Sander Berge

[Chabuddy G]

Tuesday morning pre-Coffee thought - I wonder if we might see him in the middle of the defence tomorrow...

Circumstances mean we have no choice but to be creative
Egan is out
Jags potentially injured - If so, we don't have anyone left ideally to slot into that role, Bash is our only first team defender left and I wouldn't fancy him in the centre. Leaves you with Jack Rodwell (shudder), Jack Robinson in the middle and moving Enda inside to LCB (Robinson is a full back by trade, so not for me) or bringing someone, I don't know who, from the youth team.

No option is ideal, But Sander is 6'4, good defensively, good reader of the game, good aerially as we've seen from him defending set pieces and no slouch. He's played CDM all his career and we've often seen with the top teams CDM's slotting into centre half this and last season after injury crisis' (Fernandinho, Fabinho, Rodri) so it's not revolutionary. I'd quite like to see it. We might just stumble onto an incredible solution to the problem we've found by total accident.

 

[CentralQuay]

j woolston

I don't understand what you're asking to be done.

Put all the transfer and wage budget into a youth setup?

 

[Mercedes]

To bring a young player through is not just footballing ability can he handle the pressure of the dressing room a unique environment can he communicate with coaches and management I know I keep banging on about development but I am passionate about it I know that the coaches give up there time but ex players have walked the walk...........Thank you for the debate and UTB

 

[Mercedes]

j woolston

I don't understand what you're asking to be done.

Put all the transfer and wage budget into a youth setup?

No just some

 

[CentralQuay]

No just some

So the big change you want, is no change at all?

When did Sheffield United get rid of their academy then?

 

[CentralQuay]

Five players on our books played in the Premier League the season they turned 22: Basham, Mousset, McBurnie, Rodwell and Berge. The majority were in the Championship.

Where were they, the season they turned 22: the Sheffield United edition

Dean Henderson: at United in the Championship
Simon Moore: at Brentford in League One
Michel Verrips: at Sparta Rotterdam in the Dutch Eredivisie

George Baldock: MK Dons in League One then on loan at Oxford in League Two
Kieron Freeman: Derby in the Championship then on loan at Notts County in League One
Enda Stevens: Shamrock Rovers in the Irish Premiership
Jack O'Connell: Brentford in the Championship
Chris Basham: Bolton in the Premier League
John Egan: on loan at Southend on League Two
Jack Robinson: on loan at Huddersfield in the Championship
Phil Jagielka: at United in the old EFL Division One

John Fleck: at Coventry in League One
Oli Norwood: at Huddersfield in the Championship
John Lundstram: at Oxford in League Two
Jack Rodwell: at Man City in the Premier League
Luke Freeman: at Stevenage in League One
Ben Osborn: at Forest in the Championship
Sander Berge: Genk in the Belgian top flight then United in the Premier League

Oli McBurnie: at Swansea in the Premier League then Barnsley in the Championship
Billy Sharp: back at United in the Championship
David McGoldrick: at Southampton in the Championship
Lys Mousset: at Bournemouth in the Premier League
Leon Clarke: at Wolves then Wednesday in the Championship, short loan at Oldham in League One

What is the point to this?

 

[CoatesyBlade]

Tuesday morning pre-Coffee thought - I wonder if we might see him in the middle of the defence tomorrow...

Circumstances mean we have no choice but to be creative
Egan is out
Jags potentially injured - If so, we don't have anyone left ideally to slot into that role, Bash is our only first team defender left and I wouldn't fancy him in the centre. Leaves you with Jack Rodwell (shudder), Jack Robinson in the middle and moving Enda inside to LCB (Robinson is a full back by trade, so not for me) or bringing someone, I don't know who, from the youth team.

No option is ideal, But Sander is 6'4, good defensively, good reader of the game, good aerially as we've seen from him defending set pieces and no slouch. He's played CDM all his career and we've often seen with the top teams CDM's slotting into centre half this and last season after injury crisis' (Fernandinho, Fabinho, Rodri) so it's not revolutionary. I'd quite like to see it. We might just stumble onto an incredible solution to the problem we've found by total accident.

Nah can’t see it. Depending on fitness levels it’ll be a combination of:
Bash, Jags, JOC
Bash, Jags, Robinson
Bash, JOC, Robinson
Bash, Rodwell, JOC
Bash, Rodwell, Robinson
With the possibility of player Enda on the left if need be.
I’d have no problem with seeing Rodwell come in at the centre.

 

[Chabuddy G]

Nah can’t see it. Depending on fitness levels it’ll be a combination of:
Bash, Jags, JOC
Bash, Jags, Robinson
Bash, JOC, Robinson
Bash, Rodwell, JOC
Bash, Rodwell, Robinson
With the possibility of player Enda on the left if need be.
I’d have no problem with seeing Rodwell come in at the centre.

Jags might not be fit
JOC certainly won't be fit

So your only option from your selection is potentially
Bash, Rodwell, Robinson

Rodwell was released by Blackburn (where he was used as a midfielder most games) and without a club until we gave him a trial in January... Believe it or not I'm not too enthralled about the idea of him marshalling our defence

 

[CoatesyBlade]

Jags might not be fit
JOC certainly won't be fit

So your only option from your selection is potentially
Bash, Rodwell, Robinson

Rodwell was released by Blackburn (where he was used as a midfielder most games) and without a club until we gave him a trial in January... Believe it or not I'm not too enthralled about the idea of him marshalling our defence

Lets hope Jags is fit then!

 

[CoatesyBlade]

Jags might not be fit
JOC certainly won't be fit

So your only option from your selection is potentially
Bash, Rodwell, Robinson

Rodwell was released by Blackburn (where he was used as a midfielder most games) and without a club until we gave him a trial in January... Believe it or not I'm not too enthralled about the idea of him marshalling our defence

Joking aside... it’s the reality though isn’t it. Losing JOC, Egan and Jags, 3 central defenders would hurt any team.

 

[Mercedes]

So the big change you want, is no change at all?

When did Sheffield United get rid of their academy then?

Who's coming through

 

[LondonBlade89]

Tuesday morning pre-Coffee thought - I wonder if we might see him in the middle of the defence tomorrow...

Circumstances mean we have no choice but to be creative
Egan is out
Jags potentially injured - If so, we don't have anyone left ideally to slot into that role, Bash is our only first team defender left and I wouldn't fancy him in the centre. Leaves you with Jack Rodwell (shudder), Jack Robinson in the middle and moving Enda inside to LCB (Robinson is a full back by trade, so not for me) or bringing someone, I don't know who, from the youth team.

No option is ideal, But Sander is 6'4, good defensively, good reader of the game, good aerially as we've seen from him defending set pieces and no slouch. He's played CDM all his career and we've often seen with the top teams CDM's slotting into centre half this and last season after injury crisis' (Fernandinho, Fabinho, Rodri) so it's not revolutionary. I'd quite like to see it. We might just stumble onto an incredible solution to the problem we've found by total accident.

It's not the maddest thought. I bet Alan Knill has contemplated it. I read an article in The Athletic a while ago where Knill said something along the lines of it being his dream to have a player like Ronald Koeman who could play in defence and be equally comfortable stepping up into midfield. The way he delivered the line made it seem sort of important. Ie. it wasn't just like saying "I'd love a player like Messi", it genuinely felt like something Knill is trying to do. It was around the time of us signing Berge so I wondered if that was what he had in mind for him.

If Jags is fit, this topic is irrelevant as I think he'll play. But I started typing out a reply saying I think 4-2-3-1 is more likely if Jags misses out. But then the more I thought about it, the more I thought they could go for it. Particularly because Man Utd don't have anyone big and strong up front, who is more likely to catch Berge out. Pace might be an issue, mind.

 

[CentralQuay]

Who's coming through

You want the Academy to produce better results, but don't offer any insight on how this can be done.

It's easy to say what you want.
Everyone on here wants Sheffield United to play Champions League football next year.....But you can't just say it and hope it happens.

 

[Mercedes]

Who's coming through

The change would be top coaches give

You want the Academy to produce better results, but don't offer any insight on how this can be done.

It's easy to say what you want.
Everyone on here wants Sheffield United to play Champions League football next year.....But you can't just say it and hope it happens.

I'm not saying Champions league football I'm saying if some people think 20 million is nothing for a player look to the future and invest in development to invest in development you need good coaches not part time coaches that come after they have finished work but ex players who have been there and done it not snowflake coaching but instill a winning mentality every other sport has this but not football in this country I want a ex players coaching me not someone who comes after work

 

[SittingontheBall]

What the last two games has underlined is if we did get in Europe our squad is not big or good enough .First time we have had any sort of injuries or suspensions and we are struggling to replace the players.

Overwhelmingly this.
Made the point elsewhere that without Jack and John down the left against Villa our organised chaos was predictably right sided and dealt with comfortably. Against Newcastle, with Flecky back the left side was still not firing although the right was better getting some decent inter passing going occasionally. However, Norwood looked lost to me with next to no left sided outlets.
No criticism of Robinson intended, who understandably was defence minded.

 

[CentralQuay]

The change would be top coaches give

I'm not saying Champions league football I'm saying if some people think 20 million is nothing for a player look to the future and invest in development to invest in development you need good coaches not part time coaches that come after they have finished work but ex players who have been there and done it not snowflake coaching but instill a winning mentality every other sport has this but not football in this country I want a ex players coaching me not someone who comes after work

Sheffield United don't have coaches?

Didn't know that.
Must be the only professional side in the country to not have any.

 

[Chabuddy G]

It's not the maddest thought. I bet Alan Knill has contemplated it. I read an article in The Athletic a while ago where Knill said something along the lines of it being his dream to have a player like Ronald Koeman who could play in defence and be equally comfortable stepping up into midfield. The way he delivered the line made it seem sort of important. Ie. it wasn't just like saying "I'd love a player like Messi", it genuinely felt like something Knill is trying to do. It was around the time of us signing Berge so I wondered if that was what he had in mind for him.

If Jags is fit, this topic is irrelevant as I think he'll play. But I started typing out a reply saying I think 4-2-3-1 is more likely if Jags misses out. But then the more I thought about it, the more I thought they could go for it. Particularly because Man Utd don't have anyone big and strong up front, who is more likely to catch Berge out. Pace might be an issue, mind.

I can see it happening and I can see Berge potentially having his best game for us so far if so
I'd have more faith in him there than Rodwell

 

[Chabuddy G]

Joking aside... it’s the reality though isn’t it. Losing JOC, Egan and Jags, 3 central defenders would hurt any team.

Course it would, bound to, however I think we have a chance to be creative with our solution and see the versatility of our £20mil wonderkid

 

[LondonBlade89]

I can see it happening and I can see Berge potentially having his best game for us so far if so
I'd have more faith in him there than Rodwell

He'd need to actually play to his height and strength if he did play there though. I'm not sure he's done that yet with us.

 

[Mercedes]

It's not the maddest thought. I bet Alan Knill has contemplated it. I read an article in The Athletic a while ago where Knill said something along the lines of it being his dream to have a player like Ronald Koeman who could play in defence and be equally comfortable stepping up into midfield. The way he delivered the line made it seem sort of important. Ie. it wasn't just like saying "I'd love a player like Messi", it genuinely felt like something Knill is trying to do. It was around the time of us signing Berge so I wondered if that was what he had in mind for him.

If Jags is fit, this topic is irrelevant as I think he'll play. But I started typing out a reply saying I think 4-2-3-1 is more likely if Jags misses out. But then the more I thought about it, the more I thought they could go for it. Particularly because Man Utd don't have anyone big and strong up front, who is more likely to catch Berge out. Pace might be an issue, mind.

Sheffield United don't have coaches?

Didn't know that.
Must be the only professional side in the country to not have any.

They have coaches but who are they Steve Gerrard started coaching Liverpool academy Nicky Butt Man Utd who coaches our.........you don't know which says everything

 

[CentralQuay]

They have coaches but who are they Steve Gerrard started coaching Liverpool academy Nicky Butt Man Utd who coaches our.........you don't know which says everything

I don't know Genk's either.....

 

[Chabuddy G]

He'd need to actually play to his height and strength if he did play there though. I'm not sure he's done that yet with us.

Hard to play to your height when you're in the middle of the park. But he's proved his worth in the defensive box when defending set pieces I think.

 

[Superblades]

Unfortunately for Berge I think his best position would probably be in the Norwood role. But Ollie ain’t gonna get dropped any time soon. He‘s not a box to box man, nor Is he tenacious tackler, but I do think he could pick a pass.

I’d give him a go at CDM, for all we know he could be better than Norwood in that position. The reputation Berge has got isn’t for nothing and it isn’t from playing in the position he currently is playing.

 

[Mercedes]

They have coaches but who are they Steve Gerrard started coaching Liverpool academy Nicky Butt Man Utd who coaches our.........you don't know which says everything
[/

I don't know Genk's either.....

Neither do I but I would know if we had ex players producing for us do you want to be coached by the likes you Steve Gerrard or the man who works at Tescos during the day top coaches would improve the best young talent

 

[LondonBlade89]

Hard to play to your height when you're in the middle of the park. But he's proved his worth in the defensive box when defending set pieces I think.

In either the Villa or Newcastle game he was beaten to a header by someone (can't remember who) who should've scored but put it over. I recall the commentator saying that Berge did well to "put him off" but I thought that was being very kind to Berge. I feel like against Newcastle he went down when taking an arm in the face in an aerial battle with someone small as well. As you can see, I'm not exactly backing this up with hard evidence, but to my mind there have been just as many if not more examples of him being weak in the air than vice versa. No reason why he can't improve on this, and it's not a big criticism, but to my mind he'd need to be much better in the air (and more physical in general) to succeed in the Premier League, whether it be at centre back or centre mid.

 

[CoatesyBlade]

Course it would, bound to, however I think we have a chance to be creative with our solution and see the versatility of our £20mil wonderkid

If we did go this way... big if... I’d be supportive and interested to see how it goes

 

[Gimli]

In between stacking the shelves at Tesco, our coaches have managed to produce 2 of the most expensive defenders of all time.

In fact, Harry Maguire is still the most expensive defender of all time (I think) and when walker was sold to Man City he was the most expensive defender ever.

Not a bad return for our ‘part time coaches working in Tesco’

Not just about money either -

Maguire - regular England starting centre back
Walker - has been a regular for England for the best part of 10 years including world cups and Euro tournaments

Both now play regular European football too.

That’s before we get on to Jagielka - 40 caps for England,
Kyle Naughton - several seasons in premier league.
Matt Lowton - regular premier league player.

In fact, it was either last season or the season before where players produced in the Sheffield United academy played the 5th most minutes in the premier league...


I really don’t understand the point you’re making about our coaches - it’s actually pretty disrespectful to suggest they’re part time know-nowts.

 

[Mercedes]

In between stacking the shelves at Tesco, our coaches have managed to produce 2 of the most expensive defenders of all time.

In fact, Harry Maguire is still the most expensive defender of all time (I think) and when walker was sold to Man City he was the most expensive defender ever.

Not a bad return for our ‘part time coaches working in Tesco’

Not just about money either -

Maguire - regular England starting centre back
Walker - has been a regular for England for the best part of 10 years including world cups and Euro tournaments

Both now play regular European football too.

That’s before we get on to Jagielka - 40 caps for England,
Kyle Naughton - several seasons in premier league.
Matt Lowton - regular premier league player.

In fact, it was either last season or the season before where players produced in the Sheffield United academy played the 5th most minutes in the premier league...

View attachment 83737
I really don’t understand the point you’re making about our coaches - it’s actually pretty disrespectful to suggest they’re part time know-nowts.

That's exactly what I'm saying don't forget we sold Harry to Hull maybe his improvement had Something to do with Leicester I'm stating a fact the academy coaches Jack Lester apart will consist mostly of part time coaches if you want we can go back to the days when we produced Stainrod Hamson Edwards Kenworthy I'm talking about NOW do you know how many young players go through the academy system and then are discarded thousands 74% never kick a ball again the academy system is broken a comment made by Howard Wilkinson due to poor coaching

 

[Cheesebored]

This might surprise you a little but I am a woman

What's your point.

 

[Mercedes]

That's exactly what I'm saying don't forget we sold Harry to Hull maybe his improvement had Something to do with Leicester I'm stating a fact the academy coaches Jack Lester apart will consist mostly of part time coaches if you want we can go back to the days when we produced Stainrod Hamson Edwards Kenworthy I'm talking about NOW do you know how many young players go through the academy system and then are discarded thousands 74% never kick a ball again the academy system is broken a comment made by Howard Wilkinson due to poor coaching

But I agee with you let's Produce another Harry or Kyle and to do that they may need abit of coaching