My take ...

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Big improvement in midfield for me today - they bossed it and look to drive us forward. Both Norwood and Hourihane.
Also Stevens much much better - infact MOM for me.
 

Blade58 said:
Big improvement on previous performances. How much that was down to us rather than how poor BC looked I don’t know.
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I do - the differences were palpable. Slav had lost a dressing room he had never inhabited from the off. If fans were surprised at the performance and result today then I can only assume they haven't been watching the Blades long enough, or they can't see it anyhow no matter how long they've been watching footy games. Talk about "the bleedin' obvious" - all you needed to do was watch the videos of Slav's training sessions or listen to him trying to communicate what he was (trying to be) about. Slav "In" or Slav "Out" questions and video podcasts etc.. what a load of unneccesary hot air......
 
If I was writing a report I would just copy & paste yours, pretty much spot on although Hourihane is a slight upgrade on Flecky imo
Need to sort out our problems when we get anywhere near their six yard box we could have had six today, they were a very poor team.
But Hey Ho, we are on our way, well done to Hecky and his team.
 
Karaoke Blade said:
Nice report pommpey, but I'd mark Brewster a little higher as I thought he was having his best game for us before getting injured. Some of his link up play was good and I really think we've got a proper footballer there. Just needs a regular run which will improve his confidence I hope. Get Billy and Jack Lester coaching him and he'll be fine.
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Correct
 
Personally I'm glad Slavs gone, God knows how the team understood a word he said, I never could., but then I admit I'm not the brightest.... 🤪
Some are saying the opposition wasn't very good today , but we've played worse this season and lost.
 
Bennyand the Blades said:
Personally I'm glad Slavs gone, God knows how the team understood a word he said, I never could., but then I admit I'm not the brightest.... 🤪
Some are saying the opposition wasn't very good today , but we've played worse this season and lost.
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“ but we've played worse this season and lost.”


You okay Benny :)
 
pommpey said:
Well, many of us - me included - forecast today as being a continuation of the shit form we have seen. How wrong we were.

Okay, we still need some corners filing off but today was an example as to what can be done. Shite weather conditions and expectation from the crowd with 'new manager syndrome' and Hecky didn't disappoint but face it, we are far, far from any version of completion. Chance after chance after chance ... smashed at defenders, overplayed, no 'gamble on cross' or just a basic lack of clinical finishing and at times we were just waiting for Bristol City to break away and equalise. It didn't happen of course, but in mitigation more potent teams would have capitalised on our slender lead. We simply need to kill games off properly.

Different formation today too. Whereas most were expecting a reset to 5-3-2 and Wilderball, Hecky gave us variants of 5-2-3, then 3-4-2-1, depending on what we needed. I was delighted with this because that is how you should play games in my humble opinion. Didsy and MGW tucked in a lot more and gave their defence in the first half quite a bit to handle, even if it gave Brewster a lot of responsibility as they did the playmaking duties. Behind them Hourihane and Norwood looked more comfortable, Norwood not Hollywooding balls out so much again and finding passes to feet more. Hourihane is not our answer in that part of the pitch and the second half showed us that. The backline was much more improved too with the evergreen Basham being the lynchpin but to me we still need Jack back to complete the equation.

Overall though it was a delightful outing, frustrating by the fact that it wasn't more goals but it is three points they thoroughly deserved. Cardiff next, which will test Hecky's system more in terms of intensity and structure. Another three points would have us tucked up behind the chasing pack and cynics like me believing a whole lot more. Nice to see both goals come from our forwards, one expensive one at the beginning of his career, one veteran in his twilight footballing years

Foderingham 7/10: Sound goalkeeping from him bar one gaffe in the first half. Robin who?
Bogle 6.5/10: Drops a mark for me for being caught a few times high up the pitch although in fairness, he's not really to me a wingback, more a winger who likes to get up in the opposition box a mix it up
Basham 9/10: Sorry to get all sentimental, but this bloke is the cat's twat. He should now be known as 'Mr Always Does The Right Thing', because that is what he does. His tackling is timed, accurate and functional, his heading and positional stuff is flawless and he has that errant streak of excellence which finds him difficult to dispossess, turns away from his marker, goes into space, lays off a critical pass or just simply 'contributes effectively'. Since he has been at Bramall Lane, you'll still have fingers left if you were to list the errors and things he has done whilst playing in a red and white shirt. That is how good he is.
Egan 7/10: But more assured and effective outing for him
Davies 6/10: Hit and miss outing for him. He likes to get involved and pumps meaningful balls into the box from the back, but makes a fucking rick late on which as we know ends in a goal, and then another, and then its a two points lost inquest. We can't afford to give that away. Its unforgivable. He is not O'Connell. Nowhere near in fact.
Stevens 6/10: A much better performance today more indicative of the team as a whole rather than Stevens as an individual. He is still one third of the wingback of three years ago
Hourihane 4/10: Seems to have simply taken Fleck's place by default. First half wasn't so bad ... got involved in our moves forward and assisted in defence ... but second half was pretty abject with some head-smackingly shit passes and failure to get the ball through the defence and on target
Norwood 6.5/10: Busy day for Norwood and great to see he is not whacking it across the park much unless it is needed. He still doesn't impose and dominate, and still doesn't get very far into the opposition's half but at least with us not playing Wilderball much he's not pressed and dispossessed much, allowing him to play better, effective football. One skied shot on goal, sadly
MGW 8/10: Pleasing output from him and I pray we retain him in January because without him we will be struggling for creativity. He is still apt to try to take the world on but dazzles with some lovely showboaty skills (the double flick in the first half was tremendous) He dos however have a worrying tendency to waste so many well crafted chances, and at times today I feared that might cost us a couple of points, maybe all three.
McGoldrick 7.5/10: back to being Mr Experienced in the LAM role. He is THE person to 'bring the ball down and bring other players into the game' (remember, we used to say that about Ashley Ward a lot?) but McGoldrick actually does something about it. Set Billy's goal up really well.
Brewster 6.5/10: Really pleased he has scored again and in the league, and at Bramall Lane. Kinda looked like he didn't know what the fuck to do with the ball at his feet and my mate who was sat in the BLUT says he could see MGW screaming 'SHOOT!' at him. He also still plays on the off chance the defence will fuck up and gift him a goal, whereas when Billy came on, he was making the defence gift him a goal. There is a difference there you know. Hope his reason for going off isn't serious. I want this lad to hit form and start shitting goals

Sharp 8/10: Instantly made an impact and showed his superior centre forward credentials. Very well fought for and taken goal.
Berge 6/10: Nice to see him back, and hopefully a start next time out alongside Norwood
Osborn Not maked. Not on long enough

Hecky 8/10: Testing conditions and a long break in the second half but overall a really, really pleasing first game for the Heckngbottom/McCall/Lester nexus. We just need to work hard on finishing and we can be in and amongst it next May.

pommpey
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Fair on the whole there pomp’s if we were looking for performances to build off don’t think we could’ve asked for much more every player has laid down a marker there as to what we should expect going forward
 
pommpey said:
Well, many of us - me included - forecast today as being a continuation of the shit form we have seen. How wrong we were.

Okay, we still need some corners filing off but today was an example as to what can be done. Shite weather conditions and expectation from the crowd with 'new manager syndrome' and Hecky didn't disappoint but face it, we are far, far from any version of completion. Chance after chance after chance ... smashed at defenders, overplayed, no 'gamble on cross' or just a basic lack of clinical finishing and at times we were just waiting for Bristol City to break away and equalise. It didn't happen of course, but in mitigation more potent teams would have capitalised on our slender lead. We simply need to kill games off properly.

Different formation today too. Whereas most were expecting a reset to 5-3-2 and Wilderball, Hecky gave us variants of 5-2-3, then 3-4-2-1, depending on what we needed. I was delighted with this because that is how you should play games in my humble opinion. Didsy and MGW tucked in a lot more and gave their defence in the first half quite a bit to handle, even if it gave Brewster a lot of responsibility as they did the playmaking duties. Behind them Hourihane and Norwood looked more comfortable, Norwood not Hollywooding balls out so much again and finding passes to feet more. Hourihane is not our answer in that part of the pitch and the second half showed us that. The backline was much more improved too with the evergreen Basham being the lynchpin but to me we still need Jack back to complete the equation.

Overall though it was a delightful outing, frustrating by the fact that it wasn't more goals but it is three points they thoroughly deserved. Cardiff next, which will test Hecky's system more in terms of intensity and structure. Another three points would have us tucked up behind the chasing pack and cynics like me believing a whole lot more. Nice to see both goals come from our forwards, one expensive one at the beginning of his career, one veteran in his twilight footballing years

Foderingham 7/10: Sound goalkeeping from him bar one gaffe in the first half. Robin who?
Bogle 6.5/10: Drops a mark for me for being caught a few times high up the pitch although in fairness, he's not really to me a wingback, more a winger who likes to get up in the opposition box a mix it up
Basham 9/10: Sorry to get all sentimental, but this bloke is the cat's twat. He should now be known as 'Mr Always Does The Right Thing', because that is what he does. His tackling is timed, accurate and functional, his heading and positional stuff is flawless and he has that errant streak of excellence which finds him difficult to dispossess, turns away from his marker, goes into space, lays off a critical pass or just simply 'contributes effectively'. Since he has been at Bramall Lane, you'll still have fingers left if you were to list the errors and things he has done whilst playing in a red and white shirt. That is how good he is.
Egan 7/10: But more assured and effective outing for him
Davies 6/10: Hit and miss outing for him. He likes to get involved and pumps meaningful balls into the box from the back, but makes a fucking rick late on which as we know ends in a goal, and then another, and then its a two points lost inquest. We can't afford to give that away. Its unforgivable. He is not O'Connell. Nowhere near in fact.
Stevens 6/10: A much better performance today more indicative of the team as a whole rather than Stevens as an individual. He is still one third of the wingback of three years ago
Hourihane 4/10: Seems to have simply taken Fleck's place by default. First half wasn't so bad ... got involved in our moves forward and assisted in defence ... but second half was pretty abject with some head-smackingly shit passes and failure to get the ball through the defence and on target
Norwood 6.5/10: Busy day for Norwood and great to see he is not whacking it across the park much unless it is needed. He still doesn't impose and dominate, and still doesn't get very far into the opposition's half but at least with us not playing Wilderball much he's not pressed and dispossessed much, allowing him to play better, effective football. One skied shot on goal, sadly
MGW 8/10: Pleasing output from him and I pray we retain him in January because without him we will be struggling for creativity. He is still apt to try to take the world on but dazzles with some lovely showboaty skills (the double flick in the first half was tremendous) He dos however have a worrying tendency to waste so many well crafted chances, and at times today I feared that might cost us a couple of points, maybe all three.
McGoldrick 7.5/10: back to being Mr Experienced in the LAM role. He is THE person to 'bring the ball down and bring other players into the game' (remember, we used to say that about Ashley Ward a lot?) but McGoldrick actually does something about it. Set Billy's goal up really well.
Brewster 6.5/10: Really pleased he has scored again and in the league, and at Bramall Lane. Kinda looked like he didn't know what the fuck to do with the ball at his feet and my mate who was sat in the BLUT says he could see MGW screaming 'SHOOT!' at him. He also still plays on the off chance the defence will fuck up and gift him a goal, whereas when Billy came on, he was making the defence gift him a goal. There is a difference there you know. Hope his reason for going off isn't serious. I want this lad to hit form and start shitting goals

Sharp 8/10: Instantly made an impact and showed his superior centre forward credentials. Very well fought for and taken goal.
Berge 6/10: Nice to see him back, and hopefully a start next time out alongside Norwood
Osborn Not maked. Not on long enough

Hecky 8/10: Testing conditions and a long break in the second half but overall a really, really pleasing first game for the Heckngbottom/McCall/Lester nexus. We just need to work hard on finishing and we can be in and amongst it next May.

pommpey
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Good summary Pommpey thought you was a bit harsh on Hourihane there was a bit of the old player in there.
Stevens looked interested today and Wes looks tidy unload the Swede for me
 
A lot better today .. played with tempo , aggression & leadership . No tactical genius strokes just players out there wanting to win .. special mention for the midfield who have been on the sharp end of my tongue for a lot of the season I thought Norwood & Hourihane were excellent today 👍 .. good battling performance & 3 points .. started to do all the good traits again that got us success in recent years .. starting with hard work … well done lads enjoyed that today ⚔️
 
Cheesebored said:
Stevens 6/10 fuck me. Balls bounce of his shin and under his foot for fun. Still, half a mark under Norwood.
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He’s been poor since he came back, but he had a very decent game against Bristol. Great first half, but less effective in the second. Most chances created in the match and another assist. Easily a 6/10, if not more, for me.
 
Barnette said:
Big improvement in midfield for me today - they bossed it and look to drive us forward. Both Norwood and Hourihane.
Also Stevens much much better - infact MOM for me.
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I thought Stevens had a shocker again. Ball rolled over his foot and out of play twice and he kicked it out a good few times when there was no need to.

Strange how people see things differently.
 

An encouraging start for the new ‘football manager’. He needs to be given credit for the squad preparation and fresh attitude shown by players.
It gives them confidence to try stuff knowing they won’t get blamed for it if it doesn’t come off, provided they work hard to get it back.
Noticed he didn’t use subs, except for injury, which says it all about his confidence in the starters he picked. The players will note that too.
Nice progression of games coming up to measure Hecky and the lads. Cardiff away, QPR at home and Fulham at the Cottage.
 
highgreeninjapan said:
He’s been poor since he came back, but he had a very decent game against Bristol. Great first half, but less effective in the second. Most chances created in the match and another assist. Easily a 6/10, if not more, for me.
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Yeah but my personal marking system starts at 9.3 as average and I take a point off for every cup of tea I have while watching it on the telly. It's just something I do to make me stand out from the crowd.
 
I thought for the first time since crowd lockout and lockdown the simple thing was the players seemed to know what they were doing and what their role in the team / game was.
Made an easy watch for a change, as I have said many times it’s not the crowd that creates an atmosphere it’s the players that get them going that creates the atmosphere and the crowd was cautiously behind them yesterday. Early days but green shoots.
 
Charlieblade said:
An encouraging start for the new ‘football manager’. He needs to be given credit for the squad preparation and fresh attitude shown by players.
It gives them confidence to try stuff knowing they won’t get blamed for it if it doesn’t come off, provided they work hard to get it back.
Noticed he didn’t use subs, except for injury, which says it all about his confidence in the starters he picked. The players will note that too.
Nice progression of games coming up to measure Hecky and the lads. Cardiff away, QPR at home and Fulham at the Cottage.
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Then Wilders Middlesbrough
 
Cheesebored said:
Yeah but my personal marking system starts at 9.3 as average and I take a point off for every cup of tea I have while watching it on the telly. It's just something I do to make me stand out from the crowd.
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Fifty one people (so far) kinda agree with the general tack of this week's 'My Take ...'

Even Deadbat marks Stevens higher than me.

Yet Cheeseboard is on here, with his swanee whistle.

Don't let your thinly-veiled agenda get in the way of your bitterness lovey. You'll be saying 'You don't go to any games!' soon and really making yourself look like a bit of a bellend. Just a bit, mind.

pommpey
 
pommpey said:
Fifty one people (so far) kinda agree with the general tack of this week's 'My Take ...'

Even Deadbat marks Stevens higher than me.

Yet Cheeseboard is on here, with his swanee whistle.

Don't let your thinly-veiled agenda get in the way of your bitterness lovey. You'll be saying 'You don't go to any games!' soon and really making yourself look like a bit of a bellend. Just a bit, mind.

pommpey
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Mematic_20211129_093357.jpg
 
pommpey said:
Do keep up. This week he got 6.5/10. You got snow on your screen?

pommpey
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No, just on my boots from walking 4 miles home after the match. Black cabs and Norwood 2/10.
 
Fulwood Blade said:
A back 3 for 3 games and no goals conceded - what's not to like about having Bash back in, who for me was outstanding today.

Davis is suiting 3 at the back and with Egan being effectively a defacto sweeper/free man is looking more like his old self.

Look - if you don't concede, you don't lose - it gives us a great platform to allow the full backs to push on and in effect pin teams back just like prem sides did the same to us after our system had got sussed.

Get your glass up to half filled and think the playoffs are easily in sight IF we start keeping numerous clean sheets.

Hard work ahead, but still lots to aim for this season.

UTB
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Whilst I agree with all the positive comments about Basham I thought for the first 20 minutes he was going to have a nightmare match.
Having messed up a couple of clearances and a pass or two, he then showed his class by becoming the best on the park for the rest of the match.
 
Nicolaus_Copernicus said:
pommpey Spot on with 4/10 for Hourihane, and there's thems on here that are praising him.
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Some of his work was really good and we look much more effective when he takes free kicks and corners, but how bad can he be some of the time, it is strange how someone with his ability can pass the ball so badly at times.
 
Was only Bristol City so no point getting carried away, if he gets a win at cardiff i wil then rate hecky but dont let this win get us carried away because knowing utd we will get spanked next week
 
Players need game time in actual matches to get properly fit (football is all about short sprints and bursts of speed, then slowing down again then going again etc)

Even more importantly players can only regain 'touch' and vision and quickness of passing and movement with regular game time.

Obviously they do all this in training but its nowhere near as frenetic as the real thing in Championship games.

Hourihane had an excellent spell at Barnsley with Hecky (for a time) and when to Villa on the back of it,

Looked good to me in midfield yesterday, will get better imo.
 
blades14 said:
Was only Bristol City so no point getting carried away, if he gets a win at cardiff i wil then rate hecky but dont let this win get us carried away because knowing utd we will get spanked next week
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Winning in Cardiff would be nice, but not a great surprise given their season so far, but beating QPR after that would be a truer reflection of what effect he is having.
I would still prefer to see what happens in the next 6 games and in the JTW, before wondering how good he might be.
As with Slav, I don’t think you can really judge until mid October 2022, when he will, hopefully, have a squad more to his liking and with which he has had time to work.
 

derekacorah said:
I thought Stevens had a shocker again. Ball rolled over his foot and out of play twice and he kicked it out a good few times when there was no need to.

Strange how people see things differently.
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True - we all see things differently. He did provide the assist for the first goal.
 
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