Billy - Unjustified Stick

[Blend-it-like-Harris]

Billy isn't the problem, and he's certainly a vital part of the solution. When JOC and Co are bombing forward with the ball, and opposition defenders trying to keep tabs on Billy Sharp and Leon Clarke whilst having to 2nd guess the movement of our wing-backs down both flanks, then it's obvious that both Sharp and Clarke are going to reek havoc with their movement through the channels and in on goal. Those days have gone (for now) and it's an easy job for central defenders to close down both strikers when that's all they have to contend with. Right now we have defenders reluctant or less capable of moving forwards at pace with the ball at their feet. Lundstram is decent enough defensively but lacks instinct and creativity that Coutts clearly had hard-wired into his CPU. Those fans who couldn't see that Coutts was irreplaceable and absolutely vital to our game should by now know the truth of it.

Without the 3 amigos at Preston we looked League 1 level/Adkinesque again, but we were by no means out-classed so we should take some heart in that at least. We need both Duffy and Brooks to provide some close-ball skills and creativity, and we need EVERY player to work combined socks and rocks off for 90+ minutes. That means Carruthers should get the boot IMHO. The "Harris Blend" that CW has managed to re-create to get us in the top 6 of this division has gone for now, and let's hope we get our mojo back long before we get our Couttsy back or we will be in trouble.
For those who think Billy isn't worth his place, let them study the Wendy/Wolves match and the non-contributions from both Rhodes and Hooper to realise the "massive" differences in striker-worthiness. Give me Billy over either of them any day of the week.

 

[Tyler Durden]

I miss all his hard work and channel-running. Probably because I see what is actually happening, rather than what I would like to happen.

You're missing a lot of things in fairness.

 

[Slim Man]

He was truly truly awful on Saturday.

That doesn't excuse what he's done in the past 2 and half years

 

[Slim Man]

You're missing a lot of things in fairness.

He is a much better poster with a gut full of wine.

 

[Slim Man]

I haven’t read any of the above stick, mainly because I don’t read the forum after we’ve lost because of knee jerk reactions like this.

Billy didn’t have a good game on Saturday but he’s not getting quality service, Saturday was a poor performance all round.

My concern against Villa is defensively and in Midfield, get that right and we will create chances. When we do that Billy generally scores goals.

My criticism of Billy last season was that he wasted a lot of chances, despite his exceptional goal tally, he missed a lot. This season he’s looked leaner, sharper and hungry. On Saturday he didn’t have any of those attributes, a week ago against Bristol City he was getting chances and was very close, hitting the woodwork twice (if memory serves correctly).

I’d have no issue starting Billy v Villa, he’ll cause problems and his experience is a huge asset

Keep Adomah quiet and you can keep Villa quiet. Easier said than done but he's their biggest threat.
The midfield battle will also be harder without our golden trio so I hope we at least have Brooks or Duffy fit - Saturday's midfield wouldn't have looked out of place at Glanford park.

 

[Tyler Durden]

He is a much better poster with a gut full of wine.

Domestos would be preferable...

 

[Lane Ender]

That is true but it seems many are discounting what influence Freeman had last season. Possibly believing that he will not be able to make the step up.

Another one who we are missing not the most gifted defending but creative and menacing going forward
Billys certainly has missed those balls whipped in.

 

[SwissBlade]

Keep Adomah quiet and you can keep Villa quiet. Easier said than done but he's their biggest threat.
The midfield battle will also be harder without our golden trio so I hope we at least have Brooks or Duffy fit - Saturday's midfield wouldn't have looked out of place at Glanford park.

Wilder needs to look at last seasons ‘bad runs’, the games where we started conceding more and dropping points, after those games we went back to basics slightly. Stop conceding and you’ll make life easier for yourself when chances are less frequent.

So yeah I’d agree, stop the tricky fucker against villa and we should give ourselves a chance. Against Birmingham, Fulham and Bristol City we allowed quality players free space to have a go at us and that has to be stopped

 

[super_pig]

He’s getting a bit of hammer recently. It’s unjustified and frankly unfair. About him being ‘wank’, ‘past it’ and ‘rubbish’ etc.

I personally think right now he should be dropped for Villa as I think either Brooks or Donaldson will be more effective against Samba but that doesn’t mean I’m about to write him off or forget what he’s done over the past 2 and half seasons for us.

Sharp plays a game in which he needs chances creating for him. Our teams inability to create anything of note recently is hindering him more than anyone. He’s still working hard and running the channels, doing a lot of work off the ball. He’s not the best footballer but he gives his all every week.

As much as it is down to Chris and Alan - Billy was every bit as vital to our promotion last year.

If it wasn’t for Billy Sharp we’d still be in League One... possibly even worse to be honest. Let’s have a bit of respect for a club legend shall we?

as Tyler has pointed out in many occasions it has been bubbling under the surface .. just needed a few bad results to resurface
the criticism if carruthers is justified imho as he doesn’t seem to give a shit but not Billy

 

[Keen Blade]

Wilder needs to look at last seasons ‘bad runs’, the games where we started conceding more and dropping points, after those games we went back to basics slightly. Stop conceding and you’ll make life easier for yourself when chances are less frequent.

So yeah I’d agree, stop the tricky fucker against villa and we should give ourselves a chance. Against Birmingham, Fulham and Bristol City we allowed quality players free space to have a go at us and that has to be stopped

I agree - if Billy plays at Villa , I'd be more confident of him scoring than our defence a keeping a clean sheet. I wonder which of those two things will happen soonest ?

 

[Slim Man]

as Tyler has pointed out in many occasions it has been bubbling under the surface .. just needed a few bad results to resurface
the criticism if carruthers is justified imho as he doesn’t seem to give a shit but not Billy

Me too, the Carruthers criticism I have no problem with. Calling him a wanker might be a bit out of line but he isn't very good and doesn't seem to care too much.

Every loss will be killing Billy like us.

 

[HodgysBrokenThumb]

Billy is on a bad run? Against Bristol City he had a shot from outside the box and a header from a corner where he beat a big defender to the ball both hit the woodwork. In both cases a matter of inches from outstanding goals, and not much more he could have done to score in each case. I accept the view of people that he was poor an Saturday, but with a little luck, he would have been averaging a goal a game in the last 2 games. Fine margins...

 

[Mumbo]

He’s getting a bit of hammer recently. It’s unjustified and frankly unfair. About him being ‘wank’, ‘past it’ and ‘rubbish’ etc.

I personally think right now he should be dropped for Villa as I think either Brooks or Donaldson will be more effective against Samba but that doesn’t mean I’m about to write him off or forget what he’s done over the past 2 and half seasons for us.

Sharp plays a game in which he needs chances creating for him. Our teams inability to create anything of note recently is hindering him more than anyone. He’s still working hard and running the channels, doing a lot of work off the ball. He’s not the best footballer but he gives his all every week.

As much as it is down to Chris and Alan - Billy was every bit as vital to our promotion last year.

If it wasn’t for Billy Sharp we’d still be in League One... possibly even worse to be honest. Let’s have a bit of respect for a club legend shall we?

Well said mate.The detractors on here have very short memories indeed.
If he gets the quality service he will score.Edwards another blades legend had the same stick.
They will be having another go at Clark soon enough.Brookes got his start and had a poor game
now he’s shit anall.Build em up knock em down.............well done.

 

[Esablade]

 

[Sean Thornton]

Here's a recent photograph...
Can you guess what it is?

Main ingredient for a Blue Riband?

 

[Davalon]

Here's a recent photograph...
Can you guess what it is?

A crap devining rod?

 

[BornOnShorehamStreet]

The beginnings of a catapult doomed to fail?

I think it's a catapult that has already failed

 

[Sharrow Snuff Mill]

Billy is on a bad run? Against Bristol City he had a shot from outside the box and a header from a corner where he beat a big defender to the ball both hit the woodwork. In both cases a matter of inches from outstanding goals, and not much more he could have done to score in each case. I accept the view of people that he was poor an Saturday, but with a little luck, he would have been averaging a goal a game in the last 2 games. Fine margins...

Good points. You can`t expect much from Billy if he is just fed scraps. He didn`t even get scraps on Saturday. Preston made sure they had Leon well wrapped up with 2 or 3 players closing him. Our midfield was ineffective, and Carruthers was poor. Slater looked a step up when he replaced him.

 

[Sean Thornton]

I think it's a catapult that has already failed

Checked out Google images. It's a justified stick.

 

[PokerBlade]

Billy Sharp is not a bad striker. He hasn't lost anything and he isn't doing anything different to what he's done throughout his career. The problem with Sharp is that he doesn't do hold up play well and he doesn't create much of anything for himself (Clarke has more skill and beats more defenders than Sharp ever will). What he is is a damn good poacher and, and I hate this term, a "natural goalscorer".

Billy is a fantastic player to have when you're in a team with three quality midfielders picking passes and holding possession, two fit fullbacks bombing up the wings, and central defenders overloading the wide positions. Unfortunately, due to injury and suspension, we currently aren't doing any of that good stuff for him. Consequently, Sharp against Preston was chasing long balls, and losing the ball almost every time he had his back to a defender.

I've said it before; I'll start worrying about Sharp when he starts missing chances regularly. Right now we just aren't playing the football that he does well at and I have no idea why people seem surprised that he hasn't scored for a shocking five games (as if that doesn't happen to strikers all the time).

I feel like everyone is desperately searching for something to blame when the reality is we've been extremely unlucky of late and the major issue we're facing is that we simply haven't had the time to build a full Championship squad. And we've done exceptionally well to buy ourselves that time by having an outstanding first eleven.

I'm on board with people saying to make a tactical change. Donaldson would hold the ball better and Brooks can create more on his own. But Sharp is as good and bad as he's ever been.

 

[Addison]

What we need to realise is that we are not playing very well at the moment. OK we were missing our three midfielders but the rot started before that when just the one of them went absent. Coutts is important but surely the rest of the team and management tactics should have been able to cover one man.

I don't buy into this "would have bitten your hand off at the start of the season for the position we're in" bollocks. The facts of the matter are we were great at the start of the season and we are fucking rubbish at the moment. Pointing the finger at Billy is just a red herring, there's several more plus the recent tactics which are open to question too.

Let's call it as it is, the present set up with the available players is not working at the moment so lets change the fucking way we play. Einstein's Law of Insanity seems to be the only tactical option at the moment.

My suggestion for starters: Basham must return to the back three or 4-4-2 if CW insists he plays in midfield. The defence is the major problem and has to be beefed up.

Agree with most of what you say. Management and tactics should be able to cover the loss of one man. Losing four ball players on Saturday however was something you can't compensate for. The defence is the major problem and co-incides with Wright not being in the team. When we had a bad run last season CW brought in JW for EEL and we went on a long unbeaten run.

All the goals conceded in the last three matches have come down the left hand side of the defence an area that JW patrols very well. Remember the two last ditch tackles against Brum that won us a point. Its significant that OConnells game seems to have gone to pot since Wright was removed from the starting line up.

This is not a criticism of Stearman who was one of our best players on Saturday. In the short term to cover for injuries CW may need to find room for them both in the back three but we look more organised and tighter at the back when Wright plays in a 3-4-1-2. Wright may only be a short term solution if we get Egan but we need to stop leaking goals and that includes better defending in front of the back three.

 

[Living In a Fantasy World]

I've said it before he goes hot and cold, more so then most players, but when he's hot he is hot.

 

[IMABLADE]

He’s getting a bit of hammer recently. It’s unjustified and frankly unfair. About him being ‘wank’, ‘past it’ and ‘rubbish’ etc.

I personally think right now he should be dropped for Villa as I think either Brooks or Donaldson will be more effective against Samba but that doesn’t mean I’m about to write him off or forget what he’s done over the past 2 and half seasons for us.

Sharp plays a game in which he needs chances creating for him. Our teams inability to create anything of note recently is hindering him more than anyone. He’s still working hard and running the channels, doing a lot of work off the ball. He’s not the best footballer but he gives his all every week.

As much as it is down to Chris and Alan - Billy was every bit as vital to our promotion last year.

If it wasn’t for Billy Sharp we’d still be in League One... possibly even worse to be honest. Let’s have a bit of respect for a club legend shall we?

He's basically our Wayne Rooney, no one realises the small acts of brilliance he does.

 

[Cerberus Blade]

He’s getting a bit of hammer recently. It’s unjustified and frankly unfair. About him being ‘wank’, ‘past it’ and ‘rubbish’ etc.

I personally think right now he should be dropped for Villa as I think either Brooks or Donaldson will be more effective against Samba but that doesn’t mean I’m about to write him off or forget what he’s done over the past 2 and half seasons for us.

Sharp plays a game in which he needs chances creating for him. Our teams inability to create anything of note recently is hindering him more than anyone. He’s still working hard and running the channels, doing a lot of work off the ball. He’s not the best footballer but he gives his all every week.

As much as it is down to Chris and Alan - Billy was every bit as vital to our promotion last year.

If it wasn’t for Billy Sharp we’d still be in League One... possibly even worse to be honest. Let’s have a bit of respect for a club legend shall we?

He was poor at Preston but good the week before v Bristol and very unlucky not to get a brace.

No one was much good at Preston tbh. 1 shot on target all game and that was more like a back pass from Basham.

No point in singling out players for blame. We’ve lost several key players but it’s only temporary this. Can’t see us getting owt at Villa though!

 

[DronnieBlade]

Very very simple is this.

Pump long hopefull balls up top for strikers to battle for and Sharp is about as much use as a chocolate fireguard.

So if this is what you plan to do, don’t fucking play him.

Now.

If we do decide to going back to playing football, Sharp is a tremendous asset to have.

Has so much more to his game than goals. When played to his strengths. Which is not 10 feet in the air !

UTB

 

[pesch the mini genius]

Wilder needs to look at last seasons ‘bad runs’, the games where we started conceding more and dropping points, after those games we went back to basics slightly. Stop conceding and you’ll make life easier for yourself when chances are less frequent.

So yeah I’d agree, stop the tricky fucker against villa and we should give ourselves a chance. Against Birmingham, Fulham and Bristol City we allowed quality players free space to have a go at us and that has to be stopped

Our bad runs seem to be anytime Jake wright isn't playing !!