Managerial Mistake tonight.

[I should coco]

Will you not think of my 98 year old Granny who lives with us,put my windows through,and she will start to suffer flashbacks to December 1940 sitting in her Anderson shelter in downtown Attercliffe

You miserable scroat of a grandson.

It's turning cold this weekend, so go and get the old dear out of that corrugated iron dump right now!

 

[Balham]

Been mulling over Tuesday's game for a while and I have to agree with Highbury_Blade 's point. I'm not sure Wilder got the balance right: with Lundstram in for Fleck we lost movement in central midfield which in turn led to the centre halves and Coutts not having the usual options. Lundstram did some decent stuff but he doesn't move with the ball - Fleck is adept at carrying the ball 5-15 yards to create angles for passes but Lundstram just doesn't seem to trust himself to do that.

That, in turn, increased the pressure on the top end of midfield where, frankly, Brooks wasn't disciplined enough. He was comfortably our best player with the ball at his feet and made things happen but that was generally down the flanks. Obviously the injuries exacerbated this by removing almost all of Wilder's ability to switch things around.

Hindsight is a wonderful thing but for me the main issue was the inclusion of Donaldson next to Clarke. We just weren't set up to support those two - support runners past didn't happen and we couldn't get the ball to Coutts or Brooks inside the QPR half to look for the through balls for Donaldson to get onto.

One final point - shamelessly borrowed from raul 's post match analysis: we are not good at turning games around when we fall behind. This season, we've gone behind in 5 games and we've lost them all whereas last season we rescued 27 points from losing positions: P19 W7 D6 L6. It seems that what worked (for the most part) in League One is nowhere near as effective in the Championship.

Championship: 0-1 v Middlesbrough, 0-1 v Cardiff, 0-1 v Norwich, 1-2 v Forest and 0-1 v QPR
League One: Bolton (a) 0-1, Walsall (h) 0-1 and (a) 0-1 & 1-2 to 1-4, Southend (h) 0-1 to 0-3, Milwall (a) 0-1 & 1-2 to 1-2, Northampton (a) 0-1 to 2-1; Oldham (a) 0-1 to 1-1; Charlton (h) 0-1 to 2-1; Scunthorpe (h) 0-1 to 1-1 and (a) 1-2 to 2-2; Oxford (a) 0-1 to 3-2 and (h) 0-1 to 2-1; Gillingham (a) 0-1 to 2-1 and (h) 1-2 to 2-2; Bury (a) 1-0 to 1-3; Chesterfield (a) 0-1 to 4-1; Bradford (a) 3-2 to 3-3; Fleetwood (h) 0-1 to 0-2 and (a) 0-1 to 1-1

 

[The Crab]

You miserable scroat of a grandson.

It's turning cold this weekend, so go and get the old dear out of that corrugated iron dump right now!

You fucking cheeky bastard.

Tunstall Fred bought that shelter from Crab Living Solutions (a division of Crab Industries). It offers the very latest technology for those having to use a compact space. I even enhanced the period experience by throwing in a crate of Bully Beef I got from an Antiques Auction a while ago.

 

[BushBlade]

Been mulling over Tuesday's game for a while and I have to agree with Highbury_Blade 's point. I'm not sure Wilder got the balance right: with Lundstram in for Fleck we lost movement in central midfield which in turn led to the centre halves and Coutts not having the usual options. Lundstram did some decent stuff but he doesn't move with the ball - Fleck is adept at carrying the ball 5-15 yards to create angles for passes but Lundstram just doesn't seem to trust himself to do that.

That, in turn, increased the pressure on the top end of midfield where, frankly, Brooks wasn't disciplined enough. He was comfortably our best player with the ball at his feet and made things happen but that was generally down the flanks. Obviously the injuries exacerbated this by removing almost all of Wilder's ability to switch things around.

Hindsight is a wonderful thing but for me the main issue was the inclusion of Donaldson next to Clarke. We just weren't set up to support those two - support runners past didn't happen and we couldn't get the ball to Coutts or Brooks inside the QPR half to look for the through balls for Donaldson to get onto.

One final point - shamelessly borrowed from raul 's post match analysis: we are not good at turning games around when we fall behind. This season, we've gone behind in 5 games and we've lost them all whereas last season we rescued 27 points from losing positions: P19 W7 D6 L6. It seems that what worked (for the most part) in League One is nowhere near as effective in the Championship.

Championship: 0-1 v Middlesbrough, 0-1 v Cardiff, 0-1 v Norwich, 1-2 v Forest and 0-1 v QPR
League One: Bolton (a) 0-1, Walsall (h) 0-1 and (a) 0-1 & 1-2 to 1-4, Southend (h) 0-1 to 0-3, Milwall (a) 0-1 & 1-2 to 1-2, Northampton (a) 0-1 to 2-1; Oldham (a) 0-1 to 1-1; Charlton (h) 0-1 to 2-1; Scunthorpe (h) 0-1 to 1-1 and (a) 1-2 to 2-2; Oxford (a) 0-1 to 3-2 and (h) 0-1 to 2-1; Gillingham (a) 0-1 to 2-1 and (h) 1-2 to 2-2; Bury (a) 1-0 to 1-3; Chesterfield (a) 0-1 to 4-1; Bradford (a) 3-2 to 3-3; Fleetwood (h) 0-1 to 0-2 and (a) 0-1 to 1-1

Decent analysis. I suspect the reason why we don't turn games round as much this season is because the majority of championship sides have got good defenders, work hard as a unit, are well organised and don't concede many as they make fewer mistakes.
If a L1 team took the lead, we tended to step it up a gear. We're playing in top gear now just to compete, we don't really have another to step up to.

 

[Bellypork]

Did he get a £20 note out this time?

No, but he's taken to wearing specs.

 

[Bellypork]

And the pigs are below all of them.

Touché, BB, touché.

But can the Blades sustain this high-energy method of play for a full season? It's a fair question. That's why Tufty'll need some reinforcements in Jan.

 

[Highbury_Blade]

Decent analysis. I suspect the reason why we don't turn games round as much this season is because the majority of championship sides have got good defenders, work hard as a unit, are well organised and don't concede many as they make fewer mistakes.
If a L1 team took the lead, we tended to step it up a gear. We're playing in top gear now just to compete, we don't really have another to step up to.

We certainly weren’t in top gear on Tuesday

 

[Patrick Suffaux]

The manager has earned the right to do as he pleases. End of discussion.

 

[BushBlade]

We certainly weren’t in top gear on Tuesday

As I said, we're playing in top gear just to compete. So if we slip below that we don't compete and we lose. Like we did on Tuesday. Last season we could beat some teams when we were having an off day. That's the difference in standard.

 

[BushBlade]

Touché, BB, touché.

But can the Blades sustain this high-energy method of play for a full season? It's a fair question. That's why Tufty'll need some reinforcements in Jan.

No, not with the same eleven players. We have reasonable cover for most positions but we'll need another CM at least, probably another forward and maybe a centre half who can also play full back, for cover. I don't think that should be beyond us.

 

[Highbury_Blade]

As I said, we're playing in top gear just to compete. So if we slip below that we don't compete and we lose. Like we did on Tuesday. Last season we could beat some teams when we were having an off day. That's the difference in standard.

Well that implies that QPR’s top gear is equal to ours.