pommpey
THE FUTURE ... AS IT USED TO BE
- Banned
- #1
Another dirty win, another three points. Hull to their credit didn't come to be beaten at all and come the second half up to them going down to ten looked likely to rob us of two points. There are patterns forming here, in some ways worrying but thankfully unresolved. We start like a fucking house on fire, take an early lead with some decently landed punches then on twenty we switch off and allow the opposition far too much bandwidth and capability to hold us, then press us back in our half so we eventually finish the game camped round our box. Blackpool at home, Norwich at home and even recently Stoke all looked like they could bounce back and shock us. Although we are grateful for riding high at the summit and still in with a challenge on Burnley who look resilient and unbeatable. We don't. We taper off from 20 to 90, giving seventy minutes of gathering peril and worry. Even with ten men on the pitch against us tonight we still never made use of the hole it left and Rosenior even stuck on more attacking options. We spent a great deal of that second half playing the game up at the Bramall Lane end and not sealing the win. Sure, we attacked, but we failed to get it sufficiently together to find Jebbison or Ndaiye to get a shot in on goal. We also spent a lot of the game backtracking after telegraphing balls when on the advance
Hull as said have their share of decent players. Connolly is a good catch and yeah, he's always been a shithouser. But the failings in our team are small but significant and don't permit United to win without penalty. It gives cynics like me the time when we eventually lose to say 'told you so' instead of 'well, it was bound to happen'. I'd rather Hacky startegised the game to control it better if we are ahead. His subs tonight suggested he was far from doing that and it was more desperate punts rather than measured options. Where was Coulibally and McAtee? Why bring on Osborn for Doyle? Sharp for Jebbo? It fells like he's grasping at straws instead of trying to manage the game.
Foderingham 6.5/10: Decent enough game save for daft 'pass it out from the back' choices and the odd punch-where-he-should-have-caught.
Bogle 8.5./10: Drops a half point for an unnecessary yellow card, but again, showed that our right side is mostly complete and ready for the next level, especially with him in the team and not Baldock who is vey much yesterday's defender now
Anel 6.5/10: Involved in the goal and on the advance but in other areas he was somewhat fragile and lacking in vision especially dealing with threats on the ground. Shit pass to Bogle late on
Egan 7.5/10: Got himself right in the fight at the back. Some key headers and interventions. A better game from him.
Robinson 7/10: Some typically robust and committed tackles from him especially in his battle with Connolly. Daft yellow card really. Elsewhere he was okay save for that daft 'play out from the back' which he is never good at.
Lowe 6/10: Quiet game from him and some errors which was disappointing
Norwood 7.5/10: He was really up in the business end in the first half. Because Hull played a narrow back four they gave Lowe and Bogle acres of room out wide and this is where Norwood's Hollywood passes paid out in silver dollars. Second half he was a bit less prominent and pulled deeper to defend and break up Hull's midfield ambitions
Doyle 7/10: Thought he had a great game. He was tenacious, chasing up and down the pitch and out on his side, and stuck to his task. Then he gets subbed. For fucking Osborn. Baffling.
Berge 4.5/10: A slightly better game for Berge, but not by much. Made some headers and ball at feet forays and got into key areas but when we are struggling late on, we need him to carry the ball up the park to relieve the pressure. Get us back on the attack. Play in their half. Instead ... where the fuck is he? No one fears him. Not many pass to him either. He's just not that fucking good, is he?
NDaiye 8/10: Great game. He's just determined to make oppositions fear him being near them, or advancing on goal with purpose. His unsuccessful dance through their defence late on was just shy of that bit of luck to sneak the ball to a waiting
Jebbison 7.5/10: Less effective later on, mainly because we didn't attack like we did in the first half. But fuck me he took his goal well and mixed it up with real purpose with their midfield and defence. I like this kid. He's everything Brewster isn't and then some more and works well with people on either side, creating options and outlets. Next year and some decent game time and he could be a world beater.
Osborn 5/10: Puzzling substitution. He ran about a bit and got into wide areas but his delivery and decision making out there was typically '18 months ago' and somewhat frustrating
Basham 5/10: Didn't see much of him in Berge's position save for a more reassured figure and possibly someone willing to get the ball up the pitch
Sharp 5/10: Did what he had to but bringing him on for Jebbo who still had legs on him was silly. What was he bringing to the game?
McBurnie 5/10: Got himself on the ball straight away and looks eager to prove a point that coming back from injury doesn't involve lengthy first team rehabilitation. Typical dust up from him for their red card
HJ&SMcC: 6/10: A win is another win and thanks guys. But what puzzles me is the lack of drive in the team to control the opposition when we are ahead. This doesn't happen so much when we are away from home. We seem able to cope better when not listening to 29k of Bramall Lane, which is odd. The stadium sounded in fine voice tonight but down there on the green stuff the longer the evening dragged on, the more sandbags we had to put up. Sure, we'll go up at this rate. But I feel that I'd be a lot more confident if tonight's result was 2-0 and we played much of the second half kicking toward the kop and down at that end. It seemed that the red card was the only thing that popped their balloon and it's a shame. We are better than that. We have far more capability built into a pretty slender team. Where was Coullibally? Why wasn't McAtee shoved on to get at their tiring defence?
FA Cup next, like anyone gives a fuck. I'd like us not to get beaten by Wrexham and draw a big club to Bramall Lane, but it exposes us to more risk of injury, especially NdAiye, Bogle and Jebbison who are now the spine of the team.
pommpey
Hull as said have their share of decent players. Connolly is a good catch and yeah, he's always been a shithouser. But the failings in our team are small but significant and don't permit United to win without penalty. It gives cynics like me the time when we eventually lose to say 'told you so' instead of 'well, it was bound to happen'. I'd rather Hacky startegised the game to control it better if we are ahead. His subs tonight suggested he was far from doing that and it was more desperate punts rather than measured options. Where was Coulibally and McAtee? Why bring on Osborn for Doyle? Sharp for Jebbo? It fells like he's grasping at straws instead of trying to manage the game.
Foderingham 6.5/10: Decent enough game save for daft 'pass it out from the back' choices and the odd punch-where-he-should-have-caught.
Bogle 8.5./10: Drops a half point for an unnecessary yellow card, but again, showed that our right side is mostly complete and ready for the next level, especially with him in the team and not Baldock who is vey much yesterday's defender now
Anel 6.5/10: Involved in the goal and on the advance but in other areas he was somewhat fragile and lacking in vision especially dealing with threats on the ground. Shit pass to Bogle late on
Egan 7.5/10: Got himself right in the fight at the back. Some key headers and interventions. A better game from him.
Robinson 7/10: Some typically robust and committed tackles from him especially in his battle with Connolly. Daft yellow card really. Elsewhere he was okay save for that daft 'play out from the back' which he is never good at.
Lowe 6/10: Quiet game from him and some errors which was disappointing
Norwood 7.5/10: He was really up in the business end in the first half. Because Hull played a narrow back four they gave Lowe and Bogle acres of room out wide and this is where Norwood's Hollywood passes paid out in silver dollars. Second half he was a bit less prominent and pulled deeper to defend and break up Hull's midfield ambitions
Doyle 7/10: Thought he had a great game. He was tenacious, chasing up and down the pitch and out on his side, and stuck to his task. Then he gets subbed. For fucking Osborn. Baffling.
Berge 4.5/10: A slightly better game for Berge, but not by much. Made some headers and ball at feet forays and got into key areas but when we are struggling late on, we need him to carry the ball up the park to relieve the pressure. Get us back on the attack. Play in their half. Instead ... where the fuck is he? No one fears him. Not many pass to him either. He's just not that fucking good, is he?
NDaiye 8/10: Great game. He's just determined to make oppositions fear him being near them, or advancing on goal with purpose. His unsuccessful dance through their defence late on was just shy of that bit of luck to sneak the ball to a waiting
Jebbison 7.5/10: Less effective later on, mainly because we didn't attack like we did in the first half. But fuck me he took his goal well and mixed it up with real purpose with their midfield and defence. I like this kid. He's everything Brewster isn't and then some more and works well with people on either side, creating options and outlets. Next year and some decent game time and he could be a world beater.
Osborn 5/10: Puzzling substitution. He ran about a bit and got into wide areas but his delivery and decision making out there was typically '18 months ago' and somewhat frustrating
Basham 5/10: Didn't see much of him in Berge's position save for a more reassured figure and possibly someone willing to get the ball up the pitch
Sharp 5/10: Did what he had to but bringing him on for Jebbo who still had legs on him was silly. What was he bringing to the game?
McBurnie 5/10: Got himself on the ball straight away and looks eager to prove a point that coming back from injury doesn't involve lengthy first team rehabilitation. Typical dust up from him for their red card
HJ&SMcC: 6/10: A win is another win and thanks guys. But what puzzles me is the lack of drive in the team to control the opposition when we are ahead. This doesn't happen so much when we are away from home. We seem able to cope better when not listening to 29k of Bramall Lane, which is odd. The stadium sounded in fine voice tonight but down there on the green stuff the longer the evening dragged on, the more sandbags we had to put up. Sure, we'll go up at this rate. But I feel that I'd be a lot more confident if tonight's result was 2-0 and we played much of the second half kicking toward the kop and down at that end. It seemed that the red card was the only thing that popped their balloon and it's a shame. We are better than that. We have far more capability built into a pretty slender team. Where was Coullibally? Why wasn't McAtee shoved on to get at their tiring defence?
FA Cup next, like anyone gives a fuck. I'd like us not to get beaten by Wrexham and draw a big club to Bramall Lane, but it exposes us to more risk of injury, especially NdAiye, Bogle and Jebbison who are now the spine of the team.
pommpey
