My take ...

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pommpey

THE FUTURE ... AS IT USED TO BE
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Well, that was a great evening, wasn't it?

All those fans, in BDTBL, and the loudest rendition of GCB I have ever heard, and still we are seriously sub optimal, with several tens of millions of pounds of players on the teamsheet. If anything it was confirmation of my previous posts that if we play as we have, we'll get what we get. We consistently failed to get chances on goal, we faffed endlessly realigning across the back with the ball, we gave the ball to Norwood to pump it diagonal into 'nothing' and we failed to get a single effective shot the keeper had to save. Tell me, my detractors. What has changed since last season? Oh yes, we ditched our errant midfield turd and we obtained a new manager, who must be in the dressing room as I speak glowering menacingly at certain players who simply didn't fucking deliver tonight. I don't really want to hear 'it's early days' and 'we shoulda had penalties'. They are excuses, not reasons a developing, pretty average Birmingham City beat us tonight. What they did do is watch last seasons videos and plan accordingly. Be patient, allow us possession and close down options. It's not fucking rocket science to beat Sheffield United now, today, as we speak. Just press the player in possession, make them track back, push them to a game of pissing about across the pitch and the game is won. The only outlet for us is, and was tonight, the hollywood diagonal for runner or the rare speculative Baldock break through. All distanced shots were piss poor, no one gambled on the ball across the box. We were there to be beaten tonight. Once we had the fist chin shot, we were staggering about the ring swinging at fresh air.

Okay, small flashes of capability show. Berge and McGoldrick vie for a begrudging man of the match for us but that doesn't cover for the rest of the team who look disorganised and clueless. There's no meaningful movement, balls forward are predictably speculative and when we look like advancing and threatening, the end result is laughably shit. To have a fairly full BDTBL silenced and out sung by the BLLT is shameful, but I can't blame Unitedites for any of that. The team played fucking crap tonight - almost Adkins-level crap - and the fans pouring out at the end was understandable.

We are on zero points now, joint bottom with many other teams. On paper, we should have beaten Birmingham tonight but on grass we were really found wanting. Slav needs to get his scalpel out and cut the malignancy out of the team, get some quality in to get our momentum going. Leaving Basham out was a critical mistake, and having a limited pre-season is a shit excuse.

Ramsdale 5/10: He didn't have much to do, however his positioning for Colin's header and his feet and dive was characteristically shit
Baldock 5/10: Looks like he's struggling a bit and Chong was giving him a reyt run out.
Egan 5/10: Again, doing the centrebacking all on his own. However he doesn't look sharp. Good block early doors
Robinson: 3/10: I have no idea why Slav is playing him, apart from he has a left foot he can apparently use. He looked decidedly vulnerable tonight against Hogan and Jutkewitz
Osborn 4/10: Not a great match for him. Yep, he thrashes about and gets stuck in., but the outcome is mostly poor. Good cross at the end which everyone fucking missed, sadly but that was it really. Like Baldock, loads of goes forward, drags it back horseshit. Can't shoot at goal for toffee. What the fuck he was doing for their goal was anyone's guess
Berge 6/10: There are vast holes in that ninety minutes where you possibly think Berge has fucked off for a shit, and is sat looking at TikTok in trap four in the changing room. Then he's finished, pulls up his shorts, comes back on and gets on the ball and because no one is available he drops a shoulder and ghosts past two opposition players and is moving forward purposefully eventually into a brick wall or has to haul it back and give it to ...
Norwood 2/10: Look. You know what I am going to say. I have said it enough times but what I will say is this: Sheffield United won't progress with this dickhead in the side. He gets his two, and only just two, for his speculative kick at goal and a couple of long balls which went near our players a couple of times.
Fleck 3/10: I did hope John was playing tonight and certainly he made that great tackle in the first half. But the second half he was anonymous. When we signed him from Coventry we were all 'Oh, who the fuck is this? Even some of their supporters say he's shit!' Well, he's going back there, PDQ. Please tell me we don't have to look hard for the glimmers of what we once saw two long seasons ago.
Burke 3/10: Cor, can he run! Shit, can he not play football. He gets his three for the post hit, which if anything was possibly a miskick.
McGoldrick 6/10: Again, the only player who seems to get 'football' out there and try his best to create, harass and do something positive to appear like we might have a plan
Mousset 1/10: Injured again. As the commentators say, has never finished 90 minutes in his time in the UK and didn't disappoint. Anyone who said 'he's up for it' needs to gargle Fairy Liquid

Brewster 4/10: and early foray forward which got me out of my seat and then ... business as usual. Static, in the wrong place and for a striker, incredibly unclinical
Sharp unmarked. No chance to have an effect
McBurnie unmarked, but for fuck's sake man, get and stay in the box. Mixing it up outside just lets the players you should be terrorising off the hook

Birmingham had a fairly bruise-free encounter tonight and yes, their chants of 'Premier League, you're having a laugh' should ring in our players ears, We were playing PL football a short time ago and they are still on big paying contracts. It is inexcusable for anyone to defend tonight's match with bullshit smelling like 'no preseason', 'early days for Slav' and 'the ref was a cunt'. We played predictable, beatable football again under a new manager. The players who can't play any other way should be shipped out and we need Slav to shape a side who first of all has something different that doesn't involve Norwood's limited talents and secondly has the strikers punishing defences and executing their chances.

I expected a win tonight, and so did everyone else. Continue with this shite and we are in trouble. Next kick off I expect to see a lot of changes, both in system and style and also the players. Leaving Basham out for example - our only player who doesn't stop and go backwards when an opposition player fronts up and can beat a player with pace and skill like Berge can (when he's arsed) is a fucking crime.

pommpey
 
Last edited:

Well, that was a great evening, wasn't it?

All those fans, in BDTBL, and the loudest rendition of GCB I have ever heard, and still we are seriously sub optimal, with several tens of millions of pounds of players on the teamsheet. If anything it was confirmation of my previous posts that if we play as we have, we'll get what we get. We consistently failed to get chances on goal, we faffed endlessly realigning across the back with the ball, we gave the ball to Norwood to pump it diagonal into 'nothing' and we failed to get a single effective shot the keeper had to save. Tell me, my detractors. What has changed since last season? Oh yes, we ditched our errant midfield turd and we obtained a new manager, who must be in the dressing room as I speak glowering menacingly at certain players who simply didn't fucking deliver tonight. I don't really want to hear 'it's early days' and 'we shoulda had penalties'. They are excuses, not reasons a developing, pretty average Birmingham City beat us tonight. What they did do is watch last seasons videos and plan accordingly. Be patient, allow us possession and close down options. It's not fucking rocket science to beat Sheffield United now, today, as we speak. Just press the player in possession, make them track back, push them to a game of pissing about across the pitch and the game is won. The only outlet for us is, and was tonight, the hollywood diagonal for runner or the rare speculative Baldock break through. All distanced shots were piss poor, no one gambled on the ball across the box. We were there to be beaten tonight. Once we had the fist chin shot, we were staggering about the ring swinging at fresh air.

Okay, small flashes of capability show. Berge and McGoldrick vie for a begrudging man of the match for us but that doesn't cover for the rest of the team who look disorganised and clueless. There's no meaningful movement, balls forward are predictably speculative and when we look like advancing and threatening, the end result is laughably shit. To have a fairy full BDTBL silenced and out sung by the BLLT is shameful, but I can't blame Unitedites for any of that. The team played fucking crap tonight - almost Adkins-level crap - and the fans pouring out at the end was understandable.

We are on zero points now, joint bottom with many other teams. On paper, we should have beaten Birmingham tonight but on grass we were really found wanting. Slav needs to get his scalpel out and cut the malignancy out of the team, get some quality in to get our momentum going. Leaving Basham out was a critical mistake, and having a limited pre-season is a shit excuse.

Ramsdale 5/10: He didn't have much to do, however his positioning for Colin's header and his feet and dive was characteristically shit
Baldock 5/10: Looks like he's struggling a bit and Chong was giving him a reyt run out.
Egan 5/10: Again, doing the centrebacking all on his own. However he doesn't look sharp.Good block early doors
Robinson: 3/10: I have no idea why Slav is playing him, apart from he has a left foot he can apparently use. He looked decidedly vulnerable tonight against Hogan and Jutkewitz
Osborn 4/10: Not a great match for him. Yep, he thrashes about and gets stuck in., but the outcome is mostly poor. Good cross at the end which everyone fucking missed, sadly but that was it really. Like Baldock, loads of goes forward, drags it back horseshit. Can't shoot at goal for toffee. What the fuck he was doing for their goal was anyone's guess
Berge 6/10: There are vast holes in that ninety minutes where yo possibly think Berge has fucked off for a shit, and is sat looking at TikTok in trap four in the changing room. Then he's finished, pulls up his shorts, comes back on and gets on the ball and because no one is available he drops a shoulder and ghosts past two opposition players and is moving forward purposefully eventually into a brick wall or has to haul it back and give it to ...
Norwood 2/10: Look. You know what I am going to say. I have said it enough times but what I will say is this: Sheffield United won't progress with this dickhead in the side. He gets his two, and only just two, for his speculative kick at goal and a couple of long balls which went near our players a couple of times.
Fleck 3/10: I did hope John was playing tonight and certainly he made that great tackle in the first half. But the second half he was anonymous. When we signed him from Coventry we were all 'Oh, who the fuck is this? Even some of their supporters say he's shit!' Well, he's going back there, PDQ. Please tell me we don't have to look hard for the glimmers of what we once saw two long seasons ago.
Burke 3/10: Cor, can he run! Shit, can he not play football. He gets his three for the post hit, which if anything was possibly a miskick.
McGoldrick 6/10: Again, the only player who seems to get 'football' out there and try his best to create, harass and do something positive to appear like we might have a plan
Mousset 1/10: Injured again. As the commentators say, has never finished 90 minutes in his time in the UK and didn't disappoint. Anyone who said 'he's up for it' needs to gargle Fairy Liquid

Brewster 4/10: and early foray forward which got me out of my seat and then ... business as usual. Static, in the wrong place and for a striker, incredibly unclinical
Sharp unmarked. No chance to have an effect
McBurnie unmarked, but for fuck's sake man, get and stay in the box. Mixing it up outside just lets the players you should be terrorising off the hook

Birmingham had a fairly bruise-free encounter tonight and yes, their chants of 'Premier League, you're having a laugh' should ring in our players ears, We were playing PL football a short time ago and they are on big paying contracts. It is inexcusable for anyone to defend tonight's match with bullshit smelling like 'no preseason', 'early days for Slav' and 'the ref was a cunt'. We played predictable, beatable football again under a new manager. The players who can't play any other way should be shipped out and we need Slav to shape a side who first of all has something different that doesn't involve Norwood's limited talents and secondly has the strikers punishing defences and executing their chances.

I expected a win tonight, and so dis everyone else. Continue with this she and we are in trouble. Next kick off I expect to see a lot of changes, both in system and style and also the players. Leaving Basham out for example - our only player who doesn't stop and go backwards when an opposition player fronts up and can beat a player with pace and skill like Berge can (when he's arsed) is a fucking crime.

pommpey
4 out of 10 for brewster is a generous, remember he's a striker he should try and score goals not hide in midfield
 
Gave you grief on the last one, agree with this one.

Burke was possibly better than 3/10 but you’re right he just runs really fast. Moose did quite well first half, but he’s just a waste of time fitness wise.

Brewster worries me, he’s consistently 5-6/10. If he’d of not lost his composure when he came on and went on his run we could have seen a different player.

Back four looked very vulnerable, we need a LCB like we have for a year quickly
 
Good to see a return of C3/10PO.

Fair marks across the board, it was a poor performance and there’s not much consolation.

I do however think it is valid to say ‘it’s early days’ because i) it is and ii) we’ve had a pre season consisting of a game against a pub side from Gibraltar and a Donny side with about 17 trialists in it
 
Fleck seems to have lost it completely. A shadow of the player he once was. It's a shame but we can't carry players who are not up to it. Evolution not revolution? Not sure now after that. Looks like major surgery needed. If Arsenal want to give us £32 million for Ramsdale take it and give Slav some funds to improve the side. If it comes to losing one of either Berge or Rammers I'd rather keep Berge.
 

Same old same old
75 per cent possession umpteen chances .no goal scorer

Burke is an anathema....anafoma.... anathema....a conundrum
Has pace and power but zero control or touch
We need new blood upfront
The current blood has congealed
 
Been waiting in trepidation for this 'MyTake' as thought I might get done for not singing loud enough but broadly agree for the most part.

Was I seeing things or did Berge have 'Arsenal come and get me' on his stripeless back? McGoldrick was industrious as usual but as an opener it was all a bit magnolia for my taste.

Onwards and upwards though.
 
Can’t really argue with any of that. I’d have summarised as “pretty fucking shit really”.

Osborn looked like a kid who’d won a raffle to play football for 90 mins.

Robinson was atrocious, if you’re not going to win the first ball, drop off and win the 2nd.

Norwood was predictable and shit himself when pressed.

Mousset needs to get fucked off and play in the French 3rd division where being an overweight waster who is perennially injured is tolerated.

Burke is crap at football

Didsy should have taken the game by the scruff of the neck but didn’t bother until there were 10 mins left.

Berge is the weakest big player I’ve ever witnessed and may as well get out of the box when we’re defending aerially so people don’t confuse him for someone who might actually head the ball. Some glimpses going forward where he can carry the ball but then got fouled or fell over.

Egan, on his own at the back.

Baldock, didn’t do much going either way.

Ramsdale, dived when the ball was past him.

3 strikers brought on, only McBurnie looked to get involved in the game.

Pretty shit and uninspiring start for a new manager who talks about ‘aggressivity’ a lot. We showed fuck all tonight and got what we deserved.
 
Many odd things about tonight's performance, my top 3 .....1.Fleck playing on the right of midfield. 2. McGoldrick playing on the left of midfield, 3. Our 6ft6 Norwegian brick shithouse midfielder loitering for a short corner at bramall lane end? Even if he's scared of heading it at least stand in the bastard box and give a brum something to worry about. Other things which seemed to upset me at the time which now seem trivial were... why can't ball boys/girls get the ball anymore? Is this a new rule that you must be as useless at your job as Moussets fitness and conditioning coach, and since when did refs start drawing lines for throw ins?
 
Ref didn't help. Refused us 2 penalties. We'd have won it 2 1 so the ref is definitely to blame. Some of our lads worked really hard in that rain.
Can’t tell if this is a serious post. The one on Berge wasn’t a pen, he was weak as piss, didn’t see the handball but looked a weird angle to have got anything other than his hands on it.
 
T’was very shit. Agree with most of it.

Only gripe is calling the bloke a dickhead, totally needless. Takes one to know one I guess.

If that is the only detail you can comment on, then the compliment is returned.

pommpey
 

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