Pre-Season 17/18 Sheffield United v. Stoke City - 25/07/17

[sitwell]

Just in front of us, Jack should have had a shout and I don't think he got one.

The nearest person to O'Connell was Wilder ,so Im putting their goal down to him

 

[sheff_blade90]

nice 1st game back, but i dont know why it felt weird pre match i guess it after how amazing feeling & occasion that was chesterfield title & all the celebrations afterwards. but not a bad way to win it on the returning with the Final kick against a very strong stoke i didnt realise level of quality in the stoke team with some of the players considering they could replace Berahino for Bojan.

very smartly worked move. 1st time ive seen brooks's quality for myself & wasnt disapointed glad he denied chesterfield because he wouldve been wasted in League 2. put in some fantastic crosses. Eastwood deserve as every bit of praise im sure majority of worries Wilder had after moore injury have been lifted. as i cant think of proper error he made all game, as you cant call beaten by £15m Shaquri blame on him & based on tonight i wouldnt be too worried if he started v Brentford. tonight really just strengthen my belief that we will surprise a few this yr

 

[Bladesman]

 

[TheGoatPenguin]

First pre-seaon game for me tonight. Plenty of positives and the odd negatives.

Solid performances from Sharp, O'Connell, Stevens and Bash and everyone else looked like they'll be back to top form after a few games of settling back into things. Eastwood did everything he needed to really well, one for the future, I'd like to see him get some cup games this year.

First 30 mins United dominated could've had a more than 1-0 lead. Stoke came back into it at the end of the half and Shaqiri showed his quality. Second half quite even affair. A draw would have been fair but when Stoke made the changes late on United had too much for them.

Negatives (I'm being harsh and all these will come with match fitness) Stearman poor performance for me, got dragged out of position far too easily and to say he looked good with the ball at his feet no idea what the two awful passes to Stoke players was about and a lack of arial dominance, but Stoke are a very big physical side. On tonight I'd play Wright against Brentford if fit. Also we need someone with genuine quality to play with Sharp. Lavery was active but not very effective. Carruthers great first half but faded as game went on.

Still need that bit of first team quality in attack but overall we'll be totally fine this season.

 

[WalkelyFan]

Just in front of us, Jack should have had a shout and I don't think he got one.

Us too and I thought he did.

 

[sheff_blade90]

i knew Shaqiri was good from watching the last few yrs for Stoke Inter Milan & Switzerland, but in person hes different level absoulte quality. as proved by rareity that is were we have given an huge ovation to an opposition player

you could tell Shaqiri quality the way his "hips don't lie" down the wing

 

[rustyoldlondonblade]

Sounded like a tap in from Brooks but.... he's won us all 3 games in the last week!

Hope he gets in the team ASAP. It would be nice to watch him start 10 games before being sold.

i think we all know as blades that turning up at the right place at the right time isn't a gift all our players have had, conversely we've not been short of fellows with a knack for bogging up the simple

 

[tomtheblade]

Thoughts..

The level of opposition players was high - Bojan, Shaqiri, Berahino but they were surprisingly ineffective up top for a decent prem side with supposedly good attacking options.

We played well and controlled the game in spells, but also had periods where we couldn't get on the ball and played very deep, particularly in the second half. Stoke, despite being a bit toothless up top, you could see at times their Premiership class and they pushed us back, but less so than I expected

We were very combative, always fighting for balls and challenges

Eastwood looked composed. Still to see how he fares in a competitive match but this was encouraging

Fleck, Coutts and Freeman constantly looking to drive forward. Fleck seems to have found his shooting boots since last season, I'm sure Wilder has been encouraging him.

Carruthers bit of a livewire- full of energy, looking to try and pull things off.. but also gives the ball away a bit too often. Duffy, in contrast, who came on for him, was more of a steady player who kept the ball well and goes forward but at a slower pace. I think they both have something to offer

Billy/Lavery were generally playing a bit too far away from the midfield, sitting and waiting for the perfect ball to come to them, which was hard because it meant they weren't getting away from their markers. Clarke imo did well when he came on to link up with the midfield a bit more and bring play forwards

Brooks.. good run and positioning for the goal, not afraid to run at players, shrugged off the ball at times due to his physique but encouraging

For them..

They changed almost their entire team with 10 mins to go so this may have played a part in our goal, but we'll take it!

Peter Crouch is now effectively just a big wall to bounce the ball off
Shaqiri.. class
Berahino don't see what the fuss is all about

Good attendance, good night overall, still unbeaten roll on 5th August!

 

[Foxy]

Us too and I thought he did.

Aye and us.

Thought he got a shout, but underestimated the speed of thought/movement of his opponent. A safety first approach would have prevented it happening, but that's not the way we particularly play on half way.

 

[WalkelyFan]

Let me get the applause for Shaquiri out of the way first. He got applauded and rightly so because he is clearly a quality player and had a great game - was fair and robust and probably the smallest player on their side. Time after time he was tackled and came out with the ball. Wished he played for us. I could see he was delighted that his hard work and skill got recognition from the opposition crowd. Proud to be a Blade - it was a friendly after all. Reminded me of the time the Real Madrid crowd applauded Ronaldhino after they had been hammered by Barcelona (And that wasn't a friendly!)

I'll just concentrate on the second half and in particular from the time Brooks came on. They brought on a lot of players around 65 minutes I think. Yet we were finishing as a team just as strongly. the second half the resorted a few times to a long ball to Crouch's head.

We seemed to switch to a 2-1 up front with Duffy and Brooks playing behind Clarke. I thought it worked well. Stoke were clearly more physical - taller and probably stronger - than we were and yet we found space, (Brooks is brilliant at this) Duffy as well. No point in humping the ball upwards
when they have 6.00 ft + defenders.

I thought Clarke had a great game - held the ball up well and gave their defenders a lot of trouble.

Finally Brooks is class. Total class. His first touch (which took a while) took him past two PL defenders as if they weren't there He was fouled a couple of times for going past these defenders. He made one imperious tackle on Charlie Adams that was worth the admission money. He drifts into space watch him. Always good space. You want a comparison? One of the greatest footballers I have overseen. John White of Tottenham Hotspur.

 

[Bladesman]

Stoke were fucking shite for most of the match and our opening goal was hilarious. It is hard to believe Shawcross ever got an England call up.

We played well for periods of the match but we should have taken advantage of Stoke's sloppy play in the first half. They looked shaky every time they played the ball out at the back and we caught them out enough times.

 

[loyalblade95]

Stoke were fucking shite for most of the match and our opening goal was hilarious. It is hard to believe Shawcross ever got an England call up.

We played well for periods of the match but we should have taken advantage of Stoke's sloppy play in the first half. They looked shaky every time they played the ball out at the back and we caught them out enough times.

Hard to believe he played in the last time we played stoke when they hammered us 3-0 at the lane back in 2007 and he's the only player at the club who was in that team that day

 

[Grappler]

Great to be back at BDTBL, me and the missus have missed the place.

I thought it was an evenly matched game, we dominated most of the first half, second half they moved up a gear and caught us on the break a few times, definitely had the edge on us when it came to pace. When it came to our first goal, the ball landed at the feet of Billy Sharp.....in their box......there is only one outcome, and we were one nil up at the ten minute mark.

Their goal came against the run of play, but again, it was a break where (from where I was sat) it looked like three on three, which is always going to be tricky.

Stoke - fast and physical, and despite what a few others have said so far, I thought Crouch was effective when he came on (the big lanky twat), balls were continually fired towards him, some along the ground, and he made the simple back pass and then ran into position in the box, time after time, couldn't score though. In fact it was mainly poor finishing from them which prevented them from scoring, some howlers went wide or over the top.

In contrast, we had shot after shot on goal, but the majority were straight at the keeper.

I thought Coutts ran the game for us, although Carruthers and Fleck had their moments. Eastwood was steady in goal, filling the large boots of Simon Moore. Bash was outstanding, Stearman was solid enough, Stevens was good, Freeman picked up where he left off last season, fearless, running forward, always trying to find a way through. Lavery was tricky, Billy was Billy.

Leon was a handful when he came on and young Brooks brought that unpredictable nature to the field, he takes people on, the ball seems to stick to his feet, he dribbles, he tackles, he goes for goal, and tonight, scored.

We played some lovely one touch football at times, pass, pass, pass, pass, move forward.

When things went wrong (Stearman, or Carruthers, passing to Stoke players by mistake), i had to keep reminding myself that this was Premier League opposition, who were quickly intercepting the ball. We took on a decent team and held our own, and ended up winning.

A couple of decent pints after.

I have missed this!

UTB.

 

[Kozzy_is_my_Dad]

He made some good saves and commanded his area alright...but my god, the kid likes to take his fucking time.

I'm not going to hammer him at all as he's done great stepping up when needed. But he needs to sharpen up his distribution and dilly-dally a tad less. His goal kicks seemed to take an age.

Apart from that, he was sound against good opposition.

Cheers pal. Did it seem like he'd been told to do it? Yeah its not a cup tie or no three points on offer but a win is a major signal of intent.

 

[Pinchy]

Well just got back and that was an excellent performance and a very good game of football.

The first half hour we pretty much dominated, Samir looked the best player on the pitch during that spell.

We moved the ball well, defended well for most of the game apart from the goal, Eastwood looked confident and commanding, if there is one thing we lack it's a bit of pace where I thought we could have picked them off on the break.

If we can add that with possibly another goal scoring threat we may be okay next season (providing we don't cave in on the selling front)

Much happier bunny tonight.

Delighted to hear it, but your previous pessimism was totally unjustified. The team was excellent last season and will cope quite comfortably next, maybe do very well. They would have been fine without any additions at all, but happily there are some and more to come. Many of us realised some time ago that there was and is nothing to fear in this league.

Quite why pre-season had to be punctuated by panic and predictions of doom on here is bizarre.

Even now, we can't enjoy a Brooks cameo or goal without turning it into a vitriolic attack on our own club for something that hasn't happened. Perhaps we should boo rather than cheer when he scores or assists, so our wicked chairman gets the message?

 

[Pinchy]

What was the crowd za

A collection of people gathering together, usually to watch some public event, or display...

 

[Pinchy]

Excellent goal. Brute force wasn't working so a little bit of sublime skill unlocked the door.

From that Rolls-Royce of a player Paul Coutts. Yet people wonder if he can 'step up'. You bet he can. Just watch him. He'll be in his element.

 

[Grappler]

From that Rolls-Royce of a player Paul Coutts. Yet people wonder if he can 'step up'. You bet he can. Just watch him. He'll be in his element.

He looked very comfortable (to me) tonight. In fact most of our lads did. You have the composure of Coutts and Fleck, the passion of Billy Sharp and Bash, the unpredictable David Brooks (incredible potential), and the raw power of JOC, to name but a few. Eastwood looked like a seasoned pro in goal.

I would wager that any neutral watching the game tonight (with no prior knowledge of the English game) would be hard pressed to tell you which of those two teams was playing in a higher division.

 

[Pinchy]

He looked very comfortable (to me) tonight. In fact most of our lads did. You have the composure of Coutts and Fleck, the passion of Billy Sharp and Bash, the unpredictable David Brooks (incredible potential), and the raw power of JOC, to name but a few. Eastwood looked like a seasoned pro in goal.

I would wager that any neutral watching the game tonight (with no prior knowledge of the English game) would be hard pressed to tell you which of those two teams was playing in a higher division.

The thing is, that comes as no surprise to sensible people who saw how good they were last year - way above League One standard as the final table graphically demonstrated.

The hysteria we've seen and read (and doubtless more to come) has been both astonishing and embarrassing.

 

[Houston_Blade]

http://www.skysports.com/share/10961894

Goals on Sky

 

[Cerberus Blade]

7096 including 632 from Stoke

Can you be a bit more precise?

 

[Cerberus Blade]

Thought we were excellent tonight. Coutts, Freeman and Carruthers were running the show first half. Second half we had great cameos from Duffy and Brooke's was certainly not overawed playing against Premier league defenders, he must have had 3 shots before he scored. Clearly we intend to keep playing the passing game and I can't se why these players can't prospers this year. All in all I really enjoyed it. In Wilder we trust.

UTB

yes I agree with that. I'd also single out Basham as well for a very good performance.

 

[Cerberus Blade]

Nowhere near good enough as a partnership and I think Wilder will realise this after tonight. Clarke did enough in his late cameo to earn a starting place for the next game.

OMG! You'll upset a lot Blades on here, daring to say things like that.

I'm afraid you are correct though. Sharp did his usual thing - got in the right place at the right time and plundered a goal - but not much else during the whole game apart from that. Fans will need to make their own minds up over the coming weeks, whether this is enough at Championship level?

Lavery looked spritely at least, but lacked any sort of killer punch in attack - some nice touches, but when it comes to being able to finish the thing off he just didn't do it. It's a big question mark, for me, whether Lavery will be good enough for the Championship at this stage.

Clarke, I thought, looked like the first choice striker out of these three. He won the ball in the air, against some big Stoke defenders, he held it up well, he played others in.

Odds on it's going to be Clarke and Sharp to start v Brentford. That looks to be our best option at the moment but I don't think it will stay that way for long.

 

[Cerberus Blade]

Good performance tonight. We started well, looked to press all over the pitch and good work by Lavery resulted in Billy showing his good positional sense and killer instinct. Thought Lavery should have done better with the header but the lad looked a threat all round. Carruthers did very well i thought but there is clearly more to come from him, needs to improve his decision making. Defence did their job and looked solid for the most part. Basham, in my opinion, was our best defender tonight. Stearman looks solid and composed and is clearly the voice in that back line. Wing backs were solid, Enda looks like a player who won't accept getting beat and Freeman looked strong, quick and aggressive. Coutts and fleck rarely looked overly flustered and majority of the time they demanstrated confidence and composure on the ball. Duffy did alright. Clarke and Brooks did brilliant as well when they came on. Brooks is quick, skillful and full of confidence. Brilliant finish. However, the play that led to the winner was brilliant. it started from a kick by Eastwood, who looks an excellent prospect by the way, very commanding and did well on the Shaqiri freekick. Anyway the second goal. A big kick by Eastwood was brilliantly controlled by Clarke who then turned the play and got the ball out wide on the right side. This then led to a few efforts at goal before Freeman was released and he then squared to the Brooks- brilliant play and a good demonstration of our hunger.

Overall, I thought it was a good test. We had to deal with chasing the ball for longish spells but we showed energy and good organisation as we kept our shape and dropped into shape well all game. Stokes goal was against the run of play but a player like Shaqiri can pop up and do that to you. Their goal knocked us a tiny bit but we still looked to play our own game and it's clear this group of players are not capable of imploding. We have a group of players who look very hungry to me and they're all showing that they want to battle for the shirt. I have no doubts regarding quality, spirit, fight, strength or even goals. We have good options at the top of the pitch in my opinion, but i would add some pace. Obviously need a goal keeper but Eastwood looked capable tonight and he didn't have any wobbles at all which is brilliant for the defenders and the whole team. Next season we'll be reyt in my opinion. Can't bloody wait na!

Oh ye, dunno why Shaqiri got clapped of tbh. He's a good player and scored a good goal but he did what all the other Stoke players did most of the game, which was to knock a diagonal ball to Crouch, only thing is Shaqiri knocked it up to him with a bit more style!

Have to disagree with your comments about Shaquiri. It sounds to me like you have a problem giving credit to an opposition player for doing well? That guy was easily Stoke's best player. He was behind just about every good thing they did. He was extremely difficult to get off the ball and he was a goal threat too. I think it's obvious to say that the majority of Blades in the ground last night disagree with you, given that he got a well deserved ovation when he came off. Your description of how the Blades played is pretty much spot on - (although personally I've not been convinced by Stearman up to now) - but your comments about Shaquiri sound begrudging to me.

 

[Sirius]

OMG! You'll upset a lot Blades on here, daring to say things like that.

I'm afraid you are correct though. Sharp did his usual thing - got in the right place at the right time and plundered a goal - but not much else during the whole game apart from that. Fans will need to make their own minds up over the coming weeks, whether this is enough at Championship level?

Lavery looked spritely at least, but lacked any sort of killer punch in attack - some nice touches, but when it comes to being able to finish the thing off he just didn't do it. It's a big question mark, for me, whether Lavery will be good enough for the Championship at this stage.

Clarke, I thought, looked like the first choice striker out of these three. He won the ball in the air, against some big Stoke defenders, he held it up well, he played others in.

Odds on it's going to be Clarke and Sharp to start v Brentford. That looks to be our best option at the moment but I don't think it will stay that way for long.

As far as I am concerned a guy who has scored at the rate Sharp has, provided he is in the righ place at the right time I e puts the ball in the net Can scratch his arse for most of the game. Whilst admitting that the two should not be compared, Jimmy Greaves did bugger all except score regularly

 

[SwissBlade]

I was particularly impressed by our defence.

Keeper was excellent, stearman did ok, wing backs Freeman and Stevens did well but Basham and O'Connel were imense, even if Jack did give the ball away for their goal.

Did the Wing backs seem to play deeper and more tucked in or did they have the freedom of last season?

Yes unfortunately I have to agree tonight, Clarke and Sharp will start against Brentford. I like Lavery but he doesn't look a goal scoring threat often enough.

Could have done with the extra striker signing but it looks like we have put those eggs in the Ched basket.

I think Sharp-Clarke proved last season that they work really well together in some games, sounds like we’re also looking at playing one up top or perhaps having that as an option. This could work well if we’re playing on the counter more than last season.

Extra striker is still on Wilders list. I’d expect it to be a loan.

Let me get the applause for Shaquiri out of the way first. He got applauded and rightly so because he is clearly a quality player and had a great game - was fair and robust and probably the smallest player on their side. Time after time he was tackled and came out with the ball. Wished he played for us. I could see he was delighted that his hard work and skill got recognition from the opposition crowd. Proud to be a Blade - it was a friendly after all. Reminded me of the time the Real Madrid crowd applauded Ronaldhino after they had been hammered by Barcelona (And that wasn't a friendly!)

I'll just concentrate on the second half and in particular from the time Brooks came on. They brought on a lot of players around 65 minutes I think. Yet we were finishing as a team just as strongly. the second half the resorted a few times to a long ball to Crouch's head.

We seemed to switch to a 2-1 up front with Duffy and Brooks playing behind Clarke. I thought it worked well. Stoke were clearly more physical - taller and probably stronger - than we were and yet we found space, (Brooks is brilliant at this) Duffy as well. No point in humping the ball upwards

when they have 6.00 ft + defenders.

I thought Clarke had a great game - held the ball up well and gave their defenders a lot of trouble.

Finally Brooks is class. Total class. His first touch (which took a while) took him past two PL defenders as if they weren't there He was fouled a couple of times for going past these defenders. He made one imperious tackle on Charlie Adams that was worth the admission money. He drifts into space watch him. Always good space. You want a comparison? One of the greatest footballers I have overseen. John White of Tottenham Hotspur.

I’ll always applaud a quality player. As football fans we’re allowed to appreciate a decent performance, even if that player is on the opposition.

 

[GRUMPY BLADE]

Brooks goal...

Did Stoke play in strips and we wore the away kit?

 

[Maidenhead]

SwissBlade looked very much like last season to me but unlike some people on here I don't pretend to be an expert

 

[Maidenhead]

Aye and us.

Thought he got a shout, but underestimated the speed of thought/movement of his opponent. A safety first approach would have prevented it happening, but that's not the way we particularly play on half way.

Nor should it be.

Some you win, some you lose.

 

[cooperblade]

Have to disagree with your comments about Shaquiri. It sounds to me like you have a problem giving credit to an opposition player for doing well? That guy was easily Stoke's best player. He was behind just about every good thing they did. He was extremely difficult to get off the ball and he was a goal threat too. I think it's obvious to say that the majority of Blades in the ground last night disagree with you, given that he got a well deserved ovation when he came off. Your description of how the Blades played is pretty much spot on - (although personally I've not been convinced by Stearman up to now) - but your comments about Shaquiri sound begrudging to me.

I genuinely thought Shaqiri was average and was surprised by his ovation. It was hardly a Kabba for Grimsby type performance.