Sheffield United vs Coventry City

v.
Championship Week 18 - Saturday 20th November 2021 - 12:30 - Bramall Lane

Please keep all discussion related to the match within this thread.​

Matchday Stats/Player Ratings - https://www.s24su.com/forum/match-day/match/sheffield-united-vs-coventry-city.569/

Officials:

Referee: Michael Salisbury
Assistant Referee: Wade Smith
Assistant Referee: Nick Greenhalgh
Fourth Official: Peter Wright

Coverage:

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Need a VPN? - https://www.s24su.com/forum/threads/vpn-usage.87094/

Live TV Coverage:



SUTV Live - https://live.sufc.co.uk/

 

[Headshrinker]

What a poor performance. Played with three minutes of urgency at the end.

 

[Micky Narker]

Utterly butterly shite.

 

[Stevo]

I quite enjoyed the second half TBF

 

[Rufus Smalls]

Our shooting is really woeful, can’t blame the manager for the lack of technical ability of a professional fotballer.

 

[Millhousesblade1889]

How we paying him off?

A tin of beans from Aldi

this is the issue. Subs again were questionable, 0-0 at home and doesn’t use the attacking options he has? Swaps a LWB for a LWB with 10 to go. People will continue to defend him on here but the team isn’t a bottom 10 team, he & the team are completely underperforming and he’s not getting the best out of what we’ve got.

better second half but we need wins

 

[Pittsburg Blade]

Typical that McFadzean and Moore should have storming games. Solid displays.

Cov looked rattled in those last 10 mins but way too late.

Despite Didzy’s incontinence in front of goal, he is by far our only player worth watching.
Fods massive improvement on Olsen.
Dunno what’s happened to Enda. Shite as usual. Bogle only slightly better.
Fleck goes missing for too long.
Hourihane not the player he was. Missed from identical positions that he scored against us for Barnsley.
Another frustrating day at the office but slight improvement on the Blackburn debacle.

 

[Gimli]

Most entertaining thing is Goddens Tiger King tash.

Wonder what happened to our forum Carole Baskin...?

 

[Not_a_Cheat]

If we'd started the game like we finished it, we'd have won. But if my aunty had bollocks etc.

She'd have been playing up front?

 

[Flatcap]

Foderingham has staked his claim (proving me wrong), Hourihane was shocking apart from a few of his deliveries and a bit of nice play at the end, McGoldrick still can't finish his dinner, Bogle has skill going forward but doesn't close down his man defensively, Bash is the best CB we've got, Gibbs White makes stuff happen but dives far too much and the ref actually made some decisions that favoured us for once.

 

[john Mathison]

Where on earth do we go from here. Well, at least we did not concede in the last minute!!!

 

[Pittsburg Blade]

Foderingham has staked his claim (proving me wrong), Hourihane was shocking apart from a few of his deliveries and a bit of nice play at the end, McGoldrick still can't finish his dinner, Bogle has skill going forward but doesn't close down his man defensively, Bash is the best CB we've got, Gibbs White makes stuff happen but dives far too much and the ref actually made some decisions that favoured us for once.

Ref had a good game overall I thought.

 

[FinBlade]

I quite enjoyed the second half TBF

The game got better the more time passed. SUTV commentator said he misses Norwood, but I never felt same way with him. Fleck looked bit clumsy and got few times pass opponent by jiggling his body from side to side while ball rolled untouched behind/next to him. In some way kinda funny and entertaining, but not very profitable.

Seemed like Coventry defence knew MGW and Bogle tricks and got few free balls from them.
Have to mention Basham as he seemed to be one of the main driving forces today, MoM from our side I'd say.

 

[adamawdhali]

Hopefully today’s result will make some people realise it’s the players not the manager. played 5 at the back like everyone was begging for and we were awful. Not been good under wilder (in his last season), heckingbottom or slav. The players are the problem

 

[Antonb]

I thought 2nd half we were the better side and maybe should have nicked it. Overall I thought we looked more solid than we have been at the back , so that’s a positive!

 

[Revolution]

Meh.

There is always something when you keep a clean sheet, I suppose.

The big turning point was Robins’ substitutions trying to win the game. It gave us more space in midfield and we were the better side from then on after a poor first half.

Wes: very good performance. I’m a doubter but he proved me wrong today
Bash: good all round
Egan: his best game for a bit. Thought he coped well in a difficult first half
Davies: ok defensively, passing wretched
Stevens: slow, weak, poor with the ball. What happened?
Bogle: poor first half but was one of a number of players who improved after the break
Fleck: better than he has been but still mediocre. Showed for the ball a bit more
Hourihane: anonymous 1st half. Did well in the last 30 mins.
MGW: the usual good stuff from him. Unlucky not to score
Ndiaye: not good. Credit to Slav for bringing Didzy on Who gave us a foothold up there
Sharp: largely in McFadzean’s pocket unfortunately

Didzy: helped a lot with shape, 2019-20 form when shooting again
Osborn: too brief to rate

I’d have taken that point before the start and the late improvement is something I suppose, but still not good enough.

Not really much better in a different formation. I still think it’s the players that are the problem.

 

[robbiez666]

We went to the 5 at the back and the first half was pretty much a re-run of last season. Started ok but Coventry were the better team over the course of the first half. While they didn't create many clear-cut chances, they looked more likely. We started the second half a bit better but as soon as Coventry took off Hamer and Gyökeres they faded white badly and we came more and more in to it. Unusually, we looked the more likely to get the winner but it was as often due to their errors as good football. Still, better and the boos of half-time were replaced with slight grumbling by the end. There were a few positives. Hourihaine, who was anonymous first half, seemed to come into the game more and more. Wes had a solid game.

Foderingham - 6.5 - Solid. Did everything pretty well and looked safe. A couple of saves on the floor seemed to hit him more than him stopping them with his hands, but not great issues. Good to see a keeper commending his box. I don't think he's consistent enough to be a no.1 at this level though. We've seen him have a good game before and then followed it up with a stinker. He seems to struggle with concentration.
Stevens - 5 - Looked shattered by the time he came off. I thought they caused us problems on his side of the pitch first half and some of the more nervy moment involved him. Got forward well a few times and cut inside and had a sot. I don't think he has the fitness anymore to play as a LWB
Davies - 5.5 - I thought there were issues around him first half. He did nothing wrong, apart from one very dangerous back header, but they seemed to find a lot of space and Egan ended up one-on-one far too often on his side of the pitch.
Egan - 4 - Thought he was shown up today by Gyökeres. Got booked and looked on a tightrope far too many times. They seemed to play to expose him and I have little confidence in him in a one-on-one situation.
Basham - 6 - Not the greatest first half but came into it as the game went on and kept trying to drive us forward. I don't think he's good enough in a two but is in a three. You can see he's struggling a bit at times as his age is catching up with him.
Bogle - 5 - Thought he was poor defensively first half and didn't really get forward. Was far more involved as the second half goes on but he needs to start putting in early balls. Takes too many touches.
Fleck - 5 - Started well and involved with our better play but reverted to type as the game went on. Sloppy and defensively weak. Doesn't look after the ball well enough.
Hourihaine - 5 - I thought he was the opposite of Fleck. Started really badly and was poor or anonymous first half. Thought he slowly came into the came second half and while it was still a bit hit and miss was heavily involved in our attacking play towards the end. Tough to know whether that's more due to the Coventry players tiring than anything else.
Gibbs-White - 6 - Not really coming off for him at the moment but has very quck feet and much of our best play comes through him. Had a couple of decent shots but sometimes sloppy as well.
Ndiaye - 5 - Looked lively but there was a lot of hustle and not a lot of end product. Suprised he was taken off but it could have been one of several in all honesty.
Sharp - 4 - Thought he was really poor today. Didn't hold the ball up well and was out muscled a lot by their defenders. In fairness to him, the way we played really didn't suit the way we tried to play.

Subs

McGoldrick - 6.5 - Yes, he should be hitting the target with those chances but I thought he changed the game when he came on. Caused their defence and midfield no manner of problems. Just doesn't have the pace anymore to be really dangerous.
Osborn - N/A - Wasn't really on long enough to influence anything

Slav - 5.5 - Changed the formation to five at the back and it really didn't work first half. Was reminiscent of last season and Coventry looked a much better team at times. We were a bit better first half but bringing McGoldrick on changed the momentum as they tired. We looked more likely to get the 3 points by the end but it did feel too little, too late. He needs to work out how to find a way between 4 and 5 at the back.

Coventry. Great to see Moore doing well for them and he was really good today. You saw at times during the first half why they were 4th in the league. As soon as they made the same changes, it's clear that the squad isn't strong enough to maintain a challenge for promotion. I suspect they'll end up just below the play-offs unless they strengthen in January. Gyökeres looks like a player who can succeed at the top level and O'Hare looks busy in midfield. They defended really well first half and put themselves on the line even when tiring.

 

[Sheffsteel]

1st half 0-0
Reminded me of a typical match last season in the PL. We’d done a lot of defending but looked quite comfortable. The worrying thing is we were none existent up front. It was noticeable how Coventry worked so hard pressing us all over the pitch, so we had little time on the ball. It was like Cov had an extra man.
They were also quite physical and very close to the line of what is a hard challenge and what is a foul. The ref received a lot of stick letting their hard challenges go but blowing his whistle calling our hard challenges a foul.

At half-time we all agreed that Cov were probably the best team to come to BL this season, however we suspected that surely they would tire 2nd half and we would be able to play our game better.

2nd half 0-0
We showed more tempo and urgency. We finally had spells of playing some nice flowing football.
Thought McGoldrick changed the match giving us composure and nous up front, shame he’s so poor in front of goal.

Overall, they dominated the 1st half without looking like scoring, didn’t enjoy it and found the game quite boring.
We had the better of the 2nd half without quite doing enough to score, actually enjoyed that 2nd half, we showed effort and played some nice football.
Therefore a 0-0 draw was probably a fair result.

Also it was nice to see Simon Moore make a point of clapping our fans at the end and he received a very respectful reception from Blades.

 

[metalblade]

Looked like we intended playing a back three but really it was a back five as the wing backs look terrified to move forwards Bogle did get better but Stevens is shot or shit whichever you prefer. Says it all to me when Simom Moore made his first save on 82mins to a kop chorus of we've had a shot.
Positives we had a clean sheet I suppose.
First half absolutely dire football and the second half not much better.
Foderingham was ok much better than Olsen. Basham MOTM looks to be the only player that cares. Egan caught out by balls over the top again, Davies has a habit of slowing the game down even more than the rest of the team which is quite incredible
Fleck and Hourihane hard to pick which one was worse both make Norwood look good. Not much happened for Gibbs White or Ndiaye too many fancy flicks from these two who are fast becoming show ponies. Billy Sharp maybe has just got out of McFadzean's pocket, a dreadful game not suited to his abilities.
Slav ............ just WTF bringing on Osborn on 86mins. McGoldrick made us slightly better but the bloke in font of me caught his 2nd effort on goal and I'm in row Q

A total waste of my afternoon that. Don't even look like I'll get any solace from the pigs losing either

 

[originaltrueblade]

What a waste of my valuable time, I could have perfectly individually boiled 40 eggs

Price on energy would have cost you more than going to the game

 

[Pittsburg Blade]

1st half 0-0
Reminded me of a typical match last season in the PL. We’d done a lot of defending but looked quite comfortable. The worrying thing is we were none existent up front. It was noticeable how Coventry worked so hard pressing us all over the pitch, so we had little time on the ball. It was like Cov had an extra man.
They were also quite physical and very close to the line of what is a hard challenge and what is a foul. The ref received a lot of stick letting their hard challenges go but blowing his whistle calling our hard challenges a foul.

At half-time we all agreed that Cov were probably the best team to come to BL this season, however we suspected that surely they would tire 2nd half and we would be able to play our game better.

2nd half 0-0
We showed more tempo and urgency. We finally had spells of playing some nice flowing football.
Thought McGoldrick changed the match giving us composure and nous up front, shame he’s so poor in front of goal.

Overall, they dominated the 1st half without looking like scoring, didn’t enjoy it and found the game quite boring.
We had the better of the 2nd half without quite doing enough to score, actually enjoyed that 2nd half, we showed effort and played some nice football.
Therefore a 0-0 draw was probably a fair result.

Also it was nice to see Simon Moore make a point of clapping our fans at the end and he received a very respectful reception from Blades.

Simon Moore. Ace bloke and fine servant for the Blades. Respect.

 

[Bobby b]

Price on energy would have cost you more than going to the game

Yes that may be, but after i will have 40 delicious eggs, instead of an empty feeling

 

[FinBlade]

I think there has been effort from manager and from players, but the areas we are failing can be fixed by changing something else than the manager. Personally I would like to see what Slav can do while given some players he's been asking for months. After all, he ain't asking the moon and we have suffered a bit about Berge injury for example.

Only thing that can be questioned about Slavs actions imo is that why didn't our other players (like Basham and Hourihane) get more changes to prove them selves while players like Fleck and/or Norwood were questioned game after game.

 

[SB_90]

what a strange game, because we were lucky to have nil in the 1st half, it was the worst id seen us in person for many a year & i was thinking where had the early season or even just 3 weeks ago. gone where we were playing brilliant football & through gifting goals & bad luck not getting results we we deserved & that it was hard to see us scoring if we played all week. having created very little & stuck in rock & hard place. being too scared to play out from the back. but then couldnt hit it long as we lost the majority of headers. it came straight back. & how this team needs major surgery 7 or 8 need to go & i dont where the funds are coming from to do that

then we came out 2nd half & it was astonishing. thinking i cant believe these are the same players (with exception of mcgoldrick) that were as woeful in the 1st half as id seen for many a yr in person. you could easily say we were unlucky as had the chances to take an unlikely all 3 points. but nearly forgot for 2nd game thank the lord for chris basham on current form by a country mile by far our best CB. he has saved our arses so much at times we were a 1 man team

 

[Rudders]

I would give Slav a 5 or 6 out of 10. At least we looked solid and he changed it to a better shape. The only logical sub i felt he could have made, but didn't, was to bring on Brewster or Burke for Sharp. Not saying it would of worked but Sharp didn't have a chance all game.
I hope Slav rotates the central striker mid week as we have shown throughout this season that none of our forward players can do it twice a week

 

[Mendi]

Slav is not having no good luck. Time to go.

 

[originaltrueblade]

Yes that may be, but after i will have 40 delicious eggs, instead of an empty feeling

And bunged up

 

[Toronto Blade]

Just look at that subs bench none of them are going to make much of a difference.

 

[St Albans Blade]

Three or four back to back defeats against top half sides and we’ll implode into League 1. The later the rot kicks in, the less chance of our escaping it.

Sorry, the disastrously inevitable outcome to this season is so predictable. It’s running so precise a parallel with our first ever relegation to the third tier that it’s uncanny!

Nevertheless, UTB.

 

[Bobby b]

And bunged up

Preferable to shitting myself when were defending

 

[Keen Blade]

You must be a joy at a party

I reckon I called our performance pretty accurately before I had the displeasure of witnessing it.