18/09/10 - Sheffield United v. Portsmouth

[shorehamview]

Nosworthy was both poor and great, sometimes at the same time. How a man can head it as well as he can whilst also being unable to kick the ball in the same direction twice is beyond me. You do have to admit that whenever he's near the ball there's never a dull moment, in the same way that escaping from a pack of hungry wolves couldn't be described as "dull" either.

 

[Mr Spoon]

I think we seriously need a player who can deliver from set peices, the amount of free kicks and corners we waste is criminal. It was a pretty poor game overall, but 3 points is 3 points and I'm seeing signs of improvement.

But most importantly for me, I am enjoying going to Blades games again, you can't put a price on that. Long may it continue

 

[Linz]

But most importantly for me, I am enjoying going to Blades games again, you can't put a price on that. Long may it continue

And welcome to the forum.

 

[raul]

Made the trip down today if only to discover what the hell went on last week that made so many people happy to lose 0-4 to Scunthorpe.

Blackwell HAS gone, hasn't he? Deflected free-kick aside, that was as ordinary as it's been for my money.

 

[William Large]

First 10 mins today were really encouraging, we passed well and got down the flanks, from then on it was quite poor but at least we tried to keep the ball on the deck, aside for a few periods of head tennis in the second half. I think the 4 3 3 formation doesn't help at all. Cresswell isn't a wide man no matter how hard he tries and is generally ineffective for long periods. Likewise when we play this way Ched doesn't stay in the centre, he drifts to the sides continually which means when we get out wide in good positions there is noone in the box. Ward is our only real pace and althought he apparently prefers to play on the wing, I would love to see him up front, in the middle. Thought Portsmouth looked fairly decent today. They moan like fuck about having to scrape together a team but today put out Nugent, Kitson (diving cheating ginger shit house) Mokoena, Lawrence, Brown to name but a few and had Nwankwo on the bench. Altogether not as bad a performance as some made out, with that team they could be challenging near the top end. We did stand off them too much tho, a couple of times Bartley had the opportunity to make an good hard tackle in but looked a bit nesh.
Get some pace in Speed and change the formation, otherwise we are moving forward.

 

[Micalijo]

I thought Pompey set out to stifle us, and did a bloody good job of it. They were definitely playing for a point. We looked better after we scored simply because they had to go looking for a goal, so left more space for us to play in. I have been losing patience with Ched, but he did OK today. Britts is a class act, can't wait to see him & Williamson in the same midfield. Really pleased we ground out a result, that's 3 wins in 4 games now.

Really impossible to stress how much I disagree with your first two sentences. What makes you say they were playing for a point? Ridiculous comment imo. They had loads of decent possession and chances. Comfortable on the ball and we gave then no problems at all until last ten minutes.

We were absolutely shite, awful, abysmal, boring, pedestrian and very grateful to Simmo for keeping us in it. Very clear that Pompey will not go down and that Scuntorpe will. They could have been 2 up in the first 5 minutes and my granny could have been in net for them for the forst 80 minutes without having any adverse affect on their performance.

But, three points from the week is what we deserved so keep going Speedo and thank you very muich for taking Monty off a bit earlier this week. All you have to do now is drop him.

---------- Post added at 08:50 PM ---------- Previous post was at 08:48 PM ----------

Made the trip down today if only to discover what the hell went on last week that made so many people happy to lose 0-4 to Scunthorpe.

Blackwell HAS gone, hasn't he? Deflected free-kick aside, that was as ordinary as it's been for my money.

Nowt to do with Speed yet, as it is Blackwell's collection of shite he is dealing with, but today was as painful to watch as any game under the previous manager.

 

[Northyorksblade]

Made the trip down today if only to discover what the hell went on last week that made so many people happy to lose 0-4 to Scunthorpe.

Blackwell HAS gone, hasn't he? Deflected free-kick aside, that was as ordinary as it's been for my money.

I enjoyed the performance on Tuesday immensely, aside from the result. I enjoyed the three points today aside etc etc! Now we've just got to put the two together! You're correct though in your Blackwellesque performance.

---------- Post added at 10:15 PM ---------- Previous post was at 10:14 PM ----------

Ertl was absolutely awful today. He looked like someone who had never seen a football before in his life.

Nosworthy was poor too.

For a big bloke, he gets knocked off the ball too easily for me.

 

[SwissBlade]

I think we seriously need a player who can deliver from set peices, the amount of free kicks and corners we waste is criminal. It was a pretty poor game overall, but 3 points is 3 points and I'm seeing signs of improvement.

But most importantly for me, I am enjoying going to Blades games again, you can't put a price on that. Long may it continue

Ward should never ever take corners and freekicks... leave it to Ertl if you want to waste a free kick

 

[Flatulent_Bob]

Poor performance and it was like watching Blackwell's team.

Chuffed for Ched to get one and he was by far the most effective forward we had with Cresswell and Ward again very poor.
Ward continually getting the ball in good positions and either stopping allowing the defence to get back or delivering a shit ball into the box. But all around me yesterday I was hearing shouts of him as MOTM, it's crazy.

So we play awful football and win, or we can play good football and get stuffed. It's a funny game, I just hope this doesn't mean we are going to keep trying to play the old way.

 

[raul]

Wasn't it about this time last season you started on Walker and Killa Bob??

Looks like Wardy's away in the JTW everyone!

 

[Flatulent_Bob]

Wasn't it about this time last season you started on Walker and Killa Bob??

Looks like Wardy's away in the JTW everyone!

Wardy would probably like to be away in the window Raul he is still moaning about not being up with the top earners.
Did I have a pop at Killa? I can't remember doing and Walker deserved it, I wasn't the only one.

Incidentally do you disagree and think Ward put in a good shift?

Can you disagree with my comments on his performance yesterday?

 

[SteelCity Blade]

Wardy would probably like to be away in the window Raul he is still moaning about not being up with the top earners.
Did I have a pop at Killa? I can't remember doing and Walker deserved it, I wasn't the only one.

Incidentally do you disagree and think Ward put in a good shift?

Can you disagree with my comments on his performance yesterday?

If I might add something to this I felt Wardy was poor by his standards as well and I'm his biggest fan. He just looks so out of sorts at the moment. His body language suggests he's not entirely content and I feel a lot of it is simply down to not wanting to play out wide. Some people on here seem to insist that he is a winger and ive given that theory a chance by watching him closely there....over and over....

I'm sorry but I just dont see it. He has the pace and movement of a centre forward (in the Michael Owen mould) and I genuinely think he would be a lot happier playing there. I agree though Bob, Ward and Cresswell were completely anonymous yesterday and contributed very little. I thought Ched worked exceptionally hard and made a couple of tidy little turns in the box to open up a chance or two. He deserved a bit of luck for his goal. Not a perfect performance from him by any means but I can see that he's trying and at the end of it all, he delivered on the day....what more can we ask than a winning goal?

 

[Flatulent_Bob]

In all honesty both my and the friend I watch the match with think Ched would be better wider coming inside as he drifts out there in search of the ball anyway. But apparently according to folk in the club Wardy prefers to be out wide rather than upfront.
I don't see it myself, and think he would be better as an irritation upfront, he just doesn't have the delivery of a wide man for me, neither does Cressy for that matter, model pro as he is.

 

[SteelCity Blade]

In all honesty both my and the friend I watch the match with think Ched would be better wider coming inside as he drifts out there in search of the ball anyway. But apparently according to folk in the club Wardy prefers to be out wide rather than upfront.
I don't see it myself, and think he would be better as an irritation upfront, he just doesn't have the delivery of a wide man for me, neither does Cressy for that matter, model pro as he is.

I agree, but the bigger problem for me is that neither of them like to go outside a full back very often which is something a winger has to do to get into a crossing position. Ward and Cresswell always look to go inside.....hence the behaviour of centre forwards.

It seems its not rocket science to you and I but some people have trouble seeing the obvious. As for Speed, I think its simply a case of having no better options but he could play 4-4-2 and go more orthodox with Yeates and Quinn in wide positions. I'm still undecided as to where Quinn should play though. No pace as a wide player but not disciplined enough to play in the middle.

 

[Flatulent_Bob]

Not Quinn wide for me, he has neither the pace or the guile to play outwide in a 4-4-2. I also don't think he has the tackling ability or creative style to play in the middle in the same formation either.
For me Quinn would be OK on the left of a mifdield 3 but not anywhere else.