU TAKE ME TOO SERIOUSLY. You are my most frequent "follower" if not my only "follower". You rarely agree with anything I say and never offer anything serious to counter any points made but make silly juvenile personal comments instead. What is it with you?

Press the "ignore".