Match Thread Match Day Thread: Bristol City v The Mighty Blades

[Toronto Blade]

Trouble finishing the chances in the 1st half cost us, missing Fleck hurts.
It doesn't help playing against a homer ref either 4 yellows to their 1 .
That ref nearly broke his back getting his book out of his pocket for their booking.

 

[super_pig]

A poor side who came back from two down against a relegated side. God knows what'll happen when they play well.

A few United fans got a bit giddy when they had a few bad results and thought relegation was on the cards. Now they're only a point behind us and their better players have turned up (Bannan, Joao, Nuihui etc). I'm not suggesting they're most Blades are overly bothered about them but it's made today's result sting a bit more.

it’s ok mate we know you

 

[Guesty]

you’re not guesty.. imposter
read your post back to yourself.. it does sound like a wind up

My tragedy is that I am, in fact, Guesty.

I hate Wednesday, I always have, but I've never been one of those United fans who assumes Wednesday are always shit because they are, well, Wednesday. They have a good team at the moment, better than most United fans thought. Better than ours? Fuck no. But a couple of weeks ago they were relegation candidates and now they are one point behind us, a team that most who see as credible play-off contenders.

 

[Minty]

Why the F*** is Lundstram still wearing a blades shirt. He should have f****d off to Wigan instead of Lee Evans. He's a national league player, ive never liked him from day one. Why not play Woodburn from start, the young lad has got more talent in his big toe than what f****n Lundstram has in his whole career. It stinks to high heaven of the shite Lundstram brings to a game of football, sorry my mistake, he shouldn't have been signed. Chrissy Wilder please play Couttsy next match, and f*** that piece of s*** in midfield off, he's got to go. Unbelievable choice from signing Lundstram in the first place, should never have been brought into club. It's a shite state of affairs if Lundstram ever play's again. Sorry for language to the MOD'S but surely you and many other's can see how s*** Lundstram is.

Yeah, let's bring Coutts back when he's not ready so he can get injured again straight away.

 

[OrlandoexiledBlade]

today is exactly the difference between serious promotion contenders and just a decent top half side.

We had 3 or 4 half decent chances in the 1st half. didn't score. A promotion team would have found a way to take advantage . We didn't .
Even second half we were still carrying the ball and having plenty of play in their final third with a few half chances. Didn't take advantage

Tufty made subs which IMO didn't need making as it brought on weaker players, took away our goal threats and transferred momentum to a decent team at home. We were never going to then get anything other than a draw or a narrow defeat. thereafter. Washington reminded me of a Conner Sammon type player, endeavor but not real quality . Why not bring Leon on if he wanted to sub Sharp to hold the ball a little ?

The goal started with Enda Stevens being easily brushed off when in possession..... and from that they went forward and scored . This giveaway of possession and conceding is what the top teams prevent and would scrap out a 0-0.

3 losses out of 7 is not what promotion chases do as over a season really can't afford more than 10 to 12 losses. we now have 3 of those losses (25%) in only 15% of games played …..

 

[super_pig]

My tragedy is that I am, in fact, Guesty.

I hate Wednesday, I always have, but I've never been one of those United fans who assumes Wednesday are always shit because they are, well, Wednesday. They have a good team at the moment, better than most United fans thought. Better than ours? Fuck no. But a couple of weeks ago they were relegation candidates and now they are one point behind us, a team that most who see as credible play-off contenders.

it’s ok mate most of us are used to your ‘well balanced’ outlook compared to the rest of us!!

 

[Topplayersleave]

PANIC............

bloodyhell, I'm reading this, and it's like were about to be relegated!!!
We really missed Fleck today, shame Couttsy couldn't have taken his place as Lundstrum seems to be the next 'Lee Evans, but, shit happens.
We lost, we should've won, we didn't draw, but we get back up and go again.
Wilders obviously seen that his substitutions failed again, but it's 1 game.
I'm pissed off we lost, but it's not the end of the world, there's plenty of time to finish top 10 again!!
Relax.

Coutts isn't and won't ever be in competition with Fleck, they're completely different
COUTTS and NORWOOD are the players that are most similar. The one part of the squad we've got right, they should compete for their particular role when Coutts is fully fit.

But:
Until we get a viable option that can compete with Fleck
Until we get a younger Duffy
And until we get a goal scoring forward that doesn't waste chance after chance we're never going to trouble the play off spots

 

[BigBed]

I think part of the gloom is Wednesday related (it didn't help that they scored their equaliser about the same time City got their winner). They're coming up on the rails and United fans are slowly coming around to the fact that they're a much better team than they thought. They finished last season like a train and they're building up a head of steam again now.

A defeat is always worse when your hated rivals make ground.

Personally couldn't give a fuck about Wendy, I'm a Blade, and the season is young.
Wendy have players that cost more than our entire team, they should be top anyway!

 

[Yellarbellyblade]

I don't think we have a Duffy replacement either - Woodburn clearly isn't up to snuff. Though we can get around it by playing a different shape.

People are being asked to demonstrate why Lundstram is at fault for today, by the same token can he apologists explain why our record is so terrible with him playing? If not down to him, then what? Bad luck?

I'll try and break down my reasoning without being overly nasty or trying to scapegoat the lad, if possible. For me, even when he plays well (like against Villa) he's a little slow on and off the ball, particularly on the turn. He doesn't move the ball as quickly as Fleck, Coutts or Norwood and therefore even though his passing can be good it gets to our players slower, in worse positions. So it looks like he's playing well but his teammates don't benefit like they do when they play with the other players. I also hear the argument last season 'well he was brought in to replace Coutts which is unfair as he's a different sort of player, he'll be a big player for us, mark my words'.

Today, it's 'well he can't be expected to be a like for like replacement for Fleck, he's a different sort of player'. So if he can't step up and replace Fleck or Coutts, what exactly does he do? He can close down a game nicely but as a starter he can't replace any of the men in front of him.

I’m not an apologist and as I said I wasn’t there but did we lose because we created no chances or because our finishing was wasteful? If the former then blaming Lundstram could have some validity if the latter then surely if we really have to blame someone then the people missing the chances must be the ones. Are we better with Fleck rather than Lundstram? Yep by a mile. Was he the reason we lost today? I’m struggling a bit to see how.

According to Sky eleven shots (same number as City) one on target (two less), with more possession- which bit are we blaming the lad for?

 

[BigBed]

Coutts isn't and won't ever be in competition with Fleck, they're completely different
COUTTS and NORWOOD are the players that are most similar. The one part of the squad we've got right, they should compete for their particular role when Coutts is fully fit.

But:
Until we get a viable option that can compete with Fleck
Until we get a younger Duffy
And until we get a goal scoring forward that doesn't waste chance after chance we're never going to trouble the play off spots

No shit Sherlock!!
But given the choice between Lundstrum and Coutts, who would everybody choose!?????

 

[Blade82]

A poor side who came back from two down against a relegated side. God knows what'll happen when they play well.

A few United fans got a bit giddy when they had a few bad results and thought relegation was on the cards. Now they're only a point behind us and their better players have turned up (Bannan, Joao, Nuihui etc). I'm not suggesting they're most Blades are overly bothered about them but it's made today's result sting a bit more.

Sunderland were a relegated side in the championship, doesn't mean anything.

Pigs have spunked millions away and have a bang average championship team.

Their result today has not made today's result sting less, the fact they'll be getting giddy about catching us up after they've fucked up the opportunity we gave them over the last 5/6 year to really dominate the city for years makes it funny.

 

[Toronto Blade]

Disagree,
Wednesday were quite poor again today. Stoke dominated possession, has more shots and more corners, they were like the home side. Also Wednesday have recently struggled to beat the teams near the bottom.

Their performances this season suggest they’re more likely to finish bottom half than top half.

We have only lost to top 6 sides we now have 2 home games against teams at the lower end Wendy has had a run against teams near the bottom.
They now get 6 tougher teams let's see how they do now they are finished with the bottom feeders.
Forest (A ),Villa(A), Weeds (H),WBA (H),Bristol (A) Boro (H)

 

[Topplayersleave]

We're 5th and have just lost away from home to a team who are now 3rd.

We played ok on an offday but they didn't dominate us and a draw would have been a fair result. I doubt their manager or fans would argue with that.

We now have 2 home games against teams in 21st & 23rd. Win those and we're averaging 2points per game from the first 9 games.

Also above likes of Frank Lampard's Derby County, Villa, Forest, Stoke, Swansea, West Brom and Pigs.

A lot to be positive about really & I can't wait for midweek

That's exactly the problem, nobody's slagging the team off or anything.
The club just look at Fleck for example and see no reason to sign a similar player because.....well we've got Fleck haven't we.

How a style of play can be perfected over a season when one player gets injured and a completely different sort of player comes in to replace him I don't know.

Duffy cannot last 90 minutes, do we have another stylish creative midfielder ?...……...NO!!!!
How can continuity and a style of play be perfected when a completely different type of player comes on for him ?

Do we ever see Barcelona in the market for a Jon Parkin type of player to mix it up a bit ? offer something different ?...…...No, because he doesn't fit in with the way they want to play the game

 

[Bladesman]

We just need to take our chances.

I thought he took Duffy and Sharp off a little bit early.

 

[RONNIE.SUFC.]

Yeah, let's bring Coutts back when he's not ready so he can get injured again straight away.

Couttsy will be back anytime soon, and Lundstram can go and play his type of football in the National League, because he's not worth a Blades shirt never as and never will. Not a championship player. No where near.

 

[Sean Thornton]

That's the reason why we won't be in the play off/promotion shake up.

One important player missing and we suddenly look like a team with 10 players and a random thrown in.
Duffy comes off because he can't last 90 minutes and we become a team of nine players and two randoms thrown in.

We have two players for each position, one good enough and one not good enough

Teams with very little meaningful play can get wins against us, but we only need to have one player missing from our strongest eleven and suddenly it doesn't look or feel right. I feared the worst as soon as I saw Fleck was missing.

They're all average anyway aren't they?

 

[The Vicar]

I don't think we have a Duffy replacement either - Woodburn clearly isn't up to snuff. Though we can get around it by playing a different shape.

People are being asked to demonstrate why Lundstram is at fault for today, by the same token can he apologists explain why our record is so terrible with him playing? If not down to him, then what? Bad luck?

I'll try and break down my reasoning without being overly nasty or trying to scapegoat the lad, if possible. For me, even when he plays well (like against Villa) he's a little slow on and off the ball, particularly on the turn. He doesn't move the ball as quickly as Fleck, Coutts or Norwood and therefore even though his passing can be good it gets to our players slower, in worse positions. So it looks like he's playing well but his teammates don't benefit like they do when they play with the other players. I also hear the argument last season 'well he was brought in to replace Coutts which is unfair as he's a different sort of player, he'll be a big player for us, mark my words'.

Today, it's 'well he can't be expected to be a like for like replacement for Fleck, he's a different sort of player'. So if he can't step up and replace Fleck or Coutts, what exactly does he do? He can close down a game nicely but as a starter he can't replace any of the men in front of him.

Broadly i agree with the above.

By the sound of it:

We missed at least 3 good chances.
Their goal was a touch flukey.
CW made poor substitutions.
Lundstram is not Fleck, does not have the range of passing or speed of thought & is more defensively minded. But that does not make him crap, he is just different & maybe he is and will not be good enough to play as CW wants, but we have no better in that position. But some players are irreplaceable in their position, playing in a team that plays a certain style, & I think that is what Fleck is to us!

So strikers missed chances, they scored a fluker, CW made poor decisions, we lost!

Probably not good enough for a top 6 finish!

MTLBWY

UTB

 

[Sean Thornton]

Not a fan then????

Not much understanding of player roles either by the looks of it.

 

[Blade82]

That's exactly the problem, nobody's slagging the team off or anything.
The club just look at Fleck for example and see no reason to sign a similar player because.....well we've got Fleck haven't we.

How a style of play can be perfected over a season when one player gets injured and a completely different sort of player comes in to replace him I don't know.

Duffy cannot last 90 minutes, do we have another stylish creative midfielder ?...……...NO!!!!
How can continuity and a style of play be perfected when a completely different type of player comes on for him ?

Do we ever see Barcelona in the market for a Jon Parkin type of player to mix it up a bit ? offer something different ?...…...No, because he doesn't fit in with the way they want to play the game

The problem is we don’t have fans moaning? Wow

Why would the club sign Egan, Norwood & Henderson if we weren’t looking to progress.

We are limited on funds but the signings we’ve made do improve the squad significantly from last season.

We are missing our two best midfielders and we also have last seasons top scorer making a comeback from injury, only fit enough for the bench. Any club in any league would miss that especially away from home against a team who are now 3rd in the league.

 

[Topplayersleave]

No shit Sherlock!!
But given the choice between Lundstrum and Coutts, who would everybody choose!?????

Lundstram is more of a Coutts, Norwood type of player. Not quite at the same level but that's the role he belongs in

Coutts and Norwood might not work, too similar
Either of them with Fleck does work, we've seen it working
Lundstram doesn't seem to be able to do the Coutts/Norwood role well enough and he can't do the Fleck role at all

The main concern is Fleck being out causes us major problems
Duffy being unable to last 90 minutes causes us problems

When either or both of those don't play we struggle to create the sitters that our strikers need, and apart from Sharp even sitters are missed more often than not. It's just that with those two in the team we can create enough sitters for it not to matter

 

[FriethBlade]

Games like today are where we pay for not being able to bring a quality striker in. Im not blaming anyonw but when your 2 signings are frees from Ipswich and QPR you know you havent filled the hole.

We need someone who is one of the first names on the sheet and plays every game when fit. That's not McGoldrick, it's not Washington, it can't be Sharp or Wilder would have had him in for the first two games and if it's Clarke is he good enough to be that man ?

Hopefully we fill the hole in January but do we have the budget or the stomach to do it ?

 

[BigBed]

Lundstram is more of a Coutts, Norwood type of player. Not quite at the same level but that's the role he belongs in

Coutts and Norwood might not work, too similar
Either of them with Fleck does work, we've seen it working
Lundstram doesn't seem to be able to do the Coutts/Norwood role well enough and he can't do the Fleck role at all

The main concern is Fleck being out causes us major problems
Duffy being unable to last 90 minutes causes us problems

When either or both of those don't play we struggle to create the sitters that our strikers need, and apart from Sharp even sitters are missed more often than not. It's just that with those two in the team we can create enough sitters for it not to matter

"Might not work" could also mean, "work really well together"!, we won't know until it's tried, but, I'd still rather play Coutts than Lundstrum.

 

[spongebobblade]

I think part of the gloom is Wednesday related (it didn't help that they scored their equaliser about the same time City got their winner). They're coming up on the rails and United fans are slowly coming around to the fact that they're a much better team than they thought. They finished last season like a train and they're building up a head of steam again now.

A defeat is always worse when your hated rivals make ground.

Pigs have played 2 of the top half teams and 5 of the bottom half. We are the other way around. They aren’t a shit side but I can’t see them challenging either. They’ve a few tough games coming up. Expect their “momentum” to slow down a fair bit

 

[Birdwell Blade]

This is the problem. He's not Fleck and last season he wasn't Coutts. If Wilder played him as Lundstram and adjusted our style to suit this we wouldn't be going on about him so much. If we play for a draw and don't do anything daft by going gung ho with the subs this will be an excellent result, Bristol are no mugs.

Brilliant post

 

[Birdwell Blade]

No he doesn’t.

He says he doesn’t like slow tippy-tappy keep possession football like we had with Robson, Weir and Adkins.
He wants the passing to be quick with purpose, that’s totally different to aimless hoofball.
We’re a relatively small team that lacks massive pace, so don’t have the players for hoofball.

He does refer to his preference for it being a physical game (like in his day).
In today’s games tackling is almost outlawed. Some players seem to be almost offended when tackled and they fall down in protest.

Agree he does repeat himself a bit but most guest commentators do.
The main commentator commentates on the game. Edwards doesn’t give match commentary, he’s there to give his opinion,
which might involve a few stories about when the game was played in his day.

I’m listening to it now and think he does a good job.
He’s very honest and when we’re poor he says so, when we great he says so too.

My main annoyance with Edwards is the number of times he’s say
“The opposition have offered nothing and there’s no way they will score”, you can bet a few minutes later we’ll concede.
He also says “there’s so many chances I can gaurantee the match won’t end 0-0”, you can bet the match will then end 0-0.

Although to be fair Edwards is aware of the commentators curse and makes fun of his failed predictions.

Didn’t know you posted on here Keith.

 

[Birdwell Blade]

Should be a capital letter in a name pal. Only one bollock in a huge four word sentence is pretty creditable though.

Sad. It’s Saturday afternoon.

 

[Topplayersleave]

"Might not work" could also mean, "work really well together"!, we won't know until it's tried, but, I'd still rather play Coutts than Lundstrum.

Yes I agree I'd rather play Coutts than Lundstram if fully fit
I don't think it's Lundstrams fault, he tries hard enough and he should be commended for that considering some of the wage thieves we've had.

But whatever it is that he's good at doesn't seem to show, either down to our style of play or the Championship being a step too far for him, he was only 23 when we bought him and being used in different roles depending on who's injured isn't helping him.

I think if he was told he is Coutts/Norwood's understudy and that's his role, he'll get occasional games when there are injuries and he'll get the last 10-15 minutes in games where we're doing well he might be able to develop better, rather than taking Fleck's place and being expected to do what Fleck is good at.

 

[The Jackdaw]

Billy subbed off again for no reason.

For a fucking left back.

 

[Topplayersleave]

The problem is we don’t have fans moaning? Wow

Why would the club sign Egan, Norwood & Henderson if we weren’t looking to progress.

We are limited on funds but the signings we’ve made do improve the squad significantly from last season.

We are missing our two best midfielders and we also have last seasons top scorer making a comeback from injury, only fit enough for the bench. Any club in any league would miss that especially away from home against a team who are now 3rd in the league.

As I've said, nobody is moaning, we lost due to a number of things, a bit of bad luck included.
Every club has players that they will miss more than others.

Messi is as irreplaceable as it gets, but it wouldn't completely change Barcelona's principles if he was missing, they wouldn't bring a 6 foot 7 inch striker on and hoof it

When you get a style of play that the manager wants to play, players have to be brought in that can play in it. Not just the first eleven

 

[Blade82]

As I've said, nobody is moaning, we lost due to a number of things, a bit of bad luck included.
Every club has players that they will miss more than others.

Messi is as irreplaceable as it gets, but it wouldn't completely change Barcelona's principles if he was missing, they wouldn't bring a 6 foot 7 inch striker on and hoof it

When you get a style of play that the manager wants to play, players have to be brought in that can play in it. Not just the first eleven

We don’t do that either