My take ...

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pommpey

THE FUTURE ... AS IT USED TO BE
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Watched the game on a bit of a delay. Managed to get my 'puter linked up with SUFCTV to my big telly and the picture was okay TBH. It certainly showed the fucking awful weather this afternoon (I was out at a family event and also got caught in it also so massive props to the travelling Blades today)

We didn't deserve to come away from that empty handed. But then again, we did. It was a classic 'get fuck all when three points was an option' with an appalling refereeing decision followed by us simply shutting off defensively. All afternoon we'd looked liable to fuck it up at the back and eventually we did. I feel United did however make the table toppers look undeserved of their position and have to fight hard to gain and keep the win. But that means fuck all, does it? We still fucking lost and I don't doubt there a shitload of cold, drenched fans arriving home now feeling robbed.

Again, it seems like Slav is using this beginning to Christmas period as an experimental phase, more like a protracted pre-season. He started with the same beaten, sickly looking lineup that we saw midweek get rolled over by Boro. I was expecting him to finally begin the process of dragging Fleck and Norwood out to the field at the back to be put down and put Hourihane and Guardiora in to add strength and get them used to the system. They were the ineffective nucleus on Tuesday, but to be completely fair to them today they were somewhat better, if not 'performance standard'. Small margins and all that. Outside of that however we still have a raft of Wilder remnants who, no matter how much flushing, still bob back up. Sew that in with our complete inability to play to our strengths - Ndaiye and MGW sat in the AM channels and get them running at aged players like Cahill. But no. It's still geared toward getting it out wide and every team knows this now. Splice that with players now either struggling or losing form and we are very easy to turn over and counter. Again, some gobsmackingly poor ball-to-feet passing always gives the opposition the opportunity to get ahead and we do tend to get isolated and dispossessed alarmingly regularly.

But there were upsides. I think we deserved to go in level at HT, even though deep down many thought we'd be buried by that time. In truth, Billy should have had us one up. I think apart from the rather typically Blades suicide moments which had us go from 1-0 to 1-2 the last fifteen were spirited, if not ineffective and Bournemouth were clearly shitting themselves we'd steal two points off them. The substitutes did have some effect, but y'know ... huff ... and puff ... and the house still stands.

International break now, and we do so well from those, don't we? I think we need to really strive now to change the fucking approach and tactics ... and finally kill off the habit-forming of getting stuck out in the crossing zone and simply giving the impetus away. We also (by my eye) need to work on players 'showing' for the man in possession if it is not moving forward into space, then it's coming toward the player to receive and give. We tend to rely on hopefuls pumped up the pitch at times, and we don't read each other well enough for that. Take the initiative and carry up the centre of thee park and threaten, for fucks sake. Fleetingly we did that today and Bournemouth were back pedalling. And finally ... please stop this insane 'play it out from the goalkeeper' tactic which simply puts us under so much fucking pressure. United don't have the skill to pass it out from their back third and I'd rather see it booted long into their half with Billy and the three behind him contending for a touch or a mistake or a second ball than us bogged down in their crossing zone with opposition players closing us down.

Olsen 5/10: Like many others, not entirely convinced so far. I however don't think we have better options and that includes Ramsdale if he'd stayed. Good save from the free kick but his central defenders are now showing worrying susceptibility
Baldock 5/10: Didn't finish his 150th game, and it wasn't a glorious one anyway. He does tend to not be at the races at times and is quite easily bypassed or beaten in this new role which you can see he hates.
Egan 4.5/10: Not a great game from him. Although he put in some acceptable headers and challenges, he was all at sea for their first and static for the second
Davies 5/10: A few games in now and he's not really improving or showing 'Liverpool' levels of centre-backness that I'd expect to see. Not saying I want C3PO back ... but I wasn't over awed by how he positionally conducts himself and his vision is still iffy at times
Stevens 3.5/10: Old Enda is back. He's lost that impressive drive and capability of three seasons ago and suffers badly now at the hands of tricky, fast players who skip past him either in possession or as decoys. His tackle was outside the box and to me was not a red card either. He is more a LB than George is a RB, and keeps his position more effectively but that isn't saying much
Norwood 4.5/10: A better performance from him although he is still piss weak as a Defensive Midfielder. Some 'okay' crosses and passes, but again, opposition midfields just go through him now rather than round him.
Fleck 5/10: Late on gets him the extra point rather than 4/10, as I thought he'd woke himself up and looked like he wanted it, pressing forward and making Bournemouth work a bit to keep us out
Osborn 7/10: Yeah, I know. a 'high mark'. But fuck me he works damned hard and seemed to be the only one of our players making their players graft to stop him have some effect
Gibbs-White 6.5/10: Well taken and deserved goal. He has buckets of talent this kid but we fail to exploit it by playing it to him to run at their defence or giving him the ball to have a go on goal. When this happened today, we went one up.
Ndaiye 5.5/10: Not really a great day for him, more due to the fact he was fetching and carrying and not give the ball to get past opposition defenders
Sharp 5/10: Another frustrating day for him, firstly with a sitter he usually buries and then from the fact he is isolated too many times and can't be found whilst our lot tap it about in the crossing zone

Basham 5/10: Some flourishes, and out of position at RB, but he is still a great professional and involved himself more than Baldock did
McBurnie 5/10: A good outing for him. Unlucky with his 'header' and scissor-kick and no shithousingto be seen, which was pleasing
Moussett 5/10: Drops half a point for his WBA-esque half-a-yard-out sitter fuck up. Looks at least 10-15kg overweight, but worked hard to win it and close down in the late stages

Overall, I am disappointed but pleased with the better performance and also with the fact that we weren't held down and mercilessly sodomised. After watching us just give up against Boro, I feared the worst, especially in the grim conditions.

Full marks to the travelling support.

pommpey
 
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Watched the game on a bit of a delay. Managed to get my 'puter linked up with SUFCTV to my big telly and the picture was okay TBH. It certainly showed the fucking awful weather this afternoon (I was out at a family event and got caught in it also so massive props to the travelling Blades today)

We didn't deserve to come away from that empty handed. But then again, we did. It was a classic 'get fuck all when three points was an option' with an appalling refereeing decision followed by us simply shutting off defensively. All afternoon we'd looked liable to fuck it up at the back and eventually we did. I feel United did however make the table toppers look undeserved of their position and have to fight hard to gain and keep the win. But that means fuck all, does it? We still fucking lost and I don't doubt there a shitload of cold, drenched fans arriving home now feeling robbed.

Again, it seems like Slav is using this beginning to Christmas period as an experimental phase, more like a protracted pre-season. He started with the same beaten, sickly looking lineup that we saw midweek get rolled over by Boro. I was expecting him to finally begin the process of dragging Fleck and Norwood out to the field at the back to be put down and put Hourihane and Guardiora in to add strength and get them used to the system. They were the ineffective nucleus on Tuesday, but to be completely fair to them today they were somewhat better, if not 'performance standard'. Small margins and all that. Outside of that however we still have a raft of Wilder remnants who, no matter how much flushing, still bob back up. Sew that in with our complete inability to play to our strengths - Ndaiye and MGW sat in the AM channels and get them running at aged players like Cahill. But no. It's still geared toward getting it out wide and every team knows this now. Splice that with players now either struggling or losing form and we are very easy to turn over and counter. Again, some gobsmackingly poor ball-to-feet passing always gives the opposition the opportunity to get ahead and we do tend to get isolated and dispossessed alarmingly regularly.

But there were upsides. I think we deserved to go in level at HT, even though deep down many thought we'd be buried by that time. In truth, Billy should have had us one up. I think apart from the rather typically Blades suicide moments which had us go from 1-0 to 1-2 the last fifteen were spirited, if not ineffective and Bournemouth were clearly shitting themselves we'd steal two points off them. The substitutes did have some effect, but y'know ... huff ... and puff ... and the house still stands.

International break now, and we do so well from those, don't we? I think we need to really strive now to change the fucking approach and tactics ... and finally kill off the habit-forming of getting stuck out in the crossing zone and simply giving the impetus away. We also (by my eye) need to work on players 'showing' for the man in possession if it is not moving forward into space, then it's coming toward the player to receive and give. We tend to rely on hopefuls pumped up the pitch at times, and we don't read each other well enough for that. Take the initiative and carry up the centre of thee park and threaten, for fucks sake. Fleetingly we did that today and Bournemouth were back pedalling. And finally ... please stop this insane 'play it out from the goalkeeper' tactic which simply puts us under so much fucking pressure. United don't have the skill to pass it out from their back third and I'd rather see it booted long into their half with Billy and the three behind him contending for a touch or a mistake or a second ball than us bogged down in their crossing zone with opposition players closing us down.

Olsen 5/10: Like many others, not entirely convinced so far. I however don't think we have better options and that includes Ramsdale if he'd stayed. Good save from the free kick but his central defenders are now showing worrying susceptibility
Baldock 5/10: Didn't finish his 150th game, and it wasn't a glorious one anyway. He does tend to not be at the races at times and is quite easily bypassed or beaten in this new role which you can see he hates.
Egan 4.5/10: Not a great game from him. Although he put in some acceptable headers and challenges, he was all at sea for their first and static for the second
Davies 5/10: A few games in now and he's not really improving or showing 'Liverpool' levels of centre-backness that I'd expect to see. Not saying I want C3PO back ... but I wasn't over awed by how he positionally conducts himself and his vision is still iffy at times
Stevens 3.5/10: Old Enda is back. He's lost that impressive drive and capability of three seasons ago and suffers badly now at the hands of tricky, fast players who skip past him either in possession or as decoys. His tackle was outside the box and to me was not a red card either. He is more a LB than George is a RB, and keeps his position more effectively but that isn't saying much
Norwood 4.5/10: A better performance from him although he is still piss weak as a Defensive Midfielder. Some 'okay' crosses and passes, but again, opposition midfields just go through him now rather than round him.
Fleck 5/10: Late on gets him the extra point rather than 4/10, as I thought he'd woke himself up and looked like he wanted it, pressing forward and making Bournemouth work a bit to keep us out
Osborn 7/10: Yeah, I know. a 'high mark'. But fuck me he works damned hard and seemed to be the only one of our players making their players graft to stop him have some effect
Gibbs-White 6.5/10: Well taken and deserved goal. He has buckets of talent this kid but we fail to exploit it by playing it to him to run at their defence or giving him the ball to have a go on goal. When this happened today, we went one up.
Ndaiye 5.5/10: Not really a great day for him, more due to the fact he was fetching and carrying and not give the ball to get past opposition defenders
Sharp 5/10: Another frustrating day for him, firstly with a sitter he usually buries and then from the fact he is isolated too many times and can't be found whilst our lot tap it about in the crossing zone

Basham 5/10: Some flourishes, and out of position at RB, but he is still a great professional and involved himself more than Baldock did
McBurnie 5/10: A good outing for him. Unlucky with his 'header' and scissor-kick and no shithousingto be seen, which was pleasing
Moussett 5/10: Drops half a point for his WBA-esque half-a-yard-out sitter fuck up. Looks at least 10-15kg overweight, but worked hard to win it and close down in the late stages

Overall, I am disappointed but pleased with the better performance and also with the fact that we weren't held down and mercilessly sodomised. After watching us just give up against Boro, I feared the worst, especially in the grim conditions.

Full marks to the travelling support.

pommpey
Fifth

pommpey
 
Watched the game on a bit of a delay. Managed to get my 'puter linked up with SUFCTV to my big telly and the picture was okay TBH. It certainly showed the fucking awful weather this afternoon (I was out at a family event and got caught in it also so massive props to the travelling Blades today)

We didn't deserve to come away from that empty handed. But then again, we did. It was a classic 'get fuck all when three points was an option' with an appalling refereeing decision followed by us simply shutting off defensively. All afternoon we'd looked liable to fuck it up at the back and eventually we did. I feel United did however make the table toppers look undeserved of their position and have to fight hard to gain and keep the win. But that means fuck all, does it? We still fucking lost and I don't doubt there a shitload of cold, drenched fans arriving home now feeling robbed.

Again, it seems like Slav is using this beginning to Christmas period as an experimental phase, more like a protracted pre-season. He started with the same beaten, sickly looking lineup that we saw midweek get rolled over by Boro. I was expecting him to finally begin the process of dragging Fleck and Norwood out to the field at the back to be put down and put Hourihane and Guardiora in to add strength and get them used to the system. They were the ineffective nucleus on Tuesday, but to be completely fair to them today they were somewhat better, if not 'performance standard'. Small margins and all that. Outside of that however we still have a raft of Wilder remnants who, no matter how much flushing, still bob back up. Sew that in with our complete inability to play to our strengths - Ndaiye and MGW sat in the AM channels and get them running at aged players like Cahill. But no. It's still geared toward getting it out wide and every team knows this now. Splice that with players now either struggling or losing form and we are very easy to turn over and counter. Again, some gobsmackingly poor ball-to-feet passing always gives the opposition the opportunity to get ahead and we do tend to get isolated and dispossessed alarmingly regularly.

But there were upsides. I think we deserved to go in level at HT, even though deep down many thought we'd be buried by that time. In truth, Billy should have had us one up. I think apart from the rather typically Blades suicide moments which had us go from 1-0 to 1-2 the last fifteen were spirited, if not ineffective and Bournemouth were clearly shitting themselves we'd steal two points off them. The substitutes did have some effect, but y'know ... huff ... and puff ... and the house still stands.

International break now, and we do so well from those, don't we? I think we need to really strive now to change the fucking approach and tactics ... and finally kill off the habit-forming of getting stuck out in the crossing zone and simply giving the impetus away. We also (by my eye) need to work on players 'showing' for the man in possession if it is not moving forward into space, then it's coming toward the player to receive and give. We tend to rely on hopefuls pumped up the pitch at times, and we don't read each other well enough for that. Take the initiative and carry up the centre of thee park and threaten, for fucks sake. Fleetingly we did that today and Bournemouth were back pedalling. And finally ... please stop this insane 'play it out from the goalkeeper' tactic which simply puts us under so much fucking pressure. United don't have the skill to pass it out from their back third and I'd rather see it booted long into their half with Billy and the three behind him contending for a touch or a mistake or a second ball than us bogged down in their crossing zone with opposition players closing us down.

Olsen 5/10: Like many others, not entirely convinced so far. I however don't think we have better options and that includes Ramsdale if he'd stayed. Good save from the free kick but his central defenders are now showing worrying susceptibility
Baldock 5/10: Didn't finish his 150th game, and it wasn't a glorious one anyway. He does tend to not be at the races at times and is quite easily bypassed or beaten in this new role which you can see he hates.
Egan 4.5/10: Not a great game from him. Although he put in some acceptable headers and challenges, he was all at sea for their first and static for the second
Davies 5/10: A few games in now and he's not really improving or showing 'Liverpool' levels of centre-backness that I'd expect to see. Not saying I want C3PO back ... but I wasn't over awed by how he positionally conducts himself and his vision is still iffy at times
Stevens 3.5/10: Old Enda is back. He's lost that impressive drive and capability of three seasons ago and suffers badly now at the hands of tricky, fast players who skip past him either in possession or as decoys. His tackle was outside the box and to me was not a red card either. He is more a LB than George is a RB, and keeps his position more effectively but that isn't saying much
Norwood 4.5/10: A better performance from him although he is still piss weak as a Defensive Midfielder. Some 'okay' crosses and passes, but again, opposition midfields just go through him now rather than round him.
Fleck 5/10: Late on gets him the extra point rather than 4/10, as I thought he'd woke himself up and looked like he wanted it, pressing forward and making Bournemouth work a bit to keep us out
Osborn 7/10: Yeah, I know. a 'high mark'. But fuck me he works damned hard and seemed to be the only one of our players making their players graft to stop him have some effect
Gibbs-White 6.5/10: Well taken and deserved goal. He has buckets of talent this kid but we fail to exploit it by playing it to him to run at their defence or giving him the ball to have a go on goal. When this happened today, we went one up.
Ndaiye 5.5/10: Not really a great day for him, more due to the fact he was fetching and carrying and not give the ball to get past opposition defenders
Sharp 5/10: Another frustrating day for him, firstly with a sitter he usually buries and then from the fact he is isolated too many times and can't be found whilst our lot tap it about in the crossing zone

Basham 5/10: Some flourishes, and out of position at RB, but he is still a great professional and involved himself more than Baldock did
McBurnie 5/10: A good outing for him. Unlucky with his 'header' and scissor-kick and no shithousingto be seen, which was pleasing
Moussett 5/10: Drops half a point for his WBA-esque half-a-yard-out sitter fuck up. Looks at least 10-15kg overweight, but worked hard to win it and close down in the late stages

Overall, I am disappointed but pleased with the better performance and also with the fact that we weren't held down and mercilessly sodomised. After watching us just give up against Boro, I feared the worst, especially in the grim conditions.

Full marks to the travelling support.

pommpey
Very fair

no abuse

good read
 
Good analysis pommps, thought we were unlucky to not get at least a point.

Can I add an extra score for throw-ins.

Throw-ins 1/10 … they were/are awful. We either use the short one/two type that’s got us nowhere for the last 2 seasons, the long throw down the line that the defender heads away because he’s about 6’ 7” or the one where we are in an advanced position but throw the ball back to our defence who do the usual across the back passing shit. Can we not just lob the fucking thing into the box sometimes and put pressure on their defence ??

…….first.
 
There was a lot less mucking around in the crossing zone which was pleasing. Goal from a break onto a central forward ball, how shocking. Definitely not outplayed by league leaders at home. Grounds for encouragement. A lot of games to play. Norwood remains a dreadful handicap.
 
Watched the game on a bit of a delay. Managed to get my 'puter linked up with SUFCTV to my big telly and the picture was okay TBH. It certainly showed the fucking awful weather this afternoon (I was out at a family event and also got caught in it also so massive props to the travelling Blades today)

We didn't deserve to come away from that empty handed. But then again, we did. It was a classic 'get fuck all when three points was an option' with an appalling refereeing decision followed by us simply shutting off defensively. All afternoon we'd looked liable to fuck it up at the back and eventually we did. I feel United did however make the table toppers look undeserved of their position and have to fight hard to gain and keep the win. But that means fuck all, does it? We still fucking lost and I don't doubt there a shitload of cold, drenched fans arriving home now feeling robbed.

Again, it seems like Slav is using this beginning to Christmas period as an experimental phase, more like a protracted pre-season. He started with the same beaten, sickly looking lineup that we saw midweek get rolled over by Boro. I was expecting him to finally begin the process of dragging Fleck and Norwood out to the field at the back to be put down and put Hourihane and Guardiora in to add strength and get them used to the system. They were the ineffective nucleus on Tuesday, but to be completely fair to them today they were somewhat better, if not 'performance standard'. Small margins and all that. Outside of that however we still have a raft of Wilder remnants who, no matter how much flushing, still bob back up. Sew that in with our complete inability to play to our strengths - Ndaiye and MGW sat in the AM channels and get them running at aged players like Cahill. But no. It's still geared toward getting it out wide and every team knows this now. Splice that with players now either struggling or losing form and we are very easy to turn over and counter. Again, some gobsmackingly poor ball-to-feet passing always gives the opposition the opportunity to get ahead and we do tend to get isolated and dispossessed alarmingly regularly.

But there were upsides. I think we deserved to go in level at HT, even though deep down many thought we'd be buried by that time. In truth, Billy should have had us one up. I think apart from the rather typically Blades suicide moments which had us go from 1-0 to 1-2 the last fifteen were spirited, if not ineffective and Bournemouth were clearly shitting themselves we'd steal two points off them. The substitutes did have some effect, but y'know ... huff ... and puff ... and the house still stands.

International break now, and we do so well from those, don't we? I think we need to really strive now to change the fucking approach and tactics ... and finally kill off the habit-forming of getting stuck out in the crossing zone and simply giving the impetus away. We also (by my eye) need to work on players 'showing' for the man in possession if it is not moving forward into space, then it's coming toward the player to receive and give. We tend to rely on hopefuls pumped up the pitch at times, and we don't read each other well enough for that. Take the initiative and carry up the centre of thee park and threaten, for fucks sake. Fleetingly we did that today and Bournemouth were back pedalling. And finally ... please stop this insane 'play it out from the goalkeeper' tactic which simply puts us under so much fucking pressure. United don't have the skill to pass it out from their back third and I'd rather see it booted long into their half with Billy and the three behind him contending for a touch or a mistake or a second ball than us bogged down in their crossing zone with opposition players closing us down.

Olsen 5/10: Like many others, not entirely convinced so far. I however don't think we have better options and that includes Ramsdale if he'd stayed. Good save from the free kick but his central defenders are now showing worrying susceptibility
Baldock 5/10: Didn't finish his 150th game, and it wasn't a glorious one anyway. He does tend to not be at the races at times and is quite easily bypassed or beaten in this new role which you can see he hates.
Egan 4.5/10: Not a great game from him. Although he put in some acceptable headers and challenges, he was all at sea for their first and static for the second
Davies 5/10: A few games in now and he's not really improving or showing 'Liverpool' levels of centre-backness that I'd expect to see. Not saying I want C3PO back ... but I wasn't over awed by how he positionally conducts himself and his vision is still iffy at times
Stevens 3.5/10: Old Enda is back. He's lost that impressive drive and capability of three seasons ago and suffers badly now at the hands of tricky, fast players who skip past him either in possession or as decoys. His tackle was outside the box and to me was not a red card either. He is more a LB than George is a RB, and keeps his position more effectively but that isn't saying much
Norwood 4.5/10: A better performance from him although he is still piss weak as a Defensive Midfielder. Some 'okay' crosses and passes, but again, opposition midfields just go through him now rather than round him.
Fleck 5/10: Late on gets him the extra point rather than 4/10, as I thought he'd woke himself up and looked like he wanted it, pressing forward and making Bournemouth work a bit to keep us out
Osborn 7/10: Yeah, I know. a 'high mark'. But fuck me he works damned hard and seemed to be the only one of our players making their players graft to stop him have some effect
Gibbs-White 6.5/10: Well taken and deserved goal. He has buckets of talent this kid but we fail to exploit it by playing it to him to run at their defence or giving him the ball to have a go on goal. When this happened today, we went one up.
Ndaiye 5.5/10: Not really a great day for him, more due to the fact he was fetching and carrying and not give the ball to get past opposition defenders
Sharp 5/10: Another frustrating day for him, firstly with a sitter he usually buries and then from the fact he is isolated too many times and can't be found whilst our lot tap it about in the crossing zone

Basham 5/10: Some flourishes, and out of position at RB, but he is still a great professional and involved himself more than Baldock did
McBurnie 5/10: A good outing for him. Unlucky with his 'header' and scissor-kick and no shithousingto be seen, which was pleasing
Moussett 5/10: Drops half a point for his WBA-esque half-a-yard-out sitter fuck up. Looks at least 10-15kg overweight, but worked hard to win it and close down in the late stages

Overall, I am disappointed but pleased with the better performance and also with the fact that we weren't held down and mercilessly sodomised. After watching us just give up against Boro, I feared the worst, especially in the grim conditions.

Full marks to the travelling support.

pommpey
Gone easy on them their pal
 
Don't get olsen 5 out of 10 (which seems and average score for your ratings) he had a v poor game and made mistakes which could have cost us as he does nearly every time he plays. Swedish International or not he will cost us more points than he will save us this season. Time for him to sit on the bench for the clearly better Wes in my opinion.

That aside we've played a team top of the league and we're the better team.. On this showing we could just about sneak into the playoffs
 
Don't get olsen 5 out of 10 (which seems and average score for your ratings) he had a v poor game and made mistakes which could have cost us as he does nearly every time he plays. Swedish International or not he will cost us more points than he will save us this season. Time for him to sit on the bench for the clearly better Wes in my opinion.

That aside we've played a team top of the league and we're the better team.. On this showing we could just about sneak into the playoffs
Play offs is nigh on impossible with this shower mid table would be an achievement
 
Think a little harsh on Enda considering 2nd/3rd game back from injury with no preseason.

First half, personally think he was more creative than RND has been all season and probably our best player with some clever first time passing unlocking Bournemouth and releasing Ozzy time and time again.

2nd half faded badly non existent tho except for that reckless "non-pen" penalty tackle, however again remember he's only a couple games back and nowhere near 100% match fitness
 
About as fair a summary as you've ever written Pomps(!)
Mind you, I think your scores are a tad low today, we definitely had more about us across the board this avo - and it was 11 vs 13 after all!!

Still, decent day out in the rain, amazing away support, with some great lads off here.

Have we ever won in that Green kit?

Here's looking fwd to getting past Slavs slow start.....!!
 
Think a little harsh on Enda considering 2nd/3rd game back from injury with no preseason.

First half, personally think he was more creative than RND has been all season and probably our best player with some clever first time passing unlocking Bournemouth and releasing Ozzy time and time again.

2nd half faded badly non existent tho except for that reckless "non-pen" penalty tackle, however again remember he's only a couple games back and nowhere near 100% match fitness
Without JOC Stevens is like little boy lost he carried him defending he’s pathetic
 

About as fair a summary as you've ever written Pomps(!)
Mind you, I think your scores are a tad low today, we definitely had more about us across the board this avo - and it was 11 vs 13 after all!!

Still, decent day out in the rain, amazing away support, with some great lads off here.

Have we ever won in that Green kit?

Here's looking fwd to getting past Slavs slow start.....!!
Great to meet you today ,shame Joes record went up in flames ,hope it hasnt put him off.
 
I couldn't get to the game yesterday (and haven't watched the highlights yet), but have seen the "penalty", and effing hell, what a shocker from the ref and the lino, there.

Is Slav correct?, was their second offside?

Sounds like McB and Mousse were a decent handful when they came on (from the radio Sheff coverage), was that correct?

Anyway, we will have to get used to shitty officials, and the only way to combat that, is to score more goals than the opposition.

UTB.
 
I couldn't get to the game yesterday (and haven't watched the highlights yet), but have seen the "penalty", and effing hell, what a shocker from the ref and the lino, there.

Is Slav correct?, was their second offside?

Sounds like McB and Mousse were a decent handful when they came on (from the radio Sheff coverage), was that correct?

Anyway, we will have to get used to shitty officials, and the only way to combat that, is to score more goals than the opposition.

UTB.

The thread about the penalty has footage of Stevens's challenge mate.

That "pen"

He made contact with Solanke inside the penalty area arc and Solanke went to ground inside the box. Stevens's challenge was a bit iffy in that his foot was high and yes, maybe a red for that, but Davies was goal-side and contact was outside the box on any other day that Sheffield United aren't the recipients. The second one was offside on any VAR replay, mind you our defence was ball watching and it was a soft contact.

pommpey
 
Watched the game on a bit of a delay. Managed to get my 'puter linked up with SUFCTV to my big telly and the picture was okay TBH. It certainly showed the fucking awful weather this afternoon (I was out at a family event and also got caught in it also so massive props to the travelling Blades today)

We didn't deserve to come away from that empty handed. But then again, we did. It was a classic 'get fuck all when three points was an option' with an appalling refereeing decision followed by us simply shutting off defensively. All afternoon we'd looked liable to fuck it up at the back and eventually we did. I feel United did however make the table toppers look undeserved of their position and have to fight hard to gain and keep the win. But that means fuck all, does it? We still fucking lost and I don't doubt there a shitload of cold, drenched fans arriving home now feeling robbed.

Again, it seems like Slav is using this beginning to Christmas period as an experimental phase, more like a protracted pre-season. He started with the same beaten, sickly looking lineup that we saw midweek get rolled over by Boro. I was expecting him to finally begin the process of dragging Fleck and Norwood out to the field at the back to be put down and put Hourihane and Guardiora in to add strength and get them used to the system. They were the ineffective nucleus on Tuesday, but to be completely fair to them today they were somewhat better, if not 'performance standard'. Small margins and all that. Outside of that however we still have a raft of Wilder remnants who, no matter how much flushing, still bob back up. Sew that in with our complete inability to play to our strengths - Ndaiye and MGW sat in the AM channels and get them running at aged players like Cahill. But no. It's still geared toward getting it out wide and every team knows this now. Splice that with players now either struggling or losing form and we are very easy to turn over and counter. Again, some gobsmackingly poor ball-to-feet passing always gives the opposition the opportunity to get ahead and we do tend to get isolated and dispossessed alarmingly regularly.

But there were upsides. I think we deserved to go in level at HT, even though deep down many thought we'd be buried by that time. In truth, Billy should have had us one up. I think apart from the rather typically Blades suicide moments which had us go from 1-0 to 1-2 the last fifteen were spirited, if not ineffective and Bournemouth were clearly shitting themselves we'd steal two points off them. The substitutes did have some effect, but y'know ... huff ... and puff ... and the house still stands.

International break now, and we do so well from those, don't we? I think we need to really strive now to change the fucking approach and tactics ... and finally kill off the habit-forming of getting stuck out in the crossing zone and simply giving the impetus away. We also (by my eye) need to work on players 'showing' for the man in possession if it is not moving forward into space, then it's coming toward the player to receive and give. We tend to rely on hopefuls pumped up the pitch at times, and we don't read each other well enough for that. Take the initiative and carry up the centre of thee park and threaten, for fucks sake. Fleetingly we did that today and Bournemouth were back pedalling. And finally ... please stop this insane 'play it out from the goalkeeper' tactic which simply puts us under so much fucking pressure. United don't have the skill to pass it out from their back third and I'd rather see it booted long into their half with Billy and the three behind him contending for a touch or a mistake or a second ball than us bogged down in their crossing zone with opposition players closing us down.

Olsen 5/10: Like many others, not entirely convinced so far. I however don't think we have better options and that includes Ramsdale if he'd stayed. Good save from the free kick but his central defenders are now showing worrying susceptibility
Baldock 5/10: Didn't finish his 150th game, and it wasn't a glorious one anyway. He does tend to not be at the races at times and is quite easily bypassed or beaten in this new role which you can see he hates.
Egan 4.5/10: Not a great game from him. Although he put in some acceptable headers and challenges, he was all at sea for their first and static for the second
Davies 5/10: A few games in now and he's not really improving or showing 'Liverpool' levels of centre-backness that I'd expect to see. Not saying I want C3PO back ... but I wasn't over awed by how he positionally conducts himself and his vision is still iffy at times
Stevens 3.5/10: Old Enda is back. He's lost that impressive drive and capability of three seasons ago and suffers badly now at the hands of tricky, fast players who skip past him either in possession or as decoys. His tackle was outside the box and to me was not a red card either. He is more a LB than George is a RB, and keeps his position more effectively but that isn't saying much
Norwood 4.5/10: A better performance from him although he is still piss weak as a Defensive Midfielder. Some 'okay' crosses and passes, but again, opposition midfields just go through him now rather than round him.
Fleck 5/10: Late on gets him the extra point rather than 4/10, as I thought he'd woke himself up and looked like he wanted it, pressing forward and making Bournemouth work a bit to keep us out
Osborn 7/10: Yeah, I know. a 'high mark'. But fuck me he works damned hard and seemed to be the only one of our players making their players graft to stop him have some effect
Gibbs-White 6.5/10: Well taken and deserved goal. He has buckets of talent this kid but we fail to exploit it by playing it to him to run at their defence or giving him the ball to have a go on goal. When this happened today, we went one up.
Ndaiye 5.5/10: Not really a great day for him, more due to the fact he was fetching and carrying and not give the ball to get past opposition defenders
Sharp 5/10: Another frustrating day for him, firstly with a sitter he usually buries and then from the fact he is isolated too many times and can't be found whilst our lot tap it about in the crossing zone

Basham 5/10: Some flourishes, and out of position at RB, but he is still a great professional and involved himself more than Baldock did
McBurnie 5/10: A good outing for him. Unlucky with his 'header' and scissor-kick and no shithousingto be seen, which was pleasing
Moussett 5/10: Drops half a point for his WBA-esque half-a-yard-out sitter fuck up. Looks at least 10-15kg overweight, but worked hard to win it and close down in the late stages

Overall, I am disappointed but pleased with the better performance and also with the fact that we weren't held down and mercilessly sodomised. After watching us just give up against Boro, I feared the worst, especially in the grim conditions.

Full marks to the travelling support.

pommpey
I agree buddy find it very hard to criticise the performance & effort yesterday , if we taken our chances we’d have bagged three points .
As for Bournemouth , top of league & unbeaten I thought they were bang average , haven’t seen a stand out side yet.
Desperately need somebody whose gonna put their foot in & who can give some aerial presence in midfield as other sides are exploring it , this week especially. Stick Bash or Guediera or what ever his name is in there as a temp measure until Jan window
 
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As always Pomp’s good evaluation of our performance,
I agree entirely with you about his up to Christmas approach, and will say it again top 10 few points off the playoffs by Jan will do me
Get a few bodies in , JOC back ?? Maybe sell Berger to raise money then I can understand what he’s hopefully trying to do
Some of our first team have given us outstanding service in the past , need to be relieved of duty , Fleck / Norwood/ Stevens / Baldock in particular need to be slowly eased out
Up top it’s shit or get off the pot time for
Brewster ( who doesn’t want him to come good )? Mcburnie and Moose, who’ll probably/ hopefully be gone in Jan as well , we resigned a gem in Illy even our manager saw it in him and said so
Thanks for reminding me of our inadequacies after international breaks , my first game home is in two weeks time after an inter.....
Ahhh fuck it
 
Don't get olsen 5 out of 10 (which seems and average score for your ratings) he had a v poor game and made mistakes which could have cost us as he does nearly every time he plays. Swedish International or not he will cost us more points than he will save us this season. Time for him to sit on the bench for the clearly better Wes in my opinion.

That aside we've played a team top of the league and we're the better team.. On this showing we could just about sneak into the playoffs

Just how many days had you been solidly drinking?
 
I agree with your write up pommpey but your ratings continue to baffle me.

For me 3s and 4s mean the players have had absolute shockers. Nobody had absolute shockers. Maybe Stevens as he was at fault for both goals.

Maybe we have different scoring metrics.

I have a standard performance at 6/10. Pretty much everybody should achieve a 6, unless they're terrible or have excelled. We rolled up at an unbeaten table topping side and played very well. 2 stupid mistakes aside, that's a bloody good performance. I want 7s and higher in those ratings.
 
I agree with your write up pommpey but your ratings continue to baffle me.

For me 3s and 4s mean the players have had absolute shockers. Nobody had absolute shockers. Maybe Stevens as he was at fault for both goals.

Maybe we have different scoring metrics.

I have a standard performance at 6/10. Pretty much everybody should achieve a 6, unless they're terrible or have excelled. We rolled up at an unbeaten table topping side and played very well. 2 stupid mistakes aside, that's a bloody good performance. I want 7s and higher in those ratings.

We do have different scoring metrics. A 'average' scoring to me is unattainable. In the ninety minutes, contextually it is very difficult to assess an 'average' performance without in some way impacting on the next player, or any other player. Philosophically it is impossible. However if you start with everyone one a 5/10 and work either way on their own personal impact on the game then the context is easier to understand. It could also work if you were to mark players on a +5 to -5 scalar (but there are eleven possible permutations), but for simplicity and because everyone understands the 'out of ten' format and it would be misleading to give a '0', that is what is used. Norwood and Fleck for example were better than of late but still sub par - their effect singularly in defensive midfield was 'minus one' in real terms because of the way Bournemouth's midfield cut through them though both showed more effect in the later stages to stop them sinking further to -3 markings. Osborn was two clicks better than average based on his energy and drive alone.

In any case, what does it matter? Slav, nor the players give a fat fuck. Nor should you.

pommpey
 
Vast improvement from the 'Boro game, not hard but pleased with that.

Norwood is still annoying the shit out of me with his jogging behind the opposition players, when we've not got possession, and pointing :mad::mad:

And Scott Parker needs a fucking big kick in the nuts for... well, just being Scot Parker really, TWAT!
 

Think a little harsh on Enda considering 2nd/3rd game back from injury with no preseason.

First half, personally think he was more creative than RND has been all season and probably our best player with some clever first time passing unlocking Bournemouth and releasing Ozzy time and time again.

2nd half faded badly non existent tho except for that reckless "non-pen" penalty tackle, however again remember he's only a couple games back and nowhere near 100% match fitness
what game were you watching....honestly. He should be no where near that first 11
 

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