Kenilworth
Forged in Steel - Fooked in Riyadh
Anyone but the most optimistic dreamer will know that we’re all but relegated. It’s just a slow death of a thousand cuts (well 22 cuts) left, to go.
Everyone knows that the injury to O’Connell, leading to him being out of contention for the season, has been pivotal in our system being totally ineffective and our defence being more than generous to every opposition we have played, this season. No matter who Wilder tries in that Left Side Overlapping Centre Back (LSOCB) position, nothing has worked and it’s a glaring weakness that other teams recognise, prepare for and exploit.
A side effect is that it has made Norwood just about completely ineffective, since there is only one option to spread the play, with any pace and forward momentum - his key contribution to the system when it is fully balanced - which means that we are very slow to gain any territorial advantage and allow ample time for teams to restructure into their defensive shape. We’ve all seen that this pedestrian counter (once we eventually win the ball and don’t toss is away, cheaply) allows the opposition to fend off our very limited attacking capability - especially as we have absolutely no ability to play through the middle.
Now here’s the crux. We all think it will improve when O’Connell comes back and he slots seamlessly back into his designer LSOCB role. We probably hope that the team begins to tick again, when all of the component parts are back in full synchronisation mode. However, given the shite position we find ourselves in, certs to lose our place in the Premier League, does anyone else feel that we have seen the last of O’Connell in a Blades shirt?
As one of our 2, possibly 3, potential saleable assets, who will continue a career in the top flight when we slip out of it, the scenario of JO’C being pivotal in an odds defying, dynamic, stick it to the big boys, Sheffield United team has shot it’s load with that inter lockdown, training session collision with Dean Henderson.
I’d suggest that Wilder is not just looking for an option to replace JO’C for the remainder of this season, in the January transfer window, he is looking to see if he can find anyone that can possibly do that LSOCB role justice - as a replacement. And, if the hunt and chase are not successful then he and AK will need to find another system that helps us start to win football games again (in the Championship). Because, when we go down, I am not sure this malaise will be halted and we, all of a sudden, automatically begin to reverse our results in the division, below.
Happy 2021, everyone
(Berger and Baldock - if you were thinking of asking)
Everyone knows that the injury to O’Connell, leading to him being out of contention for the season, has been pivotal in our system being totally ineffective and our defence being more than generous to every opposition we have played, this season. No matter who Wilder tries in that Left Side Overlapping Centre Back (LSOCB) position, nothing has worked and it’s a glaring weakness that other teams recognise, prepare for and exploit.
A side effect is that it has made Norwood just about completely ineffective, since there is only one option to spread the play, with any pace and forward momentum - his key contribution to the system when it is fully balanced - which means that we are very slow to gain any territorial advantage and allow ample time for teams to restructure into their defensive shape. We’ve all seen that this pedestrian counter (once we eventually win the ball and don’t toss is away, cheaply) allows the opposition to fend off our very limited attacking capability - especially as we have absolutely no ability to play through the middle.
Now here’s the crux. We all think it will improve when O’Connell comes back and he slots seamlessly back into his designer LSOCB role. We probably hope that the team begins to tick again, when all of the component parts are back in full synchronisation mode. However, given the shite position we find ourselves in, certs to lose our place in the Premier League, does anyone else feel that we have seen the last of O’Connell in a Blades shirt?
As one of our 2, possibly 3, potential saleable assets, who will continue a career in the top flight when we slip out of it, the scenario of JO’C being pivotal in an odds defying, dynamic, stick it to the big boys, Sheffield United team has shot it’s load with that inter lockdown, training session collision with Dean Henderson.
I’d suggest that Wilder is not just looking for an option to replace JO’C for the remainder of this season, in the January transfer window, he is looking to see if he can find anyone that can possibly do that LSOCB role justice - as a replacement. And, if the hunt and chase are not successful then he and AK will need to find another system that helps us start to win football games again (in the Championship). Because, when we go down, I am not sure this malaise will be halted and we, all of a sudden, automatically begin to reverse our results in the division, below.
Happy 2021, everyone
(Berger and Baldock - if you were thinking of asking)