My take ...

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pommpey

THE FUTURE ... AS IT USED TO BE
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A pretty typical - these days - surrender of anything from a game there to win today. It's typical because we waver from some pretty acceptable approach play with dismal finishing to abject, headless chicken panic within the same forty five minutes of play. Opposition teams have us sussed. Said this for weeks, if not months now. It's a patient, if not predictable pattern, press, deny, press, deny ... stop us scoring ... wait for us to lose the bubble and then we are behind ... then manage the game out whilst Slav moves the deckchairs round on the Titanic. It's been happening for months this. Since lockdown ended we were sussed, last season we were simply slapped to one side and this season even teams like Blackpool ... newly promoted Blackpool ... come to Bramall Lane to feed off Wilder's rotting corpse. Vincent Price cackle

Slav is left with a dilemma here, and it's in HRHs gift to solve it. We clearly have a team now stuffed with yesterday's men, and of those it is also clear we were fortunate to witness them get away with a rare and possibly flukey circumstance of United climbing the league and finishing ninth in the top flight. It's hard stuff to swallow, but there you go. Players across the squad still playing for us who were part of that rise are a mere tenth of what they were now and that is evident in the simple inability to gain anything from on-pitch attacking development, midfield effectiveness and defensive vulnerability. If it weren't for Ndaiye and Gibbs-White, we'd possibly be bottom now. The playing staff outside these two resemble something from the dark days of Adkins or Clough and if you cast your minds back far enough, you'll recall we were tuning in to be relieved we'd come away from Oldham with a draw and were being beaten at home to Peterborough, Wigan and Burton. Now we are simply giving games away with four fifths of the team who last season could call themselves 'Premiership footballers'. I have no idea what to call them these days, because it aint even 'Championship'.

Gage said in the dull commentary 'it's the best Sheffield United play I have ever seen' with no irony in his voice, clearly forgetting we have played better than this and walloped the opposition and on balance played a lost worse and actually won games. I don't think it was anything remarkable. I think it is what was expected of two sides two divisions apart last season with the supposed higher placed club at home in front of an expectant, decent Bramall Lane crowd. But if you play Wilder's players you are gonna get Wilder's legacy ... the total disorganised ability to play in an effective back four, a defensive midfield which is simply pathetic on and off the ball, an attacking array completely at ninety degrees to the legacy squad and as usual, a sole attacker who couldn't hit a cow's arse with a banjo. Last week we almost gave a way a three goal lead ... this week we gave the game away completely and failed to get back into it.

What needs doing? Well, I did say when Wilder went on TheSheffUtdWay that it will take time to get Wilder out of our bloodstream and unfortunately, week by week we fail the LFT to show we are still infected with him in some bizarre analogy with Long-COVID. It won't be gone either until we ship out and replace every last vestige of the WilderVirus that has in fact infected every bit of Sheffield United and refuses to shift. The antibodies are Ndaiye and MGW ... and they are struggling because the WilderVirus (WILDVID19) had mutated and now has us appearing like the useless bunch of bastards we were last season but now with added uselessness. It's hoped that the vaccine, not expected until January although expensive and difficult to manufacture, may seee us feel worse at first but the vulnerability to playing like a shower of bellends. We need also Basham back in. He is the only player capable of moving back to front with the ball at his feet and can defend better than Davies and is the only player of yesteryear yet to disgrace himself. We need Bogle back in and other significant changes too. Anything, but not more than this shit.

Olsen 5/10: Nothing spectacular. Not a chance with the goal and some pretty standard stops and blocks
Baldock 3/10: Losing the bubble and losing it quick. Great servant to the club but seemingly lost now down that right hand side both defending and attacking
Egan 4/10: Proof if ever he is not good either next to Davies or in a back four. And with that awkward fact, it is difficult to know how Slav can continue with a one dimensional, inflexible player
Davies 5/10: Marginally better than Egan but only just. He isn't the replacement for O'Connell and no one is. We seem doomed to find that.
Stevens 2/10: Really shoddy, espcially being caught so far forward for their goal and his weak chase back to marshal their player not to get a shot in. Elsewhere, piss poor
Fleck 4/10: A load of possession and involvement in patches but with the end result of nothing
Norwood 4/10: Like Fleck, pissing about more than creating and in his usual quarterback chucking it into no ones hands role
Osborn 5/10: reverted back to Mr Huff-and-Puff
MGW 6.5/10: Plenty of endeavour but in places naïve and patchy
Ndaiye 6.5/10: Better player but still with the end result of fuck all. He worked hard to make stuff happen but with no one around him on the same wavelength, how is he supposed to have any positive effect?
Mousset 4.5/10: Some flurries, but apart from the bar being hit, back to 'no-goals'. And what the fuck is wrong with his fitness?

Sharp 3/10: Ineffective
McGoldrick 3/10: Ineffective
McBurnie 3/10: Ineffective

Next game - Forest. They'll spank us.

pommpey
 

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A pretty typical - these days - surrender of anything from a game there to win today. It's typical because we waver from some pretty acceptable approach play with dismal finishing to abject, headless chicken panic within the same forty five minutes of play. Opposition teams have us sussed. Said this for weeks, if not months now. It's a patient, if not predictable pattern, press, deny, press, deny ... stop us scoring ... wait for us to lose the bubble and then we are behind ... then manage the game out whilst Slav moves the deckchairs round on the Titanic. It's been happening for months this. Since lockdown ended we were sussed, last season we were simply slapped to one side and this season even teams like Blackpool ... newly promoted Blackpool ... come to Bramall Lane to feed off Wilder's rotting corpse. Vincent Price cackle

Slav is left with a dilemma here, and it's in HRHs gift to solve it. We clearly have a team now stuffed with yesterday's men, and of those it is also clear we were fortunate to witness them get away with a rare and possibly flukey circumstance of United climbing the league and finishing ninth in the top flight. It's hard stuff to swallow, but there you go. Players across the squad still playing for us who were part of that rise are a mere tenth of what they were now and that is evident in the simple inability to gain anything from on-pitch attacking development, midfield effectiveness and defensive vulnerability. If it weren't for Ndaiye and Gibbs-White, we'd possibly be bottom now. The playing staff outside these two resemble something from the dark days of Adkins or Clough and if you cast your minds back far enough, you'll recall we were tuning in to be relieved we'd come away from Oldham with a draw and were being beaten at home to Peterborough, Wigan and Burton. Now we are simply giving games away with four fifths of the team who last season could call themselves 'Premiership footballers'. I have no idea what to call them these days, because it aint even 'Championship'.

Gage said in the dull commentary 'it's the best Sheffield United play I have ever seen' with no irony in his voice, clearly forgetting we have played better than this and walloped the opposition and on balance played a lost worse and actually won games. I don't think it was anything remarkable. I think it is what was expected of two sides two divisions apart last season with the supposed higher placed club at home in front of an expectant, decent Bramall Lane crowd. But if you play Wilder's players you are gonna get Wilder's legacy ... the total disorganised ability to play in an effective back four, a defensive midfield which is simply pathetic on and off the ball, an attacking array completely at ninety degrees to the legacy squad and as usual, a sole attacker who couldn't hit a cow's arse with a banjo. Last week we almost gave a way a three goal lead ... this week we gave the game away completely and failed to get back into it.

What needs doing? Well, I did say when Wilder went on TheSheffUtdWay that it will take time to get Wilder out of our bloodstream and unfortunately, week by week we fail the LFT to show we are still infected with him in some bizarre analogy with Long-COVID. It won't be gone either until we ship out and replace every last vestige of the WilderVirus that has in fact infected every bit of Sheffield United and refuses to shift. The antibodies are Ndaiye and MGW ... and they are struggling because the WilderVirus (WILDVID19) had mutated and now has us appearing like the useless bunch of bastards we were last season but now with added uselessness. It's hoped that the vaccine, not expected until January although expensive and difficult to manufacture, may seee us feel worse at first but the vulnerability to playing like a shower of bellends. We need Basham back in.He is the only player capable of moving back to front with the ball at his feet and can defend better than Davies. We need Bogle back in

Olsen 5/10: Nothing spectacular. Not a chance with the goal and some pretty standard stops and blocks
Baldock 3/10: Losing the bubble and losing it quick. Great servant to the club but seemingly lost now down that right hand side both defending and attacking
Egan 4/10:proof if eve he is not good either next to Davies or in a back four. And with that awkward fact, it is difficult to know how Slav can continue with a one dimensional, inflexible player
Davies 5/10: Marginally better than Egan but only just. He isn't the replacement for O'Connell and no one is. We seem doomed to find that.
Stevens 2/10: Really shoddy, espcially being caught so far forward for their goal and his weak chase back to marshal their player not to get a shot in. Elsewhere, piss poor
Fleck 4/10: A load of possession and involvement in patches but with the end result of nothing
Norwood 4/10: Like Fleck, pissing about more than creating and in his usual quarterback chucking it into no ones hands role
Osborn 5/10: reverted back to Mr Huff-and-Puff
MGW 6.5/10: Plenty of endeavour but in places naïve and patchy
Ndaiye 6.5/10: Better player but still with the end result of fuck all. He worked hard to make stuff happen but with no one around him on the same wavelength, how is he supposed to have any positive effect?
Mousset 4.5/10: Some flurries, but apart from the bar being hit, back to 'no-goals'. And what the fuck is wrong with his fitness?

Sharp 3/10: Ineffective
McGoldrick 3/10: Ineffective
McBurnie 3/10: Ineffective

Next game - Forest. They'll spank us.

pommpey

Ninth

pommpey
 
What needs doing? Well, I did say when Wilder went on TheSheffUtdWay that it will take time to get Wilder out of our bloodstream and unfortunately, week by week we fail the LFT to show we are still infected with him in some bizarre analogy with Long-COVID. It won't be gone either until we ship out and replace every last vestige of the WilderVirus that has in fact infected every bit of Sheffield United and refuses to shift. The antibodies are Ndaiye and MGW ... and they are struggling because the WilderVirus (WILDVID19) had mutated and now has us appearing like the useless bunch of bastards we were last season but now with added uselessness. It's hoped that the vaccine, not expected until January although expensive and difficult to manufacture, may seee us feel worse at first but the vulnerability to playing like a shower of bellends.
Good analogy, made me smile!
 
Can’t disagree with that pomps. No idea where we go from here? So piss poor and no chance of getting any new reinforcements til Jan. We need a way of doing what solskjaer did yesterday by changing the formation and getting the best out of the squad. Firstly though can we get a bloody clean sheet?!!! Utb
 
Well. I see you've summed up the game and the fans quite nicely. Subtle, but still quite a summation. But nothing is going to change if Slav keeps picking the same players. So keep this summation on paste and copy, I think you'll need it for Tuesday.
 
A pretty typical - these days - surrender of anything from a game there to win today. It's typical because we waver from some pretty acceptable approach play with dismal finishing to abject, headless chicken panic within the same forty five minutes of play. Opposition teams have us sussed. Said this for weeks, if not months now. It's a patient, if not predictable pattern, press, deny, press, deny ... stop us scoring ... wait for us to lose the bubble and then we are behind ... then manage the game out whilst Slav moves the deckchairs round on the Titanic. It's been happening for months this. Since lockdown ended we were sussed, last season we were simply slapped to one side and this season even teams like Blackpool ... newly promoted Blackpool ... come to Bramall Lane to feed off Wilder's rotting corpse. Vincent Price cackle

Slav is left with a dilemma here, and it's in HRHs gift to solve it. We clearly have a team now stuffed with yesterday's men, and of those it is also clear we were fortunate to witness them get away with a rare and possibly flukey circumstance of United climbing the league and finishing ninth in the top flight. It's hard stuff to swallow, but there you go. Players across the squad still playing for us who were part of that rise are a mere tenth of what they were now and that is evident in the simple inability to gain anything from on-pitch attacking development, midfield effectiveness and defensive vulnerability. If it weren't for Ndaiye and Gibbs-White, we'd possibly be bottom now. The playing staff outside these two resemble something from the dark days of Adkins or Clough and if you cast your minds back far enough, you'll recall we were tuning in to be relieved we'd come away from Oldham with a draw and were being beaten at home to Peterborough, Wigan and Burton. Now we are simply giving games away with four fifths of the team who last season could call themselves 'Premiership footballers'. I have no idea what to call them these days, because it aint even 'Championship'.

Gage said in the dull commentary 'it's the best Sheffield United play I have ever seen' with no irony in his voice, clearly forgetting we have played better than this and walloped the opposition and on balance played a lost worse and actually won games. I don't think it was anything remarkable. I think it is what was expected of two sides two divisions apart last season with the supposed higher placed club at home in front of an expectant, decent Bramall Lane crowd. But if you play Wilder's players you are gonna get Wilder's legacy ... the total disorganised ability to play in an effective back four, a defensive midfield which is simply pathetic on and off the ball, an attacking array completely at ninety degrees to the legacy squad and as usual, a sole attacker who couldn't hit a cow's arse with a banjo. Last week we almost gave a way a three goal lead ... this week we gave the game away completely and failed to get back into it.

What needs doing? Well, I did say when Wilder went on TheSheffUtdWay that it will take time to get Wilder out of our bloodstream and unfortunately, week by week we fail the LFT to show we are still infected with him in some bizarre analogy with Long-COVID. It won't be gone either until we ship out and replace every last vestige of the WilderVirus that has in fact infected every bit of Sheffield United and refuses to shift. The antibodies are Ndaiye and MGW ... and they are struggling because the WilderVirus (WILDVID19) had mutated and now has us appearing like the useless bunch of bastards we were last season but now with added uselessness. It's hoped that the vaccine, not expected until January although expensive and difficult to manufacture, may seee us feel worse at first but the vulnerability to playing like a shower of bellends. We need also Basham back in. He is the only player capable of moving back to front with the ball at his feet and can defend better than Davies and is the only player of yesteryear yet to disgrace himself. We need Bogle back in and other significant changes too. Anything, but not more than this shit.

Olsen 5/10: Nothing spectacular. Not a chance with the goal and some pretty standard stops and blocks
Baldock 3/10: Losing the bubble and losing it quick. Great servant to the club but seemingly lost now down that right hand side both defending and attacking
Egan 4/10: Proof if ever he is not good either next to Davies or in a back four. And with that awkward fact, it is difficult to know how Slav can continue with a one dimensional, inflexible player
Davies 5/10: Marginally better than Egan but only just. He isn't the replacement for O'Connell and no one is. We seem doomed to find that.
Stevens 2/10: Really shoddy, espcially being caught so far forward for their goal and his weak chase back to marshal their player not to get a shot in. Elsewhere, piss poor
Fleck 4/10: A load of possession and involvement in patches but with the end result of nothing
Norwood 4/10: Like Fleck, pissing about more than creating and in his usual quarterback chucking it into no ones hands role
Osborn 5/10: reverted back to Mr Huff-and-Puff
MGW 6.5/10: Plenty of endeavour but in places naïve and patchy
Ndaiye 6.5/10: Better player but still with the end result of fuck all. He worked hard to make stuff happen but with no one around him on the same wavelength, how is he supposed to have any positive effect?
Mousset 4.5/10: Some flurries, but apart from the bar being hit, back to 'no-goals'. And what the fuck is wrong with his fitness?

Sharp 3/10: Ineffective
McGoldrick 3/10: Ineffective
McBurnie 3/10: Ineffective

Next game - Forest. They'll spank us.

pommpey
Love the introductory paragraphs !
I think you are spot on with your comments and marking, but like you I don’t see how things can improve with the squad that we have.
I don’t think loans are of any use in January as we are not going to get promoted this season, so one or two purchases of good, young lower league players is the only option.
 
Well. I see you've summed up the game and the fans quite nicely. Subtle, but still quite a summation. But nothing is going to change if Slav keeps picking the same players. So keep this summation on paste and copy, I think you'll need it for Tuesday.
It doesn't matter which players he selects. With 2 exceptions, they are all shit
 
Rinse & repeat .. 4th team to come to The Lane sit back and pick us off , ones lucky , two might be a coincidence but 4 times tells you we are not learning and there’s gonna be more of the same unless we change personnel or tactics .
Yet again we pissed a host of good chances up the wall and conceded yet another soft very avoidable goal . In response all we offered was a slow safe , predictable build up & threw 3 attackers on which smacked of desperation.
I understand these aren’t Slavs players & fingers & toes crossed in Jan he will be able to reinforce the team ( only see Berge as only saleable asset) but there’s a lot games in between and we’re gonna be looking downwards not upwards soon
For fucks sake we have no spine down the middle of the team and need to address this now . I’d put Bash or Guedioura in the middle of the park for either Fleck/ Norwood, I’m no McBurnie fan but we need someone to hold the ball up when teams press us & we’re aiming long balls to a small front 3 and it’s coming straight back at us. Both our fullbacks have forgotten how to beat a man going forward and are getting caught out repeatedly playing in a back 4 , Baldocks form loss has been frightening I’d bring Bogle in there as for Enda he’s the best we’ve got at the moment as RND is just to slow for me .
We’ve got a £23M striker not even in the squad who has not been given one opportunity in his favoured down the middle role this season & limited to wide roles or from the bench , yes he had opportunities last season but that was in a side creating fuck all against top quality opposition not championship defenders & only featured as a sideman in a front 3 in a side that is waste chances week in week out surely to god he’s gotta been given a chance what have we got to lose ?
Things need to change fast ⚔️
 
Agree about Basham. our team spirit and mental strength is shot and we sorely need a leader like him on the pitch. Back 4 High line is too vulnerable to counter attack. 3/5 at the back needed with Basham one of them. Need to settle nerves with better defensive displays until January reset.
 

Rinse & repeat .. 4th team to come to The Lane sit back and pick us off , ones lucky , two might be a coincidence but 4 times tells you we are not learning and there’s gonna be more of the same unless we change personnel or tactics .
Yet again we pissed a host of good chances up the wall and conceded yet another soft very avoidable goal . In response all we offered was a slow safe , predictable build up & threw 3 attackers on which smacked of desperation.
I understand these aren’t Slavs players & fingers & toes crossed in Jan he will be able to reinforce the team ( only see Berge as only saleable asset) but there’s a lot games in between and we’re gonna be looking downwards not upwards soon
For fucks sake we have no spine down the middle of the team and need to address this now . I’d put Bash or Guedioura in the middle of the park for either Fleck/ Norwood, I’m no McBurnie fan but we need someone to hold the ball up when teams press us & we’re aiming long balls to a small front 3 and it’s coming straight back at us. Both our fullbacks have forgotten how to beat a man going forward and are getting caught out repeatedly playing in a back 4 , Baldocks form loss has been frightening I’d bring Bogle in there as for Enda he’s the best we’ve got at the moment as RND is just to slow for me .
We’ve got a £23M striker not even in the squad who has not been given one opportunity in his favoured down the middle role this season & limited to wide roles or from the bench , yes he had opportunities last season but that was in a side creating fuck all against top quality opposition not championship defenders & only featured as a sideman in a front 3 in a side that is waste chances week in week out surely to god he’s gotta been given a chance what have we got to lose ?
Things need to change fast ⚔️
said it in another thread weve nowt to lose by sticking mcburnie and brewster in now dont rate either of em but weve no other options who knows it might just work for us and how slav can continually keep playing norwood and fleck together when its obviously not working is both baffling and worrying from a manager supposedly one of the best in the championship
 
A pretty typical - these days - surrender of anything from a game there to win today. It's typical because we waver from some pretty acceptable approach play with dismal finishing to abject, headless chicken panic within the same forty five minutes of play. Opposition teams have us sussed. Said this for weeks, if not months now. It's a patient, if not predictable pattern, press, deny, press, deny ... stop us scoring ... wait for us to lose the bubble and then we are behind ... then manage the game out whilst Slav moves the deckchairs round on the Titanic. It's been happening for months this. Since lockdown ended we were sussed, last season we were simply slapped to one side and this season even teams like Blackpool ... newly promoted Blackpool ... come to Bramall Lane to feed off Wilder's rotting corpse. Vincent Price cackle

Slav is left with a dilemma here, and it's in HRHs gift to solve it. We clearly have a team now stuffed with yesterday's men, and of those it is also clear we were fortunate to witness them get away with a rare and possibly flukey circumstance of United climbing the league and finishing ninth in the top flight. It's hard stuff to swallow, but there you go. Players across the squad still playing for us who were part of that rise are a mere tenth of what they were now and that is evident in the simple inability to gain anything from on-pitch attacking development, midfield effectiveness and defensive vulnerability. If it weren't for Ndaiye and Gibbs-White, we'd possibly be bottom now. The playing staff outside these two resemble something from the dark days of Adkins or Clough and if you cast your minds back far enough, you'll recall we were tuning in to be relieved we'd come away from Oldham with a draw and were being beaten at home to Peterborough, Wigan and Burton. Now we are simply giving games away with four fifths of the team who last season could call themselves 'Premiership footballers'. I have no idea what to call them these days, because it aint even 'Championship'.

Gage said in the dull commentary 'it's the best Sheffield United play I have ever seen' with no irony in his voice, clearly forgetting we have played better than this and walloped the opposition and on balance played a lost worse and actually won games. I don't think it was anything remarkable. I think it is what was expected of two sides two divisions apart last season with the supposed higher placed club at home in front of an expectant, decent Bramall Lane crowd. But if you play Wilder's players you are gonna get Wilder's legacy ... the total disorganised ability to play in an effective back four, a defensive midfield which is simply pathetic on and off the ball, an attacking array completely at ninety degrees to the legacy squad and as usual, a sole attacker who couldn't hit a cow's arse with a banjo. Last week we almost gave a way a three goal lead ... this week we gave the game away completely and failed to get back into it.

What needs doing? Well, I did say when Wilder went on TheSheffUtdWay that it will take time to get Wilder out of our bloodstream and unfortunately, week by week we fail the LFT to show we are still infected with him in some bizarre analogy with Long-COVID. It won't be gone either until we ship out and replace every last vestige of the WilderVirus that has in fact infected every bit of Sheffield United and refuses to shift. The antibodies are Ndaiye and MGW ... and they are struggling because the WilderVirus (WILDVID19) had mutated and now has us appearing like the useless bunch of bastards we were last season but now with added uselessness. It's hoped that the vaccine, not expected until January although expensive and difficult to manufacture, may seee us feel worse at first but the vulnerability to playing like a shower of bellends. We need also Basham back in. He is the only player capable of moving back to front with the ball at his feet and can defend better than Davies and is the only player of yesteryear yet to disgrace himself. We need Bogle back in and other significant changes too. Anything, but not more than this shit.

Olsen 5/10: Nothing spectacular. Not a chance with the goal and some pretty standard stops and blocks
Baldock 3/10: Losing the bubble and losing it quick. Great servant to the club but seemingly lost now down that right hand side both defending and attacking
Egan 4/10: Proof if ever he is not good either next to Davies or in a back four. And with that awkward fact, it is difficult to know how Slav can continue with a one dimensional, inflexible player
Davies 5/10: Marginally better than Egan but only just. He isn't the replacement for O'Connell and no one is. We seem doomed to find that.
Stevens 2/10: Really shoddy, espcially being caught so far forward for their goal and his weak chase back to marshal their player not to get a shot in. Elsewhere, piss poor
Fleck 4/10: A load of possession and involvement in patches but with the end result of nothing
Norwood 4/10: Like Fleck, pissing about more than creating and in his usual quarterback chucking it into no ones hands role
Osborn 5/10: reverted back to Mr Huff-and-Puff
MGW 6.5/10: Plenty of endeavour but in places naïve and patchy
Ndaiye 6.5/10: Better player but still with the end result of fuck all. He worked hard to make stuff happen but with no one around him on the same wavelength, how is he supposed to have any positive effect?
Mousset 4.5/10: Some flurries, but apart from the bar being hit, back to 'no-goals'. And what the fuck is wrong with his fitness?

Sharp 3/10: Ineffective
McGoldrick 3/10: Ineffective
McBurnie 3/10: Ineffective

Next game - Forest. They'll spank us.

pommpey
Great report mate
I noticed MOTD2 resurrected the corpse of Wilder yesterday.
All laughing and joking and pretending to know something about Premier League football.
 
We need a way of doing what solskjaer did yesterday by changing the formation and getting the best out of the squad. Firstly though can we get a bloody clean sheet?!!! Utb
5-2-3 imo

Get Bash back in the side. MGW/Ndiaye as wingers with one of the strikers. 2x attacking WB’s with Bogle and Osborn.
 
A pretty typical - these days - surrender of anything from a game there to win today. It's typical because we waver from some pretty acceptable approach play with dismal finishing to abject, headless chicken panic within the same forty five minutes of play. Opposition teams have us sussed. Said this for weeks, if not months now. It's a patient, if not predictable pattern, press, deny, press, deny ... stop us scoring ... wait for us to lose the bubble and then we are behind ... then manage the game out whilst Slav moves the deckchairs round on the Titanic. It's been happening for months this. Since lockdown ended we were sussed, last season we were simply slapped to one side and this season even teams like Blackpool ... newly promoted Blackpool ... come to Bramall Lane to feed off Wilder's rotting corpse. Vincent Price cackle

Slav is left with a dilemma here, and it's in HRHs gift to solve it. We clearly have a team now stuffed with yesterday's men, and of those it is also clear we were fortunate to witness them get away with a rare and possibly flukey circumstance of United climbing the league and finishing ninth in the top flight. It's hard stuff to swallow, but there you go. Players across the squad still playing for us who were part of that rise are a mere tenth of what they were now and that is evident in the simple inability to gain anything from on-pitch attacking development, midfield effectiveness and defensive vulnerability. If it weren't for Ndaiye and Gibbs-White, we'd possibly be bottom now. The playing staff outside these two resemble something from the dark days of Adkins or Clough and if you cast your minds back far enough, you'll recall we were tuning in to be relieved we'd come away from Oldham with a draw and were being beaten at home to Peterborough, Wigan and Burton. Now we are simply giving games away with four fifths of the team who last season could call themselves 'Premiership footballers'. I have no idea what to call them these days, because it aint even 'Championship'.

Gage said in the dull commentary 'it's the best Sheffield United play I have ever seen' with no irony in his voice, clearly forgetting we have played better than this and walloped the opposition and on balance played a lost worse and actually won games. I don't think it was anything remarkable. I think it is what was expected of two sides two divisions apart last season with the supposed higher placed club at home in front of an expectant, decent Bramall Lane crowd. But if you play Wilder's players you are gonna get Wilder's legacy ... the total disorganised ability to play in an effective back four, a defensive midfield which is simply pathetic on and off the ball, an attacking array completely at ninety degrees to the legacy squad and as usual, a sole attacker who couldn't hit a cow's arse with a banjo. Last week we almost gave a way a three goal lead ... this week we gave the game away completely and failed to get back into it.

What needs doing? Well, I did say when Wilder went on TheSheffUtdWay that it will take time to get Wilder out of our bloodstream and unfortunately, week by week we fail the LFT to show we are still infected with him in some bizarre analogy with Long-COVID. It won't be gone either until we ship out and replace every last vestige of the WilderVirus that has in fact infected every bit of Sheffield United and refuses to shift. The antibodies are Ndaiye and MGW ... and they are struggling because the WilderVirus (WILDVID19) had mutated and now has us appearing like the useless bunch of bastards we were last season but now with added uselessness. It's hoped that the vaccine, not expected until January although expensive and difficult to manufacture, may seee us feel worse at first but the vulnerability to playing like a shower of bellends. We need also Basham back in. He is the only player capable of moving back to front with the ball at his feet and can defend better than Davies and is the only player of yesteryear yet to disgrace himself. We need Bogle back in and other significant changes too. Anything, but not more than this shit.

Olsen 5/10: Nothing spectacular. Not a chance with the goal and some pretty standard stops and blocks
Baldock 3/10: Losing the bubble and losing it quick. Great servant to the club but seemingly lost now down that right hand side both defending and attacking
Egan 4/10: Proof if ever he is not good either next to Davies or in a back four. And with that awkward fact, it is difficult to know how Slav can continue with a one dimensional, inflexible player
Davies 5/10: Marginally better than Egan but only just. He isn't the replacement for O'Connell and no one is. We seem doomed to find that.
Stevens 2/10: Really shoddy, espcially being caught so far forward for their goal and his weak chase back to marshal their player not to get a shot in. Elsewhere, piss poor
Fleck 4/10: A load of possession and involvement in patches but with the end result of nothing
Norwood 4/10: Like Fleck, pissing about more than creating and in his usual quarterback chucking it into no ones hands role
Osborn 5/10: reverted back to Mr Huff-and-Puff
MGW 6.5/10: Plenty of endeavour but in places naïve and patchy
Ndaiye 6.5/10: Better player but still with the end result of fuck all. He worked hard to make stuff happen but with no one around him on the same wavelength, how is he supposed to have any positive effect?
Mousset 4.5/10: Some flurries, but apart from the bar being hit, back to 'no-goals'. And what the fuck is wrong with his fitness?

Sharp 3/10: Ineffective
McGoldrick 3/10: Ineffective
McBurnie 3/10: Ineffective

Next game - Forest. They'll spank us.

pommpey
Oh shit !!
 
It’s the ‘rinse, repeat’ bit that is wearing a bit thin now. We created a few good chances by getting the holy trinity of MGW, Ndiaye and Mousset to work off each other. But then Mousset and Ndiaye get tired and we’re back to square one.

I must say though that the kick off tactic in the 2nd half was a breath of fresh air, just a shame it went to Baldock who was having a nightmare.
 
Rinse & repeat .. 4th team to come to The Lane sit back and pick us off , ones lucky , two might be a coincidence but 4 times tells you we are not learning and there’s gonna be more of the same unless we change personnel or tactics .
Yet again we pissed a host of good chances up the wall and conceded yet another soft very avoidable goal . In response all we offered was a slow safe , predictable build up & threw 3 attackers on which smacked of desperation.
I understand these aren’t Slavs players & fingers & toes crossed in Jan he will be able to reinforce the team ( only see Berge as only saleable asset) but there’s a lot games in between and we’re gonna be looking downwards not upwards soon
For fucks sake we have no spine down the middle of the team and need to address this now . I’d put Bash or Guedioura in the middle of the park for either Fleck/ Norwood, I’m no McBurnie fan but we need someone to hold the ball up when teams press us & we’re aiming long balls to a small front 3 and it’s coming straight back at us. Both our fullbacks have forgotten how to beat a man going forward and are getting caught out repeatedly playing in a back 4 , Baldocks form loss has been frightening I’d bring Bogle in there as for Enda he’s the best we’ve got at the moment as RND is just to slow for me .
We’ve got a £23M striker not even in the squad who has not been given one opportunity in his favoured down the middle role this season & limited to wide roles or from the bench , yes he had opportunities last season but that was in a side creating fuck all against top quality opposition not championship defenders & only featured as a sideman in a front 3 in a side that is waste chances week in week out surely to god he’s gotta been given a chance what have we got to lose ?
Things need to change fast ⚔️
Cracking first paragraph, spot on. Fed up of teams pinching 3 points just by holding their shape , and not having to do a whole lot more except wait for our mistake to pick up a win.
 
Spot on with the take and ratings on reflection I said to my mate I was entertained with the first half display.
Come the second half after the goal we looked non league.
As some have said what have we to lose by playing Mcburnie and Brewster just keep playing the fuckers
 
Spot on with the take and ratings on reflection I said to my mate I was entertained with the first half display.
Come the second half after the goal we looked non league.
As some have said what have we to lose by playing Mcburnie and Brewster just keep playing the fuckers
We could get relegated.
 
Spot on with the My Take Pommpey.
It's painfully obvious now that the majority of our squad are not good enough to take us back up.
The biggest miss being JOC. The silence on his recovery is deafening. What a miss he has been. Until we plug that gap we will control struggle.
Davis is not the answer.
 
Spot on with the My Take Pommpey.
It's painfully obvious now that the majority of our squad are not good enough to take us back up.
The biggest miss being JOC. The silence on his recovery is deafening. What a miss he has been. Until we plug that gap we will control struggle.
Davis is not the answer.

I've a feeling JOC is done, not just with us, but with football itself.

By the time he's back - say early next year in an optimistic punt at his situation - he'll have been out of the game two years nearly and for him to get back into a playing squad which is structurally and tactically different will be massive stress. Add to that that he may need further physiotherapy and rehab and periods out of the game to enable his full recovery and it's clear we might not get the mountain of a defender we once had. Remember Couttsy coming back and how much expectation was heaped on him ... whilst he carefully got himself back into the game and he effectively had to protect his recently fixed leg by not tearing it up every week?

JOC may not even get that far. What a fucking tragedy if so. Such a brilliant player and so integral with our success.

pommpey
 
I've a feeling JOC is done, not just with us, but with football itself.

By the time he's back - say early next year in an optimistic punt at his situation - he'll have been out of the game two years nearly and for him to get back into a playing squad which is structurally and tactically different will be massive stress. Add to that that he may need further physiotherapy and rehab and periods out of the game to enable his full recovery and it's clear we might not get the mountain of a defender we once had. Remember Couttsy coming back and how much expectation was heaped on him ... whilst he carefully got himself back into the game and he effectively had to protect his recently fixed leg by not tearing it up every week?

JOC may not even get that far. What a fucking tragedy if so. Such a brilliant player and so integral with our success.

pommpey
Fucking tragic what a key player that man was.
 

I've a feeling JOC is done, not just with us, but with football itself.

By the time he's back - say early next year in an optimistic punt at his situation - he'll have been out of the game two years nearly and for him to get back into a playing squad which is structurally and tactically different will be massive stress. Add to that that he may need further physiotherapy and rehab and periods out of the game to enable his full recovery and it's clear we might not get the mountain of a defender we once had. Remember Couttsy coming back and how much expectation was heaped on him ... whilst he carefully got himself back into the game and he effectively had to protect his recently fixed leg by not tearing it up every week?

JOC may not even get that far. What a fucking tragedy if so. Such a brilliant player and so integral with our success.

pommpey
Again, I agree entirely.
The fact there has been no mention of his progress from the club leads me to think that his career, not just with us, but in football, is over.
Very sad. And a huge loss,to us particularly ,and the game generally.
 

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