Thoughts from the Port Vale game

[Tyler Durden]

According to your mates at KUMB you also do a bit of a floorshow.

Looks like this fanboys done his research ^

Can't resist a dancefloor, especially if it has a smoke machine.

 

[William Henry Foulkes]

.............................Long
...........Basham.....Edgar......McEveley
..............................Reed
Brayford.......Hammond..Flynn........Woolford
......................Adams......Sharp

Basham was magnificent - strong and resolute in defence, positive in possession. Whereas he looks like an average Div 3 midfielder, he looks very accomplished in central defence and provides much needed pace in that area.

Edgar and McEevely were solid, though Mc made his customary glitch when giving the ball away in the defensive third, which almost cost us.

Reed annoyed the extra space, playing deeper. He misplaced a few passes but that was largely as a result of trying to pass forward and with tempo. He has his limitations defensively but still offers more than Baxter in tracking back and general mobility. We saw glimpses of the player we thought we'd discovered two years ago.

Adams and Sharp linked well - movement generally was the best it's been in a while and Adams ran himself to a standstill.

Hammond was poor in possession - though he did set up Sharp's goal. He does provide discipline to midfield and protection to the central defenders and his substitution once again correlated with the opposition getting more good possession in and around our box.

Given the personnel available, I thought the system worked well. We created enough in the first half to have put the game to rest and then stepped up another gear with the confidence gained from actually scoring first at home.

The work ethic of the entire team was also noteworthy - not often that's been the case this season.

Really good summary.

I think the 3-5-2/5-3-2 might have been a surprise to the opposition and maybe bought us some time. A bit like going for tight 1-0 wins bought us some time - till we were figured out.

It'll be interesting to see if we persist. And if we do whether the weaknesses in the system can be exploited by the opposition.

Presumably (for the second time) Hammond was subbed before he was sent off.

 

[Grappler]

My thoughts from the Port Vale game:

• Who would win in a fight between Chris Morgan and Billy Whitehurst?
• I've got an itch under my ball sack that I can't really scratch, maybe if I shuffle in my seat a bit it'll go away.
• Got to meet the ex tomorrow to get my stuff back, fuck knows why she can't just chuck it in a skip like I asked.
• Fucking hell this referee is garbage, even by 3rd division standards.
• This coffee is weak as piss.
• Woo we've scored, took it well too.
• Creme eggs are getting smaller these days, what a rip-off.
• Are any of these cunts ever going to stop standing still like fucking Subbuteo figures every time we get a throw-in?
• Well I've seen worse performances, I've seen many, many better ones too.
• I might get a beard comb tomorrow, it's getting long now.

We all love Morgan, but I think we all know what the answer would be. Doesn't matter if it is Chris Morgan, or Tyson Fury, there is only going to be one winner.......

 

[Tyler Durden]

We all love Morgan, but I think we all know what the answer would be. Doesn't matter if it is Chris Morgan, or Tyson Fury, there is only going to be one winner.......

Watching a rat like Tyson Fury get repeatedly pummelled by Whitehurst would be my highlight as a Blade, and it would have nothing to do with football!

 

[Grappler]

Watching a rat like Tyson Fury get repeatedly pummelled by Whitehurst would be my highlight as a Blade, and it would have nothing to do with football!

Just one pinch mate, Billy has (or at least had) genuine knockout power

 

[Roygbiv]

.............................Long
...........Basham.....Edgar......McEveley
..............................Reed
Brayford.......Hammond..Flynn........Woolford
......................Adams......Sharp

Basham was magnificent - strong and resolute in defence, positive in possession. Whereas he looks like an average Div 3 midfielder, he looks very accomplished in central defence and provides much needed pace in that area.

Edgar and McEevely were solid, though Mc made his customary glitch when giving the ball away in the defensive third, which almost cost us.

Reed annoyed the extra space, playing deeper. He misplaced a few passes but that was largely as a result of trying to pass forward and with tempo. He has his limitations defensively but still offers more than Baxter in tracking back and general mobility. We saw glimpses of the player we thought we'd discovered two years ago.

Adams and Sharp linked well - movement generally was the best it's been in a while and Adams ran himself to a standstill.

Hammond was poor in possession - though he did set up Sharp's goal. He does provide discipline to midfield and protection to the central defenders and his substitution once again correlated with the opposition getting more good possession in and around our box.

Given the personnel available, I thought the system worked well. We created enough in the first half to have put the game to rest and then stepped up another gear with the confidence gained from actually scoring first at home.

The work ethic of the entire team was also noteworthy - not often that's been the case this season.

Be interesting if Adkins puts Basham back in midfield for the Rochdale game with Hammond being out and Collins presumingly being back. Hope not but I'm not sure who else Adkins will turn to

 

[Tyler Durden]

Just one pinch mate, Billy has (or at least had) genuine knockout power

As at least two foolish Pig fans can confirm!

 

[Grappler]

As at least two foolish Pig fans can confirm!

Yep!

 

[Sothall_Blade]

Be interesting if Adkins puts Basham back in midfield for the Rochdale game with Hammond being out and Collins presumingly being back. Hope not but I'm not sure who else Adkins will turn to

I hope he leaves the defence alone.
Why not turn to Cuvelier like he did today?

 

[Roygbiv]

I hope he leaves the defence alone.
Why not turn to Cuvelier like he did today?

To be honest I havent seen enough of Cuvelier to know whether he could play a defensive midfield role.

 

[Tray]

Good 3 points today, not a polished performance but an improvement on recent months. Few negatives were Done looking knackered as soon as he came on, and no idea what Woolford contributes, was terrible.

Port Vale were rubbish, made our recent performances seem reasonable. Adams had his best game in ages, strong and pacey, did Done's job of running around chasing their defenders when they had the ball. Sharp his usual self, Cuvellier looked very good when he came on, could be important.

McEveley was probably Man Of The Match for me, excellent game (well his best of the season, probably exaggerating a little bit). Defence is no longer the problem. Liked the formation change, just need the right players in midfield. Not Flynn and Hammond. Flynn isn't a CM and Hammond has no confidence whatsoever.

Reed looked a lot better than when I've seen him previously this season, Bash back in his best position. Think there was still too much negativity, lots of unnecessary backwards passes. I understand that you need to go backwards to create space sometimes, but got to know when to do it. Having Bash to bring the ball out of defence helps ease the pressure on our back 3/5 too.

A step in the right direction, but would love to see us play faster. Central midfield needs a shake up and we need someone to play left wing. Those have to be the priorities in the loan window (fingers crossed).

It's really hard being a clapper this season you know!

UTB

 

[Bladeloyal]

As at least two foolish Pig fans can confirm!

One now sadly past away . A good owd Beighton lad trever Collins r.I.p even if he was a grunter .and to be fair to him we had a laugh about him getting sparked by big bad Billy

 

[Sothall_Blade]

To be honest I havent seen enough of Cuvelier to know whether he could play a defensive midfield role.

Reed was the defensive midfielder sitting in front of the back four.
Hammond was on the right hand side of the three central midfielders.
That role should be box-to-box, more creative than defensive.
Should really suit Cuvelier more than Hammond if anything.

 

[eric_oulthwaite]

Thoughts from the Port Vale game

View attachment 16140

The answer is always yes!

 

[loyalblade95]

• Contrary to his beloved 4-4-2, geese Nige played a formation I still haven't figured out, 3-3-2-2? 3-1-2-2-2?. Throw in the goalie as Nigel is sometimes wont to do and its more of a bingo card than a formation.
  
• If a tree falls in the forest and nobody is there to hear it, does Dean Hammond still get a yellow card?
• Che Adams is a teen wolf, fear him.
• Chris Basham is right at home in defence - send him over the half way line on the ball and he gets flustered and dizzy.
  
• If we make the playoffs, Billy Sharp deserves the keys to the city, and a go on everyone's collective wife.
• Florent Cuvelier is a tiny man with the shoulders of a giant, they are so broad his shirt must have extra stripes on it.
• We have more police by our ground than Port Vale have fans

Match report confirmed a 3-5-2
____________Long
_____Bash Edgar Mcev
Brayford Hammond Reed Wolford
_______Sharp Adams

 

[loyalblade95]

Match report confirmed a 3-5-2
____________Long
_____Bash Edgar Mcev
Brayford Hammond Reed Wolford
_______Sharp Adams

Oops forgot to add Flynn between Woolford and reed

 

[Chezzy Blades]

A win's a win and it felt good to come home with one after the pretty sombre drive back from Bury on Tuesday.

I do hope this isn't another false dawn like Doncaster though, who we beat because of their deficiencies rather than our efficiencies. I think Port Vale were a better standard of opposition, but the proof of our improvement needs to be in the pudding and we have to now go and get something at Rochdale and be looking to turn Burton over at the lane whether they're top or not.

 

[HillmortonBlade]

I wondered why the half time entertainment of the kids taking penalties is always done in the corner where the least fans are.

 

[Deleted member 1486]

Thought we looked reasonably solid, although unspectacular. Something to build on, and certainly wouldn't mind seeing us line up like that next time. Would be interesting to see how that formation holds up against a better team!

 

[Pollingtonblade]

I am not a fan of 3-5-2, certainly in the none sweeper model English teams use, for many reasons not least being that with a conservative mind set we seem to have it easily falls back into being a 5-3-2.

Also its defensive weaknesses are self evident if the wing backs do get forward as instructed the three centre backs have to be very good players and marshalled by a very very good lynch pin centre back.

The only time I have seen it work well was when Hoddle used it as England manager, with a lynch pin of Tony Adams at the top of his game.

Spackman played 3-5-2 for a while agree re England, Hoddle was unlucky to be sacked as he was building something .

 

[grafikhaus]

Good 3 points today, not a polished performance but an improvement on recent months. Few negatives were Done looking knackered as soon as he came on, and no idea what Woolford contributes, was terrible.

Port Vale were rubbish, made our recent performances seem reasonable. Adams had his best game in ages, strong and pacey, did Done's job of running around chasing their defenders when they had the ball. Sharp his usual self, Cuvellier looked very good when he came on, could be important.

McEveley was probably Man Of The Match for me, excellent game (well his best of the season, probably exaggerating a little bit). Defence is no longer the problem. Liked the formation change, just need the right players in midfield. Not Flynn and Hammond. Flynn isn't a CM and Hammond has no confidence whatsoever.

Reed looked a lot better than when I've seen him previously this season, Bash back in his best position. Think there was still too much negativity, lots of unnecessary backwards passes. I understand that you need to go backwards to create space sometimes, but got to know when to do it. Having Bash to bring the ball out of defence helps ease the pressure on our back 3/5 too.

A step in the right direction, but would love to see us play faster. Central midfield needs a shake up and we need someone to play left wing. Those have to be the priorities in the loan window (fingers crossed).

It's really hard being a clapper this season you know!

UTB

Good summing up, Tray. Maybe McEveley as MoM will be a bit contentious for some but he's a solid player.

Re. 'would love to see us play faster'. As ever, the referee's assessors (one a Mag. and one a Mackem) commented on 'how slow' United are. It's not just the lack of 'speed of thought' that sees many shots blocked and crowded out as our player misses the split-second chance to release the shot, it the obvious sideways/backwards/sideways passing. As a tactic, it's how Barcelona base their game but that's to get the opposition 'stretched' from one side of the field to the other and back again. The 'speed' with which we play this style is more likely to induce insomnia in the opposition.

 

[marsh blade]

Thought we looked reasonably solid, although unspectacular. Something to build on, and certainly wouldn't mind seeing us line up like that next time. Would be interesting to see how that formation holds up against a better team!

Agree with that but i would like to see k.wallace for woolford and coutts for Reid .Must say though i have been critical of Adkins recently but well done for changing the system and he's also handled a tough week for any manager very well so credit where its due .Just hope like you say we can back it up utb.

 

[davidblade]

Agree with that but i would like to see k.wallace for woolford and coutts for Reid .Must say though i have been critical of Adkins recently but well done for changing the system and he's also handled a tough week for any manager very well so credit where its due .Just hope like you say we can back it up utb.

No way should we play Coutts he just too fucking lazy. He didn't even put any effort in for 10 minutes yesterday. Keiron Wallace for for Woolford definitely yes.

 

[marsh blade]

No way should we play Coutts he just too fucking lazy. He didn't even put any effort in for 10 minutes yesterday. Keiron Wallace for for Woolford definitely yes.

Think coutts splits opinion with us Blades but i like him he's a good footballer but yes ok maybe we would lose some energy in there .just the one change then i would be happy with that . but woolford is one of the worst players i've seen in a blades shirt .

 

[HighfieldBlade]

My thoughts from the Port Vale game:

• Who would win in a fight between Chris Morgan and Billy Whitehurst?
• I've got an itch under my ball sack that I can't really scratch, maybe if I shuffle in my seat a bit it'll go away.
• Got to meet the ex tomorrow to get my stuff back, fuck knows why she can't just chuck it in a skip like I asked.
• Fucking hell this referee is garbage, even by 3rd division standards.
• This coffee is weak as piss.
• Woo we've scored, took it well too.
• Creme eggs are getting smaller these days, what a rip-off.
• Are any of these cunts ever going to stop standing still like fucking Subbuteo figures every time we get a throw-in?
• Well I've seen worse performances, I've seen many, many better ones too.
• I might get a beard comb tomorrow, it's getting long now.

I would add 1 more to that list:

• Must remember to get a stirrer next time I buy a hot chocolate. The chocolate 'powder' is as hard as a hockey puck and won't break up just by pouring hot water on it.

 

[GRUMPY BLADE]

I will say in support of Connor Sammon, their number 20 is/was worse

Being better than a poor Port Vale player is no claim to greatness.

 

[sitwell]

One now sadly past away . A good owd Beighton lad trever Collins r.I.p even if he was a grunter .and to be fair to him we had a laugh about him getting sparked by big bad Billy

5 pigs to look for on West St in the good old days ,Collins ,Flynny ,Chapman ,Ebby and Dignam. " more forgot their names ,big black guy with one eye , and a scruffy get Johnny something.

 

[coaxingstar71]

As I saw it, Basham played on the right side of the 3 centre backs and I thought he was MOTM with some good defending and his passing was better than usual. I thought Hammond played the midfield 'anchor' role, slightly behind the 'playmakers', Reed and Flynn. It worked well - they didn't have a shot on goal and we could have had two or three. The two wingbacks needed to do more, the beard seems out of sorts at the moment, whether that's because he's not been back long from injury or his ability has been diminished by the rest of the team, I don't know - sure he'll come good though. On the left, I think people are a bit harsh on Woolford, we know he hasn't got pace but he defended ok, albeit he just cleared it sometimes when perhaps he had more time on the ball - personally I'd prefer him to do that than try to do something clever and then lose it in a dangerous position. I do think that K Wallace would be more suited to that role, given he has got the ability to beat a man - is he injured?

Some harsh on Done too, perhaps I'm biased because I just love the way he plays. He's not getting many starts and when he came on, we were already retreating back and defending our lead. He appeared to run, chase and harry as much as he normally does to me.

I wonder if Coutts could play Hammond's role in the next game? I don't think he is generally lazy and had been one of our best players until Wigan at home. He obviously still tires quicker than the others but I think he could do a job there and he can hold and pass the ball much better than Hammond.

I thought the forwards were much better and we were better at giving them the ball in the right areas to their strengths. Both Che and Billy are good at holding the ball and either laying it off or turning with it and we were better at getting it to their feet rather than having to chase balls down. Our passing was so much better than at Bury, played some decent accurate direct balls - great ball from Edgar early on to set Che away and Basham hit a number of good balls.

No doubt it will be a different story again at Rochdale because inconsistency is one of our biggest problems.

 

[lazyfecklessblade]

As I saw it, Basham played on the right side of the 3 centre backs and I thought he was MOTM with some good defending and his passing was better than usual. I thought Hammond played the midfield 'anchor' role, slightly behind the 'playmakers', Reed and Flynn. It worked well - they didn't have a shot on goal and we could have had two or three. The two wingbacks needed to do more, the beard seems out of sorts at the moment, whether that's because he's not been back long from injury or his ability has been diminished by the rest of the team, I don't know - sure he'll come good though. On the left, I think people are a bit harsh on Woolford, we know he hasn't got pace but he defended ok, albeit he just cleared it sometimes when perhaps he had more time on the ball - personally I'd prefer him to do that than try to do something clever and then lose it in a dangerous position. I do think that K Wallace would be more suited to that role, given he has got the ability to beat a man - is he injured?

Some harsh on Done too, perhaps I'm biased because I just love the way he plays. He's not getting many starts and when he came on, we were already retreating back and defending our lead. He appeared to run, chase and harry as much as he normally does to me.

I wonder if Coutts could play Hammond's role in the next game? I don't think he is generally lazy and had been one of our best players until Wigan at home. He obviously still tires quicker than the others but I think he could do a job there and he can hold and pass the ball much better than Hammond.

I thought the forwards were much better and we were better at giving them the ball in the right areas to their strengths. Both Che and Billy are good at holding the ball and either laying it off or turning with it and we were better at getting it to their feet rather than having to chase balls down. Our passing was so much better than at Bury, played some decent accurate direct balls - great ball from Edgar early on to set Che away and Basham hit a number of good balls.

No doubt it will be a different story again at Rochdale because inconsistency is one of our biggest problems.

Think beardy plays better when he has an RM to bounce 1-2's off, he was alone a lot today and thus a bit less effective.

 

[davidblade]

Think coutts splits opinion with us Blades but i like him he's a good footballer but yes ok maybe we would lose some energy in there .just the one change then i would be happy with that . but woolford is one of the worst players i've seen in a blades shirt .

Yes it's a toss up who us the worst. Woeful Woolford or idle Coutts.
Both should shipped out asap.