Sticking with the old guard

[Cerberus Blade]

I thought we’d do this tonight. Play the same sort of starting line up that has served us so well over the last season. And I’m not knocking it btw. The players that have got us here and kept us here deserve the opportunity to continue.

But based on that performance tonight, not for long.

It’s only a matter of time before youth replaces experience. And I think it will be a good thing.

I’m expecting to see Stevens, Baldock, Basham, Norwood, Sharp, Lundstram and McGoldrick (appreciate he didn’t start tonight) in a real battle to keep their shirt this season.

 

[Sheffsteel]

I thought we’d do this tonight. Play the same sort of starting line up that has served us so well over the last season. And I’m not knocking it btw. The players that have got us here and kept us here deserve the opportunity to continue.

But based on that performance tonight, not for long.

It’s only a matter of time before youth replaces experience. And I think it will be a good thing.

I’m expecting to see Stevens, Baldock, Basham, Norwood, Sharp, Lundstram and McGoldrick (appreciate he didn’t start tonight) in a real battle to keep their shirt this season.

To be fair Wilder would say the same.
He’s loyal to the old gaurd....they’ve done enough to deserve his loyalty and our loyalty so did the right thing to start with them.
Thank fully we have much better strength in depth....so there’s a great chance for our new signings to see some game time.

 

[finlaytheblade]

I thought we’d do this tonight. Play the same sort of starting line up that has served us so well over the last season. And I’m not knocking it btw. The players that have got us here and kept us here deserve the opportunity to continue.

But based on that performance tonight, not for long.

It’s only a matter of time before youth replaces experience. And I think it will be a good thing.

I’m expecting to see Stevens, Baldock, Basham, Norwood, Sharp, Lundstram and McGoldrick (appreciate he didn’t start tonight) in a real battle to keep their shirt this season.

Yes I think one or two regulars are going to find it tough this season.
Was it me! or did Wilder seem to be on the back foot during his post match radio sheffield interview ,also seemed a bit anxious watching that first half I'm not surprised.
Normally seems confident and relaxed maybe he was a bit frustrated with the performance we finished the season just gone in a similar fashion

 

[Cerberus Blade]

Not heard his interview, but I’m sure he will be disappointed, like we all are. I started cooking dinner mid way through the second half. I said to Petunia, might as well get on with this as we won’t score if we play till this time tomorrow.

Same problems as last season. Slow to attack and few efforts on goal.

The problem is in midfield imo. Though sharper strikers would help. The good news is, dinner was ready on the stroke of full time and no drinking time down the pub has been lost.

 

[Stretch]

I thought we’d do this tonight. Play the same sort of starting line up that has served us so well over the last season. And I’m not knocking it btw. The players that have got us here and kept us here deserve the opportunity to continue.

But based on that performance tonight, not for long.

It’s only a matter of time before youth replaces experience. And I think it will be a good thing.

I’m expecting to see Stevens, Baldock, Basham, Norwood, Sharp, Lundstram and McGoldrick (appreciate he didn’t start tonight) in a real battle to keep their shirt this season.

Would largely agree with that, although I thought Sharp did well tonight, and Norwood wasn't bad. Didsy also helped us retain possession later on, so that we looked at least a bit threatening.

Stevens, Baldock and Lunny were all guilty of wasting too many crossing opportunities however, and Stevens did find it hard to cope with Traore, but I dont think we can hold that against him too much.

As much as I love our 2 wingbacks, I am excited at the prospect of Bogle and Lowe having a go. Lunny will make way for Berge asap, or even Ampadu depending on the system.

 

[Deadbat]

Yes I think one or two regulars are going to find it tough this season.
Was it me! or did Wilder seem to be on the back foot during his post match radio sheffield interview ,also seemed a bit anxious watching that first half I'm not surprised.
Normally seems confident and relaxed maybe he was a bit frustrated with the performance we finished the season just gone in a similar fashion

I was surprised he thought we were right in the game for most of it, outside the 6 minutes. I disagreed. I felt they controlled it most of the game other than 10 mins after the break. They had countless one on one chances and for all the talk about the post; they hit it twice. They could have scored a few even outside of the two goals so it was not just like two chances, bang, bang. They swarmed all over us really and we never got going. We did get better but the final ball was awful and stilll felt they looked more like scoring more goals than we did. Well beaten and not so sure it was just about the opening few minutes really. Ramsdale made two super saves, they hit the post twice and missed an open goal and also had other chances first half. For a home side that is an awful lot of times they got through us. We worked incredibly hard and never penetrated them other than maybe once all night. That is a concern.

 

[Cerberus Blade]

Would largely agree with that, although I thought Sharp did well tonight, and Norwood wasn't bad. Didsy also helped us retain possession later on, so that we looked at least a bit threatening.

Stevens, Baldock and Lunny were all guilty of wasting too many crossing opportunities however, and Stevens did find it hard to cope with Traore, but I dont think we can hold that against him too much.

As much as I love our 2 wingbacks, I am excited at the prospect of Bogle and Lowe having a go. Lunny will make way for Berge asap, or even Ampadu depending on the system.

Yes I wasn't just basing that on tonight, I also thought Sharp had a decent game, ball bounced off him a few times, but he was one of the better players on the pitch, and I was pleased to see McGoldrick get on the ptich, because he's a proper footballer and we always seem to look better with him involved. I thought Sharp, Fleck and Berge (when he came on) were all good. I'm not sure about Norwood's contribution tbh. I mean, the guy is a good passer of the ball and a lot goes through him, he's key in that midfield. But how many set pieces did he waste by not being able to clear the first man with the ball? This is so frustrating when you're chasing a game, to get into good positions, be that corners or free kicks, and then thump the ball at their first defender - chance gone. I thought Berge's passing and movement, higher up the pitch, was a big improvement on Norwood tbh.

 

[KiwiBlabe]

I think that sometimes the fans get carried away by the result, positive or negative. I personally don't think that for 70-80 mins we played any worse than when we played Wolves last year.
We were as good as them for the majority of the game. We had a terrible 1st 20 mins but (as Wilder says) we rallied and came at them, which shows some balls. I dont think after the opening period anyone was glaringly bad. We struggled to cope with Raul and Traore, lots of teams will do that.
For me were as good as them other than Patricio and Raul. Patricio would have moved his feet and caught that 2nd goal. Raul demonstrated why every team in the league would play him. Work rate, skill and finishing is a great combination.
I think we will be fine with a bit more football in us and an addition up top.

 

[Cerberus Blade]

I think that sometimes the fans get carried away by the result, positive or negative. I personally don't think that for 70-80 mins we played any worse than when we played Wolves last year.
We were as good as them for the majority of the game. We had a terrible 1st 20 mins but (as Wilder says) we rallied and came at them, which shows some balls. I dont think after the opening period anyone was glaringly bad. We struggled to cope with Raul and Traore, lots of teams will do that.
For me were as good as them other than Patricio and Raul. Patricio would have moved his feet and caught that 2nd goal. Raul demonstrated why every team in the league would play him. Work rate, skill and finishing is a great combination.
I think we will be fine with a bit more football in us and an addition up top.

Interesting comment about us being fine "with a bit more football in us". You are straying into, "just needs a full pre-season" territory there I think. What was also interesting is that Wolves hadn't had any pre-season football in them at all. That was their first competitive match. God knows how good they are going to be then if it's all about getting a bit of football in them?

When it got to half-time I discussed the first half performance with Petunia and Axle. Petunia is a woman so she obviously knows nowt about football. Axel is a young man now and he knows quite a bit. I'm an old fart and think I know everything, so it's a good forum that, for sharing opinions and coming to a consensus. And the consensus at half-time was that Wolves had been far better than us, in every aspect of the game. Yes we'd improved as the half went on, but we'd showed barely any goal threat and didn't look at all like we would trouble them and get back in the game.

I thought we competed much better in the second half. But again, with the exception of the shot that hit the post by Fleck, and the header from McBurnie, we didn't exactly cause them too many problems.

It concerns me when folk take satisfaction from "not being any worse" than we have been. I just think that's the wrong way of looking at it. I thought we were second best for most of the game and even when we did start to get on top, they weren't in any danger.

But..it's all about opinions.

 

[Tony_Kaufman]

I'm not sure about Norwood's contribution tbh. I mean, the guy is a good passer of the ball and a lot goes through him, he's key in that midfield. But how many set pieces did he waste by not being able to clear the first man with the ball? This is so frustrating when you're chasing a game, to get into good positions, be that corners or free kicks, and then thump the ball at their first defender - chance gone. I thought Berge's passing and movement, higher up the pitch, was a big improvement on Norwood tbh.

I find Norwood to be somewhat of an enigma. He can ping the ball 50 yards with the outside of his boot, bending it until it lands on a 10p piece, but his corner and free kick deliveries are woeful. Nearly every corner goes inside the six yard box next to the near post. Is it his poor delivery, which if it is makes no sense given his passing and crossing ability? Or is the set piece routines?

 

[Cerberus Blade]

I find Norwood to be somewhat of an enigma. He can ping the ball 50 yards with the outside of his boot, bending it until it lands on a 10p piece, but his corner and free kick deliveries are woeful. Nearly every corner goes inside the six yard box next to the near post. Is it his poor delivery, which if it is makes no sense given his passing and crossing ability? Or is the set piece routines?

Totally agree mate. It's so frustrating. As you say, he can be the best passer of a ball on the pitch, but give him time to think about it and he frequently bollocks's it up!

 

[Blade56]

they’ve done enough to deserve his loyalty and our loyalty

After tonight loyalty and sentimentality are gone, we have 37 games to swap the old guard out (with gratitude) for younger more athletic players or this season won’t end well

 

[pommpey]

I find Norwood to be somewhat of an enigma. He can ping the ball 50 yards with the outside of his boot, bending it until it lands on a 10p piece, but his corner and free kick deliveries are woeful. Nearly every corner goes inside the six yard box next to the near post. Is it his poor delivery, which if it is makes no sense given his passing and crossing ability? Or is the set piece routines?

Not just that, but usually players who have the ability to target players at length are usually decent at finding the top corner from range, or free kicks. Last season, on the rare occasion Norwood made a go on goal it ended up missing entirely. It's on aspect of our game we desperately need to improve because we aren't good at finding the front two from the areas we usually do. I want to see cracks on goal from range (because there is every chance of a deflection or the keeper pushing it into a place where Billy capitalises or - shocker - it goes in. When exactly was the last top corner screamer we scored? Duffy at Reading?

pommpey

 

[FTPE]

Duffy, Freeman (both) Ched, Holmes, Leon, Stearman..
Wilder won't hang around, he knows who is good enough, and he knows who can get even better and keep us improving.

 

[BanderSerge]

I find Norwood to be somewhat of an enigma. He can ping the ball 50 yards with the outside of his boot, bending it until it lands on a 10p piece, but his corner and free kick deliveries are woeful. Nearly every corner goes inside the six yard box next to the near post. Is it his poor delivery, which if it is makes no sense given his passing and crossing ability? Or is the set piece routines?

The biggest problem with Norwood is once the opposition run at us we’re effectively playing with 10 men because he’s pulling a caravan. Ampadu is gonna be massive for us this season. He can replace any of Basham,Norwood,Baldock or Lunny and improve on all of them effortlessly. Looking ahead to Villa, Burke will replace Billy because Mousset is injured. Ampadu for Norwood. Berge for Lunny is my forecast.

 

[Snake]

Not just that, but usually players who have the ability to target players at length are usually decent at finding the top corner from range, or free kicks. Last season, on the rare occasion Norwood made a go on goal it ended up missing entirely. It's on aspect of our game we desperately need to improve because we aren't good at finding the front two from the areas we usually do. I want to see cracks on goal from range (because there is every chance of a deflection or the keeper pushing it into a place where Billy capitalises or - shocker - it goes in. When exactly was the last top corner screamer we scored? Duffy at Reading?

pommpey

I've been saying that too. There is nothing wrong with a smack from outside the box if the opportunity arises. As you say this should be right up Norwood's street. If he can ping them 50 yards surely he can ping them at the angles of the net from 20 yards. If the keeper saves it, fair enough, it goes out for a corner or comes back into play where there's every chance of a tap in.

 

[Bearlie]

Would largely agree with that, although I thought Sharp did well tonight, and Norwood wasn't bad. Didsy also helped us retain possession later on, so that we looked at least a bit threatening.

Stevens, Baldock and Lunny were all guilty of wasting too many crossing opportunities however, and Stevens did find it hard to cope with Traore, but I dont think we can hold that against him too much.

As much as I love our 2 wingbacks, I am excited at the prospect of Bogle and Lowe having a go. Lunny will make way for Berge asap, or even Ampadu depending on the system.

Shap blew the best crossing opportunity of the lot

 

[Deaneandagana]

Interesting comment about us being fine "with a bit more football in us". You are straying into, "just needs a full pre-season" territory there I think. What was also interesting is that Wolves hadn't had any pre-season football in them at all. That was their first competitive match. God knows how good they are going to be then if it's all about getting a bit of football in them?

When it got to half-time I discussed the first half performance with Petunia and Axle. Petunia is a woman so she obviously knows nowt about football. Axel is a young man now and he knows quite a bit. I'm an old fart and think I know everything, so it's a good forum that, for sharing opinions and coming to a consensus. And the consensus at half-time was that Wolves had been far better than us, in every aspect of the game. Yes we'd improved as the half went on, but we'd showed barely any goal threat and didn't look at all like we would trouble them and get back in the game.

I thought we competed much better in the second half. But again, with the exception of the shot that hit the post by Fleck, and the header from McBurnie, we didn't exactly cause them too many problems.

It concerns me when folk take satisfaction from "not being any worse" than we have been. I just think that's the wrong way of looking at it. I thought we were second best for most of the game and even when we did start to get on top, they weren't in any danger.

But..it's all about opinions.

If Fleck’s shot goes in and McBurnies header also goes in we get a 2-2 draw & the after match post mortem takes on a whole different direction.
Appreciate they also had several nr misses too.

 

[bonnet de douche]

Would largely agree with that, although I thought Sharp did well tonight, and Norwood wasn't bad. Didsy also helped us retain possession later on, so that we looked at least a bit threatening.

Stevens, Baldock and Lunny were all guilty of wasting too many crossing opportunities however, and Stevens did find it hard to cope with Traore, but I dont think we can hold that against him too much.

As much as I love our 2 wingbacks, I am excited at the prospect of Bogle and Lowe having a go. Lunny will make way for Berge asap, or even Ampadu depending on the system.

Sharp offered nothing ...Norwood had a stinker and McGoldrick looked like Bambi when he come on ......apart from that .......

 

[Stretch]

Sharp offered nothing ...Norwood had a stinker and McGoldrick looked like Bambi when he come on ......apart from that .......

Sorry, I stopped reading at that point.

 

[Bladesthorpe]

Sharp offered nothing ...Norwood had a stinker and McGoldrick looked like Bambi when he come on ......apart from that .......

Opinions eh, thought Sharp was our best player and made some great runs through their defence several times 2nd half.

 

[bertieblade]

We rely on our wing backs to create they both look knackered
Norwood plays too deep, is a liability in that he gives the ball away when we are exposed and very rarely plays forward balls. You see why Fulham and Brighton did not think him good enough for the premiership. Berge moved our play ten / twenty yards further up the field and actually supported at the edge of the box when he replaced Norwood.
If berge replaces Norwood we are only left with lundstram or the untried bogle as right side midfield. This position needs addressing.
Need Brewster in to replace Sharp, I thought he was passed it two years ago, thankfully he proved me wrong but his display last night proves he is past it. One instance when he could have played Lundstram in but blasted it across the box in front of lundstram was what should have been his only positive contribution.
We look a much better team with mcGoldrick as he comes short and knits it all together, without him we tend to lump it long to Mcburnie.

Priorities of a new striker, (especially with Moose out) and a Right sided midfield player.

£40 million plus for Dennis and Brewster.?

We have consistently improved our squad through the past four seasons but having spent £100 million need players to improve the first team

 

[robbiez666]

I was surprised he thought we were right in the game for most of it, outside the 6 minutes. I disagreed. I felt they controlled it most of the game other than 10 mins after the break. They had countless one on one chances and for all the talk about the post; they hit it twice. They could have scored a few even outside of the two goals so it was not just like two chances, bang, bang. They swarmed all over us really and we never got going. We did get better but the final ball was awful and stilll felt they looked more like scoring more goals than we did. Well beaten and not so sure it was just about the opening few minutes really. Ramsdale made two super saves, they hit the post twice and missed an open goal and also had other chances first half. For a home side that is an awful lot of times they got through us. We worked incredibly hard and never penetrated them other than maybe once all night. That is a concern.

Biggest worry for me. They basically took their foot off the gas and still should have scored 5. Given they've not had any pre-season games, they were much sharper than us. Big test on Monday. We need to win that or it bodes very badly.

 

[BanderSerge]

Biggest worry for me. They basically took their foot off the gas and still should have scored 5. Given they've not had any pre-season games, they were much sharper than us. Big test on Monday. We need to win that or it bodes very badly.

Mr Positive strikes again!

 

[LoughboroBlade]

I thought we’d do this tonight. Play the same sort of starting line up that has served us so well over the last season. And I’m not knocking it btw. The players that have got us here and kept us here deserve the opportunity to continue.

But based on that performance tonight, not for long.

It’s only a matter of time before youth replaces experience. And I think it will be a good thing.

I’m expecting to see Stevens, Baldock, Basham, Norwood, Sharp, Lundstram and McGoldrick (appreciate he didn’t start tonight) in a real battle to keep their shirt this season.

I did think that there were countless opportunities yesterday where Stevens and in particular Baldock got the ball in great positions and simply didn’t do enough with it – either too slow in delivering, meaning the best we got was a throw in or corner, or just delivering a poor ball. Both Lowe and Bogle will have been sitting there rubbing their hands at the prospect of getting the ball regularly in those sorts of positions.

Not wanting to single Baldock out in particular, but alongside some of the uncharacteristically brainless defensive moments from Egan, JOC and Stevens, there was one break where we looked stretched and Basham did a great job of protecting the box and forcing the Wolves player out to the left handside. With players by that point now back the immediate danger had been averted. Cue Baldock sprinting towards the man, me screaming “nooooo!” at the screen, and Baldock absolutely needlessly going through the back of the Wolves man and giving away a dangerous free-kick. I know it was a frustrating game for a lot of players but in those sorts of situation Furious George needs to calm down and think a bit more.

 

[BettingBlade]

I think part of Wilders thinking was to put the old guard in on purpose to see how they performed.

Let’s be absolutely clear here, momentum and the crowd led us to massively over-achieving last season. There isn’t a word for how well we did last season other than it was simply unbelievable.

A lot of of the players we have are Premier League quality when they’re in form but I think there were other factors as to why we did so well. With lockdown taking a lot of those factors away, we struggled to hit the same heights as before. The crowd, momentum and team spirit were clearly a leveller but since we’ve entered this period of behind closed doors football, the difference in quality between our players and those at Wolves and Leicester, for example, is becoming clearer to see, whereas pre-lockdown games against them and others of that same ilk we not only matched but bettered for long periods.

I believe tired legs played a part in the back end of last season and was perhaps a reason for some players being slightly off it. I think for this reason Wilder is perhaps willing to give the old guard a chance to impress at the start of this season, with the hope that it will help him to identify who the real quality players are in our squad and who we need to replace.

 

[BanderSerge]

Play Bogle at home, Baldock away.

 

[ChipButtyBlade]

I still wonder how Bournemouth got relegated with the players they had.

 

[XM657]

I still wonder how Bournemouth got relegated with the players they had.

Lack of cohesion.

 

[KiwiBlabe]

Interesting comment about us being fine "with a bit more football in us". You are straying into, "just needs a full pre-season" territory there I think. What was also interesting is that Wolves hadn't had any pre-season football in them at all. That was their first competitive match. God knows how good they are going to be then if it's all about getting a bit of football in them?

When it got to half-time I discussed the first half performance with Petunia and Axle. Petunia is a woman so she obviously knows nowt about football. Axel is a young man now and he knows quite a bit. I'm an old fart and think I know everything, so it's a good forum that, for sharing opinions and coming to a consensus. And the consensus at half-time was that Wolves had been far better than us, in every aspect of the game. Yes we'd improved as the half went on, but we'd showed barely any goal threat and didn't look at all like we would trouble them and get back in the game.

I thought we competed much better in the second half. But again, with the exception of the shot that hit the post by Fleck, and the header from McBurnie, we didn't exactly cause them too many problems.

It concerns me when folk take satisfaction from "not being any worse" than we have been. I just think that's the wrong way of looking at it. I thought we were second best for most of the game and even when we did start to get on top, they weren't in any danger.

But..it's all about opinions.

The more football in us was really aimed at getting some players (JOC, McG, Berge, Moose, Newbies) up to speed and integrated/used to the team. I think add them to the mix with some quality up top and we will look far more likely. we were not what i was hoping for, but don't think we are too far away.

All the neutrals I have spoken to have said we were ok and did get better and will be ok this season. Similar to your "shes a women" quote though, I am in NZ so the kiwis opinion does not really count.

TBF the start we made, made Wolves job much easier. They could sit deep and try to hit us on the break by being 2 goals up, we do struggle when the opposition do this.

My main worry was how often we went long. people are pumping out stats on how many Ariel duels McB won, but whats the point if it simply falls to the opposition? I think mcB will be a player. Though he does need a lot of work, hopefully a little more quality alongside him will make him shine.

I would be happy with not being worse than last year