ucandomagic
Active Member
A 2-1 defeat to Citeh which could, and probably should, have been worse - but again, like against Forest, still disappointing to have come so close to getting a point.
George let Grealish get outside him just the once, but that was enough for Haaland to head in from a good foot above JLT et al.
Kyle decided to have a Bladey back heel in his own box, which ended with Jayden looking to have made Hecky’s substitution seem inspired.
However, at the death Larouci showed yet again that he doesn’t understand the word defend, but even then Foden’s miscontrol went straight to Rodri - if Foden had controlled it we’d probably still have been OK.
I guess if both Walker and Larouci had behaved like responsible defenders it would have finished 1-0, with less disappointment.
Traore looks promising running with the ball, but off the ball his work is as unseen as Dean Hammond’s. We looked loads more threatening when Oli Mac came on - and Traore looked much more comfortable then as well. Hamer and Souza looked very solid.
So Graph 1 is a plot that compares our progress against our last 2 Prem seasons and against my benchmark results to achieve 38 points, and probable survival. My benchmark takes account of who our opponents are each week – the 19/20 and 20/21 seasons are the results from the same game day – not the same opponents. On Graph 1 you can see that we are still just 2 points behind my 38 point survival benchmark results. However, my benchmark results have us beating Everton, so next Saturday is important if we are to stay in touch.
Graph 1:
Graph 2 plots our progress against the best seasons from each of the previous 4 periods that I have watched the Blades in the top flight. The early seasons have been modified to account for 3 point wins and 20 teams. I have used the actual results against the top 19 teams in each of those years. We’re still in touch with the Warnock and Bassett best seasons, but drifting behind the best seasons that Wilder and Furphy produced.
Graph 2:
After last week I was asked by a few pessimists to plot a comparison against our worst Top Tier seasons, as well as the above Graph 2 best comparison. The worst 2 seasons that I have experienced were 75/76 with Furphy/Sirrel and 20/21 with Wilder and Hecky. So Graph 3 makes that comparison. Again, for 75/76 I’ve used the results against the top 19 teams that year and converted to 3 points for a win. Key points from those earlier seasons are that we had the equivalent of 3 points from 20 equivalent games in 75/76 and 2 points from 17 games in 20/21!
We know how to suffer!
Graph 3:
Finally the League Table – which still shows us above the drop zone. Although it seems a bit of a joke to say that when you have no points, our position is a reflection that we have only lost all 3 games by a single goal.
League Table:
I enjoyed today – and had a really good chat in the Sheaf before the game with a group of very knowledgeable and reasonable Citeh fans. They knew where Billy and Iliman had gone to and said that we would definitely be more competitive with Cameron Archer on the pitch.
So roll on September 2nd, and hopefully a game that we can dominate. I’m having a cataract op on Tuesday, so maybe I’ll see things more clearly next week!
UTB & Slava Ukraini
George let Grealish get outside him just the once, but that was enough for Haaland to head in from a good foot above JLT et al.
Kyle decided to have a Bladey back heel in his own box, which ended with Jayden looking to have made Hecky’s substitution seem inspired.
However, at the death Larouci showed yet again that he doesn’t understand the word defend, but even then Foden’s miscontrol went straight to Rodri - if Foden had controlled it we’d probably still have been OK.
I guess if both Walker and Larouci had behaved like responsible defenders it would have finished 1-0, with less disappointment.
Traore looks promising running with the ball, but off the ball his work is as unseen as Dean Hammond’s. We looked loads more threatening when Oli Mac came on - and Traore looked much more comfortable then as well. Hamer and Souza looked very solid.
So Graph 1 is a plot that compares our progress against our last 2 Prem seasons and against my benchmark results to achieve 38 points, and probable survival. My benchmark takes account of who our opponents are each week – the 19/20 and 20/21 seasons are the results from the same game day – not the same opponents. On Graph 1 you can see that we are still just 2 points behind my 38 point survival benchmark results. However, my benchmark results have us beating Everton, so next Saturday is important if we are to stay in touch.
Graph 1:
Graph 2 plots our progress against the best seasons from each of the previous 4 periods that I have watched the Blades in the top flight. The early seasons have been modified to account for 3 point wins and 20 teams. I have used the actual results against the top 19 teams in each of those years. We’re still in touch with the Warnock and Bassett best seasons, but drifting behind the best seasons that Wilder and Furphy produced.
Graph 2:
After last week I was asked by a few pessimists to plot a comparison against our worst Top Tier seasons, as well as the above Graph 2 best comparison. The worst 2 seasons that I have experienced were 75/76 with Furphy/Sirrel and 20/21 with Wilder and Hecky. So Graph 3 makes that comparison. Again, for 75/76 I’ve used the results against the top 19 teams that year and converted to 3 points for a win. Key points from those earlier seasons are that we had the equivalent of 3 points from 20 equivalent games in 75/76 and 2 points from 17 games in 20/21!
We know how to suffer!
Graph 3:
Finally the League Table – which still shows us above the drop zone. Although it seems a bit of a joke to say that when you have no points, our position is a reflection that we have only lost all 3 games by a single goal.
League Table:
I enjoyed today – and had a really good chat in the Sheaf before the game with a group of very knowledgeable and reasonable Citeh fans. They knew where Billy and Iliman had gone to and said that we would definitely be more competitive with Cameron Archer on the pitch.
So roll on September 2nd, and hopefully a game that we can dominate. I’m having a cataract op on Tuesday, so maybe I’ll see things more clearly next week!
UTB & Slava Ukraini
