Berge or Lunny v Brighton

[GRUMPY BLADE]

Three situations where he got into good positions in the box and could have been set up for close range finishes:

View attachment 71220


View attachment 71221View attachment 71222

Glad it's not just me who doesn't see him as Norwoods replacement.

Only weekness I saw was pressing.

 

[bongleblade]

Because it's easy for a quality player to look shit in their first few games. It's not so easy for a shit one to look quality.

john brayford

 

[Bladesman]

There used to be people that said Coutts was irreplaceable, and that any talk of getting someone to do his role was some sort of heresy. He was replaceable – his replacement was Norwood.

When Norwood’s given the time on the ball, he is fantastic. But even playing at his best, he’s not someone that can either side-step a challenge, or use strength to hold onto the ball when under pressure, and this has led to plenty of times this season (more so than last in my view) where he’s rushed into a pass or just simply dispossessed on the ball. It’s something Coutts at his best was better than him at, though for me that Norwood was clearly the better all round player. Basically an upgrade on Norwood would be someone that does most of his current stuff but has the physical strength to outmuscle opponents or quick feet to avoid them.

It is very unWilder thinking to not be considering how that might be improved upon, which is why you clearly saw it prioritised on recruitment discussions last November. He is fairly clear about always being hungry to improve everything we do. Stearman brought in to be the rock at the back? Sorry Stears, but we’re buying a better rock. Duffy crucial to promotion? No hard feelings Duffy, we’re getting rid of your position, and while we’re at it, you.

Whether it’s Berge (or someone else) that is being lined up by Wilder to ultimately replace Norwood it’s yet to be seen. I do think that you saw some of Berge’s calmness on the ball yesterday in avoiding being tackled, and you saw some of his passing to the flanks on show at Palace, and more so his tackling (which was less visible yesterday). The role he’s come from is certainly more Norwood’s than Lundstram’s. I don’t have any real desire to get Norwood out of the team, but if Wilder has a better option in mind then it will be completely understandable.

If Wilder's time here has shown us anything it is he is always looking to upgrade the squad and to be fair most of the players seem to be aware of that. They know they have to up their game to stay at the club.

This club has moved quickly and players we thought we couldn't afford to lose have gone. At certain points in the last few seasons we have all thought we couldn't do without the likes of Duffy, Coutts, Brooks and Wright.

I wouldn't be surprised to see Wilder eventually change formations and tactics again next season. Especially if he feels there is a better way to go about winning games in the Premier League. He already changed it a bit this season with a flat 3 in midfield which surprised us all at the time.

If you heard his podcast with Colin Murray you will know Wilder is always thinking about football 24/7 and picking up "bits and pieces" from games he goes to watch in person or games on TV.

 

[bladesmanluke]

john brayford

I thought about putting a caveat in my earlier post because I knew someone would try to be smart, but point still stands. It's not easy to look good when you're shite. In Brayford's case he was very good (not just for us) before a long lay off with injury and never got it back.

 

[Bladezz]

Seems like what most sufc do.

New signing comes in
Takes a while to get into the grove of things
Few months in they say they cannot believe how hard training is
Eventually they get use too it
Performances start coming in
Half fans admit their wrong
Others don’t

 

[Bladesway]

Lundstram has earnt the shirt. He's been much better than Berge when he comes on.

Getting dropped and having to battle will do Berge good. He looks like he needs to roll his sleeves up more!

Funny because most people would say he needs game time not time warming the bench. Berge came in when Lundstram seemed to have hit the wall. Far from earning the shirt he needed a break. This is a squad game and perhaps they will both get starts. Berge has to be the future though.

 

[Stretch]

Have only just watched the RS interview with Lundstram after the game. It all seemed very awkward when Giddings raised the question about contract negotiations. I understand that John wouldn't want to comment too much, but you could tell he wanted to move on quickly. I certainly didn't get the sense that he was determined to stay here come what may, and being benched in favour of the new boy has clearly got his back up.

 

[Stretch]

My take away feelings from watching Berge in the flesh on Sunday are as follows:

Hard to knock of the ball when running with it.
Ran into the odd dead end but had enough strength and skill to keep possession and find a team mate.
Got into a few goalscoring positions, but team mates didn't pick him out.

In general, he doesn't look out of place, but is perhaps just a little off the pace at the moment, which is entirely fine. He has had a steady start and will only get better.

I predict that he will romp it for us next season.

 

[finlaytheblade]

Lunny took that personal.
Not in a negative way, or at least he used it in the right one, but when he scored you could see how much being dropped had fired him up.

He was rested really not dropped as it was clear to see his energy levels had dropped after playing his heart out up to the new year.
He seems to be invigorated in no small way by the competition now in his position.Great position for Wilder to have Lunnie not giving up without a fight, that is great position for us.
Berge is not up to speed yet and it may take him some time, he,s still a very young player and Wilder will be carefull how he uses him.
He may have to sit one or two out to really grasp what it's all about that wont do him any harm at all.

 

[McGrath]

Funny because most people would say he needs game time not time warming the bench. Berge came in when Lundstram seemed to have hit the wall. Far from earning the shirt he needed a break. This is a squad game and perhaps they will both get starts. Berge has to be the future though.

I think Wilder always picks his teams on merit and Lundstram has won the shirt on merit.

I'm sure Berge will get plenty of opportunities in the coming months, you don't spend £22million on a player and don't pick him. We've got 1 league game in 4 weeks now, so let's hope Berge gets a mini pre-season in that time.

 

[Yewsman]

For me the signing of Berge particularly and the other 2 lads to a lesser extent in the jtw shows Wilders mentality in continually moving the club forward. The PL is full of teams like Palace, Watford, Burnley, Bournemouth to name but 4 whose only ambition is to remain in the PL and maybe have a decent Cup run. They have no ambition to try and move to the next level like Leicester have done and challenge the “top six”. Wilder is not content to be a Palace and wants us to move to the next level. You could say as we sit 5th we are already there but we all know that if we are to cement that position next season we need to strengthen the squad And also bring in young players who can step up when some of the current squad lose their form as age takes its toll. What a journey we are on.

 

[Smirth]

We’ve signed Berge for £22m and he’s played two games and done okay overall. There’s no way he’s being dropped, and rightly so.

Lundstram needs to pull his finger out and sign a new contract before demanding his starting place back. No point giving him good game time from now until the end of the season if he doesn’t want to buy in to what we are doing long term like Berge, a younger player with higher potential than him.

 

[LoughboroBlade]

Watching the extended highlights that have been put up, I’d forgotten about Berge’s best bit of passing out on the right, which was probably here. Seemingly crowded out by three players, he had the ball on the first image, moves back (moving the nearest Bournemouth player with him) before deftly dinking it through to Baldock on the corner of the box from the position in the second image.

 

[ComedyClub]

Classy and thoughtful post as indeed is Ron’s a couple of lines up
If you compare Lunny’s interview with say Basham or Egan or Billy et cetera
It’s chalk and cheese
Plus Lunny’s goal celebration was extremely clear
Not banging the badge but pointing at himself
Clearly Chris and Alan are already down the road thinking about next season and beyond working out possible permutations of the flat three
false number 10 et cetera
After half an hour today it could have all gone Pete Tong but that is the courage that Chris and Alan have, I understand that the pundits are banging on about Europe and as fans we can’t help looking at the league table with 12 games to go
But Chris and Alan Are not going to sit back and play the obvious and stick with that
There are many examples of teams that have done well on the first season back but increasingly get found out and flounder in subsequent seasons
Question is, is Lunny willing to stick around and graft and adapt
Regards the contract situation,’ oh yes I’m sure me and gaffer will talk about it’
Whereas the rest, so far, I have simply gone about it behind-the-scenes and signed on the dotted line.
The worry for me is he has the same agent as Duffy and even more so how close lunny is to Jack
Don’t get me wrong I want Lunny to stay But if we had to he might be replaceable, but going ahead long term I think it would be a lot harder to replace Jack

Our replacment for Jack (hope to god he doesn't go) is already at the club, Retsos can play anywhere in defence, his ideal positions are LCB and RCB. Also can't see how Lunny would or could make jack decide to leave.

 

[Millhousesblade1889]

I'd say Lunny, however I dont think Berge would have the same impact off the bench that Lunny is having. I'd possibly say if we're in a position where we're 1-0 up holding on I'd rather see Besic come on for Lunny.

Berge will be quality in the long run but he needs to realise he doesn't have as much time on the ball, especially with the intensity we play at. By next season he will be one of our most important players though when he's up-to speed.

 

[Charlieblade]

Berge got into some goal scoring positions in the box, passes to him weren't made.

He was perfectly positioned for a cut back when Billy hit the side netting from a wide angle.

 

[LoughboroBlade]

He was perfectly positioned for a cut back when Billy hit the side netting from a wide angle.

Thought that was the only mistake in an otherwise good Sharp performance – it was a really tough angle when really what was needed was him to just keep that in and pass to a better option. Think in that moment his desire to get his first Prem goal at the Lane overrode his common sense. Had it happened after he’d scored he’d have probably laid it back to Berge.

 

[benn5712]

Thought that was the only mistake in an otherwise good Sharp performance – it was a really tough angle when really what was needed was him to just keep that in and pass to a better option. Think in that moment his desire to get his first Prem goal at the Lane overrode his common sense. Had it happened after he’d scored he’d have probably laid it back to Berge.

That's a Strikers instinct.

 

[guancheblade]

Merge them.

Lunberge!

Bergstram!

 

[LoughboroBlade]

That's a Strikers instinct.

Perhaps. There have been better opportunities for him than that where he’s opted to pass – most recently first half against City in the previous game for example. We’re built around creating good opportunities and being sensible on the ball – no wild efforts from distance or particularly difficult angles, recycling play to create better chances.

 

[Fulwood Blade]

Brighton try to play football - this could be a very entertaining game of football - we might have to play through them as against run them to death.

Berge to start for me as we have to get him up to speed with the pace of Premier League football - he said himself after Palace he did as much in 60 minutes as he used to do in 90 mins at Genk.

Berge will give us another dimension when teams sit on Norwood - Berge may even now stop Basham having to move into central midfield to close games down when we are leading.

Berge give us much more scope in central midfield.

UTB

 

[Bladesman]

 

[Johnnyblade]

I would play Lundstram and then play Berge in the FA cup game at Reading which will be a little better for his pace of game at the moment

 

[corner_flag]

Berge.

Lundstram is fitter and more familiar with our system, doesn’t mean he’s a better player.

Only way we’ll find out how good Berge is, is to give him game time.

Also, I think it works really well bringing Lunny and Moose on against tiring opposition.

Exactly
Berge seemed more defensive - not as confident to charge forward as Lunny. So play him for first 60 when we're being tight and cagey, then get Lunny to run at them.

Lunny is a bit like Mousse, you can't keep firing at that power level 90 mins, 2 games a week. To keep up that level he needs resting.

He needs to understand that himself or he'll run himself into the ground again like he did in December.

It's not a case of who is better, but about how mixing Lunny and Berge and Besic makes us harder to beat

 

[Gretsch Blade]

I would play Lundstram and then play Berge in the FA cup game at Reading which will be a little better for his pace of game at the moment

Like that idea.... I'd be interested to see Berge sat Deeper in ollies role with Lunny and Mo in a flat three. Perhaps luke freeman at 10 with our no 9 up top.
Can't see CWAK dropping Ollie though.

 

[ormester]

With Berge it is the fitness, and learning the role, not the quality. He has to get not just into Premiership shape, but Blades shape. But he looks great on the ball. I can imagine what a beast he would be after a pre-season. I would probably give him another game, 2 wins in the row, showed more confidence as the game went on today.. But absolutely no problem with Lundtsram coming in, few players are going to the the ground running in our midfield.

Hilarious apart from one mistake how many times did he give the ball away? Lunny gives more energy but Berge is a very very very good player

 

[Charlieblade]

McBurnie has plenty of English game experience, and he has taken time to settle into the PL and our system. He will start picking up goals soon too.
Berge has a bigger adaptation to make, yet he’s beginning to look more comfortable on the ball already.
CWAK rightly insist on our high work rate out of possession, as a key part of our success as a team.
I think Berge will pick this up quicker, but he also has to tune his game to PL intensity levels. He came here to challenge his development, and I’m confident his football brain will adapt successfully with more game time.

 

[theoneandonly36]

Berge trying really hard to please but needs a pre season with us imho learning the shape, pass forward not back, win and keep the ball with superb core strength and lungs of a racehorse. See how he comes back after a beasting in Dubai.

 

[GrayBlade]

Berge trying really hard to please but needs a pre season with us imho learning the shape, pass forward not back, win and keep the ball with superb core strength and lungs of a racehorse. See how he comes back after a beasting in Dubai.

In fairness Billy’s doing his best to bring him up to speed

 

[10-0 win]

bottom line is we've added to a strong midfield. with very few missing games through injury or suspensions we've been settled and haven't needed much change due to good results. this could change over night(God forbid) , most other teams have done lots of midfieldchanges due to injury/suspesions.
We 're better off , (what if scenario:Norwood injured long term,Fleck suspended 3 games, Lundstram out with illness, would we cope? much better post jtw. Besic,Berge and Freeman probably. can't deny keeping players fit is another very positive in our side. Can't wait for Brighton, get a slight tan in Dubai and come back fresh to sink another coastal town