He plays for the Blades with John Egan

[DerbyStar]

And what a degree of comfort that must be for any midfielder or attacker. Knowing that if you lose the ball, the opposition have to get past him in order to score.

He’s not had iffy games per se recently - but he has had a few iffy moments. Ever since the Watford game where he lost the header in the middle of the park that they scored from.

Saturday he was back to his faultless best. And long may that continue. All the back 3 were superb but they were marshalled by John 100% - he leads that defence like a commander leads his soldiers into battle. They would’ve had to knock John out to score on Saturday. Incredible.

 

[Houston_Blade]

I'll get slated for criticising the defence here but I'm going to anyway.....

We still have 2 CB's attacking the same ball at least once a game and it give the opposition a chance to get in behind if we miss the ball. I think it was JOC on Saturday in the first half nearly knocked Egan over trying to head a ball that wasn't his to win, got caught underneath it and only some good covering from Norwood snuffed it out.

I know we have the 2nd best defence in the league and that we will make mistakes because everyone does, I just think for a back 3 who have played together for a good number of games the communication could be better.

 

[ATL Recs]

I'll get slated for criticising the defence here but I'm going to anyway.....

We still have 2 CB's attacking the same ball at least once a game and it give the opposition a chance to get in behind if we miss the ball. I think it was JOC on Saturday in the first half nearly knocked Egan over trying to head a ball that wasn't his to win, got caught underneath it and only some good covering from Norwood snuffed it out.

I know we have the 2nd best defence in the league and that we will make mistakes because everyone does, I just think for a back 3 who have played together for a good number of games the communication could be better.

Agree, well said similar happened at Chelsea

 

[DerbyStar]

Very harsh to criticise them for that, it's not happened that often imo

 

[BushBlade]

I'll get slated for criticising the defence here but I'm going to anyway.....

We still have 2 CB's attacking the same ball at least once a game and it give the opposition a chance to get in behind if we miss the ball. I think it was JOC on Saturday in the first half nearly knocked Egan over trying to head a ball that wasn't his to win, got caught underneath it and only some good covering from Norwood snuffed it out.

I know we have the 2nd best defence in the league and that we will make mistakes because everyone does, I just think for a back 3 who have played together for a good number of games the communication could be better.

I’d sooner see that than two players giving it ‘after you, sir’ like West Ham on Saturday.

 

[Houston_Blade]

Very harsh to criticise them for that, it's not happened that often imo

It’s harsh and it’s me being hyper critical of some very good defenders. If you watch though it happens once or twice a game and leads to a chance for the opposition more often than not.

 

[Houston_Blade]

I’d sooner see that than two players giving it ‘after you, sir’ like West Ham on Saturday.

There is that, however it normally leads to someone being in behind. One should go and one should drop, sometimes both go. All 3 CB’s are ball winners so it’s their natural first move.

 

[ryza]

Throwback to when he literally put his life on the line for us

 

[Kevin Arnott]

Cameron Dawson did exactly the same a couple of weeks ago and scored. Egan needs to up his game.

 

[FredZeppelin]

Not a criticism at all but I've been very pleasantly surprised with how many times we haven't been punished for the mistakes and slips we have made over the course of the season so far. I really expected Prem teams to make us pay for the vast majority of errors. I guess you could argue that we have been mainly solid and also give the impression that we aren't going to make a mistake, and therefore the opposition are surprised at the time and muff it?

Either way, who cares! Our defenders are 'rocks'. Being great, humble lads that buy into our love and respect just makes the whole thing even more special.

UTB

 

[PokerBlade]

I'll get slated for criticising the defence here but I'm going to anyway.....

We still have 2 CB's attacking the same ball at least once a game and it give the opposition a chance to get in behind if we miss the ball. I think it was JOC on Saturday in the first half nearly knocked Egan over trying to head a ball that wasn't his to win, got caught underneath it and only some good covering from Norwood snuffed it out.

I know we have the 2nd best defence in the league and that we will make mistakes because everyone does, I just think for a back 3 who have played together for a good number of games the communication could be better.

The weird thing is that when you look back over the season quite a few of the goals we've conceded have been errors. There's not been many stunners against us and yet we have the 2nd best defence in the country.

 

[Antonb]

Sometimes you just despair!

 

[sitwell]

John Egan ,is a real hardman ,he doesnt do all the posturing and squaring up ,hes like all real hardmen ,doesnt need to make it known.

 

[sitwell]

The weird thing is that when you look back over the season quite a few of the goals we've conceded have been errors. There's not been many stunners against us and yet we have the 2nd best defence in the country.

The concentration and application of the 3 midfielders prevent this ,the work that Fleck Norwood and Lunny/Besic/Berge do cannot be underestimated ,they are an amazing wall in front of the defence and also sit in for them when they venture forward. Someone on here should just watch Norwood for 5 minutes , the work he does off the ball is as important as the brilliance he does with it.

 

[PittsburghBlade]

I'll get slated for criticising the defence here but I'm going to anyway.....

We still have 2 CB's attacking the same ball at least once a game and it give the opposition a chance to get in behind if we miss the ball. I think it was JOC on Saturday in the first half nearly knocked Egan over trying to head a ball that wasn't his to win, got caught underneath it and only some good covering from Norwood snuffed it out.

I know we have the 2nd best defence in the league and that we will make mistakes because everyone does, I just think for a back 3 who have played together for a good number of games the communication could be better.

I mean its not really that bad once a game but what you have to consider is we have 3 center halves as opposed to the regular 2. All 3 are good in the air and win a lot of first balls and are in a closer proximity to most defenders due to the nature of the shape. Smaller areas for each player than the norm.

 

[N20 Blade]

Not a criticism at all but I've been very pleasantly surprised with how many times we haven't been punished for the mistakes and slips we have made over the course of the season so far. I really expected Prem teams to make us pay for the vast majority of errors. I guess you could argue that we have been mainly solid and also give the impression that we aren't going to make a mistake, and therefore the opposition are surprised at the time and muff it?

Either way, who cares! Our defenders are 'rocks'. Being great, humble lads that buy into our love and respect just makes the whole thing even more special.

UTB

Really? In my opinion that’s the biggest difference between the championship and PL; the proportion of mistakes that lead to goals is much higher. Bournemouth, Leicester, Chelsea, Liverpool, Southampton games at the start of the season all saw goals conceded from errors. We’ve got much more ruthless as the season has unfolded, logically we’ve learned and adapted.
Currently we’re making less critical mistakes and therefore conceding less goals as a consequence. Not 100% of mistakes/errors will be punished but as said the likelihood of conceding is higher than previous seasons under Wilder and we’ve learned this.
If we revert to what we did in those early games then we’ll be punished.

 

[I should coco]

Someone on here should just watch Norwood for 5 minutes , the work he does off the ball is as important as the brilliance he does with it.

Couldn't agree more.

Sadly we have a sizeable chunk of fans who only see a mishit ping and then say it's time to drop him. Similar for Lunny and of course our wonder-WOM Pinchy never really understood the amount of work that Fleck does off the ball.

Trevor Hockey in the Harris era was similar, but back then having one hard working midfielder was enough. Nowadays, all the midfield have to be 'at it' for 90 minutes.
As CW has said time aplenty, working hard is expected and nothing to be especially praised, but it is the high level of work that has made us so effective this season.

 

[PokerBlade]

The concentration and application of the 3 midfielders prevent this ,the work that Fleck Norwood and Lunny/Besic/Berge do cannot be underestimated ,they are an amazing wall in front of the defence and also sit in for them when they venture forward. Someone on here should just watch Norwood for 5 minutes , the work he does off the ball is as important as the brilliance he does with it.

Norwood's fascinating because you wouldn't think of him as a typical defensive midfielder but when you looked at him last season for tackles and interceptions made he was right up there.