Deadbat
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A lot has been discussd of the sending offs yesterday and I will give my take on them (admittedly I was not there) but we really do have to admit there is a major problem with the discipline at the football club and it needs sorting going forward whoever the managerial team is going to be.
This season we have the worst record in the whole division and one of the worst in the league; commiting more fouls than any other team in the Championship, 449, the most red cards 10 and second most penalties conceded 9 (admittedly some have been harsh but feel we have had a few recently that have been debatable too).
A lot are blaming Adams but I think the seeds of the problem actually go back to others before him. On the face of it Blackwell may have seemed a disciplinarian but a look at our record shows it was not good in recent times; in season 2009/10 we commited the most fouls in the division again; 627 and had the second most yellow cards of all the clubs. The season before, 2008/09 we commited the 4th most amount of fouls.
When Speed came in I always felt he would be 'too nice' to be a top manager and maybe I was right. It did seem we lost even more elements of discipline and red/yellow cards began to mount up for stupid things; such as Ward at Leeds, Cresswell at Bristol. Also players would be suspended but then instantly put back in. Carver came in after he left and we were charegd twice for melees in games v Burnley and Hull and had players headbutting opponents. It seems Adams has come in and tried to instill some discipline (see Ward) but either the players are not listening to him or the seeds had already been sown. Having 3 or 4 managers all with different styles, approaches to not just play/approach but standards cannot have helped as you can imagine what was acceptable for one was not for another as evidenced by the Ward , Britton and Bartley situation (I doubt they acted/said anything different under Speed or did they?).
We cannot keep blaming referees and must look at putting our own house in order. Our record is appalling and along with awful play/management/boardroom decisions is another factor contributing to our downfall. We are averaging a red card almost every 3 games. It really is inexcusable.
The sending offs yesterday are a casing point; yes Henderson's first yellow may be harsh but with the second people are saying he had a chance of scoring but the fact is he got there late and seriosuly injured a player. Yes maybe he should have gone for the ball as he did but the fact is he did not get it and injured a player and arguably could have been a straight red so high and late it was. This is not the first time he has done this.
The Wlliamson one may have been harsh too but why was she jumping in like that when the ball had gone and why so high/late? Sheer lunacy especially when we have just lost a player. He did the same at Ipswich when he mouthed off. He really is not the brightest boy is he? Yes, maybe both were harsh to a degree but when one player is seriosuly stretchered off then you can see why he was carded and equally Williamson was high and really clumsy. I think we should direct our anger at the players who basically made 2 stupid and dangerous challenges and effectively ended the game for us. I am surprised how calm many who went are with them and not apportioning blame to the Blades players. I know if I had spent time and a lot of money going who I would be angry with after these 2 contributed (along with the ref granted) to basically a non event of a football game that was over after just over half an hour.
This season we have the worst record in the whole division and one of the worst in the league; commiting more fouls than any other team in the Championship, 449, the most red cards 10 and second most penalties conceded 9 (admittedly some have been harsh but feel we have had a few recently that have been debatable too).
A lot are blaming Adams but I think the seeds of the problem actually go back to others before him. On the face of it Blackwell may have seemed a disciplinarian but a look at our record shows it was not good in recent times; in season 2009/10 we commited the most fouls in the division again; 627 and had the second most yellow cards of all the clubs. The season before, 2008/09 we commited the 4th most amount of fouls.
When Speed came in I always felt he would be 'too nice' to be a top manager and maybe I was right. It did seem we lost even more elements of discipline and red/yellow cards began to mount up for stupid things; such as Ward at Leeds, Cresswell at Bristol. Also players would be suspended but then instantly put back in. Carver came in after he left and we were charegd twice for melees in games v Burnley and Hull and had players headbutting opponents. It seems Adams has come in and tried to instill some discipline (see Ward) but either the players are not listening to him or the seeds had already been sown. Having 3 or 4 managers all with different styles, approaches to not just play/approach but standards cannot have helped as you can imagine what was acceptable for one was not for another as evidenced by the Ward , Britton and Bartley situation (I doubt they acted/said anything different under Speed or did they?).
We cannot keep blaming referees and must look at putting our own house in order. Our record is appalling and along with awful play/management/boardroom decisions is another factor contributing to our downfall. We are averaging a red card almost every 3 games. It really is inexcusable.
The sending offs yesterday are a casing point; yes Henderson's first yellow may be harsh but with the second people are saying he had a chance of scoring but the fact is he got there late and seriosuly injured a player. Yes maybe he should have gone for the ball as he did but the fact is he did not get it and injured a player and arguably could have been a straight red so high and late it was. This is not the first time he has done this.
The Wlliamson one may have been harsh too but why was she jumping in like that when the ball had gone and why so high/late? Sheer lunacy especially when we have just lost a player. He did the same at Ipswich when he mouthed off. He really is not the brightest boy is he? Yes, maybe both were harsh to a degree but when one player is seriosuly stretchered off then you can see why he was carded and equally Williamson was high and really clumsy. I think we should direct our anger at the players who basically made 2 stupid and dangerous challenges and effectively ended the game for us. I am surprised how calm many who went are with them and not apportioning blame to the Blades players. I know if I had spent time and a lot of money going who I would be angry with after these 2 contributed (along with the ref granted) to basically a non event of a football game that was over after just over half an hour.
