Players character

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When Wilder said he was saying that he only signed players with good character, was he meaning signing 'yes men' and those that would be good drinking company?

Because right now the character of alot of our players leaves alot to be desired.

Mousset drink driving
Mcburnie drink driving and street fighting
Fleck stomping on players head

Sometimes I wonder if a poor drinking culture has been instilled within the club over the Wilder years.

Jesus wept no wonder our season has been an absolute shambles of highest proportions
Get a grip of yourself. What a sad post.
 



We can't keep going on about the previous four seasons, it's gone now, it's history.

This season has been a disgrace of epic proportions, we might have surpassed Derby's points total, but there is no way they were as crude, unskilled and having to resort to hoofball because they were so far out of their depth as this lot.

And a fair share of the blame has to be attached to CW for it.
What? The OP is annoyed about a “drinking culture” supposedly implemented by the previous manager. If this was the case then how was there such a miraculous surge up the leagues? And how come it’s been 1 bad season out of 5?

This isn’t me sticking up for anyone at the club or who was previously employed at the club, it’s simply me not being blinded by anger. (You’ve genuinely just implied that Derby weren’t as out of their depth as us).
 
Lack of character, belief, form, ability, skill, mentality, understanding, confidence, balls, tactics, intelligence, fitness.

Never known a team crumble like it as soon as they concede, it's frightening

You name it, whatever you need for a successful football team we have lacked it all in spades
 
I heard an international Rugby Union player commenting yesterday on how the attendance of spectators at events is vital, not least because their presence is needed in order to keep some professional sportsmen ‘honest’.

Essentially, he said that the absence of crowds has allowed certain players to hide and reduce their standards - basically, to be dishonest.

Our squad has clearly been exposed in terms of quality relative to other Premier League squads over the past 12 months, but it should not have been remotely this bad.

The chasm in standards this season owes more to
technical ability. There have been far too many occasions when, frankly, the attitude has been lacking. Saturday, for instance - save for Ramsdale - was disgusting. It could have been 7 or 8 against a run of the mill side.

There have been plenty of others performances like that one, of course, but there’s no way those performances would have happened with our fans in the ground.

To that extent, therefore, many of these players - contrary to all the usual managerial soundbites about ‘the honest group’ and to what we previously had in terms of dressing room character - have been dishonest.
 
Again, has the character that got most of this squad to ninth last season just been lost then?
Again, strength of character/mental is measured through both good and bad times.

Do you think the application of the players physically and tactically has been up to previous seasons?
 
Again, strength of character/mental is measured through both good and bad times.

Do you think the application of the players physically and tactically has been up to previous seasons?
Would mentally weak players stand up to the challenges of two promotions in three seasons and then going fifth in the Premier League after 3/4s of a season?
Then something happened. That's a big clue
 
Would mentally weak players stand up to the challenges of two promotions in three seasons and then going fifth in the Premier League after 3/4s of a season?
Then something happened. That's a big clue
I never said the whole squad was mentally weak. But over the course of the last 15 months the strength that the squad had disappeared. The ability to fight through adversity vanished. They did not have the abilities required to arrest the slide and it's ended up here.

There have been at least 20 (and I'm being generous) performances this year where tactically and physically the team have been completely uncompetitive. The ability to create goals is one thing but basic defending (look at set pieces), tracking back, covering for colleagues, defensive rotations have all been terrible. They are all things that require concentration, mental strength and the character to carry on when it's the hardest. And it jyst hasn't happened.

The club has failed from the very top down to the players. Just "players are out of form" isn't a response that comes close to covering it
 
The cracks started to show at the back end of last season where we got pumped at Newcastle, came back with some good results, fell off the wagon at Leicester (where Wilder publicly lost his rag) and then tossed it off at Southampton in the second half. The second half performance there was something we hadn't seen at any point previously under Wilder in the Premier League where they just went through the motions to get it out the way and it continued all the way through this season.

It can't help when your manager is publicly saying that you're not as good as the opposition when you've matched or beaten most of them at some point during the season in a heat of the moment dummy spit but things stick and it's something that they won't have forgotten about. They'll have slagged him off behind his back like we all do about our bosses and some will have instinctively not put in the shift they normally would because it would be putting more smoke up the arse of a bloke who some of them will suddenly be thinking a lot less of than before and feel they have nothing more to prove to. The issue with Wilder's "arsehole test" or whatever it was called has its shortcomings where if he only signs a certain type of player and person, they all have the same strengths and, as we've already seen, the same weaknesses. They'll have been signed in his image and will display traits that he exhibits himself, which at their worst exhibit themselves in things like the stubbornness we've seen with signings and tactics and the media outbursts against players and the ownership.

Look at Lundstram. He knew he was going at the end of the season and had essentially handed his notice in. His manager (Wilder) has then put him on a project so to speak that he has no appetite for and doesn't give a stuff about it. There's a guy at work who has just come off sick, handed his notice in and has to work for another 5 weeks until he leaves and we've been tasked with finding him something to do. He won't be arsed about it, he's just batting out time now.

The difference in football compared to your typical employment is that there is an emotional attachment to a football club that there isn't with another job from players and all others associated with it. My employer doesn't have 1000's of supporters gathered cheering outside the offices every time someone delivers a powerpoint presentation. You can't hide as a Premier League footballer and any shortcomings are seen publicly and this lot, have disgraced the club and if they aren't bothered about that and simply see Sheffield United as a faceless employer, they've definitely disgraced themselves and have limited their own careers off the back of it.
 
I never said the whole squad was mentally weak. But over the course of the last 15 months the strength that the squad had disappeared. The ability to fight through adversity vanished. They did not have the abilities required to arrest the slide and it's ended up here.

There have been at least 20 (and I'm being generous) performances this year where tactically and physically the team have been completely uncompetitive. The ability to create goals is one thing but basic defending (look at set pieces), tracking back, covering for colleagues, defensive rotations have all been terrible. They are all things that require concentration, mental strength and the character to carry on when it's the hardest. And it jyst hasn't happened.

The club has failed from the very top down to the players. Just "players are out of form" isn't a response that comes close to covering it
Players out of form and a pretty dire run of injuries too?
Berge, Fleck, JOC, Basham, Egan, Sharp, Mcburnie, Moussett, Lowe all have spent 3 weeks plus out at varying stages of the season. Do think lack of proper pre-season hasn't helped the cause.

I also think that winning becomes a habit, as does losing. Biggest task of new boss is getting a good pre-season in there getting them fighting fit, fresh and most importantly fresh in the mental state. Ramsdale is probably the only one that's mentality has got better rather than worse.

Some luck in some matches has played a part too in early season games. For instance we could have picked up more points in the early Fulham, Leeds, Villa (Due to Egan sending off and pen miss), Liverpool matches. Get our first win or two here and the whole season could have panned out a bit differently.
 
Players out of form and a pretty dire run of injuries too?
Berge, Fleck, JOC, Basham, Egan, Sharp, Mcburnie, Moussett, Lowe all have spent 3 weeks plus out at varying stages of the season. Do think lack of proper pre-season hasn't helped the cause.

I also think that winning becomes a habit, as does losing. Biggest task of new boss is getting a good pre-season in there getting them fighting fit, fresh and most importantly fresh in the mental state. Ramsdale is probably the only one that's mentality has got better rather than worse.

Some luck in some matches has played a part too in early season games. For instance we could have picked up more points in the early Fulham, Leeds, Villa (Due to Egan sending off and pen miss), Liverpool matches. Get our first win or two here and the whole season could have panned out a bit differently.
I disagree with the last part. I think the best this squad could have done was 40 points based on injuries, poor recruitment etc. But to have 17 from 35 games and to not even have reached 20 goals scored is an extremely poor effort
 
I understand that they may be waiting till the end of the season to appoint a new boss. But they should have said that at the onset
To be fair CB, they did.

On the 14th March PH was confirmed as interim manager until the end of the season

That was clear intention that he would see out the remaining matches, palliative care really, to be fair I would have been happy to take our season to Dignitas

Personally I think they did the right thing, at the end of a season there will be the usual comings and goings meaning we will have a bigger pond to fish in. Our status wont have changed, we were always going to be a EFL team in need of repair.

As an incoming manager, I would look at the Blades as a can't loose job - finish mid table and were a team in transition, do well and claim the glory

I will be concerned if we dont have a manager in place by mid June so he can reflect on playing targets who contracts expire 30/6/21

 
Sadly quite a few footballers fit into the category of "don't you know who I am? or I'm a footballer untouchable."
 



To be fair CB, they did.

On the 14th March PH was confirmed as interim manager until the end of the season

That was clear intention that he would see out the remaining matches, palliative care really, to be fair I would have been happy to take our season to Dignitas

Personally I think they did the right thing, at the end of a season there will be the usual comings and goings meaning we will have a bigger pond to fish in. Our status wont have changed, we were always going to be a EFL team in need of repair.

As an incoming manager, I would look at the Blades as a can't loose job - finish mid table and were a team in transition, do well and claim the glory

I will be concerned if we dont have a manager in place by mid June so he can reflect on playing targets who contracts expire 30/6/21

Fair point 👍
 
I understand that they may be waiting till the end of the season to appoint a new boss. But they should have said that at the onset

Well that would have saved all the knee jerk reactions.

If they’d appointed someone pretty soon after Wilder exited out of the toilet window in the depth of the night, those who didn’t like the appointment would have been shouting about not doing the job properly by not taking their time and seeing who might want the job.
 
Again, has the character that got most of this squad to ninth last season just been lost then?
Can not agree .McBurnie and the french guy had little to do with us getting to ninth in the prem . Both of them want showing the door in my view. A great defence and a great goalie got us to 9th,certainly not these so called strikers.
 
The cracks started to show at the back end of last season where we got pumped at Newcastle, came back with some good results, fell off the wagon at Leicester (where Wilder publicly lost his rag) and then tossed it off at Southampton in the second half. The second half performance there was something we hadn't seen at any point previously under Wilder in the Premier League where they just went through the motions to get it out the way and it continued all the way through this season.

It can't help when your manager is publicly saying that you're not as good as the opposition when you've matched or beaten most of them at some point during the season in a heat of the moment dummy spit but things stick and it's something that they won't have forgotten about. They'll have slagged him off behind his back like we all do about our bosses and some will have instinctively not put in the shift they normally would because it would be putting more smoke up the arse of a bloke who some of them will suddenly be thinking a lot less of than before and feel they have nothing more to prove to. The issue with Wilder's "arsehole test" or whatever it was called has its shortcomings where if he only signs a certain type of player and person, they all have the same strengths and, as we've already seen, the same weaknesses. They'll have been signed in his image and will display traits that he exhibits himself, which at their worst exhibit themselves in things like the stubbornness we've seen with signings and tactics and the media outbursts against players and the ownership.

Look at Lundstram. He knew he was going at the end of the season and had essentially handed his notice in. His manager (Wilder) has then put him on a project so to speak that he has no appetite for and doesn't give a stuff about it. There's a guy at work who has just come off sick, handed his notice in and has to work for another 5 weeks until he leaves and we've been tasked with finding him something to do. He won't be arsed about it, he's just batting out time now.

The difference in football compared to your typical employment is that there is an emotional attachment to a football club that there isn't with another job from players and all others associated with it. My employer doesn't have 1000's of supporters gathered cheering outside the offices every time someone delivers a powerpoint presentation. You can't hide as a Premier League footballer and any shortcomings are seen publicly and this lot, have disgraced the club and if they aren't bothered about that and simply see Sheffield United as a faceless employer, they've definitely disgraced themselves and have limited their own careers off the back of it.
 
At the back end of last season,maybe after Southampton game,can't remember exactly,Wilder was asked some kind of question about the poor end to the season,he replied that he wasn't worried about the players not being able replicate pre covid form last season,this season,so it must have come as a big surprise to him when they couldn't.
We have put together maybe half a dozen acceptable performances in almost a year,and apart from the obvious injury situation,I still haven't heard an explanation offered up by anybody in the club for the massive drop off.Now,some of those involved have left the scene,but the Prince needs to find out exactly what has happened here and share it with us,if he doesn't get to the bottom of it then it is likely that the same thing could keep on happening until addressed.
Knill is still here,so he is one source of info who has been right at the heart of it,the players are another,primarily Billy,who should also be at the inquest which should be a home truths told affair for the benefit of club and fans and the future of SUFC,nothing should be swept under the carpet and injuries should not be allowed to be the scapegoat if other things have been at play behind the scenes.
 
Can not agree .McBurnie and the french guy had little to do with us getting to ninth in the prem . Both of them want showing the door in my view. A great defence and a great goalie got us to 9th,certainly not these so called strikers.
That’s just not true is it. McBurnie and “the French guy” (why isn’t McBurnie “the English guy” 🤔) were top scorers ...
 
What? The OP is annoyed about a “drinking culture” supposedly implemented by the previous manager. If this was the case then how was there such a miraculous surge up the leagues? And how come it’s been 1 bad season out of 5?

This isn’t me sticking up for anyone at the club or who was previously employed at the club, it’s simply me not being blinded by anger. (You’ve genuinely just implied that Derby weren’t as out of their depth as us).

I wasn't criticising you as such, I just feel that whatever happened in the first four years has gone. No longer relevant.
The first four years won't be forgotten, but neither will the last 12 months either, and nor should they be because it has been dire beyond belief.

As for Derby, yes they were dire, so we're Norwich, but both had their moments even in such a shyte season.

We haven't been in control of a single game we've played, in fact we haven't been in control for a ten minute spell in any game we've played.

The style of play has been beyond amateur
 
I wasn't criticising you as such, I just feel that whatever happened in the first four years has gone. No longer relevant.
The first four years won't be forgotten, but neither will the last 12 months either, and nor should they be because it has been dire beyond belief.

As for Derby, yes they were dire, so we're Norwich, but both had their moments even in such a shyte season.

We haven't been in control of a single game we've played, in fact we haven't been in control for a ten minute spell in any game we've played.

The style of play has been beyond amateur
I know you weren’t mate, but I don’t think it’s right to simply forget about the good times, focus on the bad, and accuse the last manager of bringing a “drinking culture” to the club as if that’s solely why players haven’t performed. I think that’s a load of nonsense myself. Players have been spotted drinking, partying etc for ages, and it’s definitely not been more prevalent during the last 1 to 5 years than it was say 10 years ago.

I’m also not sure there’s any credibility in saying Derby had moments but we didn’t, actually that’s kind of outrageous... we won at Old Trafford, and won with 10 men against a good Aston Villa team. Derby won 1 all season and regularly shipped 4 or more goals in a game.
 
That’s just not true is it. McBurnie and “the French guy” (why isn’t McBurnie “the English guy” 🤔) were top scorers ...
thought he was Scottish,well what ever he is could not call them prolific can we
 
Think wilder was confident of being able to manage these characters. I’m not one for linking a down turn in form to off field issues but the discipline at the club went whilst wilder was still here and that now seems to be accelerated now there’s no manager in place.

True, quite sad to see. I thought our squad kept themselves in check.
 



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