Liverpool review, Watford preview (BladesPod)

[Beans]

Evening all,

Pod with Roygbiv right here if anyone would like to look back at the Liverpool defeat (your mileage may vary, but I thought there was plenty to be positive about), and also look ahead to Watford at the weekend:

• Deano's error, how he reacted, how the crowd reacted, and then how the media reacted to Wilder's comments (03:10)
• playing on the counter, and Fleck's impressive form (23:13)
• paying some respect to Virgil Van Dijk (36:30)
• quick thoughts on the Sunderland game (49:45)
• looking ahead to Watford (52:48)

Apple Podcasts: https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/bladespod/id1309198119?mt=2

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6wLq5qaiQ123cLHHMnTixJ

Cheers for listening and UTB!

 

[Wright1889]

Evening all,

Pod with Roygbiv right here if anyone would like to look back at the Liverpool defeat (your mileage may vary, but I thought there was plenty to be positive about), and also look ahead to Watford at the weekend:

• Deano's error, how he reacted, how the crowd reacted, and then how the media reacted to Wilder's comments (03:10)
• playing on the counter, and Fleck's impressive form (23:13)
• paying some respect to Virgil Van Dijk (36:30)
• quick thoughts on the Sunderland game (49:45)
• looking ahead to Watford (52:48)

Apple Podcasts: https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/bladespod/id1309198119?mt=2

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6wLq5qaiQ123cLHHMnTixJ

Cheers for listening and UTB!

‘I’m looking forward to it, it should be a good game’ - Beans 2019

The first time you have spoken utter bollocks

 

[Shanks]

A serious question for Blades on here
Given how well we have played so far, & given that part of that involves tremendous physical effort, are we in danger of ‘burn out’ later in the season. We are rotating the forwards for various reasons but the rest of the team has been pretty much unchanged. I know this sounds daft but I thought we looked a bit knackered towards the end of the first half more so than at the end of the game.

 

[Antonb]

McBurnie was the only one that looked knackered to me. The rest was fine. Thanks for the time and effort to do this , really appreciate it.

 

[Akinbiyi]

A serious question for Blades on here
Given how well we have played so far, & given that part of that involves tremendous physical effort, are we in danger of ‘burn out’ later in the season. We are rotating the forwards for various reasons but the rest of the team has been pretty much unchanged. I know this sounds daft but I thought we looked a bit knackered towards the end of the first half more so than at the end of the game.

It's a valid point but we don't have enough strength in depth to rotate the defence, Jags for Egan apart, without losing our whole identity and way of playing. Freeman just isn't capable of stepping up to the level Baldock is currently at, similarly Osborn with Enda, and no one to do the RCB or LCB roles as we play them either.

Midfield we could rotate Freeman for Fleck, but I've not seen Besic or Morrison in the league yet to really say if they could be rotated for Norwood/Lundstram. I'd like to see Morrison come on and see if he's still capable of playing at PL level, it would be totally different to the Morrison we saw against Sunderland with a whole 10 changes I'd suspect.

 

[Baaaaaaa Blades]

Cheers
Another cracking podcast and i admire your commitment whilst on holiday !


I am so proud of the team for their performance but is any one else still hurting from the loss !?
i know it was against Europe's best but personally it's the result that has hurt the most this season ! ( which just shows how far we have come and how good we are now)

 

[Shanks]

Or alternatively could we parked the bus for 10 min periods during games instead of the high press for the whole game which drains the legs & minds, or is it we will do this if we can get the first goal? It’s a difficult conundrum for the management team but I have total confidence in them. (Goes without saying really with the past 3 years)
Time will tell.

 

[Swannyblade]

A serious question for Blades on here
Given how well we have played so far, & given that part of that involves tremendous physical effort, are we in danger of ‘burn out’ later in the season. We are rotating the forwards for various reasons but the rest of the team has been pretty much unchanged. I know this sounds daft but I thought we looked a bit knackered towards the end of the first half more so than at the end of the game.

This might be due to the slow start we have made to a lot of the games. We're giving the opposition too much respect, allowing them to play and end up chasing the game for most of the first half. After Wilder has given them a rocket at half time and we start playing our normal game in the 2nd, we've looked much more comfortable in all aspects.
This is understandable against teams like Liverpool where we wouldn't expect to have as much of the ball, but we should be starting better against the lower teams.
Also, if the squad can manage the blood and thunder, and the fixture-heavy schedule of the Championship, we should be able to cope with the Prem (already out of the League Cup and no midweek fixtures during European weeks). We just need to cross our fingers that everyone gets through the Xmas period unscathed.

 

[SwissBlade]

Evening all,

Pod with Roygbiv right here if anyone would like to look back at the Liverpool defeat (your mileage may vary, but I thought there was plenty to be positive about), and also look ahead to Watford at the weekend:

• Deano's error, how he reacted, how the crowd reacted, and then how the media reacted to Wilder's comments (03:10)
• playing on the counter, and Fleck's impressive form (23:13)
• paying some respect to Virgil Van Dijk (36:30)
• quick thoughts on the Sunderland game (49:45)
• looking ahead to Watford (52:48)

Apple Podcasts: https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/bladespod/id1309198119?mt=2

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6wLq5qaiQ123cLHHMnTixJ

Cheers for listening and UTB!

I'm going to be very critical here, so i hope i don't offend, but it does seem that recent pods have waffled on or gone off on a tangent a bit more. I guess its just how its evolved. Its not necessarily a bad thing as its still entertaining and enjoyable. Its just slightly different. Not sure if its a conscious thing to be more chatty.

In the past you knew a bit more about what to expect in terms of stat overload and translating what the stats meant, but now its more of a football chat reacting to the media a bit and focusing on what has been said about us.

 

[I should coco]

I'm going to be very critical here, so i hope i don't offend

The boys are tooled up and on their way round.

but it does seem that recent pods have waffled on or gone off on a tangent a bit more. I guess its just how its evolved. Its not necessarily a bad thing as its still entertaining and enjoyable. Its just slightly different. Not sure if its a conscious thing to be more chatty.

I think you are being overly harsh. The 'chatty' style isn't just rambling on about the price of fish, it is relevant Blades stuff about recent events.

Each to his own I suppose, but I'm more than happy with the current tone and content.

 

[SwissBlade]

The boys are tooled up and on their way round.



I think you are being overly harsh. The 'chatty' style isn't just rambling on about the price of fish, it is relevant Blades stuff about recent events.

Each to his own I suppose, but I'm more than happy with the current tone and content.

I didn't say that i'm unhappy with it and i don't want to sound like its been dumbed down, I just think its changed.

When the pod started it was very much about analysing stats and making sense of them for people like me to understand, which i loved. There are lots of podcasts around, some blades related which just chat... none of which i listen to.

The pod has evolved this season anyway with Roygbiv bringing his views and it works well.

There will come a time when responding to Garth Crooks comments or Talksport opinions just becomes too repetitive.

My own personal preference is to hear more unique content, stats analysis is brilliant as is the the roys view comments as I think Panchero/ Roy gives a good insight into the work he does. I also like the discussions with podcasters from other clubs as well. Its all very original content.

Like you say, each to his own, but i thought i would give my view.

 

[Antonb]

Well its pretty bloody obvious way it's a bit less about stats and the like, because Jay left the podcast, which was his fortay so to speak! Ben still brings in the stats to a degree though. And most importantly, it's still a great podcast.

 

[bongleblade]

A serious question for Blades on here
Given how well we have played so far, & given that part of that involves tremendous physical effort, are we in danger of ‘burn out’ later in the season.

Don't forget all of our lads are used to playing 46 game seasons. They'll be playing 8 games less than they have the previous 3 seasons. Plus they don't have weekday games to contend with (barring cup runs).

We need to invest in January with further backup though, most PL teams will rotate in all areas of the pitch except GK. We can't do that at the moment, it would not surprise me to see us offload a few on the outskirts in January (Leon et al) and invest in Defence/Midfield.

 

[SwissBlade]

Don't forget all of our lads are used to playing 46 game seasons. They'll be playing 8 games less than they have the previous 3 seasons. Plus they don't have weekday games to contend with (barring cup runs).

We need to invest in January with further backup though, most PL teams will rotate in all areas of the pitch except GK. We can't do that at the moment, it would not surprise me to see us offload a few on the outskirts in January (Leon et al) and invest in Defence/Midfield.

I was thinking this myself. 38 games v 46 games is a big difference... but i think that could be a very simplistic view.

Intensity will be the biggest factor though this season.

There is no doubt that the squad we had for the first season in the Championship wasn't deep enough with quality and we did suffer towards the end of that 1st Championship season. Last season, we did boost the squad and we moved on a few fringe players or they just didn't feature. The Championship was much more intense than League one.

I was going to look into this myself, but i wonder how many of those 46 games last season were played at the intensity of the games we've played so far this season.

This season each game has been treated like a cup game and we've been at it in all of the games. Liverpool and Everton we were at it for 90 mins solid. By 'at it' i'd say that we didn't let levels drop at all in terms of intensity.

Something which would be really interesting to know is the heart rate stats for the Premier League games v Championship to see how much harder players are working.

I presume that the intensity is higher this season, but i have no stats to base it on, perhaps sprints or km's run would be an indicator if this info is available on the stats websites.

Last season whilst it was always tough and physical, we were the team controlling tempo in most games....

 

[Roygbiv]

I'm going to be very critical here, so i hope i don't offend, but it does seem that recent pods have waffled on or gone off on a tangent a bit more. I guess its just how its evolved. Its not necessarily a bad thing as its still entertaining and enjoyable. Its just slightly different. Not sure if its a conscious thing to be more chatty.

In the past you knew a bit more about what to expect in terms of stat overload and translating what the stats meant, but now its more of a football chat reacting to the media a bit and focusing on what has been said about us.

From my view I think this is simply down to Jay not being involved. I don't have anything like the knowledge he does so can't hope to replace him. This means I can only play to the "strengths" I have which basically amounts to talking shit about United!

You have to remember that Jay actually works in football due to the knowledge he's gained and the work he's put it into the analytical side of the game. Ben still pulls up stats but without Jay I think the whole podcast has to be more conversational in its nature.

 

[I should coco]

I can only play to the "strengths" I have which basically amounts to talking shit about United!

An excellent match with this forum then!

 

[SwissBlade]

From my view I think this is simply down to Jay not being involved. I don't have anything like the knowledge he does so can't hope to replace him. This means I can only play to the "strengths" I have which basically amounts to talking shit about United!

You have to remember that that Jay actually works in football due to the knowledge he's gained and the work he's put it into the analytical side of football. Ben still pulls up stats but without Jay I think the whole podcast has to be more conversational in its nature.

Yeah that's clear, i really enjoy the pods and i have listened to everyone with yourself and enjoyed them. I accept that the reason that i started listening to the pod last season or before isn't the reason that i still listen. Don't take my comments the wrong way, i find the pods really entertaining.

I just feel that there's been a little more of a shift towards responding to how the media see us and wilder than talking about football (although there is clearly some overlap).

My comments probably seem harsher than intended and like i said, i'm probably being overly critical.

 

[SwissBlade]

And Roygbiv don't underplay your strengths, you provide a really original service for this forum and Blades. I haven't checked how many followers you have on twitter but i imagine that you have a lot. Your view froms are now part of my pre and post match routine!

 

[Roygbiv]

Yeah that's clear, i really enjoy the pods and i have listened to everyone with yourself and enjoyed them. I accept that the reason that i started listening to the pod last season or before isn't the reason that i still listen. Don't take my comments the wrong way, i find the pods really entertaining.

I just feel that there's been a little more of a shift towards responding to how the media see us and wilder than talking about football (although there is clearly some overlap).

My comments probably seem harsher than intended and like i said, i'm probably being overly critical.

No offence taken and I think the criticism has merits. The first thing I asked Ben when I spoke to him was whether he was getting jay back for the new season. I think a lot of people enjoyed the insight he gave and introduced a lot of us to terms such as XG.

The media thing is more on me than Ben as I do search social media a lot simply for ideas and comments for my own site. This obviously means I come across a lot of content that I often bring up on the pod. I do personally think the media side of things is more interesting this season as we are a total unknown to most pundits. We have all watched or listened to the likes of MOTD and Talksport but we've never heard them speak about our team until this season.

 

[SwissBlade]

No offence taken and I think the criticism has merits. The first thing I asked Ben when I spoke to him was whether he was getting jay back for the new season. I think a lot of people enjoyed the insight he gave and introduced a lot of us to terms such as XG.

The media thing is more on me than Ben as I do search social media a lot simply for ideas and comments for my own site. This obviously means I come across a lot of content that I often bring up on the pod. I do personally think the media side of things is more interesting this season as we are a total unknown to most pundits. We have all watched or listened to the likes of MOTD and Talksport but we've never heard them speak about our team until this season.

I think that last line is perhaps where this is something newer to me (and maybe other expats) than most other Blades as i haven't watched things like MOTD for years and as much as i tried to listen to Talksport, i found it was just a lot of terrible pundits talking shite, like Sky - Colin Murray and a couple of knowledgeable pundits on Sky apart.

I realised during the World Cup last year (and may have mentioned it on this forum) that i watched all of the games on Italian TV here in Iraq and as such i changed the audio to off when i could. As a result i found myself watching the games properly and actually enjoyed them much more. Similarly with some games on iFollow or some illegal streams, there was no commentary, so unless i could match the Kev Gage audio with the video, then for many games i would just watch without audio... And some games with Keith Edwards i turned it off by choice.

 

[Cappy]

Nice one boys

 

[CaptainMorgans]

Beans I'm very pleased to see that you understand that there is a skill in getting on the end of chances.

This argument that is constantly regurgitated on here "play (insert striker name) instead of McGoldrick, he'd have buried that today & we'd have won..." really bothers me.

Cracking pod as always.

 

[Beans]

Yeah that's clear, i really enjoy the pods and i have listened to everyone with yourself and enjoyed them. I accept that the reason that i started listening to the pod last season or before isn't the reason that i still listen. Don't take my comments the wrong way, i find the pods really entertaining.

I just feel that there's been a little more of a shift towards responding to how the media see us and wilder than talking about football (although there is clearly some overlap).

My comments probably seem harsher than intended and like i said, i'm probably being overly critical.

Hi Swiss - sorry for slow reply, holiday meant I haven't been online much! Cheers for the feedback. FWIW, I never really set out to be super-statty and analytical on the pod, it kind of just went that way with Jay being involved in it from the relatively early days. It is something I'm interested in and I read a lot about so I do try and work that in where I can (and where I think it's relevant / interesting) but my original intention with the pod was to try and be "balanced" and not "knee-jerk" - stats were/are kind of an accessory to that. Basically to try and leave the knee-jerk for Praise & Grumble and to try and have a more nuanced discussion knowing that not everything in football is black and white.

I do also find the media reaction stuff pretty fascinating personally, having been out of the Premier League machine for so long (and it's a very different beast to 12 years ago). It's become a lot more like NFL where every game is a huge event, covered and dissected as such. I guess the bigger gaps between games probably exacerbates that as well.

Anyway sorry, this turned into a pretty unfocused response, but I just wanted to say thanks for the feedback and not let you think I was just ignoring it for being (constructively) critical

 

[Niceguyeddie]

Hi Swiss - sorry for slow reply, holiday meant I haven't been online much! Cheers for the feedback. FWIW, I never really set out to be super-statty and analytical on the pod, it kind of just went that way with Jay being involved in it from the relatively early days. It is something I'm interested in and I read a lot about so I do try and work that in where I can (and where I think it's relevant / interesting) but my original intention with the pod was to try and be "balanced" and not "knee-jerk" - stats were/are kind of an accessory to that. Basically to try and leave the knee-jerk for Praise & Grumble and to try and have a more nuanced discussion knowing that not everything in football is black and white.

I do also find the media reaction stuff pretty fascinating personally, having been out of the Premier League machine for so long (and it's a very different beast to 12 years ago). It's become a lot more like NFL where every game is a huge event, covered and dissected as such. I guess the bigger gaps between games probably exacerbates that as well.

Anyway sorry, this turned into a pretty unfocused response, but I just wanted to say thanks for the feedback and not let you think I was just ignoring it for being (constructively) critical

I think the pods brilliant ,it's a highlight of the football week
Often when I've listened to it I'm gutted I can't hear it for the first time again
Like Swiss I loved all the stats stuff too when jay was involved but I don't think the pod has lessened in quality since roy joined ,if anything it's just as interesting to hear his perspective on different fans point of view on us and it's just nice to listen to two proper blades giving a level headed view of things

Just carry on as you are I for one love the podcast and can't wait for the next one
Would make my day if you have me 'shout out' as the young ones say

 

[JohnDenver]

Would make my day if you have me 'shout out' as the young ones say

Beans and Roy, pictured recently:

 

[Roygbiv]

Beans and Roy, pictured recently:

View attachment 62416

I actually think I have Niceys jumper

 

[Shanks]

A serious question for Blades on here
Given how well we have played so far, & given that part of that involves tremendous physical effort, are we in danger of ‘burn out’ later in the season. We are rotating the forwards for various reasons but the rest of the team has been pretty much unchanged. I know this sounds daft but I thought we looked a bit knackered towards the end of the first half more so than at the end of the game.

We are starting to look fu**ed, some fresh legs required into the first team. Besic for Lunny to start with.