blader
Well-Known Member
For those of you who couldn't make it, I thought Id offer a slight critique of last night's match from my point of view.
United - Very, very odd performance. Thought we defended well on the whole, Hartlepool never really got in behind the defence, and any chances they did create were simply from silly errors or misplaced passes by United. We were comfortable first half without really creating anything, to go in 1-0 up was a bit fortunate really, we never strung 2 passes together and there was no fluidity in our play. Too much hoof, and not enough use of the wingers and midfield.
Second half, was a much more interesting half, at least certainly for the neutral. United were quite frankly shocking right up until we conceded. Panicking, sitting back and lots of errors allowed Hartlepool to threaten our goal. It just felt as if we were going to concede.... and then we did.
However, this seemed to spark us into life. (why do we always need to concede for this to happen??). After their goal, hartlepool had a slight rush of 5 minutes where their fans (silent throughout) got a little excited. The last 15 minutes belonged to Blades. Finally, we realised that McDonald is our only ball player, giving it to him at any opportunity. K-Mac's passing was really on show on the last 10 minutes moving it from side to side. We created more in the last 10 minutes than the other 80, before we finally got out breakthrough with a calm and classy finish from Gallagher. I do fear we were more than lucky to get 3 points out of this game, and how we are unbeaten I have no idea, this must be a truly shocking league!
Hartlepool - Don't want to slag them off too much, but wow. They offered nothing, other than the slight threat of Steve Howard, who has troubled us in the past, they were quite poor. I can see why they are down at the bottom, but it took an 89th undeserved winner to beat them, which is all the more worrying!
Officials - A poor game from the ref again. I would say most 50/50s went in our favour, however he was keen to book every one of our players that made a tackle, seemed to lose control of the game a little towards the end. Certainly made an easy game to referee more difficult than it needed to be!
Howard - 4 - I've got to say, thought he looked a very poor keeper last night. His distribution was terrible, and their only shot on target he just palmed back towards the penalty spot, rather than away from goal. The one thing I picked up the most is his reluctance to release the ball quickly and start a counter attack. Numerous times Hill and McDonald were screaming for the ball to be rolled out, instead he gave the 'calm down' signal, and hoofed it into no man's land. Poor performance for me.
McMahon - 6.5 - I like him. Looks solid enough, and looks an even better player when given the chance to link up with McDonald. Set pieces were better, and put in a superb pin-point cross for Kitson's goal.
Maguire - 5 - Though he did OK, but seemed to struggle at times in the air against Howard, and concede a free kick most of the time the ball was in the air. Not his best game.
Collins - 6.5 - Assured again. No nonsense defending, won most of the balls he needed to win. Not much to do, as Maguire took Howard and he was their only striker, but did a decent job.
Hill - 6 - The Scapegoat. Another solid performance, defended everything he needed to, and looked a little better going forward too. Whipped a superb ball in with 5 mins to go, that was begging for a touch, just one misplaced backpass, which had Howard panicking. Other than that, decent enough.
Gallagher - 7.5 - Definitely his best performance for us. Played some nice touches, always looked to pass or beat his man. The best part of his game yesterday was his willingness to defend. He tracked back extremely well, and provided extra cover on the left side. He made some great tackles and covered a lot of ground. Took his goal superbly too. More of that please.
Doyle - 6.5 - Same report as every week. Passing a bit off, but covered a lot of ground and rallied the defence pretty well. Also took a very clever booking when their man was in the clear.
McDonald - first half 3, second half 8 - Real game of 2 halves, almost non-existent in the first half, however that may be down to the defence hoofing it a lot more. But second half was good, especially the last 15 minutes. Moved the ball well, kept possession and made some great tackles too.
Flynn - 5 - "SKIN HIM!" I lost track of how many times I screamed that last night. He gets in good positions and often checks back or passes it back to McMahon. The kid could be a decent footballer, and it might just be confidence, but he needs to start getting to the by-line and putting more crosses in.
Blackman - 4 - Poor and, at times, forgot he was on the field. Needs to be dropped in my opinion, the most frustrating part of this guy is that he has talent, but work ethic doesn't exists. If there's a lost cause, or if he loses the ball, Blackman won't run for it. Quite annoying.
Kitson - 8 - Very good for me, did absolutely everything you can ask of a striker in this league, Grabbed a goal, worked his arse off and linked well with midfield. Always seemed to be advising his strike partner too. Appears to be a decent signing at the moment.
Subs:
Cofie - 6 - Looked better, caused a few problems and held the ball up really well at the end to run the clock down. Think he might be worth another go.
Cresswell - 5 - won a couple of headers, nothing particularly good or bad of note.
Wilson - 8 - MUCH better. Made subs earlier this time, saw when players became ineffective and took them off. Better than recent weeks.
Fans - nearly 600. In decent voice for most of the game, had some good banter with hartlepool keeper, mainly with the chant 'He licks them all day, Flinders licks Windows, and he licks them all day".
Hartlepool fans, sh*te, but then again, what have they had to cheer about recently??
Anyways, onwards and upwards, eh!!
UTB
United - Very, very odd performance. Thought we defended well on the whole, Hartlepool never really got in behind the defence, and any chances they did create were simply from silly errors or misplaced passes by United. We were comfortable first half without really creating anything, to go in 1-0 up was a bit fortunate really, we never strung 2 passes together and there was no fluidity in our play. Too much hoof, and not enough use of the wingers and midfield.
Second half, was a much more interesting half, at least certainly for the neutral. United were quite frankly shocking right up until we conceded. Panicking, sitting back and lots of errors allowed Hartlepool to threaten our goal. It just felt as if we were going to concede.... and then we did.
However, this seemed to spark us into life. (why do we always need to concede for this to happen??). After their goal, hartlepool had a slight rush of 5 minutes where their fans (silent throughout) got a little excited. The last 15 minutes belonged to Blades. Finally, we realised that McDonald is our only ball player, giving it to him at any opportunity. K-Mac's passing was really on show on the last 10 minutes moving it from side to side. We created more in the last 10 minutes than the other 80, before we finally got out breakthrough with a calm and classy finish from Gallagher. I do fear we were more than lucky to get 3 points out of this game, and how we are unbeaten I have no idea, this must be a truly shocking league!
Hartlepool - Don't want to slag them off too much, but wow. They offered nothing, other than the slight threat of Steve Howard, who has troubled us in the past, they were quite poor. I can see why they are down at the bottom, but it took an 89th undeserved winner to beat them, which is all the more worrying!
Officials - A poor game from the ref again. I would say most 50/50s went in our favour, however he was keen to book every one of our players that made a tackle, seemed to lose control of the game a little towards the end. Certainly made an easy game to referee more difficult than it needed to be!
Howard - 4 - I've got to say, thought he looked a very poor keeper last night. His distribution was terrible, and their only shot on target he just palmed back towards the penalty spot, rather than away from goal. The one thing I picked up the most is his reluctance to release the ball quickly and start a counter attack. Numerous times Hill and McDonald were screaming for the ball to be rolled out, instead he gave the 'calm down' signal, and hoofed it into no man's land. Poor performance for me.
McMahon - 6.5 - I like him. Looks solid enough, and looks an even better player when given the chance to link up with McDonald. Set pieces were better, and put in a superb pin-point cross for Kitson's goal.
Maguire - 5 - Though he did OK, but seemed to struggle at times in the air against Howard, and concede a free kick most of the time the ball was in the air. Not his best game.
Collins - 6.5 - Assured again. No nonsense defending, won most of the balls he needed to win. Not much to do, as Maguire took Howard and he was their only striker, but did a decent job.
Hill - 6 - The Scapegoat. Another solid performance, defended everything he needed to, and looked a little better going forward too. Whipped a superb ball in with 5 mins to go, that was begging for a touch, just one misplaced backpass, which had Howard panicking. Other than that, decent enough.
Gallagher - 7.5 - Definitely his best performance for us. Played some nice touches, always looked to pass or beat his man. The best part of his game yesterday was his willingness to defend. He tracked back extremely well, and provided extra cover on the left side. He made some great tackles and covered a lot of ground. Took his goal superbly too. More of that please.
Doyle - 6.5 - Same report as every week. Passing a bit off, but covered a lot of ground and rallied the defence pretty well. Also took a very clever booking when their man was in the clear.
McDonald - first half 3, second half 8 - Real game of 2 halves, almost non-existent in the first half, however that may be down to the defence hoofing it a lot more. But second half was good, especially the last 15 minutes. Moved the ball well, kept possession and made some great tackles too.
Flynn - 5 - "SKIN HIM!" I lost track of how many times I screamed that last night. He gets in good positions and often checks back or passes it back to McMahon. The kid could be a decent footballer, and it might just be confidence, but he needs to start getting to the by-line and putting more crosses in.
Blackman - 4 - Poor and, at times, forgot he was on the field. Needs to be dropped in my opinion, the most frustrating part of this guy is that he has talent, but work ethic doesn't exists. If there's a lost cause, or if he loses the ball, Blackman won't run for it. Quite annoying.
Kitson - 8 - Very good for me, did absolutely everything you can ask of a striker in this league, Grabbed a goal, worked his arse off and linked well with midfield. Always seemed to be advising his strike partner too. Appears to be a decent signing at the moment.
Subs:
Cofie - 6 - Looked better, caused a few problems and held the ball up really well at the end to run the clock down. Think he might be worth another go.
Cresswell - 5 - won a couple of headers, nothing particularly good or bad of note.
Wilson - 8 - MUCH better. Made subs earlier this time, saw when players became ineffective and took them off. Better than recent weeks.
Fans - nearly 600. In decent voice for most of the game, had some good banter with hartlepool keeper, mainly with the chant 'He licks them all day, Flinders licks Windows, and he licks them all day".
Hartlepool fans, sh*te, but then again, what have they had to cheer about recently??
Anyways, onwards and upwards, eh!!
UTB
