Rotherham [H]

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Agreed although it would be harsh on Basham as I thought he had a good game last night. Perhaps we may see Bash to RWB and Cranie at RCB as Freeman looked anything but fit yesterday. Was Baldock left out because of injury or because we already had 3 players that can play RWB in the squad?
 
The reason Basham is one of the first names on the team sheet is he is the ONLY player we have that allows us to change formation either seamlessly during a game OR when a substitute is brought on. Lat night Cranie came on and Bash went into midfield.

As for Saturday v Rotherham - get Duffy and McG back in the team so we can try and play through teams.

UTB.
 
GuangzhouBlade said:
Agreed although it would be harsh on Basham as I thought he had a good game last night. Perhaps we may see Bash to RWB and Cranie at RCB as Freeman looked anything but fit yesterday. Was Baldock left out because of injury or because we already had 3 players that can play RWB in the squad?
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Wilder said we had a fully fit squad, so guessing he was left out of the match-day squad because of tactics (ie he didn't want a specialised wing-back on the bench when we have players like Basham and Cranie).
 
Got to bring McGoldrick back and play football we don't want another physical battle up front which starting with Madine can sometimes encourage. I'm fairly confident we can outfootball Rotherham if we get the ball down and play, Duffy to start too save Dowell for the last 30 mins hopefully it will be over as a contest by then.
 
GuangzhouBlade said:
Agreed although it would be harsh on Basham as I thought he had a good game last night. Perhaps we may see Bash to RWB and Cranie at RCB as Freeman looked anything but fit yesterday. Was Baldock left out because of injury or because we already had 3 players that can play RWB in the squad?
Click to expand...

I would agree with this, a lot of our threat last night came down the right side but Freeman was the weak link....I was scratching my head at the Cranie for Dowell and Bash into midfield change as for me this was where it went wrong against Villa as it gave them more room in the centre of the park and for 10 minutes last night it looked as though we were going to be over-run again until Wednesday ran out of puff, (as a side issue, how unfit are they?)....personally I would have preferred to see Cranie on for Freeman, either him or Bash to RWB and then a straight swap of Duffy for Dowell.....but hey, WTF do I know?

I heard Baldock was not quite ready but should be back in contention for Rotherham.
 
Duffy should have played last night. We keep the ball so much better when he's in the team. Wednesday would have tired chasing our keep ball and we would have eventually found a way through (As at Millwall for example) Instead we fell into their trap of keeping it narrow and having to knock it long far too often.

Against trams who are going to play for a draw...and Rotherham definitely will...I'd go with both Duffy and Dowell
 
I've been thinking for a couple of weeks now that we're going to lose at home to Rotherham
Don't know why, it seems illogical given Rotherham's away form, but it has been niggling at me for the last fortnight
 
HeCanDoMagic said:
Anyone else think we might see Coutts against Rotherham in place of Norwood?
Click to expand...

No, but I do think we’re more likely to see a slightly more careful Norwood, similar to how he played vs WBA. Most of Norwood’s bookings tend to be for slightly cynical attack-stopping incidents (Coutts was also a master at this) and it was noticable at the Hawthorns that he pulled out of a couple of opportunities for these.
 
- - - - - - - - - - Henderson

- - - - - Cranie - Egan - O'Connell

Baldock - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Stevens

- - - - - - - Coutts - - - - - - Fleck

- - - - - - - - - - - - Duffy

- - - - - - - Sharp - - - - McGoldrick


Subs: Moore, Basham, Johnson, Norwood, Dowell, Hogan, Madine


Baldock needs to be back in ASAP so he's ready for Leeds.

Cranie outperformed Basham last night and shouldn't be left out again.

Norwood needs to play at Leeds and has 2 games left to avoid a booking - reducing that to one game by not starting him here makes sense, and gives Coutts important match fitness in a game we should be comfortable controlling.

Duffy and McGoldrick are suitable for this game, and at least one of them should have started last night.
 
Ricky said:
-Norwood needs to play at Leeds and has 2 games left to avoid a booking - reducing that to one game by not starting him here makes sense, and gives Coutts important match fitness in a game we should be comfortable controlling..
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But that would mean that Norwood would also need resting for the Brentford game.

I reckon CW will start with Norwood against Rotherham and tell him to stay out of 50/50’s and not risk a booking.
Then depending how the match is going he’ll substitute him on about 70 minutes and give Coutts plenty of game time.

If Norwood avoids a yellow, as planned then CW will rest him for the Brentford game.
Norwood gets a full weeks rest and would be back for the Leeds game.
 
Sheffsteel said:
But that would mean that Norwood would also need resting for the Brentford game.

I reckon CW will start with Norwood against Rotherham and tell him to stay out of 50/50’s and not risk a booking.
Then depending how the match is going he’ll substitute him on about 70 minutes and give Coutts plenty of game time.

If Norwood avoids a yellow, as planned then CW will rest him for the Brentford game.
Norwood gets a full weeks rest and would be back for the Leeds game.
Click to expand...

But I think we need him more against Brentford and I'd rather play Coutts v Rotherham.
 



Fulwood Blade said:
The reason Basham is one of the first names on the team sheet is he is the ONLY player we have that allows us to change formation either seamlessly during a game OR when a substitute is brought on. Lat night Cranie came on and Bash went into midfield.

As for Saturday v Rotherham - get Duffy and McG back in the team so we can try and play through teams.

UTB.
Click to expand...

Rotherham will sit very deep like Wednesday did at the Lane, but they can't defend as well and they don't have the quality that Wednesday do, so I think we'll win regardless. It will be hard to get behind them though. I don't get how all of a sudden our problems are due to playing Madine and we're too long, when we've struggled to score in many games this season when trying to pass through teams. We looked at our best last night when Norwood was crossing the ball in from the right, whether it's a free kick, or in open play, for Madine. The one e exception was when Basham pulled it back and Norwood crossed when he should have shot. On that occasion we didn't so much get in behind, we just played it back from deep.
 
Without checking didn't an awful lot on here put madine in their starting line up for the Wednesday game? One (disappointing ) game later and he's out, I would agree with playing mcgoldrick and Duffy and would have done last night, Rotherham will be another test for us, they like to get it forward quick and get it in the box early but hopefully when we have the ball we will play to our strengths and out football them (hopefully )
 
Ricky said:
But I think we need him more against Brentford and I'd rather play Coutts v Rotherham.
Click to expand...

But if he gets a booking in the Brentford game, then doesn’t it mean he misses the much more difficult Leeds and Bristol City game, would also mean he goes 3 weeks without a game, that’s a big rest.

Do the bookings reset after the Rotherham game or after the Brentford game?
I’m not 100% sure but thought it was after the Brentford game that’s bookings reset.
 
HeCanDoMagic said:
Anyone else think we might see Coutts against Rotherham in place of Norwood?
Click to expand...

I’d be tempted to make this change and against Brentford too if needs be. We can’t have him missing for the Leeds game.
 
HeCanDoMagic said:
Anyone else think we might see Coutts against Rotherham in place of Norwood?
Click to expand...

I don't think we can afford to leave out Norwood's attributes.

  • He offers dangerous whipped in crosses, corners and free kicks - nobody else can put a corner in like Norwood does.
  • He can spray the ball about with great precision (95% success rate)
  • He adds that dimension between being a tappy tappy side to hitting long passes for counter attacking.
  • He does put his foot in.
  • Protects the CBs and is an important outlet for them - he just takes it off them and does his stuff!

He's simply too valuable to leave out.
 
JackSUFC said:
I’d be tempted to make this change and against Brentford too if needs be. We can’t have him missing for the Leeds game.
Click to expand...
If we start against Rotherham with Coutts instead of Norwood then we’ll probably lose. Then the Leeds game might not be a chance to overtake them, as we could be five points behind them. And we could lose against Leeds anyway, even with Norwood.

It’s easy to overthink these things. My view is play Norwood and if he gets booked, deal with it, don’t assume we can beat Rotherham and Brentford without him when we couldn’t even beat the pigs with him.
 
BushBlade said:
If we start against Rotherham with Coutts instead of Norwood then we’ll probably lose.
Click to expand...

How do you calculate that probability? Professional probability analysers, the bookies, wouldn’t agree with you. I doubt that Blades Analytics would.

Even if Couttsy is not back to his majestic best, he’s still a very fine player. We also have ten others who will be pretty good. The probable result (maybe not the actual result; it’s a funny old game) would remain overwhelmingly a Blades win.

A rare misplaced pass from a usually impeccable contributor.
 
Got to go with what I listed above and as a side note...

Here is my ideal scenario for the next 3 games...

Saturday 9th March:
Blades 2 - Millers 0
Brizzle 2 - Leeds 1

Table:
1. Norwich 72 pts
2. Blades 68 pts
3. Leeds 67 pts



Tue/Wed 12th/13th March:
Blades 2 - Brentford 0
Reading 1 - Leeds 1
Norwich 2 - Hull 2

Table:
1. Norwich 73 pts
2. Blades 71 pts
3. Leeds 68 pts




Now going into the Leeds game where we would be guaranteed 2nd spot even if we lose... but...


Saturday 16th March
Leeds 1 - Blades 2
Millers 1 - Norwich 1

Table:
1. Blades 74 pts (on GD)
2. Norwich 74 pts
3. Leeds 68 pts


6 points clear of 3rd spot with a better goal difference and only 8 games to go. Might stick a quid on it :p

I did say it was an ideal scenario :D
 
HeCanDoMagic said:
Anyone else think we might see Coutts against Rotherham in place of Norwood?
Click to expand...

More likely we see Basham in midfield and cranie at cb but personally would like to see Norwood start. Get the game won early and take him off hopefully without yellow
 
makblade said:
Got to go with what I listed above and as a side note...

Here is my ideal scenario for the next 3 games...

Saturday 9th March:
Blades 2 - Millers 0
Brizzle 2 - Leeds 1

Table:
1. Norwich 72 pts
2. Blades 68 pts
3. Leeds 67 pts



Tue/Wed 12th/13th March:
Blades 2 - Brentford 0
Reading 1 - Leeds 1
Norwich 2 - Hull 2

Table:
1. Norwich 73 pts
2. Blades 71 pts
3. Leeds 68 pts




Now going into the Leeds game where we would be guaranteed 2nd spot even if we lose... but...


Saturday 16th March
Leeds 1 - Blades 2
Millers 1 - Norwich 1

Table:
1. Blades 74 pts (on GD)
2. Norwich 74 pts
3. Leeds 68 pts


6 points clear of 3rd spot with a better goal difference and only 8 games to go. Might stick a quid on it :p

I did say it was an ideal scenario :D
Click to expand...

You did indeed! However, what your light-hearted forecasts do Illustrate is what football teaches us time after time, that it is sometimes joyfully and sometimes crushingly unpredictable. The three (or four or five, depending on your point of view) contenders will all suffer unexpected adverse results before the end of the season. It’s one of the reasons we all love and hate football so much.

The sad note is, I’m sorry to say, that we in S2 have an abnormal number of jellybaby fans who simply can’t contemplate, still less cope with, the inevitable vicissitudes of the beautiful game. Knees will jerk. Spines will disintegrate. It’s the Bladesfans’ Way.
 



Pinchy said:
You did indeed! However, what your light-hearted forecasts do Illustrate is what football teaches us time after time, that it is sometimes joyfully and sometimes crushingly unpredictable. The three (or four or five, depending on your point of view) contenders will all suffer unexpected adverse results before the end of the season. It’s one of the reasons we all love and hate football so much.

The sad note is, I’m sorry to say, that we in S2 have an abnormal number of jellybaby fans who simply can’t contemplate, still less cope with, the inevitable vicissitudes of the beautiful game. Knees will jerk. Spines will disintegrate. It’s the Bladesfans’ Way.
Click to expand...

I was liking this all the way up to the last paragraph. Every clubs has fans like that but don’t let that stop you
 
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