Zipwire
Active Member
Having digested yesterdays result and complete non performance down at Leicester, and having watched every game this season, and followed United closely, just as I have done for most of my life, I've drawn to the following conclusions.
Some of the players have to shoulder some of the responsibility of this terrible season.
In goal we have got Aaron Ramsdale who is above censure as he has performed manfully, shown a great attitude as the season as gone on
The balance of the defence was dramatically altered as we lost the most important member of it early in the season and a player who offered a lot going forward as well. Egan and Basham have struggled with the second season but still put a shift in, same applies for Baldock. Enda Steven has struggled more than most without his mate JOC in the side and his form has fallen off a cliff. Ampedu, Lowe and Bogle are still young lads learning the game. Robinson and Bryan have tried to do a job but aren't up to scratch, and Jags is a player who was brought in for his experience and to help out the squad with his Premier League experience, and wasn't expected to be a first team regular, more a player with experience who could come off the bench to settle everything down.
Midfield has been poor for long periods of this season. Fleck has struggled with injuries and doesn't look fit and is blowing out of his arse after an hour of most games, and other teams have worked out how to stop Oli Norwood getting on the ball and splitting defences wide open with his ping. Berge has been injured for most of the season. Ampedu has been required at the back and not had the opportunity. Ben Osborn is full of effort but is Championship standard.
The forward line has performed manfully but has been starved of quality service. For all the criticism Brewster has received, he still gets in a lot of good positions but the ball never appears where he wants it to be. McBurnie is a honest, hard working target man who will willingly go up for headers all day and night and chase and harry the opposition back line. McGoldrick has been the man most likely to score just through his intelligence and willingness to try something difference. Sharp is the same as Jags, a talismanic figure who is better off coming off the bench nowadays to grab us a goal and Burke isn't cut out to be a striker at this level. Mousset, less said about him at the minute as he has been a waste of time this season.
The one player who should shoulder most of the blame this season is John Lundstram. In his first couple of seasons I backed him when he was subject to a lot of unfair criticism. He was a young lad who was playing at a higher level than he had done before and sure, he made mistakes but he also put in a real shift in every game he played. Crunching tackles and driving forward with the ball and getting in to some really good positions as well and weighing in with the goals. Before the 19/20 season he went away, trained hard all summer and came back as fit as he could possibly and came in to the side and made a midfield position his own with some superb box to box midfield performances, driving forward with the ball and looked a player who had been playing in the top flight all his career.
Yesterday he ambled through the game, not even arsed to get out of first gear, with all the air of a man who knows he is gone at the end of the season and couldn't give a fuck about his team-mate or Sheffield United. He missed tackle after tackle, when he did get on the ball his output was mainly long telegraphed balls for the strikers to try and run on to, or losing possession all to easily. I understand there are players who rightfully were nowhere near their best yesterday as they care enough about the club and their team-mates for the events of the last few days to have had a massive negative impact on their mentality and there wasn't anywhere near their best and that is understandable and I can accept that, but Lundstram has been like this all season.
I'd have him in the office this morning, give him and his agent what they need to fuck off, and move on without him. He obviously has downed tools, hasn't got the professional dignity to put in the slightest bit of effort and his letting himself, his team-mates and the club that pays his wages down massively. His performance yesterday was nothing more than a disgrace and embodied a player who is a mercenary who is more bothered about what he can get out of the game. Yesterday he should be acutely embarrassed and ashamed, and I hope when he is no longer a Sheffield United player that the offers don't come in and that through sheer arrogant petulence he hasn't fucked us over, he has fucked his own career as well. Shameful
Some of the players have to shoulder some of the responsibility of this terrible season.
In goal we have got Aaron Ramsdale who is above censure as he has performed manfully, shown a great attitude as the season as gone on
The balance of the defence was dramatically altered as we lost the most important member of it early in the season and a player who offered a lot going forward as well. Egan and Basham have struggled with the second season but still put a shift in, same applies for Baldock. Enda Steven has struggled more than most without his mate JOC in the side and his form has fallen off a cliff. Ampedu, Lowe and Bogle are still young lads learning the game. Robinson and Bryan have tried to do a job but aren't up to scratch, and Jags is a player who was brought in for his experience and to help out the squad with his Premier League experience, and wasn't expected to be a first team regular, more a player with experience who could come off the bench to settle everything down.
Midfield has been poor for long periods of this season. Fleck has struggled with injuries and doesn't look fit and is blowing out of his arse after an hour of most games, and other teams have worked out how to stop Oli Norwood getting on the ball and splitting defences wide open with his ping. Berge has been injured for most of the season. Ampedu has been required at the back and not had the opportunity. Ben Osborn is full of effort but is Championship standard.
The forward line has performed manfully but has been starved of quality service. For all the criticism Brewster has received, he still gets in a lot of good positions but the ball never appears where he wants it to be. McBurnie is a honest, hard working target man who will willingly go up for headers all day and night and chase and harry the opposition back line. McGoldrick has been the man most likely to score just through his intelligence and willingness to try something difference. Sharp is the same as Jags, a talismanic figure who is better off coming off the bench nowadays to grab us a goal and Burke isn't cut out to be a striker at this level. Mousset, less said about him at the minute as he has been a waste of time this season.
The one player who should shoulder most of the blame this season is John Lundstram. In his first couple of seasons I backed him when he was subject to a lot of unfair criticism. He was a young lad who was playing at a higher level than he had done before and sure, he made mistakes but he also put in a real shift in every game he played. Crunching tackles and driving forward with the ball and getting in to some really good positions as well and weighing in with the goals. Before the 19/20 season he went away, trained hard all summer and came back as fit as he could possibly and came in to the side and made a midfield position his own with some superb box to box midfield performances, driving forward with the ball and looked a player who had been playing in the top flight all his career.
Yesterday he ambled through the game, not even arsed to get out of first gear, with all the air of a man who knows he is gone at the end of the season and couldn't give a fuck about his team-mate or Sheffield United. He missed tackle after tackle, when he did get on the ball his output was mainly long telegraphed balls for the strikers to try and run on to, or losing possession all to easily. I understand there are players who rightfully were nowhere near their best yesterday as they care enough about the club and their team-mates for the events of the last few days to have had a massive negative impact on their mentality and there wasn't anywhere near their best and that is understandable and I can accept that, but Lundstram has been like this all season.
I'd have him in the office this morning, give him and his agent what they need to fuck off, and move on without him. He obviously has downed tools, hasn't got the professional dignity to put in the slightest bit of effort and his letting himself, his team-mates and the club that pays his wages down massively. His performance yesterday was nothing more than a disgrace and embodied a player who is a mercenary who is more bothered about what he can get out of the game. Yesterday he should be acutely embarrassed and ashamed, and I hope when he is no longer a Sheffield United player that the offers don't come in and that through sheer arrogant petulence he hasn't fucked us over, he has fucked his own career as well. Shameful