Excellent Performance & Bristol City

[robbiez666]

I thought we were absolutely fantastic tonight.

We've been poor the last 3 games but that was one of our best performances this season.

I want to make a special mention for Lundstram. I thought he was superb. He's had a lot of criticism for not magically being able to jump up a league and perform straight away. Duffy and Bash also superb. Stevens, better.

I thought O'Connell was sloppy again but Stearman did well until he made a couple of misjudgements in the second half.

I think Fleck lost his footing but it was definitely a red card. Two-footed (in the end), off the ground and no control.

I also thought the ref had an excellent game. Kept it flowing wherever possible.

Bristol City are one of the best teams I've seen. We were excellent and they were very good. We hit the post/woodwork 4 times but they restricted us, despite how well we played. We were exceptionally well organised and kept our shape well. They were fortunate to win in the end, but it shows how well we played with 10 men.

I can understand the Donaldson substitution (he needs to lose weight) as we needed to keep their defenders penned back and give our defence an outball. I really didn't understand Bash for Caruthers, unless the former picked up a knock.

Samit is our worst player imo. He's reckless, slow of thought and mind and has little ball control. I think every time he had the ball he gave it away.

I would have looked to counter them more and maybe leave Leon up top with Brooks behind, but hey ho.

 

[DeanLearner'sCat]

Yep. No disrespect to them, because they're having an excellent season and I'm sure they're better than they showed, but that was men against boys for most of the game. We should've had the cigars out by the time Fleck got sent off.

 

[Houso]

Harsh on Carruthers and I think Leon deserved a bigger mention, but agree otherwise.

For the 10 minutes or so after half time, that was some sexy assume football.

 

[Bladepicker]

I thought we were absolutely fantastic tonight.

We've been poor the last 3 games but that was one of our best performances this season.

I want to make a special mention for Lundstram. I thought he was superb. He's had a lot of criticism for not magically being able to jump up a league and perform straight away. Duffy and Bash also superb. Stevens, better.

I thought O'Connell was sloppy again but Stearman did well until he made a couple of misjudgements in the second half.

I think Fleck lost his footing but it was definitely a red card. Two-footed (in the end), off the ground and no control.

I also thought the ref had an excellent game. Kept it flowing wherever possible.

Bristol City are one of the best teams I've seen. We were excellent and they were very good. We hit the post/woodwork 4 times but they restricted us, despite how well we played. We were exceptionally well organised and kept our shape well. They were fortunate to win in the end, but it shows how well we played with 10 men.

I can understand the Donaldson substitution (he needs to lose weight) as we needed to keep their defenders penned back and give our defence an outball. I really didn't understand Bash for Caruthers, unless the former picked up a knock.

Samit is our worst player imo. He's reckless, slow of thought and mind and has little ball control. I think every time he had the ball he gave it away.

I would have looked to counter them more and maybe leave Leon up top with Brooks behind, but hey ho.

Agree with that. Especially Lundstrum - he seems to really be finding his feet with a run in the team and he was our best player tonight for me.

Made a massive difference having Baldock back too. We'll be ok, our luck will turn if we keep putting in performances like that.

 

[Kozzy_is_my_Dad]

They were nothing special. We, on the other hand, were fantastic until the sending off.

If we play like that in the return, we should batter them.

 

[Kevincarterversion2.0]

Agree with most of that, bar the ref, who missed a couple of bad challenges they made.

 

[Roygbiv]

Maybe we caught Bristol on a bad day because I was surprised how bad they were given the table. Great performance from us and the results will come if we keep our heads and carry on like that.

 

[FlamingLip]

Scratching my head over the bash sub. He was playing well. Ten men, and taking a reliable, solid, tall player (still capable going fwd) for a luxury player was odd to me. I know wilder doesn't settle for a draw but given circumstances it's a draw earned and prevents a further gap with current team above.

Til fleck went off, strong United performance.

 

[Gimli]

Correct OP - excellent performance and very pleased with how we played - yes the result is disappointing but we battered them for spells and totally should have been clearly ahead before Fleck had a rare moment of madness.

 

[Bladesman]

Great performance regardless of the sending off up until Wilder started making the subs.

Bristol City were fucking awful and the luckiest set of bastards I have ever seen at the lane for a long time.

 

[GrayBlade]

I thought we were absolutely fantastic tonight.

We've been poor the last 3 games but that was one of our best performances this season.

I want to make a special mention for Lundstram. I thought he was superb. He's had a lot of criticism for not magically being able to jump up a league and perform straight away. Duffy and Bash also superb. Stevens, better.

I thought O'Connell was sloppy again but Stearman did well until he made a couple of misjudgements in the second half.

I think Fleck lost his footing but it was definitely a red card. Two-footed (in the end), off the ground and no control.

I also thought the ref had an excellent game. Kept it flowing wherever possible.

Bristol City are one of the best teams I've seen. We were excellent and they were very good. We hit the post/woodwork 4 times but they restricted us, despite how well we played. We were exceptionally well organised and kept our shape well. They were fortunate to win in the end, but it shows how well we played with 10 men.

I can understand the Donaldson substitution (he needs to lose weight) as we needed to keep their defenders penned back and give our defence an outball. I really didn't understand Bash for Caruthers, unless the former picked up a knock.

Samit is our worst player imo. He's reckless, slow of thought and mind and has little ball control. I think every time he had the ball he gave it away.

I would have looked to counter them more and maybe leave Leon up top with Brooks behind, but hey ho.

REALLY? I thought they were lucky as fuck TBH.

 

[Guesty]

I see I'm going against the grain here but this 'blip' is getting longer and longer - one point from a possible 12 since Coutts was injured, and as an indication of how we cope without him or Fleck, we've now won just one of the eight games Lundstram has started.

Yes we got a little unlucky in front of goal tonight, and the red changed things, but I didn't think we were that great. Same old weaknesses at both ends. We also had to field a very under strength midfield for the next three games. Heaven help us if we need to rely on Carruthers.

 

[robbiez666]

I honestly think the way we played, especially defended, meant they really struggled to get at us. The sheer overlapping and constant movement we showed was brilliant.

They were exceptional defensively. We had one clear-cut chance which was brilliantly saved. On another day, one of those 4 which hit the woodwork would have gone in. They made a succession of great challenges and blocks and were really well organised. They pressed us, and unlike the last couple of weeks where we've made mistakes we managed to play round them. We nullified them because we were so good, but they kept trying things which eventually paid off.

Two very good managers on show tonight.

The biggest worry is luck. We've seen that winning can become a habit. So can not winning. Now we've lost our first choice midfielders, we've got a huge ask over the next few weeks. We need some luck. An opponent to get sent off or daft penalties. We're not getting the bounce of the ball at the moment.

 

[Bladesman]

I see I'm going against the grain here but this 'blip' is getting longer and longer - one point from a possible 12 since Coutts was injured, and as an indication of how we cope without him or Fleck, we've now won just one of the eight games Lundstram has started.

Yes we got a little unlucky in front of goal tonight, and the red changed things, but I didn't think we were that great. Same old weaknesses at both ends. We also had to field a very under strength midfield for the next three games. Heaven help us if we need to rely on Carruthers.

We were very unlucky tonight. Fleck was careless with the challenge and I honestly believe without the sending off we would have won tonight.

 

[Guesty]

We were very unlucky tonight. Fleck was careless with the challenge and I honestly believe without the sending off we would have won tonight.

As I say I don't necessarily disagree with that. But the result is part of a trend that is getting worrying now.

 

[Bladesman]

As I say I don't necessarily disagree with that. But the result is part of a trend that is getting worrying now.

I'd be more worried if we had just been buggered 3-0 at home and not had a shot on target.

 

[Dutch Blade]

We were whiping the floor with Bristol until that red card, even after it.

 

[Guesty]

I'd be more worried if we had just been buggered 3-0 at home and not had a shot on target.

Well obviously. But whatever people think of the performances, they aren't winning us points at the moment.

 

[Bladesman]

Well obviously. But whatever people think of the performances, they aren't winning us points at the moment.

The wins will come if we keep playing like that though.

 

[dublin 10 blade]

I'm still shaking my head wondering how we got beat tonight ,
After the wonder save ( reminded me of seaman in the cup )
I thought then and there we aren't going to win this game ,
I thought Bristol were fucking shocking , big men , set plays ,
Start of the second half , and we stepped up yet another gear and scored ,
I said we'll win this now ,
Fleck gets rightly sent off , and it's an up hill battle ,
Even then Bristol didn't really push on with there advantage ,
Well played Blades , we have a good team here , and there will be days like today ,
It's how we as a team learn the lessons from this defeat .
Apart from half a game at boro , and the game at Cardiff , no one has outplayed us ,

 

[Agreasychipbutty]

Have to agree with everything you have said,

Samir deffinatly over estimates how many men he can run the ball through and doesn't seem to have a sense for where to play the ball, constantly running it into the defenders for an easy clear.

I thought Donaldson didn't really perform too well but we only saw one half of him and TBH I don't know alot about what he is capable of.

Lundstram was fantastic in my eye, didn't give the ball away too often and seemed to play well, he's not coutts but he's certainly stepped up.

Moore for me was great, 2 fantastic saves both off deflections and played the ball out better than Blackman IMO he should be in the main squad.

As for Duffy, I was supprised wilder took him off as I thought he seemed to be our best player and came close to 1 or 2 absolute screamers, IMO he should have kept Duffy and swapped billy for brooks but what do I know against a manager like wilder.

Overall feels like we have been robbed of a win as we played well and dominated the game, just another 2 shitty goals conceded from nowhere. I'm not sure what has caused our recent lack of results, couttsy being the obvious reason but the team seems to have changed throughout, but we've seen improvement so it's onwards and upwards from here on out.