My take ...

[ancientblade]

good report again pommp your right about our management team why oh why do they wait so long to bring subs on especially as it was obvious 2 or 3 were struggling

 

[Snowflake]

That game last night confirmed to me Hecky and McCall are a car crash waiting to happen if anyone is going to fuck this season up it is those two. We have a bench full of players who could easily be in the starting eleven and we don't bring on any subs until around the 80min mark. A lot on the bench are coming back from injury and need minutes on the pitch yet Hecky keeps players on who are clearly running on empty or just plain not performing and doing their jobs. I just can't fathom out why at 0-2 up we didn't change it after 60mins let's be right Billy's goal was the first kick we had in the second half. We have Sander Berge who has played 10mins in about two month blowing out of his arse, Billy our only fully fit striker and Enda Stevens who looked like he'd had a night out on the Guinness and Hecky keeps them on the pitch. On the bench we have McBurnie, Doyle, Lowe, ready made replacements who all need a run out. Does Hecky know you can make more than 3 subs this season? He keeps players on for 80-90mins every week then wonders why we have such a bad run of injuries. Bringing on Khadra on 88mins is a fucking joke too what good is that going to do him and what good is he going to do for us with 5min cameo appearances the kid is wasting away here if I were him I'd be asking Brighton to find him another loan next month. Make no mistake we have just played the worst two teams in the Championship got in front then second half sat back and made them both look decent sides. Play like this against better teams and we will be nowhere near the top two after 46 games.

Wes 3 looked like he was juggling a bar of soap most of the game
Baldock 6 it wasn't a penalty
Anel 6 doesn't seem to have the energy levels of earlier in the season
Egan 7 good game constantly screaming at Stevens and rightly so
Clark 7 looked knackered 2nd half but having to do Stevens job too
Enda 3 Absolute dog shit looked like he'd been on the piss gave his man so much room, never stopped a cross all night, always out of position, Wigan players just running past him we really do need to move him on urgently
Berge 6 decent enough early on but running on empty before the 60min mark
Norwood 7 decent game
McAtee 6 still looks like a kid playing with the big mesters
Ndiaye 8 at times I think this lad tries to do too much
Sharp 6 Billy scores goals but not much else at his age we need to look after him not flog him for 90mins twice a week.
Not going to rate the subs when they were only on 10mins
Hecky and McCall 3 utter dog shit they are coaches not managers we have an entire fanbase that can see it needed changes on the hour but these two don't react for another 20mins when we are in danger of throwing the game away. Not good enough by a long way

...but we don’t play like that against the better teams or at least haven’t so far !

 

[Sheffsteel]

I’m delighted you (like me) appreciated that Clark had an excellent game perhaps it was obvious but the guy has grown on me great report as always

Agree....he's grown on me too.....think he's definitely good enough for any team chasing promotion.

However a defenders performance is often down to partnerships.
If the left sided centre back develops an strong understand with a highly competent left back......then both will have improved excellent performances.

 

[Cyprus Blade]

Good assessment Pommps - a game that should have seen us out of sight in the first half that ended up as another anxiety-ridden age at the end of the match. Fods had the worst game I have seen him have for us with his fumbles, indecisiveness and nervousness. Berge was hugely anonymous and clearly not fit and wasteful with the ball - seemed to be asking to be subbed. Enda needs dropping I am afraid - whatever he was once is gone and gone for good I am afraid, Great to see the Doyle engine firing again. Billy seems to have lost another yard of pace but took his goal well. Ndiaye is a class player who we would do well to keep under contract - a real throwback player with two feet, excellent balance, great touch, good engine, hard to get off the ball and puts his whole heart into a game. I have to agree the subs were made too late - should have been when we were still in the ascendancy but they were finding a way back into the game. Another night we could have drawn this one because of that and wasteful finishing

 

[MagnifiqueShorehamStreet]

That game last night confirmed to me Hecky and McCall are a car crash waiting to happen if anyone is going to fuck this season up it is those two. We have a bench full of players who could easily be in the starting eleven and we don't bring on any subs until around the 80min mark. A lot on the bench are coming back from injury and need minutes on the pitch yet Hecky keeps players on who are clearly running on empty or just plain not performing and doing their jobs. I just can't fathom out why at 0-2 up we didn't change it after 60mins let's be right Billy's goal was the first kick we had in the second half. We have Sander Berge who has played 10mins in about two month blowing out of his arse, Billy our only fully fit striker and Enda Stevens who looked like he'd had a night out on the Guinness and Hecky keeps them on the pitch. On the bench we have McBurnie, Doyle, Lowe, ready made replacements who all need a run out. Does Hecky know you can make more than 3 subs this season? He keeps players on for 80-90mins every week then wonders why we have such a bad run of injuries. Bringing on Khadra on 88mins is a fucking joke too what good is that going to do him and what good is he going to do for us with 5min cameo appearances the kid is wasting away here if I were him I'd be asking Brighton to find him another loan next month. Make no mistake we have just played the worst two teams in the Championship got in front then second half sat back and made them both look decent sides. Play like this against better teams and we will be nowhere near the top two after 46 games.

Wes 3 looked like he was juggling a bar of soap most of the game
Baldock 6 it wasn't a penalty
Anel 6 doesn't seem to have the energy levels of earlier in the season
Egan 7 good game constantly screaming at Stevens and rightly so
Clark 7 looked knackered 2nd half but having to do Stevens job too
Enda 3 Absolute dog shit looked like he'd been on the piss gave his man so much room, never stopped a cross all night, always out of position, Wigan players just running past him we really do need to move him on urgently
Berge 6 decent enough early on but running on empty before the 60min mark
Norwood 7 decent game
McAtee 6 still looks like a kid playing with the big mesters
Ndiaye 8 at times I think this lad tries to do too much
Sharp 6 Billy scores goals but not much else at his age we need to look after him not flog him for 90mins twice a week.
Not going to rate the subs when they were only on 10mins
Hecky and McCall 3 utter dog shit they are coaches not managers we have an entire fanbase that can see it needed changes on the hour but these two don't react for another 20mins when we are in danger of throwing the game away. Not good enough by a long way

We won, and are 2nd in the league by 5 points
imagine how far ahead we’d be if you were the manager, and coach.Must be so frustrating for you.
For those Blades in the real world, these are happy days lads, and enjoy your Christmas, and hopefully promotion next year.

 

[metalblade]

...but we don’t play like that against the better teams or at least haven’t so far !

When I say "better teams" I mean teams better than Wigan and Huddersfield both adrift at the bottom. Better teams don't necessarily have to be in the top six. We'll see how we fair against Coventry and away at Blackpool but I'm not at all confident we will take the 6pts we should be taking.

 

[metalblade]

We won, and are 2nd in the league by 5 points
imagine how far ahead we’d be if you were the manager, and coach.Must be so frustrating for you.
For those Blades in the real world, these are happy days lads, and enjoy your Christmas, and hopefully promotion next year.

Well fella there isn't only me saying the same thing on this thread but there is only you saying everything is fine and rosy. That says it all for me, we can't all be wrong. I'd like to see us get the win without 99% of the fans biting their fingernails in the second half of games.

 

[Big Hitter]

Good assessments above. We went from me saying to the missus .." We'll get 6 or 7 tonite"... to " Christ - how much longer." Wes played like he'd got the shakes. Enda had gone second half and was looking at the Bench pleading to be subbed. ( Why the fuck wasn't he Hecky ? ) Berge went AWOL.
Ndiaye did well again- plays like a true Blade 100% effort. Norwood did okay rest of them ordinary. We are crying out for a Hockey and /or a TC in midfield. Move Berge on and get into TF market Hecky. Very poor interview of him pre match- bumming Wigan up, surprised he didn't ask Toure for his autograph.

 

[Varkanoid]

Thanks for the review. I thought Clark had a fairly good game in the whole picture he has still had little match time and can only get better he is still behind with how the team plays and gels together.

We did struggle that second half. However a penalty for Clark's "disrobing" which we may have scored and Tilt's second yellow in the first half may have resulted in a different 2nd half. How he didnt even get a yellow card I dont know. Studs up challenge and gets nowt even if the contact was minimal on McAtee (who had stud marks on his foot which he showed the ref). We've had players sent off for less contact than that.

Hate it or love it I think on the whole we would have come off the better with VAR (including the 2nd half penalty claim which they may have missed and offside goal). Anyway it never happened, we still won. Merry Xmas.

 

[Antonb]

Berge was our best player in the first 30 mins, so some very harsh comments on someone who isn’t match fit. Was bound to fade in the 2nd half! A failing on the management side more that Berges!

 

[bakeblade]

Spot on..he,s reactive rather than proactive... there's no fuckin need to be when we have a strong bench.

Hecky does seem to have a touch of the 'southgates' about him

 

[blade too long]

Why do we make such hard fucking work of such an easy task? We thump the league leaders at home comprehensively, lose to fucking Rotherham and later on win-but-only-just against pretty vanilla, never near the top sides like Huddersfield and Wigan. I just don't get United. It's a fucking joy to see us where we need to be and should be, but think about the games we should win by right and the points we have dropped, think about how we've only just sneaked it and where we should be actually, at least six points clear of Burnley
pommpey

because the championship is a very hard league to romp home easily in
why did Leeds crumble when we went up
the players seem to accept it
our fans panic if we arent 3 or 4 clear going into 2 minutes of injury time

coventry blew a 3 goal lead in 16 minutes on saturday why ? because its unpredictable
we didnt just sneak it over 90 minutes we were far superior

we have lost just 6, 5 by 1-0 and 1 3-1 so we are defencive wise sound

bit harsh mark for Berges return after injury not played for some time so was naturally off the pace

 

[United Aren't Back.]

With Berg...take the millions on offer, not sure whom, and buy one or two midfield engines, Doyle "esque"

Sadly it's going to be a case of no takers.

 

[United Aren't Back.]

We seem incapable of putting together a full 90 which is worrying. But we somehow seem to grind out the result which is positive.

We also seem to be surprised by teams when they decide to up the tempo … almost as if we think we have a Devine right not to be tackled/pressured.

If we are to go up automatically we have to be better all over the pitch and coaching team. Nothing massive but just better otherwise it’s playoffs and we all know how that ends.

I can still see a possibility of missing the play offs due to attitude.

 

[ancientblade]

its a real pity rnd got injured him and clark on that left side would have been the best combo in the league maybe lowe can fill that void but clark is underated imo by lots of blades hes an experienced classy lcb who did nothing wrong at newcastle always thought he was a good signing by hecky

 

[Sharrow Snuff Mill]

Three points is three points again, so who are we to moan? We're maintaining the gap from the unpredictable sides beneath us and securing our bid to be automatically promoted or even champions if Burnleh shit the bed. But tonight's performance shows we equally have inconsistency built into our DNA. It's that which people will be discussing in their cars coming back across the Pennines or sat in the Dog and Tennis Racquet over a pint of gassy lager tonight.

Decent starting eleven and yeah, it's still giving us 5-3-2 but we could see where the squeaky parts of the machinery were. Wigan were all over the fucking place in the first half hour and yeah, a great Wolves-a-few-seasons-ago Norwood/Egan goal but really ... honestly, the previous ten and next five were stuffed full of sitters which meant we should have been going in four up. Billy, N'Diaye, Berge and others made Wigan's heads spin with 'how did they fucking miss that?' looks on their faces. We could have done better. Another goal, and another one and it would have had us not going in at half time thinking 'we can still fuck this up'.

Second half and of course, Toure has made changes and asked his players to start playing football with the opposition rather that being a practice side out in a friendly. They pushed down our weaker left hand flank and actually made us sweat a bit to defend our by now slender lead but typically couldn't do anything when there. Elsewhere on the park they looked industrial against the bits of class in our side with both N'Diaye and to a lesser amount Sharp making their backline be busy at times. Then Billy ... so much everyone's commented 'past it' player pops up and scores a strikers goal and we're all thinking 'great, let's kill these cunts off, eh?' But we don't. We sit back, Berge has his typical game of substandard ineffectiveness and we end up defending deep and shipping a ridiculously cheap (if offside) goal just after not giving away a stonewall penner and then for the remainder of the game forgetting we can actually play up the pitch in their half to prevent handing Blackburn two points. Why do we make such hard fucking work of such an easy task? We thump the league leaders at home comprehensively, lose to fucking Rotherham and later on win-but-only-just against pretty vanilla, never near the top sides like Huddersfield and Wigan. I just don't get United. It's a fucking joy to see us where we need to be and should be, but think about the games we should win by right and the points we have dropped, think about how we've only just sneaked it and where we should be actually, at least six points clear of Burnleh.

Foderingham 4/10: Fucking nightmare tonight. Fumbled shot in first half, uncharacteristic flaps and a dreadful push out for their goal. Hopefully his only stinker of the season
Baldock 6.5/10: Standard stuff from George. Most of the attacks tonight were up the other flank (for all the right reasons) so he wasn't massively troubled and didn't get much up the pitch either
Anel 6/10: He was 'okay' tonight. Some decent interceptions and a telling block, but elsewhere he was a bit over ambitious and clumsy and his heading out left a bit to be desired
Egan 7.5/10: Slow to react for their goal but a cracking headed goal and some worthy interceptions and defensive spadework for us
Clark 8/10: Our best defender tonight, with his shirt on or off. Grafted hard and put in a huge shift
Stevens 3/10: Lacks the pace and sharpness these days. Great player in his day but so exposed tonight despite trying his best
McAtee 7/10: Showed some lovely touches and runs in the first half. Less affective in the second
Norwood 8.5/10: Great performance from him. Zero Wilderball moments of silliness, just solid midfield graft and creativity, positional sense and unlucky with the free kick
Berge 4.5/10: Disappointing match for him. Brief flurries of what he can do but nesh heading, lacklustre attitude and nothing special to show. Second half really ineffective
N'Diaye 8/10: What a great player. Not everything comes off for him but he never, ever gives up. He's come back better than he left us - a true international. Please don't sell him.
Sharp 5/10: These days not the battle tank he was but capable of digging out a typical striker's goal out of nowt

Doyle 6/10: Workmanlike and containing better midfield ingredients than McAtee. Unlucky with his brilliant sprint from nowhere
Khadra 5/10: Sprints forward ... gooo-on-son! People off their seats ... gooo-on, Khadz! Then turns into a Lebanese Oliver fucking Burke
McBurnie 5/10: Should have been on at 60 to get stuck into the menstrual accident that was Tilt. By the time he came on we were in full defensive mode

HJ&SMcC 7/10: They can't do owt about our doddy footed first half finishing but these lot aren't half slow in changing the game aren't they? Between 60 and 70 the game screamed for not only Doyle, Khadra and McBurnie, but either Lowe or Bogle to lift the pressure off that left hand side which Berge didn't seem interested in covering once Doyle came on. We needed to come away from that game 0-3 winners rather than be grateful that Wigan were so shit at punishing our inefficiency with chances.

And Jack Whatmough. Gosport lad (like Richie) but an unsurprising wave off on thirty. He was a bright young thing in Pompey's side a few seasons ago with PL teams looking at him but suffered the Terry Kennedy syndrome of recurring injuries and long recoveries. No surprise he was hooked tonight

pommpey

 

[Sharrow Snuff Mill]

Midfield was too open second half, and we were not compact enough when Wigan had the ball.

Stevens should have been subbed at half time. He didn`t have pace to deal with the runs he had to defend, and was poor in possession.

Three points very welcome, but ----------------!

 

[El Volví]

Three points is three points again, so who are we to moan? We're maintaining the gap from the unpredictable sides beneath us and securing our bid to be automatically promoted or even champions if Burnleh shit the bed. But tonight's performance shows we equally have inconsistency built into our DNA. It's that which people will be discussing in their cars coming back across the Pennines or sat in the Dog and Tennis Racquet over a pint of gassy lager tonight.

Decent starting eleven and yeah, it's still giving us 5-3-2 but we could see where the squeaky parts of the machinery were. Wigan were all over the fucking place in the first half hour and yeah, a great Wolves-a-few-seasons-ago Norwood/Egan goal but really ... honestly, the previous ten and next five were stuffed full of sitters which meant we should have been going in four up. Billy, N'Diaye, Berge and others made Wigan's heads spin with 'how did they fucking miss that?' looks on their faces. We could have done better. Another goal, and another one and it would have had us not going in at half time thinking 'we can still fuck this up'.

Second half and of course, Toure has made changes and asked his players to start playing football with the opposition rather that being a practice side out in a friendly. They pushed down our weaker left hand flank and actually made us sweat a bit to defend our by now slender lead but typically couldn't do anything when there. Elsewhere on the park they looked industrial against the bits of class in our side with both N'Diaye and to a lesser amount Sharp making their backline be busy at times. Then Billy ... so much everyone's commented 'past it' player pops up and scores a strikers goal and we're all thinking 'great, let's kill these cunts off, eh?' But we don't. We sit back, Berge has his typical game of substandard ineffectiveness and we end up defending deep and shipping a ridiculously cheap (if offside) goal just after not giving away a stonewall penner and then for the remainder of the game forgetting we can actually play up the pitch in their half to prevent handing Blackburn two points. Why do we make such hard fucking work of such an easy task? We thump the league leaders at home comprehensively, lose to fucking Rotherham and later on win-but-only-just against pretty vanilla, never near the top sides like Huddersfield and Wigan. I just don't get United. It's a fucking joy to see us where we need to be and should be, but think about the games we should win by right and the points we have dropped, think about how we've only just sneaked it and where we should be actually, at least six points clear of Burnleh.

Foderingham 4/10: Fucking nightmare tonight. Fumbled shot in first half, uncharacteristic flaps and a dreadful push out for their goal. Hopefully his only stinker of the season
Baldock 6.5/10: Standard stuff from George. Most of the attacks tonight were up the other flank (for all the right reasons) so he wasn't massively troubled and didn't get much up the pitch either
Anel 6/10: He was 'okay' tonight. Some decent interceptions and a telling block, but elsewhere he was a bit over ambitious and clumsy and his heading out left a bit to be desired
Egan 7.5/10: Slow to react for their goal but a cracking headed goal and some worthy interceptions and defensive spadework for us
Clark 8/10: Our best defender tonight, with his shirt on or off. Grafted hard and put in a huge shift
Stevens 3/10: Lacks the pace and sharpness these days. Great player in his day but so exposed tonight despite trying his best
McAtee 7/10: Showed some lovely touches and runs in the first half. Less affective in the second
Norwood 8.5/10: Great performance from him. Zero Wilderball moments of silliness, just solid midfield graft and creativity, positional sense and unlucky with the free kick
Berge 4.5/10: Disappointing match for him. Brief flurries of what he can do but nesh heading, lacklustre attitude and nothing special to show. Second half really ineffective
N'Diaye 8/10: What a great player. Not everything comes off for him but he never, ever gives up. He's come back better than he left us - a true international. Please don't sell him.
Sharp 5/10: These days not the battle tank he was but capable of digging out a typical striker's goal out of nowt

Doyle 6/10: Workmanlike and containing better midfield ingredients than McAtee. Unlucky with his brilliant sprint from nowhere
Khadra 5/10: Sprints forward ... gooo-on-son! People off their seats ... gooo-on, Khadz! Then turns into a Lebanese Oliver fucking Burke
McBurnie 5/10: Should have been on at 60 to get stuck into the menstrual accident that was Tilt. By the time he came on we were in full defensive mode

HJ&SMcC 7/10: They can't do owt about our doddy footed first half finishing but these lot aren't half slow in changing the game aren't they? Between 60 and 70 the game screamed for not only Doyle, Khadra and McBurnie, but either Lowe or Bogle to lift the pressure off that left hand side which Berge didn't seem interested in covering once Doyle came on. We needed to come away from that game 0-3 winners rather than be grateful that Wigan were so shit at punishing our inefficiency with chances.

And Jack Whatmough. Gosport lad (like Richie) but an unsurprising wave off on thirty. He was a bright young thing in Pompey's side a few seasons ago with PL teams looking at him but suffered the Terry Kennedy syndrome of recurring injuries and long recoveries. No surprise he was hooked tonight

pommpey

Spot on again dude

 

[Chilttheblade]

We are blessed to have Iliman Ndiaye in our team. What a player!
Not sure what we did to deserve him.
Not enjoyed watching a United player as much since David Brooks.

 

[John Street West Terrace]

Cheers Pomps … hmm ..yeh we got 3 points & 5th away win in a row & are 2nd in league at the halfway stage … so I should be jumping through hoops ? .. but just like last weekend against Hudders we were far from convincing .
It’s another grinded out 3 points but they’ll be a lot tougher opponents ahead .
Norwood MOTM for me .. mentions in dispatches for Ndiaye & Egan …onwards & upwards .. hope we stuff Cov next week can’t stand the cnuts

 

[Jan Age]

I can still see a possibility of missing the play offs due to attitude.

We do seem to think we can just turn up don’t we?

 

[MagnifiqueShorehamStreet]

Well fella there isn't only me saying the same thing on this thread but there is only you saying everything is fine and rosy. That says it all for me, we can't all be wrong. I'd like to see us get the win without 99% of the fans biting their fingernails in the second half of games.

Shudder to think, what you were like when we were in league 1,for 6 years.You must have been a very unhappy man.
I agree we do seem to have our fair share of depressives on here, but to be quite honest, if Hecky spent his time paying any sort of attention to em, it wouldn’t.t be long before he was out of a job, and sat behind his keyboard joining em.Thankfully, he’s getting on with, having the best record as a championship manager, in the last 12 months.
Enjoy your Christmas, looking down on the rest of the league, (cept Burnley), and cheer em to the rafters, on Boxing Day, you never know, you just might enjoy yourself.

 

[metalblade]

Shudder to think, what you were like when we were in league 1,for 6 years.You must have been a very unhappy man.
I agree we do seem to have our fair share of depressives on here, but to be quite honest, if Hecky spent his time paying any sort of attention to em, it wouldn’t.t be long before he was out of a job, and sat behind his keyboard joining em.Thankfully, he’s getting on with, having the best record as a championship manager, in the last 12 months.
Enjoy your Christmas, looking down on the rest of the league, (cept Burnley), and cheer em to the rafters, on Boxing Day, you never know, you just might enjoy yourself.

I bet you were saying we were the best team ever when we dropped into Div 4

 

[CornwallBlade]

It's that inconsistency and lack of front-foot, kill-the-fuckers-off we don't have which could be our undoing. Many times last night too many players got dragged out into the crossing zone (again) to pass the ball around to 'possess-our-way-out-of-the-problem' rather than have two players in the box and two outside and get the ball put into the danger area. We have to play the percentage game more and create rather that hold onto the fucking thing hoping for a goldilocks moment.

pommpey

This. I’ve posted elsewhere but can’t fathom what’s happened to the rampaging furious George. He never takes a defender on nor looks for 1-2’s around the box. His stock play is to receive wide and in space, stop and play back down the flanks, often ending up with Egan - mystifying

 

[MagnifiqueShorehamStreet]

I bet you were saying we were the best team ever when we dropped into Div 4

Try living in the present moment.It will help!

 

[pommpey]

This. I’ve posted elsewhere but can’t fathom what’s happened to the rampaging furious George. He never takes a defender on nor looks for 1-2’s around the box. His stock play is to receive wide and in space, stop and play back down the flanks, often ending up with Egan - mystifying

He's still pretty quick, but when he is out wide and on the ball he's quickly doubled up on or his supporting CB and RCM don't move into space to receive. IN a 5-3-2 the RWB/RCM/RCB should be working as a unit with Norwood remaining available as 'third option' for any advance down each flank. More often than not every teams' counter to our advances is to shepherd the play out into a safe zone so we will end up harmlessly passing it around with no threat on goal or it ends up pulling in the two front men (thereby relieving any threat in the area). We then become super vulnerable to any fast counter across the pitch and down the other flank. It's a habit we need to break. We need to get round the back of defences into space and press the attack and have enough players in the box and around the box to keep the attack active.

pommpey

 

[Lane Ender]

Cheers Pommps, but I thought Clark was fucking dire most of the game. Him and Enda down the left is an open invitation for any bang average fucker who can run in a straight line, do two stepovers and have them running round in circles like fucking Benny Hill full of red Smarties.

Berge had a few sublime touches, but sadly sprinkled in 80 minutes of hands on knees, blowing out of his arse knackerdness that suggests he's nowt like match fit.

We should be talking about spanking a bad side 5 or 6 nowt but instead, the usual scratch your head second half had us all wondering when the real Sheffield United will stand up.

Good summary from Pommpey but like you the left hand side is weak Clark is a liability Enda it’s all been said .

 

[Lane Ender]

Well fella there isn't only me saying the same thing on this thread but there is only you saying everything is fine and rosy. That says it all for me, we can't all be wrong. I'd like to see us get the win without 99% of the fans biting their fingernails in the second half of games.

I’m enjoying our league position but if we went up with this squad we all know what would happen.
Let’s face we’re a top half Championship outfit.

 

[Lane Ender]

This. I’ve posted elsewhere but can’t fathom what’s happened to the rampaging furious George. He never takes a defender on nor looks for 1-2’s around the box. His stock play is to receive wide and in space, stop and play back down the flanks, often ending up with Egan - mystifying

He’s just a run of the mill Championship player end of.

 

[Lane Ender]

He's still pretty quick, but when he is out wide and on the ball he's quickly doubled up on or his supporting CB and RCM don't move into space to receive. IN a 5-3-2 the RWB/RCM/RCB should be working as a unit with Norwood remaining available as 'third option' for any advance down each flank. More often than not every teams' counter to our advances is to shepherd the play out into a safe zone so we will end up harmlessly passing it around with no threat on goal or it ends up pulling in the two front men (thereby relieving any threat in the area). We then become super vulnerable to any fast counter across the pitch and down the other flank. It's a habit we need to break. We need to get round the back of defences into space and press the attack and have enough players in the box and around the box to keep the attack active.

pommpey

Anel doesn’t have the understanding as Bash had with George which makes George even less effective going forward