Our possession stats on games we have lost.

[Cerberus Blade]

Middlesbrough (A) 51%
Cardiff (A) - 60%
Norwich (H) - 68%
Forest (A) - 58%
QPR (A) - 61%
Fulham (H) - 55%
Millwall (A) - 63%

We need to do better with this amount of possession.

Have some teams/opposition managers worked us out - even from the start of the season?

Is it lack of quality when we are camped in the final third - and the latest example was before Millwall scored their 2nd goal yesterday when we seemed to be entirely camped in their half?

Are our attackers/midfielders not that gifted in tight areas at the business end of the pitch?

There is a pattern emerging and it's not as if we didn't have this problem a few times last season either - then we were miles better especially January onwards.

What's the solutions to this...........

UTB

Can you just give over with this shite about, "other teams have worked us out?". You weren't saying that 2 weeks ago, so why say it now?

Other teams have worked us out from the second day of this season, but few have been able to do anything about it, that's the reality. Please stop looking for "reasons" why things have turned out like they have in the last few games. This surely is not your first ever season watching professional football? If it is, then you have an excuse. But otherwise you should know that sometimes things go good, bad or indifferent for a variety of reasons. What's happening to us now is perfectly "normal" and absolutely no cause for concern.

My biggest concern is not about the recent results, but about the fact that we dominate play but we are painfully slow attacking teams. We try to find the "perfect" pass into the box. Why? Just go for the jugular and break fast and get around the back of them. Never mind all this "chess-ball" shite on the edge of the box.

 

[Fulwood Blade]

Can you just give over with this shite about, "other teams have worked us out?". You weren't saying that 2 weeks ago, so why say it now?

Other teams have worked us out from the second day of this season, but few have been able to do anything about it, that's the reality. Please stop looking for "reasons" why things have turned out like they have in the last few games. This surely is not your first ever season watching professional football? If it is, then you have an excuse. But otherwise you should know that sometimes things go good, bad or indifferent for a variety of reasons. What's happening to us now is perfectly "normal" and absolutely no cause for concern.

My biggest concern is not about the recent results, but about the fact that we dominate play but we are painfully slow attacking teams. We try to find the "perfect" pass into the box. Why? Just go for the jugular and break fast and get around the back of them. Never mind all this "chess-ball" shite on the edge of the box.

It was a question to the forum NOT a statement...anyway if you can't be civil what's the point in having a debate.

UTB

 

[JayGreen17]

Middlesbrough (A) 51%
Cardiff (A) - 60%
Norwich (H) - 68%
Forest (A) - 58%
QPR (A) - 61%
Fulham (H) - 55%
Millwall (A) - 63%

We need to do better with this amount of possession.

Have some teams/opposition managers worked us out - even from the start of the season?

Is it lack of quality when we are camped in the final third - and the latest example was before Millwall scored their 2nd goal yesterday when we seemed to be entirely camped in their half?

Are our attackers/midfielders not that gifted in tight areas at the business end of the pitch?

There is a pattern emerging and it's not as if we didn't have this problem a few times last season either - then we were miles better especially January onwards.

What's the solutions to this...........

UTB

Getting it into the box a lot faster and hooting the ball for a shot as soon as the goals in site in and around the box, we just want to walk it at times.

 

[CarlMcBlade]

Middlesbrough (A) 51%
Cardiff (A) - 60%
Norwich (H) - 68%
Forest (A) - 58%
QPR (A) - 61%
Fulham (H) - 55%
Millwall (A) - 63%

We need to do better with this amount of possession.

Have some teams/opposition managers worked us out - even from the start of the season?

Is it lack of quality when we are camped in the final third - and the latest example was before Millwall scored their 2nd goal yesterday when we seemed to be entirely camped in their half?

Are our attackers/midfielders not that gifted in tight areas at the business end of the pitch?

There is a pattern emerging and it's not as if we didn't have this problem a few times last season either - then we were miles better especially January onwards.

What's the solutions to this...........

UTB

Yeah but a lot of that possession was doing unnecessary tippy tappy triangles out on the touchline.
We tend to favour the overlap down the wings than players running through the channel.

 

[finlaytheblade]

These stats confirm what we already know.

We are vulnerable to the counter. Particularly the quick counter.

We lack a disciplined DM in the mould of Makelele to consistently sit deep when our other defensive players bomb on. But having such a player in the side would, inevitably, afford some sort of compromise offensively.

Tough call for the gaffer.

UTB

Wilder will no doubt be aware of this pattern, I'm of the opinion he goes for it anyway. The key is he's not going to change the attacking and possession style so it's a matter of getting better players in to improve the results if he beleave the present squad is not good enough.
January should give us a few answers Although Wilder says he is his own man ( his Style of football says he is ) I think he takes greatt store from Harries time at the helm ,he just went for it whatever or whoever we played,Wilder has a similar beleaf but the style of football is far more pleasing on the eye.
Keep the style just gradually improve the personal ,I think that is what Wilder is about.

 

[Woodwardfan]

Wilder will no doubt be aware of this pattern, I'm of the opinion he goes for it anyway. The key is he's not going to change the attacking and possession style so it's a matter of getting better players in to improve the results if he beleave the present squad is not good enough.
January should give us a few answers Although Wilder says he is his own man ( his Style of football says he is ) I think he takes greatt store from Harries time at the helm ,he just went for it whatever or whoever we played,Wilder has a similar beleaf but the style of football is far more pleasing on the eye.
Keep the style just gradually improve the personal ,I think that is what Wilder is about.

Don't agree that Bassett "just went for it whatever". We were always well covered in defence.

Fact is the higher the level we play at the more risk there is in all out attack and I don't necessarily think Wilder is that naïve. Yes he makes positive substitutions and he got a bit carried away in the Fulham match but it's not as though we just throw everybody into attack. The opposition in the Championship have better players and more pace and can punish us more regularly than we are used to. However we are 4th in the league and doing well. We have some significant long term injuries to key players and we are being treated with respect by opposing teams and it's getting harder to win games. Losing Coutts really has upset the balance and control in midfield.

In January we will sign some 3/4 new players and we will have players returning from injury by then.

3-5-2 played positively does place demands on the back line and the wing backs have to play big roles. Losing both Freeman and Baldock at the same time has induced Wilder to take Basham out of the back 3 and unsettle the stability where there is an 18 year old learning his trade and now a veteran returning from a long term injury. Big decision to leave Wright out but Wilder knows that. Being short of a third choice right wing back has cost us dearly but losing the two together is such bad luck.

Leaving Sharp out, leaving Wright out and changing Basham's role are big decisions not taken lightly by the manager who knows where his team is and where he wants it to be over the next few weeks. Players like Stearman and Brooks need game time to become key players. In January there will be a number of new players who will take time to bed into the team but we do have to upgrade to challenge for promotion.

That is the big step up we have made - from maybe looking for consolidation in the Championship to really challenging at the top of the table. To do that before January we needed good luck with injuries like last season.

Agree there is no need for sweeping changes to formation or tactics at all, just realism about the challenges and we fans should back the manager without hesitation. We do want a bold manager who 'goes for it' rather than shows fear and caution, we've had enough of that over the years. We need a bit more luck with injuries and also welcome the new players in January.

 

[SwissBlade]

Middlesbrough (A) 51%
Cardiff (A) - 60%
Norwich (H) - 68%
Forest (A) - 58%
QPR (A) - 61%
Fulham (H) - 55%
Millwall (A) - 63%

We need to do better with this amount of possession.

Have some teams/opposition managers worked us out - even from the start of the season?

Is it lack of quality when we are camped in the final third - and the latest example was before Millwall scored their 2nd goal yesterday when we seemed to be entirely camped in their half?

Are our attackers/midfielders not that gifted in tight areas at the business end of the pitch?

There is a pattern emerging and it's not as if we didn't have this problem a few times last season either - then we were miles better especially January onwards.

What's the solutions to this...........

UTB

Teams are happy to give us possession and sit back. We have to learn to break sides down better when they do this without over committing and throwing points away.

I thought against Fulham we had to go for it. But on Saturday we needed to do much better.

For me, whilst Brooks scored a cracker, we needed more physicality up front from the start, bring brooks in later

 

[Woodwardfan]

Teams are happy to give us possession and sit back. We have to learn to break sides down better when they do this without over committing and throwing points away.

I thought against Fulham we had to go for it. But on Saturday we needed to do much better.

For me, whilst Brooks scored a cracker, we needed more physicality up front from the start, bring brooks in later

Surely it 's Brooks or Duffy, not Brooks up front. If Duffy is first choice so be it.

 

[SwissBlade]

Surely it 's Brooks or Duffy, not Brooks up front. If Duffy is first choice so be it.

Brooks can play up front, but I don’t think games like Millwall are right for him to start there.

But yeah, I’d ordinarily go with brooks or Duffy in that attacking mid role

 

[snootyfenooty]

We faff around with it in the opposition third far far too long sometimes. Gives them time to get men back and the perfect pass we need to create a goal then becomes a 1%er.

Agree with you for once. It drove me nuts vs Brum where we would have the ball in a central position between the half way line and the box and then followed by half a dozen panicky passes for the ball to end up near the corner flag. A hoofed cross followed which either sailed over the head of Clarke & Sharpe or it was easily cleared as their defence were all back and in position as you say. We need to be a bit more clinical in this position.

 

[blade too long]

man city have just scraped 3 x 2-1 wins , despite having 75 per cent to 83 per cent possession
so the most expensive team in the country struggle to convert chances

 

[South Bucks]

The way to beat the parked bus is to get a shot in or a decent early pass into the box before they can park it. Sometimes when we start an attack I could go for a piss and when I come back we will still be faffing around at the edge of the box before someone blasts it over the bar or there's a crap cross which hits first man or sails into touch.

Forwards getting caught offside too often cos the ball to them is far too slow and they don't look along the line.

Against Millwall and others it was our slow tactics and poor decision making that cost us. When JOC burst forward second half and lost the ball he was trying to do something different cos there was nothing going on nor movement up top. We could buy Ronaldo in the JTW but if we don't learn how to have an effort on goal before they park the bus it won't help.

 

[finlaytheblade]

Wilder will no doubt be aware of this pattern, I'm of the opinion he goes for it anyway. The key is he's not going to change the attacking and possession style so it's a matter of getting better players in to improve the results if he beleave the present squad is not good enough.
January should give us a few answers Although Wilder says he is his own man ( his Style of football says he is ) I think he takes greatt store from Harries time at the helm ,he just went for it whatever or whoever we played,Wilder has a similar beleaf but the style of football is far more pleasing on the eye.
Keep the style just gradually improve the personal ,I think that is what Wilder is about.

Yes Harry did cool it a bit in the top division,but the two promotions were built on real attacking football.
We took a couple of real ham me rings on our 2ND promotion but the character came through culminating in that epic 5-2 at Filbert st.
We have to be cuter the higher up we go but it's all about the quality of player we bring in,with the right players we can attack any team but defenders are just as important as attackers.

 

[him behind you]

Better wing play, maybe?

We are lacking down the right for obvious reasons [despite a decent performance from Bash] but am I the only one who thinks Stevens has dropped off in recent games?

Absolutely not on your own Stretch - except that I actually don't thing Stevens' crossing has been very good all season. I would love to know just how many of his crosses reach a Blades player because I'm convinced that most of the time he just hits it across without looking. As I've said in a different thread, he works well with others on the left and gets into good positions, but is a poor crosser of the ball.

What I would also say is that, with no real threat down the right we are going down the left much more which is highlighting Stevens' crosses because he is being asked to deliver more.