My take ...

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pommpey said:
Went for a run, late afternoon. 5.4km (this on 7.5km yesterday). Decent tea. Stella on, big fuckin' telly, 5.1 surround, expected a fucking pasting.

So it came to pass.

Now, bear with me. I still have a lot of faith in Wilder, but his comments recently about Playstation managers seem a bit hollow given tonight's pretty pathetic showing. If you play FIFA, as any fule no, if you go from season to season playing the same old shit expecting to beat Liverpool with 50% of the team you won the league two levels down with, unless you seriously make all your settings at 100% you'll get held face down and bummed mercilessly, especially if you make the wrong signings and play with eight defenders. So much for us dumb fucks who come on here and kae suggestions. Do we expect him to take any notice? Nope. Again, as I have said, if he is referencing S24SU messageboard for his strategy and not working this out with his team captain and staff, then we are definitely in trouble. What do we know?

I'll tell you what we do though. We watch games like tonight's end to end. We see Sheffield United come out of the traps and play 'passable' Premier League football for 22 minutes (I marked it) until Chelsea took it off us and didn't give it us back for the rest of the match. We'd already taken a shock lead by then - just like Liverpool - but almost seemed embarrassed and shocked to have done so, right the way up until normal service was restored and Chelsea gained possession and inevitably cancelled out our lead. From then on in, it was just a case of how much we would lose by, and it was in the end by a margin unmatched for what ... three seasons? Middlesbrough 3- 0 Blades? Basically it looked from that 22 minute mark like Wilder had called off all of our players and told the Chelsea development side to get the kit on for a kick about. We were out thought, out-tacticked, outclassed in every part of the pitch. And really, Chelsea aren't THAT great a side, though the three points we meekly gave them tonight makes them look so.

My previous comments stand about changing things. If tonight hasn't told Wilder what he already knows and we already know then if he stays with the same thing next week Sheffield United - and Chris Wilder - are in deep shit. We are a Premiership side, and given our last flaccid flirtation with this majestic position, we can't afford to let Bladey-Bladeness sentimentality stand in the way of us staying up, especially as pre lockdown, this very side was actually, audaciously thinking about a place in the European competitions. We all secretly feared what lay in wait for us when we went up, and today is that. INstead, last season seems now like some charitable, sympathetic gesture to little Sheffield United, with their little players, little fans and little stadium. G'wan. Let 'em beat Everton away. G'wan. Let 'em give a three goal shock lead away against Man U at home and scrape a draw from inevitable failure. The chickens certainly came home to roost after the COVID restart and save for some chin-strokingly baffling victories, we've been fucking glistening, slippery, chunky bobbar since.

Unless Wilder starts thinking about how he is to address this - and that means 'change' - he is sacked by Christmas. Another Bladey Blade victim who failed to propel us into the trophy cabinet. It's sad, because he is a fucking outstanding bloke. But his strategy and buying policy now is patently Championship. Anyone who denies this needs to account for tonight, where once again, we played a messy five at the back, three in front (as in two metres in front) and the front two might as well have had fucking COVID themselves and socially isolated. When we did deign to break out, our passing was disgracefully shit, we don't move into space to receive and any 'plans' we seem to either have worked out on the training ground or ad hoc on the pitch end up in two places - at an opposition player's feet on the attack or in the arms of a flailing Aaron Ramsdale.

We are all scratching our heads to find reasoning for all of this. Is it the crowds (or lack of them)? Well no. All 22 players are playing in the sterile environment where all they can hear is the manager or each other. Is it 'we have been found out'? Well, they had thirty odd matches last season to do that with a myriad of technology to analyze and strategize against what we had, yet we finished way up the table. So what has gone wrong?

For me - Wilder has lost the team. Since we went up we have made some breathtakingly stupid acquisitions (we're good at this) despite spunking about a hundred million bucks. yeah - I know comparing like for like that is chicken feed. But tonight we still don't field players who are - genuinely - English Premier League standard. Your Ramsdales, your Stavenses, Your Norwoods, your Lunstrams, your Lowes, and god-dammit, even Didsy. They are nowhere near the footballing quality required to compete at this level. Were we not saying that thirteen years ago when suddenly our marque striker bust his leg at tonight's stadium and committed our remaining players to score just six goals in the remaining nine games should show you how this story has been told before. Sure, we ahve spent a fuck load more than we did back then. But to me very nearly every signing has been misplaced, wrong and a simple waste of money

Tonight from back to front we were again, fucking rubbish. Our goal was a work of unintended genius, but you just knew that all that had done was put on arm in the cage and slapped the lion on the nose. You just knew that soon, the lion would tear off your arm and eat it in front of you.

Ramsdale is fucking rubbish. He made some saves, but given the result, he might as well have let the fuckers in for all they are worth right now. I have watched him in a number of games - Wolves, Villa, Liverpool, even Man City ... and he makes elaborate, demonstrative and simply crap flailings to get to the ball (and misses) or simply palms the effort, when he should - at this level - be making clear efforts to control the ball and smother the energy. Fuck, if I can learn that in my Level 2 Coaching course, why the fuck is he not doing this? He keeps saying 'I am not Dean Henderson' and fuck me don't we know it. Henderson not only would have saved a lot he hasn't, but in my opinion was a big percentage of our success last season, giving us possibly twelve points with his stops and quite outstanding athleticism. We should have bought him. There, I have said it. £18m and £23m spent on Ramsdale and Brewster is £41m, and that would have been a big temptation for OGS to offload him. And by my reckoning with him in the net, we'd be at least five points better off this season. Disagree?

The central three need a revamp. We need a JOC replacement, and fast. Enda is now stage 4 terminal (to us and unpleasant term, apologies if anyone is offended) and is a weak point in any opposition attacking strategy. Tonight, and in past games like Arsenal, he's just not sharp enough or has the DNA to be a central defender. He's left footed. Cool. But he can't do the centre back stuff and fails to watch, move, mark, intercept and track effectively. In the Championship, tonning it up and down that left touchline and making mischief with Fleck and O'Connell he was mint. But now he is - as I have said before - way out of his depth. Egan seems lost without his wingman too. We all know what a fucking sound centreback he is. but we have Egan second guessing Stevens and also have Lowe having to come narrow and drop to cover for a clearly unhappy Stevens too. It's a fucking mess.

In front of that we have the hapless, ailing Lundstram, who is seemingly leading a charmed existence of being un-droppable. Given there are two factors in that - firstly he is playing dreadfully and secondly he doesn't want to be at Sheffield United and has his dummy cocked and loaded, I am wondering what the flying fuck Wilder is doing having him in the starting eleven, if he has no position to fight for. It must piss the rest of the player who can play in that position off, big-style. Tonight he was fucking wank. All three out on that flank were playing like they have never kicked a ball to each other in training, and it makes me wonder what the fuck Wilder and Knill do with these lot at Shirecliffe. We see some moderately impressive footage of them doing grid sprints and lifting weights. I'd like to know what the fuck they do to make these three - Stevens, Lowe and Lundstram - pass and move and shift up the wing, because at the moment, they are wank.

Over the other side, the three B's seems to have something. Basham as ever gives it his best 'Ahm ernly doin' me fukkan job, pet' act which again is pleasing, because he seems to be the only one in red and white who gets it. But there used to be a song back in the day:

"At number one, there's Jamie Ward ... at number two, is jamie Ward ... " et al until we reached eleven and finished it off with "We all play for a team of Jamie Wards, a team of Jamie Wards .. " etc.

Bash fits that description. I even think he'd be better in the sticks than Ramsdale. At least he'd give it a go and convince us he was doing his level best anyway. But tonight, he, the mercurial and fucking frustrated Berge and goold old stroppy George made a decent shift of traying at least to find each other and string more than one pass and another pass ... oh shit, we've lost it again. Berge picking up a yellow for shirting Kante was the summit of his pissed-offness. He picked the ball up in the central defending midfield role and looked up ... no one but Lundstram some twenty metres away seemed interested in receiving it. The clear signal from him was 'C'mon Lunny. Come to me closer, close the gap so I don't have to telegraph this pass.' Lunny just stayed. Berge passed it. It was cut out and Chelsea went on the attack.

We started with my mate Olive in midfield defence too. I hope tonight shows everyone how he is completely unsuitable for this side or the Premier League, in fact. four corners in the first half, two of the fuckers hit the first man on the near post. When his replacement came on and took them, Osborn sent in curving, lofted but well-placed crosses which had Chelsea actually defending. Well, two of them anyway. The next one was taken short and ended up back in Ramsdale's shakey hands. But Norwood has one role, run across the park and point behind him. When he tackles, it is Montgomeryesque. On the opposite side tonight was N'Golo Kante, a diminutive little battle warrior who mixes it up, cuts out passing lanes, dispossesses, anticipates and shows his Premier League capability. If you want passing too, they had the fucking mercurial Ziyech, finding people with passes, like Timo Werner and playing in the runners. Still think Norwood is PL class?

And now up front. Wilder tonight chose to play a freebie veteran, who'd struggled to hit the net last season and a rookie acquisition, who just happens to be our record signing yet hasn't played much Premier League football. Didsy is a smashing feller, but he's way under the standard needed to put the opposition under pressure, despite his fortuitous goal. He was just bustled off the ball tonight or spent much of the time running across the pitch trying to intercept passing lanes that three players would find hard to do so. Poor fucker. Next to him is Brewster who must be fucking kicking himself now he allowed Klopp to finally convince him 'dis vould be a grit career moof for jou". he had five (count em) touches in the fist half, which really is the story of his evening. As much as people bellyache, he's possibly got capability, if some bastard would take a chance, look up and put him through. Tonight, nothing, as ever. Nothing also for his substitute either but let's face it, buying players from Swansea area who appear to have summat about them seems to be a failing these for us. McBurnie needs also to stop the fucking Herdings Park Sheffield and Hallamshire Sunday League Division Three stuff now. It doesn't impress anyone 'leaving your foot in/mark on a player' and when you are also not scoring at all, makes you look even more of a cunt. When he came on I thought, 'watch this. He'll get a free header in front on their goal, and simply fifty-pee it wide or into the keeper's arms' Thankfully he never made it into their box, I don't think but made a desperate effort to reach Thiago once he'd bumped his marker (Stevens) off for his predictable goal. In fact, he was more active in defence than in attack. Maybe a JOC replacement? At the moment, I'll take owt.

The subs, as said, were ineffective. Where the fuck is Burke, a player who has pace, vision and raw direction? Where is Bogle? Would Freeman, bought back, make any difference? I dunno.

Anyway, marks out of ten

Ramsdale 4/10: He had a great season stopping Bournemouth shipping more goals in their desperate attempt to stay up. If we get relegated this season however, I can't seem another PL club looking to take Ramsdale off us given he was the goalkeeper to two sides, consecutively relegated. He needs to consider this. So do we. Tonight, he was piss poor.
Lowe 3/10: Rabbit in the headlights. I think it has finally hit him tonight the gulf in class between Lampard's old club and his new one. He was also shit with their second goal.
Stevens 2/10: I don't want to comment further
Egan 5/10; A passable showing, but as the man bossing te box these days, those arcing crosses need a shout and co-ordination. Tonight we were all over the fucking place, and he was on his heels for Werner's goal.
Basham 6/10: Best player for us. He is seemingly fearless, but was let down by some shit decisions around him.
Baldock 5/10: Stroppy George was largely pinned back (as usual these days) although the goal we managed to shock the world with was due to his one deft run and ball to Berge
Lundstram 3/10: An evening of effectively playing on his own. I thought he was a waste of a shirt tonight and did nothing to bring anything to the game. If he is shop windowing himself, then he looks ever more like the Oxford United player he once was, and still is
Norwood 4/10: Said all I need to
Berge 7/10: What? Seven out of ten? Are you fucking kidding pommpey? He was fucking SHIT! Comparitively, Berge was a giant amongst footballing pygmies tonight. If Lundstram was playing one game on his own, Berge was trying to play the rest of the midfield's game. He's still trying to impose but fuck me the frustration he must feel.
McGoldrick 4/10: Great, deft goal, but for the rest of the game, no service. Tried his best, but he's past it. With him we have no danger.
Brewster 3/10: Nuffsaid.

Wilder 2/10: You are seriously running out of time, games and options. Sheffield United is a Premier League club, has a large public profile, our stock is up, investments made both on and off the pitch and we have an owner who is less interested in coralling his wagons around a Bigger Blade Than Me campfire more so making us a money making, highly regarded Premier League asset, rather than a relegation liability. He's proved that my giving you cash to fulfill your vision. But that vision is failing. You need to rethink, re-energise and rebuild and get us the fuck off our knees and up that table, even if it is seventeenth. If we go on as we are, losing game after game after game, you'll be sacked by Christmas. And you know it.

We expect more. Start fucking winning.

pommpey
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Yet again mate you've got it spot on!
Nail hit well and truly on the head 👍
 
Wards said:
That isn’t going to happen, he’s injured well beyond then.
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I thought he was progressing faster than that? If not, it may be a blessing in disguise as a few classy games before Christmas could see him gone.
 
OK, we can't compete against City, Chelsea, Arsenal, Liverpool, Southampton, Spurs, Leicester, ManUtd, West Ham, Everton, Leeds, Villa, Wolves, Newcastle, Palace or Brighton, but surely we can beat West Brom? 🤔
 
Tynemouth Blade said:
OK, we can't compete against City, Chelsea, Arsenal, Liverpool, Southampton, Spurs, Leicester, ManUtd, West Ham, Everton, Leeds, Villa, Wolves, Newcastle, Palace or Brighton, but surely we can beat West Brom? 🤔
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We can’t be expected to go toe to toe and open up against a team with Callum Robinson in the side. They’ll tear us to pieces.
 
Anything less than 4 points from the next 2 and the writing is in the wall.....you can bet the Prince and Van Winkel are already looking at foreign coaches....not that there are any decent ones out of work here....
 
Yeah I agree with most of that. For me it comes down to a poor transfer strategy/window (signing back-ups, prioritising the wrong positions, not signing any players with PL experience, not replacing JOC) and Wilder changing his mentality - so we dont do what we did well anymore (we are too negative and defend for 90 mins rather then going onto the front foot).
 
Can’t argue with most of what you’ve said there pommpey.
 
Ramsdale is always fidgety, always moving which looks good on TV, but it always leaves him off balance and doesn't give him a solid base when he dives, hence being miles away from most efforts. He isn't a premier League keeper and never will be, he doesn't have the foundations to improve upon. Wilders scouting network has been nothing short of woeful, and this is what will cost us.

Btw spot on report pommpey
 
We won the pools but lacking class ( scouting network / manager with pl experience) didn't spend wisely at all. Bit like that sad peroxide blond spend spend spend woman. What a missed opportunity. Feel sorry for Ramsdale but he's cost us so many points.
 
As much as it pains me to say it, absolutely spot on pommps.

During the match it was the first time I saw Sander’s head go down. As you stated when he had the ball he had zero options for creating anything going forward. Lunny was static and a total passenger for the whole 90+ minutes basically not wanting to take any responsibility for the team.

Berge should be the player we are building a midfield around but if we aren’t careful he will be gone to a better club that can utilise his strengths.

UTB !
 
Ramsdale looks like that young kid you called over when none of your pals fancied a go in the nets.

"Oi pal, fancy a go in t'nets for us?"

He looks like he could do with adding a stone in weight and bulk and becoming more athletic. He looks a perma-tired version of someone who's been playing FIFA all night and hasn't brushed his hair in the morning. Looks completely off it.

Henderson looked overly professional by comparison.
 
To be honest, I'd be starting to think now of going with 1 up front. It's a waste of a shirt having two up there. Let's pack the midfield and see if we can start getting some control in matches again.

I would pick Norwood & Berge in the middle & let Osborn (Fleck when fit) & Bogle / Lundstram attack the flanks.
 

CaptainMorgans said:
I would pick Norwood & Berge in the middle & let Osborn (Fleck when fit) & Bogle / Lundstram attack the flanks.
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Think there has to be a place for Ampadu in there given his athleticism. Unless we can trust him at the back which I’m not convinced of.
 
Wards said:
Think there has to be a place for Ampadu in there given his athleticism. Unless we can trust him at the back which I’m not convinced of.
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Perhaps. But I think he might be needed at LCB. Stevens is badly struggling there. We need to try something (anything) else. I don't mind that he isn't left footed, I just need the madness to stop there.
 
Well only watched MOTD last night and to sum it all up, Ramsdale makes some decent saves, but cannot be communicating with the back 3 as they were all over the place! The midfield, now where do I start!!I call him backpass Berge cos that’s where the majority of his passes go and about as much work in him as a junior aspirin! Sauntering about no urgency no penetrating forward passes and to be fair not a commanding presence for his stature! Waste of money and not good enough! Norwoods the man to build round without a doubt! Lundstram shocking and yer can tell he wants away! Upfront there’s no consistency with the pairing from Chris, he doesn’t put confidence in players chopping and changing! But the players up top must be so frustrated that balls aren’t coming in from the wings like they did last season with players f*ckin about with the ball instead of whipping Em in like we did last year! To top it all we’re 3 yards short of fitness all round! Get em fit Chris ffs before it’s too late pal!! 😳😳
 
Completely disagree on Berge. He has been outstanding for us this season, hence he has the highest player rating on the fans vote here. He is an excellent player and destined for the top. Not his best game last night along with the rest but he was hung out to dry by his fellow team mates who gave him no options.

jezw2014 said:
Well only watched MOTD last night and to sum it all up, Ramsdale makes some decent saves, but cannot be communicating with the back 3 as they were all over the place! The midfield, now where do I start!!I call him backpass Berge cos that’s where the majority of his passes go and about as much work in him as a junior aspirin! Sauntering about no urgency no penetrating forward passes and to be fair not a commanding presence for his stature! Waste of money and not good enough! Norwoods the man to build round without a doubt! Lundstram shocking and yer can tell he wants away! Upfront there’s no consistency with the pairing from Chris, he doesn’t put confidence in players chopping and changing! But the players up top must be so frustrated that balls aren’t coming in from the wings like they did last season with players f*ckin about with the ball instead of whipping Em in like we did last year! To top it all we’re 3 yards short of fitness all round! Get em fit Chris ffs before it’s too late pal!! 😳😳
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I think our recruitment has been so right hand focused they’ve forgotten about the gulf on the left. Bogle and Burke both playing down that side can offer us something different, but we’re already fine with options.

Our left is completely fucked, and teams know it. Ramsdale we criticise but his confidence is now probably rock bottom as he’s having multiple shots at him per game. The keeper is the LAST line of defence, so being exposed constantly it shouldn’t be a surprise that we’re conceding.

Stevens needs to be dropped, as he’s not had a decent game for a while imo. We look stronger with Amps as well, but obviously he couldn’t play last night.

It might sound stupid but our 1 point v Fulham is decent for survival, as we’re not shipping points to teams who will be around us.

Eight games in and we’ve played five of the standard too seven, Leeds and Villa won’t be down there and got a point against a struggler.

We’re in a battle though for sure and anything from the next two games are crucial now.
 
jezw2014 said:
Norwoods the man to build round without a doubt! Lundstram shocking and yer can tell he wants away! Upfront there’s no consistency with the pairing from Chris, he doesn’t put confidence in players chopping and changing!
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Jesus. Oliver Norwood was unceremoniously binned by two PL promoted sides and has had his chance with us. He is meant to have a sweet set of feet, yet has one goal for us at this level, a penalty. His style of play is predictable, he invariably tries to hit a now-not-advancing wingbacks (and fails) and is easily pressed and dispossessed. This doesn't happen in the Championship, simply because he is playing mainly against players of a lesser standard. Up in the Premiership, they deal with Oliver Norwood accordingly and basically remove him from the game. He was subbed last night and hasn't featured recently for a reason, and that reason is he is simply ineffectual in central defensive midfield and he cannot cross the ball, despite him being trusted with the duty.

I simply don't get this 'he was 'involved' nonsense. It's how effective he is as a player what counts. Every game I have seen him in, he's barely made 6/10.

So you say we should build the team round him?

pommpey
 
Gavlar said:
What is the solution then?
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Get rid of the "we cant compete with Liverpool, Chelsea & man city" attitude. Villa stuffed scouses cos they attacked them. West Brom scored 3 against Chelsea because they had a go, We wont win games till we change how we play. As much as i love Wilder, playing negative football mainly away from home like Warnock will end in tears. We have proved we can beat most with these players. If were going to go down lets do it fighting not playing boring footy in front of a nation shaking its head.
 
pommpey said:
Went for a run, late afternoon. 5.4km (this on 7.5km yesterday). Decent tea. Stella on, big fuckin' telly, 5.1 surround, expected a fucking pasting.

So it came to pass.

Now, bear with me. I still have a lot of faith in Wilder, but his comments recently about Playstation managers seem a bit hollow given tonight's pretty pathetic showing. If you play FIFA, as any fule no, if you go from season to season playing the same old shit expecting to beat Liverpool with 50% of the team you won the league two levels down with, unless you seriously make all your settings at 100% you'll get held face down and bummed mercilessly, especially if you make the wrong signings and play with eight defenders. So much for us dumb fucks who come on here and kae suggestions. Do we expect him to take any notice? Nope. Again, as I have said, if he is referencing S24SU messageboard for his strategy and not working this out with his team captain and staff, then we are definitely in trouble. What do we know?

I'll tell you what we do though. We watch games like tonight's end to end. We see Sheffield United come out of the traps and play 'passable' Premier League football for 22 minutes (I marked it) until Chelsea took it off us and didn't give it us back for the rest of the match. We'd already taken a shock lead by then - just like Liverpool - but almost seemed embarrassed and shocked to have done so, right the way up until normal service was restored and Chelsea gained possession and inevitably cancelled out our lead. From then on in, it was just a case of how much we would lose by, and it was in the end by a margin unmatched for what ... three seasons? Middlesbrough 3- 0 Blades? Basically it looked from that 22 minute mark like Wilder had called off all of our players and told the Chelsea development side to get the kit on for a kick about. We were out thought, out-tacticked, outclassed in every part of the pitch. And really, Chelsea aren't THAT great a side, though the three points we meekly gave them tonight makes them look so.

My previous comments stand about changing things. If tonight hasn't told Wilder what he already knows and we already know then if he stays with the same thing next week Sheffield United - and Chris Wilder - are in deep shit. We are a Premiership side, and given our last flaccid flirtation with this majestic position, we can't afford to let Bladey-Bladeness sentimentality stand in the way of us staying up, especially as pre lockdown, this very side was actually, audaciously thinking about a place in the European competitions. We all secretly feared what lay in wait for us when we went up, and today is that. INstead, last season seems now like some charitable, sympathetic gesture to little Sheffield United, with their little players, little fans and little stadium. G'wan. Let 'em beat Everton away. G'wan. Let 'em give a three goal shock lead away against Man U at home and scrape a draw from inevitable failure. The chickens certainly came home to roost after the COVID restart and save for some chin-strokingly baffling victories, we've been fucking glistening, slippery, chunky bobbar since.

Unless Wilder starts thinking about how he is to address this - and that means 'change' - he is sacked by Christmas. Another Bladey Blade victim who failed to propel us into the trophy cabinet. It's sad, because he is a fucking outstanding bloke. But his strategy and buying policy now is patently Championship. Anyone who denies this needs to account for tonight, where once again, we played a messy five at the back, three in front (as in two metres in front) and the front two might as well have had fucking COVID themselves and socially isolated. When we did deign to break out, our passing was disgracefully shit, we don't move into space to receive and any 'plans' we seem to either have worked out on the training ground or ad hoc on the pitch end up in two places - at an opposition player's feet on the attack or in the arms of a flailing Aaron Ramsdale.

We are all scratching our heads to find reasoning for all of this. Is it the crowds (or lack of them)? Well no. All 22 players are playing in the sterile environment where all they can hear is the manager or each other. Is it 'we have been found out'? Well, they had thirty odd matches last season to do that with a myriad of technology to analyze and strategize against what we had, yet we finished way up the table. So what has gone wrong?

For me - Wilder has lost the team. Since we went up we have made some breathtakingly stupid acquisitions (we're good at this) despite spunking about a hundred million bucks. yeah - I know comparing like for like that is chicken feed. But tonight we still don't field players who are - genuinely - English Premier League standard. Your Ramsdales, your Stavenses, Your Norwoods, your Lunstrams, your Lowes, and god-dammit, even Didsy. They are nowhere near the footballing quality required to compete at this level. Were we not saying that thirteen years ago when suddenly our marque striker bust his leg at tonight's stadium and committed our remaining players to score just six goals in the remaining nine games should show you how this story has been told before. Sure, we ahve spent a fuck load more than we did back then. But to me very nearly every signing has been misplaced, wrong and a simple waste of money

Tonight from back to front we were again, fucking rubbish. Our goal was a work of unintended genius, but you just knew that all that had done was put on arm in the cage and slapped the lion on the nose. You just knew that soon, the lion would tear off your arm and eat it in front of you.

Ramsdale is fucking rubbish. He made some saves, but given the result, he might as well have let the fuckers in for all they are worth right now. I have watched him in a number of games - Wolves, Villa, Liverpool, even Man City ... and he makes elaborate, demonstrative and simply crap flailings to get to the ball (and misses) or simply palms the effort, when he should - at this level - be making clear efforts to control the ball and smother the energy. Fuck, if I can learn that in my Level 2 Coaching course, why the fuck is he not doing this? He keeps saying 'I am not Dean Henderson' and fuck me don't we know it. Henderson not only would have saved a lot he hasn't, but in my opinion was a big percentage of our success last season, giving us possibly twelve points with his stops and quite outstanding athleticism. We should have bought him. There, I have said it. £18m and £23m spent on Ramsdale and Brewster is £41m, and that would have been a big temptation for OGS to offload him. And by my reckoning with him in the net, we'd be at least five points better off this season. Disagree?

The central three need a revamp. We need a JOC replacement, and fast. Enda is now stage 4 terminal (to us and unpleasant term, apologies if anyone is offended) and is a weak point in any opposition attacking strategy. Tonight, and in past games like Arsenal, he's just not sharp enough or has the DNA to be a central defender. He's left footed. Cool. But he can't do the centre back stuff and fails to watch, move, mark, intercept and track effectively. In the Championship, tonning it up and down that left touchline and making mischief with Fleck and O'Connell he was mint. But now he is - as I have said before - way out of his depth. Egan seems lost without his wingman too. We all know what a fucking sound centreback he is. but we have Egan second guessing Stevens and also have Lowe having to come narrow and drop to cover for a clearly unhappy Stevens too. It's a fucking mess.

In front of that we have the hapless, ailing Lundstram, who is seemingly leading a charmed existence of being un-droppable. Given there are two factors in that - firstly he is playing dreadfully and secondly he doesn't want to be at Sheffield United and has his dummy cocked and loaded, I am wondering what the flying fuck Wilder is doing having him in the starting eleven, if he has no position to fight for. It must piss the rest of the player who can play in that position off, big-style. Tonight he was fucking wank. All three out on that flank were playing like they have never kicked a ball to each other in training, and it makes me wonder what the fuck Wilder and Knill do with these lot at Shirecliffe. We see some moderately impressive footage of them doing grid sprints and lifting weights. I'd like to know what the fuck they do to make these three - Stevens, Lowe and Lundstram - pass and move and shift up the wing, because at the moment, they are wank.

Over the other side, the three B's seems to have something. Basham as ever gives it his best 'Ahm ernly doin' me fukkan job, pet' act which again is pleasing, because he seems to be the only one in red and white who gets it. But there used to be a song back in the day:

"At number one, there's Jamie Ward ... at number two, is jamie Ward ... " et al until we reached eleven and finished it off with "We all play for a team of Jamie Wards, a team of Jamie Wards .. " etc.

Bash fits that description. I even think he'd be better in the sticks than Ramsdale. At least he'd give it a go and convince us he was doing his level best anyway. But tonight, he, the mercurial and fucking frustrated Berge and goold old stroppy George made a decent shift of traying at least to find each other and string more than one pass and another pass ... oh shit, we've lost it again. Berge picking up a yellow for shirting Kante was the summit of his pissed-offness. He picked the ball up in the central defending midfield role and looked up ... no one but Lundstram some twenty metres away seemed interested in receiving it. The clear signal from him was 'C'mon Lunny. Come to me closer, close the gap so I don't have to telegraph this pass.' Lunny just stayed. Berge passed it. It was cut out and Chelsea went on the attack.

We started with my mate Olive in midfield defence too. I hope tonight shows everyone how he is completely unsuitable for this side or the Premier League, in fact. four corners in the first half, two of the fuckers hit the first man on the near post. When his replacement came on and took them, Osborn sent in curving, lofted but well-placed crosses which had Chelsea actually defending. Well, two of them anyway. The next one was taken short and ended up back in Ramsdale's shakey hands. But Norwood has one role, run across the park and point behind him. When he tackles, it is Montgomeryesque. On the opposite side tonight was N'Golo Kante, a diminutive little battle warrior who mixes it up, cuts out passing lanes, dispossesses, anticipates and shows his Premier League capability. If you want passing too, they had the fucking mercurial Ziyech, finding people with passes, like Timo Werner and playing in the runners. Still think Norwood is PL class?

And now up front. Wilder tonight chose to play a freebie veteran, who'd struggled to hit the net last season and a rookie acquisition, who just happens to be our record signing yet hasn't played much Premier League football. Didsy is a smashing feller, but he's way under the standard needed to put the opposition under pressure, despite his fortuitous goal. He was just bustled off the ball tonight or spent much of the time running across the pitch trying to intercept passing lanes that three players would find hard to do so. Poor fucker. Next to him is Brewster who must be fucking kicking himself now he allowed Klopp to finally convince him 'dis vould be a grit career moof for jou". he had five (count em) touches in the fist half, which really is the story of his evening. As much as people bellyache, he's possibly got capability, if some bastard would take a chance, look up and put him through. Tonight, nothing, as ever. Nothing also for his substitute either but let's face it, buying players from Swansea area who appear to have summat about them seems to be a failing these for us. McBurnie needs also to stop the fucking Herdings Park Sheffield and Hallamshire Sunday League Division Three stuff now. It doesn't impress anyone 'leaving your foot in/mark on a player' and when you are also not scoring at all, makes you look even more of a cunt. When he came on I thought, 'watch this. He'll get a free header in front on their goal, and simply fifty-pee it wide or into the keeper's arms' Thankfully he never made it into their box, I don't think but made a desperate effort to reach Thiago once he'd bumped his marker (Stevens) off for his predictable goal. In fact, he was more active in defence than in attack. Maybe a JOC replacement? At the moment, I'll take owt.

The subs, as said, were ineffective. Where the fuck is Burke, a player who has pace, vision and raw direction? Where is Bogle? Would Freeman, bought back, make any difference? I dunno.

Anyway, marks out of ten

Ramsdale 4/10: He had a great season stopping Bournemouth shipping more goals in their desperate attempt to stay up. If we get relegated this season however, I can't seem another PL club looking to take Ramsdale off us given he was the goalkeeper to two sides, consecutively relegated. He needs to consider this. So do we. Tonight, he was piss poor.
Lowe 3/10: Rabbit in the headlights. I think it has finally hit him tonight the gulf in class between Lampard's old club and his new one. He was also shit with their second goal.
Stevens 2/10: I don't want to comment further
Egan 5/10; A passable showing, but as the man bossing te box these days, those arcing crosses need a shout and co-ordination. Tonight we were all over the fucking place, and he was on his heels for Werner's goal.
Basham 6/10: Best player for us. He is seemingly fearless, but was let down by some shit decisions around him.
Baldock 5/10: Stroppy George was largely pinned back (as usual these days) although the goal we managed to shock the world with was due to his one deft run and ball to Berge
Lundstram 3/10: An evening of effectively playing on his own. I thought he was a waste of a shirt tonight and did nothing to bring anything to the game. If he is shop windowing himself, then he looks ever more like the Oxford United player he once was, and still is
Norwood 4/10: Said all I need to
Berge 7/10: What? Seven out of ten? Are you fucking kidding pommpey? He was fucking SHIT! Comparitively, Berge was a giant amongst footballing pygmies tonight. If Lundstram was playing one game on his own, Berge was trying to play the rest of the midfield's game. He's still trying to impose but fuck me the frustration he must feel.
McGoldrick 4/10: Great, deft goal, but for the rest of the game, no service. Tried his best, but he's past it. With him we have no danger.
Brewster 3/10: Nuffsaid.

Wilder 2/10: You are seriously running out of time, games and options. Sheffield United is a Premier League club, has a large public profile, our stock is up, investments made both on and off the pitch and we have an owner who is less interested in coralling his wagons around a Bigger Blade Than Me campfire more so making us a money making, highly regarded Premier League asset, rather than a relegation liability. He's proved that my giving you cash to fulfill your vision. But that vision is failing. You need to rethink, re-energise and rebuild and get us the fuck off our knees and up that table, even if it is seventeenth. If we go on as we are, losing game after game after game, you'll be sacked by Christmas. And you know it.

We expect more. Start fucking winning.

pommpey
Click to expand...

TLDR.
 
SouthStandGBlock said:
For once I agree with you.

I'd have gone for the experienced Foster at Watford rather than Ramsdale, whose starting to look more of a problem than a solution.

I'm a massive Wilder fan, but, with the exception of Berge, his signings since we have got to the PL haven't worked. There's time yet of course, but with 1 point out of the last 33, I'm afraid that he's running out of time, as owners tend to not share the sentimentality supporters do. If we don't get 4 points out of the next 2 games I fear for him.
Click to expand...

If you look at it objectively, even Berge hasn’t really worked. Yes, he looks like he’ll be an outstanding player, but I don’t know if he is or was what we needed. At the time we signed him, the team, and Lundstram were on fire, looking good. JL7 may even have been our leading scorer at the time (but correct me if I’m wrong). Then, we sign Berge, drop Lundstram (and probably piss him off, kicking off all this contract refusal situation) and unbalance the team. Would we have been better keeping the £23million or whatever it was and using it towards signing Henderson at the time, before we increased his value even further for Man U, or signing somebody we actually needed?

Berge will be an excellent player, I don’t doubt that for one minute, but he doesn’t really have a home in our system and signing him didn’t improve us. If anything it had the opposite effect.
 
Latters said:
If you look at it objectively, even Berge hasn’t really worked. Yes, he looks like he’ll be an outstanding player, but I don’t know if he is or was what we needed. At the time we signed him, the team, and Lundstram were on fire, looking good. JL7 may even have been our leading scorer at the time (but correct me if I’m wrong). Then, we sign Berge, drop Lundstram (and probably piss him off, kicking off all this contract refusal situation) and unbalance the team. Would we have been better keeping the £23million or whatever it was and using it towards signing Henderson at the time, before we increased his value even further for Man U, or signing somebody we actually needed?

Berge will be an excellent player, I don’t doubt that for one minute, but he doesn’t really have a home in our system and signing him didn’t improve us. If anything it had the opposite effect.
Click to expand...

As an addition to the above, I’m not saying he can never fit into our team, just that the signing unsettled us and he doesn’t fit the current or contemporary set up. We could alter the system and build a team around him. It couldn’t produce worse results than we’re getting currently. We can change the system so he fits, or sell him and invest in players that complement the system. We’ve signed so many players lately that “don’t fit the system”. Either change the system, or change the type of players we are signing.
 
Not sure what we do now, to be honest.

If my memory is correct, this is all uncharted waters for Chris Wilder, longest bad run he has been on, never been relegated (?), never been sacked, never had a season where he finished lower than the previous season, etc. He must be wracking his brains to work out what has gone wrong and what we do to fix it.

Our defence was solid last season, but the loss of one player, JOC, seems to have caused this to cave in.

We don't have a strong squad, we don't have a rapid, creative playmaker, we don't have much pace in the side and we don't have any consistent goal scorers.

I think The Prince will stick by CW, he said as much when we were first promoted to the Premier League, about if we come back down, he wants Wilder at the helm. However, he did say something along the lines of us needing to be in the Premier League, for the money that comes with it, to afford him to buy the ground from McCabe.

One of my work colleagues is a Sunderland supporter and he keeps reminding me of the succession of seasons where they seemed dead and buried, and avoided the drop on, or around, the last game of the season. Eventually they fell, of course, but his sentiment is that it can be done.

Tough time to be a Blade, but as I keep telling myself, Villa survived in the last 10 minutes of the final game, so there is hope.
 
Latters said:
If you look at it objectively, even Berge hasn’t really worked. Yes, he looks like he’ll be an outstanding player, but I don’t know if he is or was what we needed. At the time we signed him, the team, and Lundstram were on fire, looking good. JL7 may even have been our leading scorer at the time (but correct me if I’m wrong). Then, we sign Berge, drop Lundstram (and probably piss him off, kicking off all this contract refusal situation) and unbalance the team. Would we have been better keeping the £23million or whatever it was and using it towards signing Henderson at the time, before we increased his value even further for Man U, or signing somebody we actually needed?

Berge will be an excellent player, I don’t doubt that for one minute, but he doesn’t really have a home in our system and signing him didn’t improve us. If anything it had the opposite effect.
Click to expand...

Its interesting the Berge one and a long way down the list of issues - 95% of our fan base seem to be saying he is fantastic and too good for us almost. He has been one of our better players but that is not saying much. Yesterday was another game that passed him by completely and he never got on the ball or got us up the pitch by dribbling/passing. I think he is a nice footballer and may go onto be very good but not seeing this brilliant player others are seeing on the games I am watching. I see masses of potential but if he was that good he'd be improving us or really stamping his authority on games. Yesterday and against City I felt his second half performances were really poor but gets lost in all the narrative on Ramsdale, Lowe, Lundstram and all the others.

Yes there are so many more issues than Berge but he has not improved us and not sure he fits in the system we play and CW is not going to change it.

I am sure many will get criticise this opinion and maybe I have been harsh on the lad (considering he still has been better than most of the rest) but for a team bottom of the league if the lad was that good would he not be affecting games much more than he did? I have seen Norwood and Lundstram slammed for our midfield barely having a kick yesterday but Norwood went off on the hour and not sure other than pulling his man back that Berge did anything 2nd half.
 
Deadbat said:
Its interesting the Berge one and a long way down the list of issues - 95% of our fan base seem to be saying he is fantastic and too good for us almost. He has been one of our better players but that is not saying much. Yesterday was another game that passed him by completely and he never got on the ball or got us up the pitch by dribbling/passing. I think he is a nice footballer and may go onto be very good but not seeing this brilliant player others are seeing on the games I am watching. I see masses of potential but if he was that good he'd be improving us or really stamping his authority on games. Yesterday and against City I felt his second half performances were really poor but gets lost in all the narrative on Ramsdale, Lowe, Lundstram and all the others.

Yes there are so many more issues than Berge but he has not improved us and not sure he fits in the system we play and CW is not going to change it.

I am sure many will get criticise this opinion and maybe I have been harsh on the lad (considering he still has been better than most of the rest) but for a team bottom of the league if the lad was that good would he not be affecting games much more than he did? I have seen Norwood and Lundstram slammed for our midfield barely having a kick yesterday but Norwood went off on the hour and not sure other than pulling his man back that Berge did anything 2nd half.
Click to expand...

You won’t get any criticism from me for it. Currently he is a tidy footballer and one of very few we have who can carry the ball past a player, but he needs to work on his end product; be that goals, assists or genuine chance creation.

My gripe isn’t with him as a player, and we have bigger issues to look at, but, with a few exceptions granted, the team’s performances on the whole do seem to have deteriorated since his signing, regardless of how well or otherwise he is performing individually.
 

Oh and the first goal yesterday, much as I love him, Bash has to hold his hand up. Watch it again in slow motion, the ball is heading for his head, and I know that the natural inclination is to shut your eyes as something approaches your face, but he also lowers his head, which is probably the first time Ramsdale can actually see the ball, and it's too late at that point. The fact that we didn't have anyone stood in front of Abraham is terrible as well, of all the players to leave unmarked.

Even with his eyes shut, if Bash doesn't lower his head, the ball hits him, and gives us a chance to clear.

Second goal, terrible defending. Third goal, terrible defending.
 
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