In the cold light of day

[toledo]

I live in the US and I’ve been here over 45 years.

I woke up this morning with both excitement and nervousness about this game.

I have never forgotten my roots and my love for all things SUFC.

But today, upon reflection, was nothing more than the turgid performances we have put in all season. First half, ok, we looked comfortable.

The second half was a replica of all the bad performances this season and I grew more and more nervous as the game wore on… we didn’t press, we didn’t exert ourselves, we had no visible game plan, we got lazy, and we fouled a lot.

I said to my wife who saw me jump up and down for our first half goal that I was getting anxious as Sunderland started to dominate possession and find acres of space.

It was NO surprise that we went from 1-0 to 1-2 because we played like shit in the second half… as much as I like him, Vini was fouling all the time, we couldn’t put a good pass together, and we all knew that we could not hold out.

Am I wrong?

So, who or what is to blame… to play the second half exactly the way we have played all season says to me that we made the same tactical mistakes…

I’m not calling for managements head but I want them to know that they ruined our day and we deserved better than the shite they put out in the second half.

A very very very disappointed Toledo

 

[Kenworthy’s Tash]

Wilder is to blame, and has been all season

 

[Swinton Blade]

Wilder is to blame, and has been all season

A season with 90/92 points, most seasons that gets you top 2.

 

[Kenworthy’s Tash]

A season with 90/92 points, most seasons that gets you top 2.

With an absolute embarrassment of riches he manages to bottle it, clinch the playoffs and then bottle that. We barely played well all season and got found out in the end. Far better managers out there.

 

[paidsy]

A season with 90/92 points, most seasons that gets you top 2.

But it didn’t and he has proven on the biggest stage once again he either cannot or will not acknowledge the mistakes of the past.

 

[Blade21]

Sat in Wembley with my dad, we said exactly the same. The inevitable 60 min drop off, and the fact sunderlands average manager had us on toast. The club cant deal with anynore wilder signings.

 

[Wincobank S9 Blade]

I live in the US and I’ve been here over 45 years.

I woke up this morning with both excitement and nervousness about this game.

I have never forgotten my roots and my love for all things SUFC.

But today, upon reflection, was nothing more than the turgid performances we have put in all season. First half, ok, we looked comfortable.

The second half was a replica of all the bad performances this season and I grew more and more nervous as the game wore on… we didn’t press, we didn’t exert ourselves, we had no visible game plan, we got lazy, and we fouled a lot.

I said to my wife who saw me jump up and down for our first half goal that I was getting anxious as Sunderland started to dominate possession and find acres of space.

It was NO surprise that we went from 1-0 to 1-2 because we played like shit in the second half… as much as I like him, Vini was fouling all the time, we couldn’t put a good pass together, and we all knew that we could not hold out.

Am I wrong?

So, who or what is to blame… to play the second half exactly the way we have played all season says to me that we made the same tactical mistakes…

I’m not calling for managements head but I want them to know that they ruined our day and we deserved better than the shite they put out in the second half.

A very very very disappointed Toledo

Least you get to wake up in some nice place stateside, I have to live in dumpy UK surrounded by pigs an weeds

 

[chesblade]

Can't blame just wilder, some of players were poor

 

[Kevincarterversion2.0]

You’re correct. Everything wrong today has been there all season. Limited chances created, individual mistakes, negative tactics, players obsessed with passing the ball backwards, favourites being picked over PL players on bench.

 

[Kona]

I thought we were decent in the first half and deserved the lead. Unfortunately, we sat back, trying to defend the 1-0 in the second half and just attack the break. What we were doing was working but we changed tactics… and lost.

I don’t think the players were lazy, just following instructions to defend, keep the ball and it tight, rather than attack and hunt like we did the first half. And this is what I can’t understand… it was in the bag, so why change the approach?!

I would never have had Robinson in the first eleven, but I can’t blame that alone… it’s a second half tactical fuck up that lost the game.

 

[Sherwoodblade]

Wilder is to blame, and has been all season

You are only as good as your last game said the great Bill Shankly. I thought that with the display against Bristol City who I did not expect us to beat, we'd turned a corner. Learning to put teams away. Wilder has bottled it today and reverted to (as you rightly say) how we have been in plenty of games this season. This club does not have the losing mentality it just has the wrong mentality and that comes from the manager.

I have nothing against Sunderland and wish them well, but we gifted them the game. The attitude should have been that if VAR has chalked off a goal we will go and score another and another, but instead we draw into our shell, invite them on to us and we don't have the defence to hold out against a team like Sunderland. The bottom line is that against Leeds, Burnley and Sunderland we have won one game.

As much as it hurts and boy it really hurts at the moment, it may be a blessing not going up because that 11 point Derby record would have been in serious jeopardy.

My 2 criticisms of Wilder is his inability to learn from past mistakes/warnings and his inability to have a credible plan B. That is a dangerous combination. Yes, you can argue that 90 points would normally mean promotion but this season it didn't. We bottled it when it mattered because he bottled it.

You have to put 2 or 3 goals past a team like Sunderland to finish them off and that should have been the plan at half time to come out all guns blazing.

I am not sure if the answer is to get rid of Wilder, but at the end of the day failure is failure. Today's failure is down to his tactics in that 2nd half.

 

[JJBlade]

A season with 90/92 points, most seasons that gets you top 2.

90/92 points, and barely a whiff of anything exciting during the entire season.

Sheffield United, the only club on planet Earth that can accumulate enough points to get promoted in 99.99% of seasons whilst at the same time maintaining a level of shit that has become a part of the clubs DNA.

Bare minimum is always deemed good enough, until it isn't.
And the fact is that when we've had to produce something decent against the other top three clubs Leeds, Burnley and Sunderland we've lost them all except one, which we were lucky to win

 

[Selly]

Wilder is to blame, and has been all season

A season with 90/92 points, most seasons that gets you top 2.

Both of these things can, and are to an extent, true.

We had the easiest run in, statistically speaking, and bottled it in 7 days.

We were one up and cruising in a PO final and bottled it in 20 mins.

 

[Northernsoulblade]

Least you get to wake up in some nice place stateside, I have to live in dumpy UK surrounded by pigs an weeds

There’s nowt wrong with Wincobank I grew up there

 

[BiggerBladeThanThou]

Do you have an American accent?