Comparison with last promotion to the prem.

[blade too long]

Looking at table in 89/90. Top 3 were same at end of season. Just us and Leeds reversed places

was only gd that seperated us on both occasions

us losing 3-0 at oxford , 5-0 at west ham and 4-0 at leeds cost us the title , if wed lost them all 1 or 2 nil we would have won it

 

[ryza]

 

[Liaminho9]

That fight would have been over quickly.

 

[oldblade]

There was a weird thing going on in the first half of that season where Kabba would always score every time we lost.

I never realised that, but you are right. Kabba's last goal for us was at Leicester in our 4-2 defeat. Prior to that he scored in the only other two matches that we had lost up until then (QPR away and Reading away).

 

[ThatJa]

82-85 will get auto's this season.

72-75 will get Play Offs, its a very slow league this season with anyone able to beat anyone, see QPR, beat the top 2 but can't beat anyone else...

 

[oldblade]

Just looking back, he scored 6 goals in his first 7 games (up to 10th September) but then just 4 more over the rest of the season. Webber and Shipperley scored far more consistently over the season.

And both players scored more league goals than Kabba over the season.

 

[PeterNdlovu081]

I never realised that, but you are right. Kabba's last goal for us was at Leicester in our 4-2 defeat. Prior to that he scored in the only other two matches that we had lost up until then (QPR away and Reading away).

He also scored in the R3 FA Cup defeat to Colchester in January.

 

[N20 Blade]

Wilder definitely wouldn't get in

David Barnes would have done well; he was super fit, much better going forward than defensively at left back and had a lovely left foot.

 

[SUFC Handsworth]

Not true. Kabba's last goal of that season was scored on 26th November 2005. The formation didn't really change until Akinbiyi was signed. That didn't happen until January 2006.

I agree, Kabba had been on fire for the first 3 months of the season, but I seem to remember rumours that he might move and when interviewed around that time he didn't exactly quash those rumours. This may have been a ploy to try and get a better deal with us. I don't know. Anyway, his loss of form seemed to coincide with that, rather than any non existent (at that time) change in our formation.

Warnock changed the system in the home derby to 4-3-3 (with a front 3 of Kabba, Shipperley and Webber), he even boasted about it after the game that he changed formation on a whim. Guess when we played the pigs, the week after Kabba scored what would be his last league of that season 26 Nov 05, ring any bells??? Which backs up the point I was making about Colin f***ing up Kabba that season. When Kabba was down the centre he had the pace and ability to get past the centre half to be in on goal with the keeper, when Colin played him in a 3 he invariably had the full back marking him, so when Kabba went past the fb he then had a centre half to get round too, instead of being in on goal. Kabba was very effective down the centre, not so wide in a 3. Mr W***er f***ed him over that season, no getting away from it.

 

[BushBlade]

Warnock changed the system in the home derby to 4-3-3 (with a front 3 of Kabba, Shipperley and Webber), he even boasted about it after the game that he changed formation on a whim. Guess when we played the pigs, the week after Kabba scored what would be his last league of that season 26 Nov 05, ring any bells??? Which backs up the point I was making about Colin f***ing up Kabba that season. When Kabba was down the centre he had the pace and ability to get past the centre half to be in on goal with the keeper, when Colin played him in a 3 he invariably had the full back marking him, so when Kabba went past the fb he then had a centre half to get round too, instead of being in on goal. Kabba was very effective down the centre, not so wide in a 3. Mr W***er f***ed him over that season, no getting away from it.

He got us promoted though and no individual is bigger than the team.

 

[oldblade]

Warnock changed the system in the home derby to 4-3-3 (with a front 3 of Kabba, Shipperley and Webber), he even boasted about it after the game that he changed formation on a whim. Guess when we played the pigs, the week after Kabba scored what would be his last league of that season 26 Nov 05, ring any bells??? Which backs up the point I was making about Colin f***ing up Kabba that season. When Kabba was down the centre he had the pace and ability to get past the centre half to be in on goal with the keeper, when Colin played him in a 3 he invariably had the full back marking him, so when Kabba went past the fb he then had a centre half to get round too, instead of being in on goal. Kabba was very effective down the centre, not so wide in a 3. Mr W***er f***ed him over that season, no getting away from it.

If you say so. On the face of it a possible 4-3-3. But in reality, it was never quite as straightforward as that. It was not unusual for Webber to be used with two other strikers on the pitch. However, his role was often ambiguous. Sometimes playing behind the front two, sometimes up front as part of a three, and sometimes as a wide midfield player. Sometimes his positioning would change within a match.

So, Warnock altering our tactics in a match against Wednesday (which we won) is proof that he was out to somehow scupper his Sheffield United career was it?

After that match, right up until we played Crewe, we only started as a 4-3-3 twice. That was against Southampton away (which we won) and Stoke at home (which we also won).

I think it is overstretching it a bit to blame Kabba's loss of form on Warnock tinkering with the system. After a blistering start - 6 in our first 7 games, his goal scoring had become pretty infrequent. After his double against Ipswich, he scored 3 in 14. A rate of about one goal per month. A substantial fall off.

In my opinion, his form had dipped prior to that game against Wednesday.

He didn't exactly pull up many trees after leaving. He didn't score for Watford until he'd been there for more than a year and scored just 9 goals in 83 appearances for 5 different clubs in a 3 year period. His goal scoring only improved when he went down the leagues to Barnet and even then it wasn't spectacular for a player of that quality playing at that level. 12 goals in 32 appearances.

I liked Kabba a lot when he was with us. I thought he was very unlucky with injuries and showed a lot of character in coming back from them. But, in the final analysis, I think he was a promising player who never really fulfilled his potential. I was very surprised to see that he has only scored a career total of 46 league goals.