pommpey
THE FUTURE ... AS IT USED TO BE
- Banned
- #1
Maybe a big chance to come out blazing and capitalise on last week's decent first half at least. But having seen Hecky's propensity to stick with Norwood and Fleck in midfield, I felt the stools in my bowel liquefy somewhat, especially given we are facing the Wilder/Knill management team who built them in the first place. It was fairly obvious that a team built for Wilderball and still largely practicing Wilderball with Wilder's players would be countered by Wilderball tactics. As it turned out, Wilder's Boro didn't even look half as capable as the sides he managed us with and true to form, we gave the fucking lead away not once, but twice.
We typically started bright and went one up with Sander Currie receiving a Norwood straight pass, losing his marker for half a pace and twatting it low into the far corner. A great goal and a great start but the last time Sander got us one up early like that was Coventry away last season and we were served our arses on a plate after that. The first ten were similarly decent though and Boro looked rattled but for some odd reason we were suddenly switched off. It's not like Wilder changed anything either. We continued to try to play down our clearly weaker left side and coughed up too much space or possession and simply didn't look organised enough to hold onto that fragile lead. So it came to pass that we looked like a shower of chimps as they played through us on that flank and a centre which to anyone's mindset should never have been unchallenged. But it was. Like the West Brom goal midweek, our central three are all pointing at each other as to who had who. More of that in a few minutes ...
So at one-all its set for at least summat to happen. We had pops on target from Norwood from a free kick and rare opportunities venturing forward but we still look woefully underhorsepowered in the middle of the park, careless passes and almost schoolboy errors failing badly to make any effect on what looked to be a shaky Boro defence. Billy and N'Daiye again had a vast gap behind them filled with fresh air as Fleck and Norwood tried to to the basics and get them right. It all looked so 'last season' and screamed for someone to come on and take the game by the lapels and deliver a clanger of a knee upwards into the nutbag. Second half, Brewster came on for Billy again showed he's willing to run and fight but again ... he isolated and bereft of support even when he gets the ball with his back to the goal or is up in advanced areas supporting the attack. Lowe, after having pissplop first half improved slightly by after half time I thought we were playing with ten men as I could not see Jon Fleck at all. Norwood also didn't seem to be functioning at all with two corners - onme typically hitting the first man and the other sailing over everyone's heads, still not playing basic passing triangles to be effective. Long ball giveaways and dispossessions ... the stuff we have ALL moaned about ... being his reason for being
Suddenly though from a throw in he provided Ndaiye with a ball to put a benign cross in and their defender swipes it into the fucking net. Cue deep joy and a chance to win but you just fucking knew we didn't have the minerals to manage the result to three points to put us up in the top six and give us the away win we expect. Hell no. Soon after we are holding on at times against a pretty dismal Boro front line and whilst this screams for creatives to be on the pitch to hold the ball down the other end or even God forbid get the forwards involved and damned well threaten. Instead we bring on McBurnie, another part of Wilder and Knill's dubious legacy of failure, to prop up the defence. Hah. Good move Hecky. They equalise again from a forward completely unmarked in front of Wes's goal. It was pathetic.
I'm not sure what is going on here. I'd like to believe that this is the 'Hecksperiment' - a move to illustrate how piss poor United are and how it may be an idea if we jettisoned the legacy players of Wilder's ascendency to acquire more talent and a complete revolution in strategy and formation. That's the optimist in me and to be honest, he needn't bother. We know where the bodies lay with regard our weaknesses. They are actually all over the park if truthfully speaking and most, if not all have been bought or brought in by one Mr Chris Wilder. A lot of our fanbase though cling to these totemic figures like Panini cards, with the vain hope that as collectors items they might one day shit silver dollars. Some others aren't quite so stupid and know that the cards aren't rare at all and if anything, are in everyone's 'gots'. Week in, week out they get their useless collection out and stroke themselves through their pockets at these amazing items, even though they don't actually complete anyone's collections. But there's the pessimist in me thinking that Hecky actually 'believes' in the likes of Norwood and Fleck starting in midfield like suddenly the next match is gonna be a fucking example of total football, from two inept, inconsistent and frankly liability-laden makeweights. I actually think that Hecky puts the starting team up on the whiteboard and Jack and McCall suck their top lips in and exchange side glances with a 'Fucker doesn't know what he's doing' manner. This is reinforced for me by his inability to see the gathering crisis before him and make the required changes to put the result in our favour. What did he exactly think McBurnie would give us in the closing stages at 2-1 up? Why did he not bring our clearly gifted loanees in to give us some impetus and direction and put Boro on the back foot?
It's because he's fucking clueless.
Foderingham 7/10: Great performance from him. No chance with the goals and some really great claims aerially from a keeper who isn't a giant
Baldock 6/10: Ken Barlow. Nice bants with Wilder, apparently
Anel 7/10: Becoming a great player and one for whom I gather Bash would happily hand over his mantle to. But he'll have to be consistent to do so. A wayward pass in the second half, but he's still good
Egan 6.5/10: Another decent performance from him but I feel he is 'captain of the back three'. With a weaker player on his left he struggled at times today leading to both of their goals
RND 5/10: Poor first half and looked all over the shop at times. He's not a centre back and never will be. Better second half by a small margin
Lowe 4/10: Dismal first half. Started okay but that is no real measure. Second half he was slightly better and had a crack on goal
Berge 7/10: Drops a mark because second half he again faded into nothingness despite being pretty mercurial in spells. Brilliant goal from him.
Norwood 5/10: Another average-to-poor showing from him. Good attempt on goal from the free kick but elsewhere - once again readers - profligate, wasteful and ineffective as the CDM/CM. Gets one whole point for his assists, but they weren't exactly Son-to-Kane worldies, were they?
Fleck 3/10: The Invisible Scotsman for about 80% of today's game
NDaiye 7.5/10: Runs himself to empty on 60 minutes just trying to make that midfield-to-front-end connectivity or digging a chance out of any ball pumped forward
Sharp 5/10: Again, because he had nowt to get onto. Same old, same old.
Brewster 7.5/10: Although not supplied as much, the kid put himself about and made a real nuisance at times, to little effect apart from a great header from 18 yards. Took a knock, so that's him out until Easter 2025
McBurnie 1/10: Useless. Flailing attempt at a header (to which he peeled off the goalscorer) and his usual grifting up the pitch with nothing times nothing in centre forward threat. He is wearing the number some goalscorers in the past have made their marks with - Dearden, Edwards, Agana, Asaba ... even Chris Porter. Its a shirt of honour and he isn't good enough even to be compared to Ashely fucking Ward or Arturo Lupoli
Ref: Bellend. Definite penalty with the challenge on RND and dubious shit regarding Egan's header.
Hecky 1/10: Get it fucking sorted, feller. Clean out the shit
pommpey
We typically started bright and went one up with Sander Currie receiving a Norwood straight pass, losing his marker for half a pace and twatting it low into the far corner. A great goal and a great start but the last time Sander got us one up early like that was Coventry away last season and we were served our arses on a plate after that. The first ten were similarly decent though and Boro looked rattled but for some odd reason we were suddenly switched off. It's not like Wilder changed anything either. We continued to try to play down our clearly weaker left side and coughed up too much space or possession and simply didn't look organised enough to hold onto that fragile lead. So it came to pass that we looked like a shower of chimps as they played through us on that flank and a centre which to anyone's mindset should never have been unchallenged. But it was. Like the West Brom goal midweek, our central three are all pointing at each other as to who had who. More of that in a few minutes ...
So at one-all its set for at least summat to happen. We had pops on target from Norwood from a free kick and rare opportunities venturing forward but we still look woefully underhorsepowered in the middle of the park, careless passes and almost schoolboy errors failing badly to make any effect on what looked to be a shaky Boro defence. Billy and N'Daiye again had a vast gap behind them filled with fresh air as Fleck and Norwood tried to to the basics and get them right. It all looked so 'last season' and screamed for someone to come on and take the game by the lapels and deliver a clanger of a knee upwards into the nutbag. Second half, Brewster came on for Billy again showed he's willing to run and fight but again ... he isolated and bereft of support even when he gets the ball with his back to the goal or is up in advanced areas supporting the attack. Lowe, after having pissplop first half improved slightly by after half time I thought we were playing with ten men as I could not see Jon Fleck at all. Norwood also didn't seem to be functioning at all with two corners - onme typically hitting the first man and the other sailing over everyone's heads, still not playing basic passing triangles to be effective. Long ball giveaways and dispossessions ... the stuff we have ALL moaned about ... being his reason for being
Suddenly though from a throw in he provided Ndaiye with a ball to put a benign cross in and their defender swipes it into the fucking net. Cue deep joy and a chance to win but you just fucking knew we didn't have the minerals to manage the result to three points to put us up in the top six and give us the away win we expect. Hell no. Soon after we are holding on at times against a pretty dismal Boro front line and whilst this screams for creatives to be on the pitch to hold the ball down the other end or even God forbid get the forwards involved and damned well threaten. Instead we bring on McBurnie, another part of Wilder and Knill's dubious legacy of failure, to prop up the defence. Hah. Good move Hecky. They equalise again from a forward completely unmarked in front of Wes's goal. It was pathetic.
I'm not sure what is going on here. I'd like to believe that this is the 'Hecksperiment' - a move to illustrate how piss poor United are and how it may be an idea if we jettisoned the legacy players of Wilder's ascendency to acquire more talent and a complete revolution in strategy and formation. That's the optimist in me and to be honest, he needn't bother. We know where the bodies lay with regard our weaknesses. They are actually all over the park if truthfully speaking and most, if not all have been bought or brought in by one Mr Chris Wilder. A lot of our fanbase though cling to these totemic figures like Panini cards, with the vain hope that as collectors items they might one day shit silver dollars. Some others aren't quite so stupid and know that the cards aren't rare at all and if anything, are in everyone's 'gots'. Week in, week out they get their useless collection out and stroke themselves through their pockets at these amazing items, even though they don't actually complete anyone's collections. But there's the pessimist in me thinking that Hecky actually 'believes' in the likes of Norwood and Fleck starting in midfield like suddenly the next match is gonna be a fucking example of total football, from two inept, inconsistent and frankly liability-laden makeweights. I actually think that Hecky puts the starting team up on the whiteboard and Jack and McCall suck their top lips in and exchange side glances with a 'Fucker doesn't know what he's doing' manner. This is reinforced for me by his inability to see the gathering crisis before him and make the required changes to put the result in our favour. What did he exactly think McBurnie would give us in the closing stages at 2-1 up? Why did he not bring our clearly gifted loanees in to give us some impetus and direction and put Boro on the back foot?
It's because he's fucking clueless.
Foderingham 7/10: Great performance from him. No chance with the goals and some really great claims aerially from a keeper who isn't a giant
Baldock 6/10: Ken Barlow. Nice bants with Wilder, apparently
Anel 7/10: Becoming a great player and one for whom I gather Bash would happily hand over his mantle to. But he'll have to be consistent to do so. A wayward pass in the second half, but he's still good
Egan 6.5/10: Another decent performance from him but I feel he is 'captain of the back three'. With a weaker player on his left he struggled at times today leading to both of their goals
RND 5/10: Poor first half and looked all over the shop at times. He's not a centre back and never will be. Better second half by a small margin
Lowe 4/10: Dismal first half. Started okay but that is no real measure. Second half he was slightly better and had a crack on goal
Berge 7/10: Drops a mark because second half he again faded into nothingness despite being pretty mercurial in spells. Brilliant goal from him.
Norwood 5/10: Another average-to-poor showing from him. Good attempt on goal from the free kick but elsewhere - once again readers - profligate, wasteful and ineffective as the CDM/CM. Gets one whole point for his assists, but they weren't exactly Son-to-Kane worldies, were they?
Fleck 3/10: The Invisible Scotsman for about 80% of today's game
NDaiye 7.5/10: Runs himself to empty on 60 minutes just trying to make that midfield-to-front-end connectivity or digging a chance out of any ball pumped forward
Sharp 5/10: Again, because he had nowt to get onto. Same old, same old.
Brewster 7.5/10: Although not supplied as much, the kid put himself about and made a real nuisance at times, to little effect apart from a great header from 18 yards. Took a knock, so that's him out until Easter 2025
McBurnie 1/10: Useless. Flailing attempt at a header (to which he peeled off the goalscorer) and his usual grifting up the pitch with nothing times nothing in centre forward threat. He is wearing the number some goalscorers in the past have made their marks with - Dearden, Edwards, Agana, Asaba ... even Chris Porter. Its a shirt of honour and he isn't good enough even to be compared to Ashely fucking Ward or Arturo Lupoli
Ref: Bellend. Definite penalty with the challenge on RND and dubious shit regarding Egan's header.
Hecky 1/10: Get it fucking sorted, feller. Clean out the shit
pommpey
