pommpey
THE FUTURE ... AS IT USED TO BE
- Banned
- #1
Yeah, I'm back. Sat (really) in my quarantine room having brought COVID back as a nice present from Sheffield with viral tonsillitis as a bonus ball. I am convinced blokey in pub at Banner Cross was the vehicle for that shite (he looked fucking poorly anyway) and having gone down like Salah on Tuesday neyt with a neat, fat, thick line on the LFT T marker I've been suffering like a suffering thing, living off drugs and ice-cream for three days.
Seems that recently United have completely forgotten what they'd learned and grown into versus Boro. At Coventry we looked disorganised and vulnerable and versus Blackpool reminiscent of late Slav era with no new ideas, therefore no progress. That game itself, aside from the appalling disallowing of Norwood's fine strike was indication of the 'shade' of the 'light' of what we have as a team.
Today, we started still in the shade, despite half of the Bramall Lane pitch being in bright sunlight (and the Sky camera having real problems in dealing with contrast) Right through the first half we huffed and we puffed, largely in the centre third of the pitch, and did nothing but fuck about gifting possession, pumping hopeful, optimistic balls into the channels for Billy and MGW to chase or trying to read the sometimes bizarre flicks of said player which Barnsley simply mopped up. We looked knackered on fifteen, Berge not willing to pick up the sword and carry the ball past players and us playing what looked like four-square keep-ball in zones across the pitch. Even Fodders had to pull of a worldie to stop us going in 0-1 down at the break. It wasn't impressive.
Worrying still was the start of the second half when Barnsley - not particularly strong in any areas of the pitch and struggling like fuck to stay in the division, looked to get early punches in to silence a very vocal Bramall Lane crowd. We dealt with it thanks to some pretty capable defending but for too long we failed to take the game by the scruff of the neck and shake it. Earlier this season we have failed to do this and paid for it in front of an expectant home crowd, and even away when three up against this side and a footballing oddbin like Mousset bagging a brace we have allowed our demons to take us into the late stages to either almost or in fact entirely cough the endgame up in the dying stages. It seemed that nothing going forward was going right and we were playing the ball across the back too much. Uncharacteristically however from a wide free kick, instead of getting Norwood to thump it over the despairing leap of the player at the back stick into touch, we play it short, Barnsley are still asleep for the ball across the box and there is Berge to do something positive for his third strikers goal in four games. Suddenly then the Blades are finally awake and we are on the hunt with players streaming forward. It didn't amount to much however, and many ventures were still ending in either MGW falling over or final balls kicked into spaces where no red and white stripes existed. Billy is swapped for Jebbo and thereafter McBurnie replaces Berge (with MGW dropping toe RCM) and we still press, at times ineffectively. The second goal comes from McBurnie feeding MGW well after looking like he'd lost it and his own balance and we seal the win and maybe McBurnie should have shut up the critics with his own chance, and the least said about Osborn and his opportunities the better.
Foderingham 7/10: Some great positional work, a simply excellent point blank stop but his distribution today was at times piss poor
Osborn 6/10: His energy and endeavour is admirable. But the truth is, his end product and finesse at times is fucking shocking. Two clear chances today where he banged it into the kop and loads of too-short passes or lost challenges
Gordon 5.5/10: Can look a lot more composed and complete then veers into shitpants territory. He has capability does this lad, but he's a good season away from being the complete RCB. Come back Bash, for fuck's sake
Egan 7/10: Gets extra marks for covering across into Gordon territory and marshalling the defence well. Kept their front end fairly quiet but he misses the sureity of Basham on his right hand side
Robinson 8/10: Another great outing for 'Mr not-C3PO'. Got a head on shitloads and got in the way of shitloads more. At this rate, JOC will be a distant memory, I feel
RND 5.5/10: Tries hard. But the end result is either frustratingly crap or unimpressively sub standard. He's great at going forward but clumsy and unclinical in defence, and doesn't like wingers who go at him
Berge 5/10: Aside from his goal, today was another game where he was on 35% output. Compare if you will where he ripped Boro to bits and dabbed them like shit away from his scone-cutter not a few days ago, since then it seems he has lost his mojo again.
Norwood 6/10: The bits he does well, sometimes timely tackles and interceptions and link play are easily undermined by stuff which have saying that oft chanted 'Fuck's sake, Norwood' under your breath. Sometimes he overplays it, sometimes underplays it. Sometimes he clips a pass into space, and then his next corner floats harmlessly nowhere near where it should be. It is inconsistency that mires Oliver Norwood ... and thereby Sheffield United
Hourihane 6/10: A slightly better game from him in spells. But any better than Fleck in that position? Good assist for Berge's goal, mind
MGW 4/10: Odd score for someone on the scoresheet but I felt today he was wasteful and profligate with possession. It's all very well and good being all fancy-dan but first of all you have to make sure people like Berge and Osborn around you are reading you correctly and secondly you are not Diego Maradona, for whom that shit was footballing alchemy. The fat-druggy Argentine cheating cunt could maze round many players (as we have seen), evading tackles, with deft flicks and skips and making world class international players look like sagging cow's ladyparts laying on the grass, but first of all he could do the basics if needed. MGW today still tries to run before he can walk and all the showboaty stuff ends in failure, usually to the opposition's advantage. Be a flair player Morgan ... but choose your moment. Like the coke-snorting, pizza-scoffing, ball-handling, fat-yet-cosmically-gifted-and-yet-dead football legend
Sharp 4/10: Got fuck all. Hope he's not injured.
Jebbison 5/10: Still growing back into the role and living off the expectations of the Everton game last year. Missed a fucking sitter though
McBurnie 6/10: Better cameo from him and a notable assist (which he has done before this season) Disappointing outcome from his break into the box however
Fleck 6/10: Good to see him back wearing a more involved and more invested John Fleck shirt
Hecky: 7/10: First half was piss poor. Better later on in the second and after the subs. Needs to get inside Berge's head again to switch on and be the man to change the game
Crowd 10/10: 28k. Noisy and loud on telly. Well done.
pommpey (whines pathetically)
Seems that recently United have completely forgotten what they'd learned and grown into versus Boro. At Coventry we looked disorganised and vulnerable and versus Blackpool reminiscent of late Slav era with no new ideas, therefore no progress. That game itself, aside from the appalling disallowing of Norwood's fine strike was indication of the 'shade' of the 'light' of what we have as a team.
Today, we started still in the shade, despite half of the Bramall Lane pitch being in bright sunlight (and the Sky camera having real problems in dealing with contrast) Right through the first half we huffed and we puffed, largely in the centre third of the pitch, and did nothing but fuck about gifting possession, pumping hopeful, optimistic balls into the channels for Billy and MGW to chase or trying to read the sometimes bizarre flicks of said player which Barnsley simply mopped up. We looked knackered on fifteen, Berge not willing to pick up the sword and carry the ball past players and us playing what looked like four-square keep-ball in zones across the pitch. Even Fodders had to pull of a worldie to stop us going in 0-1 down at the break. It wasn't impressive.
Worrying still was the start of the second half when Barnsley - not particularly strong in any areas of the pitch and struggling like fuck to stay in the division, looked to get early punches in to silence a very vocal Bramall Lane crowd. We dealt with it thanks to some pretty capable defending but for too long we failed to take the game by the scruff of the neck and shake it. Earlier this season we have failed to do this and paid for it in front of an expectant home crowd, and even away when three up against this side and a footballing oddbin like Mousset bagging a brace we have allowed our demons to take us into the late stages to either almost or in fact entirely cough the endgame up in the dying stages. It seemed that nothing going forward was going right and we were playing the ball across the back too much. Uncharacteristically however from a wide free kick, instead of getting Norwood to thump it over the despairing leap of the player at the back stick into touch, we play it short, Barnsley are still asleep for the ball across the box and there is Berge to do something positive for his third strikers goal in four games. Suddenly then the Blades are finally awake and we are on the hunt with players streaming forward. It didn't amount to much however, and many ventures were still ending in either MGW falling over or final balls kicked into spaces where no red and white stripes existed. Billy is swapped for Jebbo and thereafter McBurnie replaces Berge (with MGW dropping toe RCM) and we still press, at times ineffectively. The second goal comes from McBurnie feeding MGW well after looking like he'd lost it and his own balance and we seal the win and maybe McBurnie should have shut up the critics with his own chance, and the least said about Osborn and his opportunities the better.
Foderingham 7/10: Some great positional work, a simply excellent point blank stop but his distribution today was at times piss poor
Osborn 6/10: His energy and endeavour is admirable. But the truth is, his end product and finesse at times is fucking shocking. Two clear chances today where he banged it into the kop and loads of too-short passes or lost challenges
Gordon 5.5/10: Can look a lot more composed and complete then veers into shitpants territory. He has capability does this lad, but he's a good season away from being the complete RCB. Come back Bash, for fuck's sake
Egan 7/10: Gets extra marks for covering across into Gordon territory and marshalling the defence well. Kept their front end fairly quiet but he misses the sureity of Basham on his right hand side
Robinson 8/10: Another great outing for 'Mr not-C3PO'. Got a head on shitloads and got in the way of shitloads more. At this rate, JOC will be a distant memory, I feel
RND 5.5/10: Tries hard. But the end result is either frustratingly crap or unimpressively sub standard. He's great at going forward but clumsy and unclinical in defence, and doesn't like wingers who go at him
Berge 5/10: Aside from his goal, today was another game where he was on 35% output. Compare if you will where he ripped Boro to bits and dabbed them like shit away from his scone-cutter not a few days ago, since then it seems he has lost his mojo again.
Norwood 6/10: The bits he does well, sometimes timely tackles and interceptions and link play are easily undermined by stuff which have saying that oft chanted 'Fuck's sake, Norwood' under your breath. Sometimes he overplays it, sometimes underplays it. Sometimes he clips a pass into space, and then his next corner floats harmlessly nowhere near where it should be. It is inconsistency that mires Oliver Norwood ... and thereby Sheffield United
Hourihane 6/10: A slightly better game from him in spells. But any better than Fleck in that position? Good assist for Berge's goal, mind
MGW 4/10: Odd score for someone on the scoresheet but I felt today he was wasteful and profligate with possession. It's all very well and good being all fancy-dan but first of all you have to make sure people like Berge and Osborn around you are reading you correctly and secondly you are not Diego Maradona, for whom that shit was footballing alchemy. The fat-druggy Argentine cheating cunt could maze round many players (as we have seen), evading tackles, with deft flicks and skips and making world class international players look like sagging cow's ladyparts laying on the grass, but first of all he could do the basics if needed. MGW today still tries to run before he can walk and all the showboaty stuff ends in failure, usually to the opposition's advantage. Be a flair player Morgan ... but choose your moment. Like the coke-snorting, pizza-scoffing, ball-handling, fat-yet-cosmically-gifted-and-yet-dead football legend
Sharp 4/10: Got fuck all. Hope he's not injured.
Jebbison 5/10: Still growing back into the role and living off the expectations of the Everton game last year. Missed a fucking sitter though
McBurnie 6/10: Better cameo from him and a notable assist (which he has done before this season) Disappointing outcome from his break into the box however
Fleck 6/10: Good to see him back wearing a more involved and more invested John Fleck shirt
Hecky: 7/10: First half was piss poor. Better later on in the second and after the subs. Needs to get inside Berge's head again to switch on and be the man to change the game
Crowd 10/10: 28k. Noisy and loud on telly. Well done.
pommpey (whines pathetically)
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