not as catastrophic as we thought

[blade too long]

A few weeks ago some said

Phillips and Clarke leaving meant the end for us


A few weeks ago

Some said Simonson was disastrous , hazardous to our teams health

A few weeks ago

Some said Ched Evans was nothing but an expensive passenger bleeding us dry

5 straight wins and 4 consecutive league clean sheets later , perhaps , just perhaps we are coping with all of it

 

[Highbury_Blade]

Ched Evans is probably the most feared striker in the division at the moment. 13 goals from 17 appearances (all comps) is a stunning rate of return.

 

[SotonBlade]

Not had a striker like that for a while!

 

[puppet]

Not had a striker like that for a while!

no - he'll be gone by jan 31 unfortunately. for all the money we've invested in him we should keep him until the summer, youd think, wouldnt you!?

 

[SotonBlade]

no - he'll be gone by jan 31 unfortunately. for all the money we've invested in him we should keep him until the summer, youd think, wouldnt you!?

You really think so pup? Even with the court case looming?

 

[TarquinDelouche]

no - he'll be gone by jan 31 unfortunately. for all the money we've invested in him we should keep him until the summer, youd think, wouldnt you!?

"The Blades Way®" would suggest one of the following scenarios:

1) We keep hold of him. Until 23:55 on Jan 31st. Then we look to cover for him with some kid from the Arsenal youth squad on loan.

or

2) We keep hold of him. Until the summer, when he walks away free of charge - probably to Stoke.

 

[SwissBlade]

I said that ched would come good.

Any coincidence that Simmo found his form after he was dropped for a kid?

 

[JohnDenver]

A few weeks ago some said

Phillips and Clarke leaving meant the end for us


A few weeks ago

Some said Simonson was disastrous , hazardous to our teams health

A few weeks ago

Some said Ched Evans was nothing but an expensive passenger bleeding us dry

5 straight wins and 4 consecutive league clean sheets later , perhaps , just perhaps we are coping with all of it

I had all those worries. But credit Danny for tightening up the team and getting us through. Granted, we're not a pretty side just now, but given a couple of additions we could be as good as any.

 

[moDtheGod]

I said that ched would come good.

£3 million for a League One striker is still ridiculous. So he's scoring in Division Three, whoop de do.

Hopefully he will keep on scoring for us all the way up to the Premier League, then he'll have proven his doubters wrong.

 

[yorkshirecoast]

Ched is the difference between us winning games and losing/drawing them at the moment. I dread to think what we'd be like if he was sold. We've got a decent chance of going up if we keep him. Surely even McCabe can see that & won't cash in as he normally does. Then again....

 

[Darren]

no - he'll be gone by jan 31 unfortunately. for all the money we've invested in him we should keep him until the summer, youd think, wouldnt you!?

The only way he will go is if:

(1) His court case doesn't come on until the summer
(2) Some desperate relegation threatened championship club offers him a short term contract until the summer on more money than he is on now - they obviously won't offer him a longer contract as he may well be inside for most of it.

 

[super_pig]

i don't think that anyone in the championship can match the wages he is already on (prem wages) .. as for the team.. we have improved ..simple as.. collins has been immense at the back and macdonald looks better week by week..that with the reintroduction of simmo and improvement of ched means that the spine of the team has gone up a level. it is easy for us to beat these teams.. all we have to do is stay compact, press hard and rely on the fact that they will be technically limited at this level and give the ball away in the end, then we can use our technically superior skills to beat them..

 

[Bergen Blade]

For a team that has an error prone goalie, a right back that can't defend, a kid centre half who needs a break, a journey man who we all wrote off last season, and any of two much criticised left backs, we have really done well defensively the last few weeks. Four clean sheets in the league is excellent.

The goals scored by Evans has helped though.

 

[Bladesway]

All of the above taken into consideration, I'm a little surprised we are lauding it for the Welsh Wizard. True he is scoring goals and you can only beat whats put in front of you but FFS, 20k per week and a £3m price tag? I was wondering how low we would have to go before he actually started scoring.

As for the rest, DW has done an excellent job. Pretty, no it may not be. But who actually thought getting out of this division would be like watching Barca?

 

[alcoblade]

I said that ched would come good.

Any coincidence that Simmo found his form after he was dropped for a kid?

To be fair, we've had to get relegated to the level for him to "come good". Nothing can now alter the fact that he was a huge mistake. But I'll hold my hands up and admit that he looks better now than I've ever predicted. Let's hope he gets the goals to get us promoted, and we can put the whole sorry episode behind us.

Right now, I'm enjoying watching Evans. I never thought I'd say that.



UTB

 

[TarquinDelouche]

All this talk of "League One is their level" winds me up. We're talking about players that have performed at a higher level than this before. What it doesn't take into account are the factors of confidence and squad morale. You can take a decent enough squad at any level, but once they're low on morale and they don't perform. It has nothing to do with "finding their level" but "finding form" and "being high on confidence".

 

[alcoblade]

All this talk of "League One is their level" winds me up. We're talking about players that have performed at a higher level than this before. What it doesn't take into account are the factors of confidence and squad morale. You can take a decent enough squad at any level, but once they're low on morale and they don't perform. It has nothing to do with "finding their level" but "finding form" and "being high on confidence".

Yes, I agree those things contribute. But you can't deny that dropping down a level provides an easier playing field. Evans hasn't "done it" at a higher level, for any significant period. And some of the others best days are behind hem. Perhaps this is their level now.

None of it really matters. We can argue about relative talents. What's a fact is that they're paid too much for their ability and will be off when we get chance. It remains about what Wilson does with the rebuild. Today is about damage limitation, IMHO.

UTB

 

[mpjacko]

Don't worry. Evans will be gone by 23:30 on the last day of the transfer window and the club will wheel out the same old excesses. The same ones they have used year after year. It's the Blades way.

"We received an offer that was too good to turn down and it was a chance to reduce our wage bill" "It left us with no time to find a replacement" or " there wasn't anyone out there who was better than we've already got". " The loan market will be open in a few days time". "The player wanted to go to a bigger team and we couldn't stand in their way"

All of this is bollocks if KM really wants to be promoted - I don't think he does. The player is under contract with us and if a team does come in, we should say no, get us promoted and then leave at the end of the season if you want". The excuses about no-one being better than we've already have is just a load bull.

 

[cahill]

Does anyone seriously doubt that he'll be going in the transfer window ?

Blade Too Long, your original post was a bit over dramatic. Why would Clarke and Phillips going back "be the end" for us ? If you aren't used to this sort of thing by now I think you should change your name to Blade Not Long Enough.

 

[TarquinDelouche]

Blade too long was merely pointing out some of the posts that were made over the last month or so.

 

[Revolution]

A few weeks ago

Some said Simonson was disastrous , hazardous to our teams health

He was. He's more or less single handedly responsible for us not being in the top 2 at the moment.

A few weeks ago

Some said Ched Evans was nothing but an expensive passenger bleeding us dry

They were right. And credit where credit's due, he's excellent at the moment, but he ain't any cheaper.

 

[blade too long]

I didnt add some also said we relied too much on loan players

Saturday we won without any loan players at all

Progress in a lot of departments
yes could be better but I was told that no team in 2nd place in div one at xmas has been promoted in the last 5 seasons
2nd spot has been achieved by teams in 3rd to 5th in every one of those last 5

 

[broomhillblade]

You are far too sensible for this site, BTL.

Knee-jerk reactions are what it's all about. ;-)

 

[Revolution]

You are far too sensible for this site, BTL.

He's like Duncs without punctuation.

 

[Highbury_Blade]

Nowhere near as sanctimonious though Rev.

 

[Sothall_Blade]

The only way he will go is if:

(1) His court case doesn't come on until the summer
(2) Some desperate relegation threatened championship club offers him a short term contract until the summer on more money than he is on now - they obviously won't offer him a longer contract as he may well be inside for most of it.

A legal question Darren.
If another club signed Evans on a 3 year contract, could they then sack him if he was found guilty and was therefore unable to play for them?

 

[DazBlade88]

I wouldn't class scoring 13 in 17 games as 'finding your level'. I'd say it means you should be higher up.

I think the court case has helped him quite a bit to be honest. It's made him realise how lucky he has it to be a professional footballer and he's really working hard in all areas. I'd be gutted if we lost him in January, he's the difference between going up and staying down at the minute.

 

[Darren]

A legal question Darren.
If another club signed Evans on a 3 year contract, could they then sack him if he was found guilty and was therefore unable to play for them?

Well given that both parties would know that Evans could be in gaol pretty soon, I think it would be explicitly written into the contract - maybe that the club could terminate the contract if E is convicted on payment of a certain sum to him.

In reality, I can't see anyone touching him with a bargepole until the case is over.

 

[beightonblade]

I'm sorry ....................... BUT were in the pub league and in my mind that's not where the Blades should be.

 

[blade too long]

I'm sorry ....................... BUT were in the pub league and in my mind that's not where the Blades should be.

we all know that
but the fact is we are ,for now