pommpey
THE FUTURE ... AS IT USED TO BE
- Banned
- #1
Pretty hard to range anything but praise on Hecky and the lads for tonight. Whilst it wasn't a vanquishing beating of a favoured side by a team better than they, it showed United, in their current 'transitionary phase' at their level best. Most things sparkled in a festive manner tonight and it is difficult to point out weaknesses and fuck ups which makes a change. Again, one was expecting us to be found out and due a Blackburn-style pummelling but we made the league leaders look decidedly ordinary, even for all the possession and guile they had. I was somewhat surprised to see Robinson in and fearing the worst and with no McGoldrick, or McBurnie even as a sub it was difficult to see the way ahead when Billy would hit the wall at 60-70 minutes but to be honest, I expected to be buried by then and either option chasing the ball around their back four. How conditioned some of us still are. Even when we started fairly brightly -which we often do - I was waiting for Fulham to seize control, find our weakness (usually the same old suspects like Norwood or Stevens) and simply bypass on the way to a resounding win.
Whilst many - including me - have been preparing ourselves for a return to predictable WIlderball with Hecky reverting to 5-3-2 and everything going Norwood => Hollywood and us creating fuck all, what I wasn't prepared for and apologise for not seeing is a new style of 5-3-2 which is both comfortable for the players and dammit, produces results. Tonight was Heckingbottom's validation of his new role as United manager and possibly the role he has been waiting for. We started with a 3-4-1-2 which worked really well with the central midfield working very well to negate Fulham's potential dominance (think about the last time we were at Craven Cottage for a comparison of style and approach) and as much as their dangermen - Wilson and Mitrovich - threatened, we looked moderately comfortable for long spells just reducing them to long, pointless passes or wasteful short ones. Up top we just denied them space and possession, robbed them of the ball and went on the attack or in the case of N'Daiye's goal simply bulldozed forward, De Bruyne style and punished Fulham for their lax defending.
Okay, we all thought, 'great, watch us fuck this up' but again, under Hecky we refused to simply give it up because we have the audacity to take the lead, And to the ninety minute choruses of a wonderful away support, we just kept plugging, kept playing and even scored another goal albeit disallowed. We rode our luck, but so have other teams when they've come to BDTBL and we have woken up on the 70th minute and gone on the offensive and put a host of chances wide, into the kop or into the keeper's arms.
Good to see Berge get 45 minutes and Fleck back in a Blades shirt although after the break with the typical 5-3-2 we seemed string enough to hold them out.
No idea how or where we finished the game regarding positioning. It seemed very 5-4-1 with Osborn playing as auxiliary striker.
A bloody well deserved win tonight. So impressed with this turn around and we could possibly get more points out of Preston and Hull before Wilder comes back early next year. The playoffs are now within reach and that is down to the players and Heckingbottom.
Foderingham 8/10: Definitely reinforcing his claim for the No1 jersey for the rest of this season. Assured saves and stops and safe hands on crosses
Stevens 7/10: Despite some doddy-footed clearances, battled well with Wilson and showed some mature, robust determination not to roll over and let the talent of the kid bamboozle him
Robinson 7.5/10: Couldn't fault him much tonight. Committed in the tackles and in the right place save for Mitrovic outpositioning him on a couple of crosses
Egan 7/10: Pretty good if for some worrying periods when he and the rest of the central defence were collectively bullied by Mitrovic. Sometimes he seems just a bit slow and lightweight in the challenge these days and hasn't been top line since the absence of O'Connell
Basham 7.5/10: His usual 'does the right thing' self, save for a few misplaced passes. He is the anchor of our team.
Bogle 8.5/10: A pretty outstanding performance from young Jayden. Both on the ball - very capable - and off the ball - intelligent and showing gathering maturity, he is making Heckingbottom's decisions to reinstate George Baldock a very difficult one and that readers is what makes a team good in competition and strength in depth. Imagine if that were the case in 80% of our outfield positions?
Hourihane 6.5/10: A better game from him overall although he did fade in the second half and made way for Fleck
Norwood 7/10: Very well played for him in spells and no daft Hollywood passes. Fought well if at times sometimes lacking the guile to skip past opposition challenges and beat his man
N'daiye 8.5/10: A great game for him. Real shop-window stuff with his tenacious, never-say-die attitude, go-for-broke attacking and sheer will to take our game to them. A real breath of fresh air and worth all the hype and gossip about him. Brilliantly taken goal.
Gibbs-White 7/10: Lovely half from him until injured and if given another half, I feel would have put the match to bed with a goal or two.
Sharp 7.5/10: Grafted and worked and made the opposition think twice about his presence, both in possession and out of possession.
Berge 6.5/10: Nice to see him back in the game at last - but - for fuck's sake Sander. When you have the ball at your feet and the opposition backpedalling, stopping and passing backwards is so fucking last year. Run at the bastards, and score, eh? You're in the shop window now. No discerning manager worth his salt is gonna risk cash on someone with such talent being seemingly frightened to put the opposition on their heels and go at them.
Osborn 6/10: Not much time to assess and he was playing an odd position of up front-ish
Fleck (unmarked): One decent late tackle. Good to see him back, hopefully as John not Jimmy
Hecky 10/10: Well done feller. Onwards and upwards into the playoffs, please
Supporters 20/10: From start to finish, song after song after song. We done you lot!
Merry Christmas everyone. Not felt this way since McMahon hit those two free kicks past Crawley a few years ago. Jingle Bells!
pommpey
Whilst many - including me - have been preparing ourselves for a return to predictable WIlderball with Hecky reverting to 5-3-2 and everything going Norwood => Hollywood and us creating fuck all, what I wasn't prepared for and apologise for not seeing is a new style of 5-3-2 which is both comfortable for the players and dammit, produces results. Tonight was Heckingbottom's validation of his new role as United manager and possibly the role he has been waiting for. We started with a 3-4-1-2 which worked really well with the central midfield working very well to negate Fulham's potential dominance (think about the last time we were at Craven Cottage for a comparison of style and approach) and as much as their dangermen - Wilson and Mitrovich - threatened, we looked moderately comfortable for long spells just reducing them to long, pointless passes or wasteful short ones. Up top we just denied them space and possession, robbed them of the ball and went on the attack or in the case of N'Daiye's goal simply bulldozed forward, De Bruyne style and punished Fulham for their lax defending.
Okay, we all thought, 'great, watch us fuck this up' but again, under Hecky we refused to simply give it up because we have the audacity to take the lead, And to the ninety minute choruses of a wonderful away support, we just kept plugging, kept playing and even scored another goal albeit disallowed. We rode our luck, but so have other teams when they've come to BDTBL and we have woken up on the 70th minute and gone on the offensive and put a host of chances wide, into the kop or into the keeper's arms.
Good to see Berge get 45 minutes and Fleck back in a Blades shirt although after the break with the typical 5-3-2 we seemed string enough to hold them out.
No idea how or where we finished the game regarding positioning. It seemed very 5-4-1 with Osborn playing as auxiliary striker.
A bloody well deserved win tonight. So impressed with this turn around and we could possibly get more points out of Preston and Hull before Wilder comes back early next year. The playoffs are now within reach and that is down to the players and Heckingbottom.
Foderingham 8/10: Definitely reinforcing his claim for the No1 jersey for the rest of this season. Assured saves and stops and safe hands on crosses
Stevens 7/10: Despite some doddy-footed clearances, battled well with Wilson and showed some mature, robust determination not to roll over and let the talent of the kid bamboozle him
Robinson 7.5/10: Couldn't fault him much tonight. Committed in the tackles and in the right place save for Mitrovic outpositioning him on a couple of crosses
Egan 7/10: Pretty good if for some worrying periods when he and the rest of the central defence were collectively bullied by Mitrovic. Sometimes he seems just a bit slow and lightweight in the challenge these days and hasn't been top line since the absence of O'Connell
Basham 7.5/10: His usual 'does the right thing' self, save for a few misplaced passes. He is the anchor of our team.
Bogle 8.5/10: A pretty outstanding performance from young Jayden. Both on the ball - very capable - and off the ball - intelligent and showing gathering maturity, he is making Heckingbottom's decisions to reinstate George Baldock a very difficult one and that readers is what makes a team good in competition and strength in depth. Imagine if that were the case in 80% of our outfield positions?
Hourihane 6.5/10: A better game from him overall although he did fade in the second half and made way for Fleck
Norwood 7/10: Very well played for him in spells and no daft Hollywood passes. Fought well if at times sometimes lacking the guile to skip past opposition challenges and beat his man
N'daiye 8.5/10: A great game for him. Real shop-window stuff with his tenacious, never-say-die attitude, go-for-broke attacking and sheer will to take our game to them. A real breath of fresh air and worth all the hype and gossip about him. Brilliantly taken goal.
Gibbs-White 7/10: Lovely half from him until injured and if given another half, I feel would have put the match to bed with a goal or two.
Sharp 7.5/10: Grafted and worked and made the opposition think twice about his presence, both in possession and out of possession.
Berge 6.5/10: Nice to see him back in the game at last - but - for fuck's sake Sander. When you have the ball at your feet and the opposition backpedalling, stopping and passing backwards is so fucking last year. Run at the bastards, and score, eh? You're in the shop window now. No discerning manager worth his salt is gonna risk cash on someone with such talent being seemingly frightened to put the opposition on their heels and go at them.
Osborn 6/10: Not much time to assess and he was playing an odd position of up front-ish
Fleck (unmarked): One decent late tackle. Good to see him back, hopefully as John not Jimmy
Hecky 10/10: Well done feller. Onwards and upwards into the playoffs, please
Supporters 20/10: From start to finish, song after song after song. We done you lot!
Merry Christmas everyone. Not felt this way since McMahon hit those two free kicks past Crawley a few years ago. Jingle Bells!
pommpey
