pommpey
THE FUTURE ... AS IT USED TO BE
- Banned
- #1
Smash and grab. And how many fucking times have we had that done to us?
Yeah, it was an unremarkable, unattractive and largely negative display from us, more akin to 'don't lose the away games' mantra but how rewarding to send the Swansea supporters home cursing and kicking rather than celebrating a draw against the top of the league? It was all on for us to miss a game and come back fucking appalling and lose badly, in The Sheffield United Way we are used to.
I'm up in North Dorset at the moment in the caravan, having fished a lake on my favourite complex. In time honoured fashion the past three weeks it has fished it's arse off, producing a good stamp of forty and thirty pound slabs all stuck up on social media. Three days ago, for some strange reason, the lake 'switched off' and no anglers before and after my 48 hour stint are catching. That's fishing. Similarly, for the first ten to fifteen minutes of tonight's match we were dominant and on the front foot and in a manner that spelled out a high scoring away win. A couple of decent chances, one for RND at the back stick and a majestic cross by Baldock to McB who'd lost his marker were both without result. Then (in typical style) something happens, in this case a decent challenge on the edge of our box which resulted in their trainer coming on, and we 'switched off'. No more attacking, no more great spells of forward moving passing and possession, no more chances on goal to speak of. We simply fell back and allowed Swansea to come onto us, so much so that by the end of the first half, they were camped in our half expecting to be one-up. What happened?
Second half Hecky made one change by swapping a clearly unhappy Anel with Bash which gave us some respite but with our midfield looking suspiciously underpowered we couldn't bring McB or NDaiye into the game, looking at times like the toothless Wilderbeast of seasons past. On seventy minutes and with changes from the bench beckoning, we still slugged it out with a Swansea side full of errors and not really looking potent or deserved enough themselves of anything more than a scrappy point. In truth the winner didn't seem to be coming from anywhere until Bash makes a great intervention, the ball is booted up the pitch, Brewster looked a damned sight more determined to get to the ball that ex-Blade Naughton and we went on to get all three points via Khadra, who'd legged it up the field like a greyhound. Did we deserve it? No, not really? Is it something to celebrate? Damned right. Are we still top of the league? Fuck yeah. Congratulations United. That was a dirty win and sometimes they are the best.
Foderingham 6/10: Not a lot to do. Made a decent point blank stop in the first half which was drilled straight at him. He is back at dawdling with the ball a bit though. Needs to stop that.
Baldock 6/10: Gritty, determined but in the event fruitless game higher up the wing. Because Berge disappeared on 20 minutes, and Basham had a poor first half he had a tough job making any headway.
Basham 6/10: First half he was decidedly and uncharacteristically dodgy with a number of misplaced passes and at times looking exposed. Second half he was slightly better when swapped to the left and worked better with RND, making better, more penetrating runs and better dealing with their advances
Egan 6.5/10: A better game for him with some key interceptions, tackles and headers at the right time. But he still plays fast and hard with the fucking about at the back shit
Anel 5/10: Not a great first but a better second for him. LCB isn't where he most happy
RND 7.5/10: The beating heart of the side tonight. A great one on one war with Sorinola, one I felt he won. Should have buried his header
Berge 6/10: Great first ten. Looked excellent and difficult to dispossess. Really great. Then, in a puff of smoke, he fucking vanished. Games like these, against a pretty shitty Swansea side, are where he should be bossing the game throughout
Norwood 6/10: Some good stuff and some bad. At times, he does 'make things tick' but this is fleeting and is given over to pointless possession play and balls over to the far touchline. He did graft throughout which was pleasing with limitations
Doyle 6.5/10: Tried hard to make it work and connect in his position but when the rest of the team seemingly shut down, he was left grasping at thin air at times
NDaiye 5/10: Not given any real supply after our shut down. He showed short flashes of potential but nowhere near what we see of him at BDTBL
McB 6.5/10: Tried hard to mix it up and missed a bit of a sitter in the first half. Less shithousing too
McAtee 4/10: Doesn't show me much of the so called potential yet
Brewster 7/10: Okay, should have buried his header but his gut determination and will to win chasing that ball up the pitch, dusting off Naughton and playing the correct pass is noteworthy. Fucking ace substitution
Khadra 6/10: Not really on long enough to make a complete impact on a tiring Swansea but took his goal really well
HJ&SMcC: 8.5/10: Big marks because we are four points clear now with a 12 goal difference. Tonight's win is theirs and theirs alone because we didn't just accept the draw. we made the most of a chance and took the three off Swansea, historically no easy feat for us.
pommpey
Yeah, it was an unremarkable, unattractive and largely negative display from us, more akin to 'don't lose the away games' mantra but how rewarding to send the Swansea supporters home cursing and kicking rather than celebrating a draw against the top of the league? It was all on for us to miss a game and come back fucking appalling and lose badly, in The Sheffield United Way we are used to.
I'm up in North Dorset at the moment in the caravan, having fished a lake on my favourite complex. In time honoured fashion the past three weeks it has fished it's arse off, producing a good stamp of forty and thirty pound slabs all stuck up on social media. Three days ago, for some strange reason, the lake 'switched off' and no anglers before and after my 48 hour stint are catching. That's fishing. Similarly, for the first ten to fifteen minutes of tonight's match we were dominant and on the front foot and in a manner that spelled out a high scoring away win. A couple of decent chances, one for RND at the back stick and a majestic cross by Baldock to McB who'd lost his marker were both without result. Then (in typical style) something happens, in this case a decent challenge on the edge of our box which resulted in their trainer coming on, and we 'switched off'. No more attacking, no more great spells of forward moving passing and possession, no more chances on goal to speak of. We simply fell back and allowed Swansea to come onto us, so much so that by the end of the first half, they were camped in our half expecting to be one-up. What happened?
Second half Hecky made one change by swapping a clearly unhappy Anel with Bash which gave us some respite but with our midfield looking suspiciously underpowered we couldn't bring McB or NDaiye into the game, looking at times like the toothless Wilderbeast of seasons past. On seventy minutes and with changes from the bench beckoning, we still slugged it out with a Swansea side full of errors and not really looking potent or deserved enough themselves of anything more than a scrappy point. In truth the winner didn't seem to be coming from anywhere until Bash makes a great intervention, the ball is booted up the pitch, Brewster looked a damned sight more determined to get to the ball that ex-Blade Naughton and we went on to get all three points via Khadra, who'd legged it up the field like a greyhound. Did we deserve it? No, not really? Is it something to celebrate? Damned right. Are we still top of the league? Fuck yeah. Congratulations United. That was a dirty win and sometimes they are the best.
Foderingham 6/10: Not a lot to do. Made a decent point blank stop in the first half which was drilled straight at him. He is back at dawdling with the ball a bit though. Needs to stop that.
Baldock 6/10: Gritty, determined but in the event fruitless game higher up the wing. Because Berge disappeared on 20 minutes, and Basham had a poor first half he had a tough job making any headway.
Basham 6/10: First half he was decidedly and uncharacteristically dodgy with a number of misplaced passes and at times looking exposed. Second half he was slightly better when swapped to the left and worked better with RND, making better, more penetrating runs and better dealing with their advances
Egan 6.5/10: A better game for him with some key interceptions, tackles and headers at the right time. But he still plays fast and hard with the fucking about at the back shit
Anel 5/10: Not a great first but a better second for him. LCB isn't where he most happy
RND 7.5/10: The beating heart of the side tonight. A great one on one war with Sorinola, one I felt he won. Should have buried his header
Berge 6/10: Great first ten. Looked excellent and difficult to dispossess. Really great. Then, in a puff of smoke, he fucking vanished. Games like these, against a pretty shitty Swansea side, are where he should be bossing the game throughout
Norwood 6/10: Some good stuff and some bad. At times, he does 'make things tick' but this is fleeting and is given over to pointless possession play and balls over to the far touchline. He did graft throughout which was pleasing with limitations
Doyle 6.5/10: Tried hard to make it work and connect in his position but when the rest of the team seemingly shut down, he was left grasping at thin air at times
NDaiye 5/10: Not given any real supply after our shut down. He showed short flashes of potential but nowhere near what we see of him at BDTBL
McB 6.5/10: Tried hard to mix it up and missed a bit of a sitter in the first half. Less shithousing too
McAtee 4/10: Doesn't show me much of the so called potential yet
Brewster 7/10: Okay, should have buried his header but his gut determination and will to win chasing that ball up the pitch, dusting off Naughton and playing the correct pass is noteworthy. Fucking ace substitution
Khadra 6/10: Not really on long enough to make a complete impact on a tiring Swansea but took his goal really well
HJ&SMcC: 8.5/10: Big marks because we are four points clear now with a 12 goal difference. Tonight's win is theirs and theirs alone because we didn't just accept the draw. we made the most of a chance and took the three off Swansea, historically no easy feat for us.
pommpey
