Brief Match Report

[boo radley]

Two very poor teams.
United controlled first 26 mins having several chances, from our angle 4 seemed close to be cleared offline.
They scored, we lost confidence and not much else in first half.
2nd half - much like the last 10 of first, we tried with not much passion as is required from a poor team.
The main spark of our team, Quinn was taken off and we ended the game with 4 strikers on the pitch with not much delivery for them.
1 point blank header saved by their keeper and that was us.
they had a breakaway and Simmo did well with the one on one Ched being the player closing on the back of their striker.
Thats about it.
Players Nossy - would not play him again he does not want to take any resposibility.
Riise tried to work with him and did ok, but we dont have any one who can work with his reasonable play.
Lowton - listen to his interview on RS. for a player from our ranks I want more and he lacks heart while playing professionally.
Quinn- The last few games just about our best player, so what does that tell you about the rest?
Bent - won 1 or 2 things and may justbe what we need if we drop, but he's not for me.
Ched - some reasonable bits and better than most.
Ertl and Collins -will get found out even further against better teams.
Willo - disapointing as was doyle.
Yes it looks desperate - And I'm sure like the rest of you I feel very down.

 

[Karaoke Blade]

What struck me was the complete lack of communication in the defence - Collins and Simonsen going for the same ball when a shout from the keeper was all that was needed, their goal caused by two players, Collins and Nosworthy going for the same ball. Oh how we miss Captain Morgan.

 

[gavtheblade]

3 defeats on the trot to 3 awful teams,we deserve to go down-a clearout is in desperate need.from top to bottom

 

[Lt. J Dangle]

At the final whistle, a number of our players were sat or laid out on the pitch. This is what teams do at the last game when they are down, or when they've lost a final. I thought that said it all today. We are beaten, finished.

 

[puppet]

Players Nossy - would not play him again he does not want to take any resposibility.
Riise tried to work with him and did ok, but we dont have any one who can work with his reasonable play.
Lowton - listen to his interview on RS. for a player from our ranks I want more and he lacks heart while playing professionally.
Quinn- The last few games just about our best player, so what does that tell you about the rest?
Bent - won 1 or 2 things and may justbe what we need if we drop, but he's not for me.
Ched - some reasonable bits and better than most.
Ertl and Collins -will get found out even further against better teams.
Willo - disapointing as was doyle.
Yes it looks desperate - And I'm sure like the rest of you I feel very down.

Were we at the same game? Willo was disappointing? He was one of the better players. Lowton is clearly out of position on the left, Nos actually showed some great sjkill going forward but will never lose the heart-in-the-mouth tag. Bent? Wouldn't pay him in washers. The quote about Quinn... well he is playing in the position that suits him best and where he sparkled in the PL.

 

[super_pig]

felt sorry for williamson. when we went 4 2 4 he 'was' the entire midfield by himself.you could spot a mile off the contracted players versus the loanees.. riise excepted who obviously hates losing.. only ched, williamson riise and quinn put in a shift today.. yes quinn.. i have been scathing about him over the years.. just turned to my mate puppet and says.. 'bloody hell quinn is playing well' and HE TAKES HIM OFF.. unbelievable.. it all got a bit subbuteo at the end.. bent is crap and so is collins. simonsen wears those lead boots normally frequented by deep sea divers.. my pet hate is playing players out of position.. playing lowton at left back?? wasted.
they had one attack until the break at the end and scored a daft goal straight out of the playground.. opposing teams have worked out we are crap at set pieces.. defending them and attacking them. this is basic stuff
when everyone figures out maccabe is up there with brearley woolhouse and wragg it is really going to kick off

 

[Cool Clint]

About right again. Williamson was poor, gave away the ball too much. Quinn and Riise only players anything like good enough.

 

[Grecian2000]

As strange a game, and as bad a performance, as I can remember.

We had a lot of possesion and we wouldn't have scored if we'd still been playing and they'd fucked off home on the bus.

Simmo was poor on commanding his box but had nothing to do apart from a save from long distance and an excellent stop at the end.
Nos. Not his worst game. After the strangest of all substitutions I've ever seen he played more or less rw and his long throws were our main focus. Can't wait to see the back of him really.
Lowton. Square peg. If Nos has a best foot I don't know which it is so why can't he be the left back and give the kid half a chance by playing him where he belongs?
Collins. Steve Faulkner, Gary West, Mark Foran. Watch out lads, there is a new contender for your spot in the "worst ever Blades" team. Could be a shoe in by the end of the season.
Ertl. Has this man got a best position? Where is it?
Riise. Only decent signing Adams has made for me. Looked up for it, starved of the ball mostly, ended up square pegging in the middle after "that" substitution.
Doyle. Deary, deary me.
Williamson. Started ok, got the ball to Riise. Faded away.
Quinn. Mom by a country mile. Just ripe for being pulled then????????
Evans. Tried hard (or looked like he did), not much when he got the ball.
Cresswell. Did he play? Kept hearing people shout at him but didn't actually see him with the ball or making space.

Subs. What the fuck was going on? Boggy for Cresswell, spot on although 15 minutes late. The other two? You take of the wide man who is playing best, you switch the other into the centre, who the fuck is going to deliver the ball to your FOUR strikers? Ahh, no-one as it turns out (not surprisingly).
The last 15 minutes was like a kick about with kids in the park. They line up on the edge of their box we float balls in to their centre halves for heading practice. Madness!

To top it all off, we get a corner 5 minutes into added time, we have 4 centre forwards and two centre backs (allegedly) and we take a SHORT CORNER and give the ball away before it can be crossed in. Comedy gold.

 

[Balham]

I agree with almost everything on this thread but some of it is so basic it needs repeating - just in case anyone with any influence reads this!

- Doyle is a clogger. I said that after the Palace game but he's always half a second slow into the tackle and ends up lunging in. I don't think he won the ball once and that free header in the first half was embarrassing.

- Quinn played well. He learnt the lesson from the first time he beat their right back and right winger but a free kick was given by going to ground the next time.

- Riise played well too but doesn't seem a natural winger, he doesn't look to beat his man anywhere near enough.

- Nosworthy is not an attacking full back. His passing, particularly in the first 20 minutes, was sloppy - as a professional you really should be able to make a 5 yard pass. His crossing was a mixed bag too.

- Evans cares. However, I don't know why it was down to him to chase Robinson 90 yards down the pitch in the 93rd minute - where were the defence and midfield? If we keep Cresswell but have to sell Evans to make ends meet next season then it'll be the epitomy of everything that's wrong with the club.

- Substitutions: Adams doesn't have a clue. What is the point in putting 4 strikers on if you're then going to give heading practice to their centre halves for the remainder of the game? Bent won a couple but there was nobody there for the second ball. By taking off Quinn and Doyle without putting a body in the middle, he neutered our attacking threat. I would have brought Vokes on for Doyle, gone three at the back (three centre backs - should be fine), put Lowton at right midfield. I'd also have brought on Bogdanovic for Cresswell. But then what do I know?

 

[Sothall_Blade]

Unprofessional!

Substitutions: Adams doesn't have a clue. What is the point in putting 4 strikers on if you're then going to give heading practice to their centre halves for the remainder of the game? Bent won a couple but there was nobody there for the second ball. By taking off Quinn and Doyle without putting a body in the middle, he neutered our attacking threat. I would have brought Vokes on for Doyle, gone three at the back (three centre backs - should be fine), put Lowton at right midfield. I'd also have brought on Bogdanovic for Cresswell. But then what do I know?

Personally, I would have replaced Doyle with Bent and played 4-3-3 with Riise-Williamson-Quinn in midfield and Bent-Evans-Bogdanovic up front. The whole substitution was very unprofessionally handled. Nodbody told Riise he was supposed to move into the middle, so for about a minute we were playing with only Williamson in the centre and better opposition could easily have capatilised on our disorganisation.

In general, I've been surprised with how unprofessional we've become under Micky Adams as I had him marked down as another Warnock/Blackwell in terms of organisation. Say what you like about Blackwell but when he was here, the half-time subs warm up was like a military operation with the little cones and the game of "piggy in the middle".

Nowadays the subs just punt the ball 20 yards to each other like a bunch of schoolkids having a kickaround. Even the sub goalie Long never uses his hands in the warm up. A small gripe in the grand scheme but it just seems to sum up the "can't be arsed to do things properly any more" attitude that's gradually crept into the club this season!

Alan Cork was lauded as the "best set-piece man around" by Adams but all we ever seem to do is float the ball gently towards the penalty spot. Where is the variety? Where is the ingenuity? Where is the clever movement? Bassett's "back-heel" corner routine and Blackwell's "cock-up" free-kick routine were examples of a team being visibly well-drilled on the training ground. I've seen no signs of this under the current regime.

I could just about take the crap results, players and performances if there were signs that the management are making the best of the hand they've been dealt. They're not!