BladesPod: Feeling upbeat in defeat (Liverpool review)

[Beans]

Evening all,

Your mileage may vary, but old Roygbiv and I were feeling better about things after that Liverpool game, which we discussed at length here - special mention for the likes of Ampadu, Egan, Osborn, Baldock and McBurnie, the importance of actually threatening the opposition in these games (physically, in Baldock's case), Liverpool seemingly realising that VAR is annoying and can actually go against your team every now and again, plus our alternative man of the match award and our winners of the week from around the Premier League.

As always, thank you very much for listening.



And on Spotify and Apple.

 

[petcharlie]

Evening all,

Your mileage may vary, but old Roygbiv and I were feeling better about things after that Liverpool game, which we discussed at length here - special mention for the likes of Ampadu, Egan, Osborn, Baldock and McBurnie, the importance of actually threatening the opposition in these games (physically, in Baldock's case), Liverpool seemingly realising that VAR is annoying and can actually go against your team every now and again, plus our alternative man of the match award and our winners of the week from around the Premier League.

As always, thank you very much for listening.



And on Spotify and Apple.

Very encouraging .We played really well apart from the old failure of not being able to put the ball in the net.

 

[Sam64]

Will be the first one I listen to since the start of the season because I'm that kind of person

 

[Niceguyeddie]

Very encouraging .We played really well apart from the old failure of not being able to put the ball in the net.

Really surprising how many people are focusing on scoring goals as being our problem when we are conceding soft goals from crosses every week

 

[petcharlie]

Really surprising how many people are focusing on scoring goals as being our problem when we are conceding soft goals from crosses every week

You are right we are conceding lots of headed goals but we can put our finger on why ,it's the loss of our best centre back who was great at defending crosses.Scoring goals is much more of a puzzle.

 

[Snowflake]

Really surprising how many people are focusing on scoring goals as being our problem when we are conceding soft goals from crosses every week

We are focusing on that because if we took just half of our chances we would be scoring more than we are conceding

 

[Revolution]

Really surprising how many people are focusing on scoring goals as being our problem when we are conceding soft goals from crosses every week

We’ve scored 3 goals in 6 games, 2 of which were penalties. That is 100% our main problem.

 

[Niceguyeddie]

We’ve scored 3 goals in 6 games, 2 of which were penalties. That is 100% our main problem.

It isn't though is it ? If we had defended like last season we would have beat Liverpool and drawn with leeds and villa at least

 

[Revolution]

It isn't though is it ? If we had defended like last season we would have beat Liverpool and drawn with leeds and villa at least

Really? Did we not concede any headed goals last season?

Look, the defending from crosses looks weak, but we really aren't conceding a lot of goals, relatively speaking. the bigger problem is at the other end.

We might stay up conceding 1.5 goals a game. We won't stay up scoring 0.5 goals a game. It's that simple.

 

[Blade_In_Sydney]

Evening all,

Your mileage may vary, but old Roygbiv and I were feeling better about things after that Liverpool game, which we discussed at length here - special mention for the likes of Ampadu, Egan, Osborn, Baldock and McBurnie, the importance of actually threatening the opposition in these games (physically, in Baldock's case), Liverpool seemingly realising that VAR is annoying and can actually go against your team every now and again, plus our alternative man of the match award and our winners of the week from around the Premier League.

As always, thank you very much for listening.



And on Spotify and Apple.

As always, thanks to you an Andrew for a great podcast. Always appreciated. With respect to Ben Osborn's style of play, he's probably the closest thing to the late great Trevor Hockey. Now, he really was a terrier.

 

[Houston_Blade]

A very positive pod, I'm still on the negative side.

I just look at it that Norwich beat City last year and were still shit. It feels like even if we get a win against a top side we are still going to struggle as we aren't playing like we can do on a consistent basis. I also don't know what the best 11 is and whether Wilder is sure at the moment.

On the goal kick tactic, if we play it out from the back, we play better and look more likely to pass through teams. If we hoof it to McBurnie we don't hold the ball and end up back defending quite quickly. I really don't like conceding possession to every team we play (it's ok against Liverpool and City) and I think we should be trying a bit more to impose our game onto other teams.

It all goes back to us being soft, we've just had 2 seasons where the soft underbelly of the Blades has disappeared, it's now back and that worries me.

 

[McGoaldrick]

Thank you again, lads. Looking forward to listening later

 

[JPBrods]

Had a listen on a run this morning and will finish tomorrow AM doing the same. Got to say, I usually agree with you and Andrew but I was a bit bemused about some of the talk around Brewster. Granted, we've only seen him play two games and about 70 mins across those two games in difficult circumstances, so I'm patient for the performances to arrive. I get that. However, I'm a bit disappointed we've bought a striker for a club record fee and it turns out he isn't match fit, and we've got to steadily walk him up to 90 mins. We've already been through the mangle with Mousset over this and we never actually got there. I was kind of hoping this time round we'd bought a striker who could hit the ground running, and I think that's where a lot of frustration in the fanbase lies.

 

[Houston_Blade]

Had a listen on a run this morning and will finish tomorrow AM doing the same. Got to say, I usually agree with you and Andrew but I was a bit bemused about some of the talk around Brewster. Granted, we've only seen him play two games and about 70 mins across those two games in difficult circumstances, so I'm patient for the performances to arrive. I get that. However, I'm a bit disappointed we've bought a striker for a club record fee and it turns out he isn't match fit, and we've got to steadily walk him up to 90 mins. We've already been through the mangle with Mousset over this and we never actually got there. I was kind of hoping this time round we'd bought a striker who could hit the ground running, and I think that's where a lot of frustration in the fanbase lies.

He was never going to be match fit, he's not played a competitive game for months. Hopefully he makes better dietary choices than Mousset though.

 

[Roygbiv]

Had a listen on a run this morning and will finish tomorrow AM doing the same. Got to say, I usually agree with you and Andrew but I was a bit bemused about some of the talk around Brewster. Granted, we've only seen him play two games and about 70 mins across those two games in difficult circumstances, so I'm patient for the performances to arrive. I get that. However, I'm a bit disappointed we've bought a striker for a club record fee and it turns out he isn't match fit, and we've got to steadily walk him up to 90 mins. We've already been through the mangle with Mousset over this and we never actually got there. I was kind of hoping this time round we'd bought a striker who could hit the ground running, and I think that's where a lot of frustration in the fanbase lies.

I think any striker you buy who hasn't played for months is going to take a while to get going. He's also never played in The Premier League and is only 20 years old. I don't think we could have brought anyone in for less than £30m who you could rely on to come straight in and start banging goals in.

 

[bongleblade]

I just look at it that Norwich beat City last year and were still shit. It feels like even if we get a win against a top side we are still going to struggle as we aren't playing like we can do on a consistent basis. I also don't know what the best 11 is and whether Wilder is sure at the moment.

To reframe the Liverpool game, maybe that was the turning point in finding some sort of form/energy/intent we were clearly lacking, because we looked good, maybe this is the start of us playing consistently better? To me, It felt like the game we found out our starting 11, for example, Ampadu was a revelation in the DCM role and McB in the number 9 role linking play, seemed like something clicked to me!

 

[Houston_Blade]

To reframe the Liverpool game, maybe that was the turning point in finding some sort of form/energy/intent we were clearly lacking, because we looked good, maybe this is the start of us playing consistently better? To me, It felt like the game we found out our starting 11, for example, Ampadu was a revelation in the DCM role and McB in the number 9 role linking play, seemed like something clicked to me!

Let's hope so, I really don't want another 2 'good performances' against City and Chelsea where we have 0 wins to show for it. I also don't want another 'good performance' from McBurnie where he wins headers (attacking and defending) but misses easy chances, we sold James Hanson a few years ago, we don't need a younger version of him.

 

[Revolution]

I think any striker you buy who hasn't played for months is going to take a while to get going. He's also never played in The Premier League and is only 20 years old. I don't think we could have brought anyone in for less than £30m who you could rely on to come straight in and start banging goals in.

we might had we looked for players outside the UK but that was never on the cards.

 

[bongleblade]

Let's hope so, I really don't want another 2 'good performances' against City and Chelsea where we have 0 wins to show for it. I also don't want another 'good performance' from McBurnie where he wins headers (attacking and defending) but misses easy chances, we sold James Hanson a few years ago, we don't need a younger version of him.

Unfortunately i feel he will be this season's Didzy, decent contribution in every area apart from the most important one (goals), really hoping having Brewster this time around means we won't miss McB's goals contribution too much... not something i'd bet on though!

Just on a side note, i do find it interesting that we got behind Didzy so much after missing the target so much, i do wonder why we are so critical of McB, is it the fee? perceived attitude problems?

 

[Athens Blade]

Evening all,

Your mileage may vary, but old Roygbiv and I were feeling better about things after that Liverpool game, which we discussed at length here - special mention for the likes of Ampadu, Egan, Osborn, Baldock and McBurnie, the importance of actually threatening the opposition in these games (physically, in Baldock's case), Liverpool seemingly realising that VAR is annoying and can actually go against your team every now and again, plus our alternative man of the match award and our winners of the week from around the Premier League.

As always, thank you very much for listening.



And on Spotify and Apple.

Thanks Ben. A great listen as always. Spookily, you always see the same game as me. Which is reassuring after reading some postmatch comments on here.

 

[Houston_Blade]

Unfortunately i feel he will be this season's Didzy, decent contribution in every area apart from the most important one (goals), really hoping having Brewster this time around means we won't miss McB's goals contribution too much... not something i'd bet on though!

Just on a side note, i do find it interesting that we got behind Didzy so much after missing the target so much, i do wonder why we are so critical of McB, is it the fee? perceived attitude problems?

I'm not sure, probably because Didzy cost bugger all from Ipswich. I'm not arsed about his attitude off the pitch, I'd be a knob with £30k+ a week coming in at 23 years old and no commitments.

If McB isn't going to score we need some goals from elsewhere. Last season we had Lundstram and Fleck chipping in with a few as well as an even share between McB and Mousset. This season it's not happening. The main reason being that up until the Liverpool game we are playing a more negative style of football than we were this time last season.