Ball Sup Blog... SUFC Academy U21 v Swansea City (h)

[HarryHaslam]

Who is the co commentator

Was wondering that myself, maybe Blaster?

 

[Nedski]

Who is the co commentator

Matt Young, apparently. No idea who he is.

 

[HarryHaslam]

Matt Young, apparently. No idea who he is.

Media officer

 

[s8_blade]

Why isn’t One playing?

 

[Nedski]

View attachment SVID_20240524_190841_1.mp4

 

[Jolly Buffer]

Where's the link to watch it live??

 

[HarryHaslam]

Where's the link to watch it live??

YouTube on our official channel

 

[Russ]

Or just search for SUFC on youtube

 

[derfblade.3]

2-0 Blades. 15 mins to go.

 

[HarryHaslam]

Well done lads

 

[derfblade.3]

The future's bright. Tremendous effort lads.

 

[FTPE]

What season.
What a brilliant group of young lads.

 

[dellasthunderbolt]

all played well but Faxon, Sachdev, Dovy and Marsh great

 

[BalticBlade]

Why isn’t One playing?

New owners don't want him.

 

[dexter101]

Well done lads, well played, good to see some good football being played and players wanted it

 

[Rochdaleblade]

Why isn’t One playing?

Another One bites the dust.

 

[Yogi]

Why isn’t One playing?

Presumably he’s got a knock missed the Swansea game as well but he was there at the end and collected his medal

 

[Eric_Brooks]

Presumably he’s got a knock missed the Swansea game as well but he was there at the end and collected his medal

Yeh but was peck?

 

[John Cutsbushes]

Why isn’t One playing?

Injured

 

[Dellas Cowboys]

Team played well. Faxon made couple of great saves. Felt like a Sheffield UTD team. Well done

 

[John Cutsbushes]

You were conspicuous by your absence on S2 tonight
Did u go??

 

[Ndiayewillalwaysloveyou]

Loads of u21s didn't play/weren't at the celebrations. Odd

 

[Ball_Sup (Phil)]

You were conspicuous by your absence on S2 tonight
Did u go??

No
I was not able to make the game tonight
I trust everyone who did had a great night.

 

[Ball_Sup (Phil)]

You were conspicuous by your absence on S2 tonight
Did u go??

I had this situation to contemplate

 

[Arcott]

Recommendations?

 

[Ball_Sup (Phil)]

Recommendations?

I "needed" the Maules. The Mozzatron was the best of the ones I had. One of my fave UK bars.

 

[Tony_Kaufman]

Just got back, a good game to watch and deserved victory for the Blades.

At first I was nervous as Birmingham's team and subs were all units. Everyone of them clearly hit the gym regularly as their arms and thighs were all huge in comparison to our skinny beanpoles, Pitan aside. This begs the question what physical conditioning if any occurs at Sheffield United full stop, as the first team is also full of skinny beanpoles, Anel, Slimane, Trusty, Lowe, Bogle, Arblaster, Osula, McBurnie? This is perhaps one of the reasons we pick up so many injuries.

But I digress. I felt we deserved to go in front and we were excellent in the opening 12 minutes or so. After this we started to allow Birmingham to play. A lot of sloppy passes going astray and way too many paint by number, safety first back passes, many of which were putting Faxon under unnecessary pressure. This may have been the occassion getting to them or reaction to Birmingham's quick press. But I've seen the development team do this in other matches, coincidentally against pacey, tall, strong sides. A few players tonight were a bit robotic where it was like every decision had been made for them and they had been programmed to play without their own intuition. But that's harsh criticism against a good team performance and deserved victory. That aside, no United players were poor by any means.

In the second half we looked more composed and assured. We deserved the second goal after the introduction of the excellent Waldron after Easton went off injured. This proved to be the catalyst to finish Birmingham off. We saw the game out professionally but made the last ten minutes a bit uncomfortable for ourselves. With Birmingham having brought on 5 subs and us having used only 1, we entered the last part of the game and extra time sat very deep, defending the score and allowing Birmingham onto us with fresher legs. But for an unlucky finish just going wide of the post and a couple of good pieces of work from Faxon, Birmingham would have deservedly at least pulled one back. That said, the victory never looked at risk.

We thoroughly deserved the victory and the game was good and entertaining to watch, even if it was a bit of a stalemate at the end of the first half and start of the second. I don't think overall that either keeper had a lot of saves to make, even though there was a lot of great build up play by both teams. Birmingham had some good players, their #18 being the stand out for me. He constantly gave Tahir and Easton a hard time and danced past them with ease with his quick bursts. Unfortunately he was often so far ahead that there wasn't really anyone there to effectively challenge for his final ball.

I won't go through the team player for player but I will add that Faxon had a mixed game tonight. Very nervy and not as composed as normal in the first half and his distribution was not his normal standard. This could simply be the occassion of the final and the extra pressure of being the keeper, where one error could cost you a trophy. As the second half went on he became more calm and assured and he looked like the same Faxon who has been great all season. He started shaky and finished strong.

Sasnauskas wasn't as good as he usually was and kept playing a lot of risky balls back to Faxon, putting him under pressure as Birmingham closed him down very quickly. He wasn't as impressive as normal tonight. He looked very nervous.

Pitan was a rock at the back and looked like a man among boys. He is a tall, solid unit. I thought he was fantastic tonight from start to finish. A solid professional performance. Pitan gave his boots to young fans when the team took the trophy over to them. A nice touch. He would have been my man of the match but for Marsh. A worthy runner up.

Marsh was by far our best player. A true #10 performance. Dropping back to help the midfield off the ball. Linking up play in attack. As the game was closing down he was even back tackling on the edge of our box. He was everywhere. Everytime he got the ball his first thought was turn to face goal and either drive at it himself and shoot, or try to play someone in quickly. Constant positive forward play. An absolute class player who has gotten better as the season has gone on. I'm still not sure he's ready for the Championship as his lack of physicality will hinder him against stronger, more physical players. That said he did well and got stuck in well against Birmingham's team of units. He's also mastered shithousery and knows how to draw fouls, how to irritate defenders etc, but he does it for the benefit of the attack. When the players collected their medals the Premier League guy had quite a long chat with Marsh but not with the others, so he certainly caught his eye.

Waldron was also first class when he came on. What a player. Hard working and tenacious off the ball, positive with it, constantly driving play forward or playing triangle balls to get past Birmingham's players. He played a beautiful distant through ball to Aston who should've scored but for hesitancy/poor control, then a minute later whipped in a beautiful cross for Aston's goal, and then put another in after great work by Marsh. But for poor contact from a player in the box he would've had another assist. He only quietened down towards the end from managerial instructions to sit deep and play out the game. A fantastic substitution and cracking player. He might struggle to tower over Derek Geary and looks 36, but he was brilliant tonight.

Speaking of which, it was nice to see Del at the match even if he was Billy No Mates in the John Street Stand. Oli Arblaster was at the game and so was Jili Buyabu, with that infectious smile. He must be a joy to be around.

Well done Blades for a great season and for allowing me to walk out of Bramall Lane again with a smile and some pride.

 

[SGBlade]

Just got back, a good game to watch and deserved victory for the Blades.

At first I was nervous as Birmingham's team and subs were all units. Everyone of them clearly hit the gym regularly as their arms and thighs were all huge in comparison to our skinny beanpoles, Pitan aside. This begs the question what physical conditioning if any occurs at Sheffield United full stop, as the first team is also full of skinny beanpoles, Anel, Slimane, Trusty, Lowe, Bogle, Arblaster, Osula, McBurnie? This is perhaps one of the reasons we pick up so many injuries.

But I digress. I felt we deserved to go in front and we were excellent in the opening 12 minutes or so. After this we started to allow Birmingham to play. A lot of sloppy passes going astray and way too many paint by number, safety first back passes, many of which were putting Faxon under unnecessary pressure. This may have been the occassion getting to them or reaction to Birmingham's quick press. But I've seen the development team do this in other matches, coincidentally against pacey, tall, strong sides. A few players tonight were a bit robotic where it was like every decision had been made for them and they had been programmed to play without their own intuition. But that's harsh criticism against a good team performance and deserved victory. That aside, no United players were poor by any means.

In the second half we looked more composed and assured. We deserved the second goal after the introduction of the excellent Waldron after Easton went off injured. This proved to be the catalyst to finish Birmingham off. We saw the game out professionally but made the last ten minutes a bit uncomfortable for ourselves. With Birmingham having brought on 5 subs and us having used only 1, we entered the last part of the game and extra time sat very deep, defending the score and allowing Birmingham onto us with fresher legs. But for an unlucky finish just going wide of the post and a couple of good pieces of work from Faxon, Birmingham would have deservedly at least pulled one back. That said, the victory never looked at risk.

We thoroughly deserved the victory and the game was good and entertaining to watch, even if it was a bit of a stalemate at the end of the first half and start of the second. I don't think overall that either keeper had a lot of saves to make, even though there was a lot of great build up play by both teams. Birmingham had some good players, their #18 being the stand out for me. He constantly gave Tahir and Easton a hard time and danced past them with ease with his quick bursts. Unfortunately he was often so far ahead that there wasn't really anyone there to effectively challenge for his final ball.

I won't go through the team player for player but I will add that Faxon had a mixed game tonight. Very nervy and not as composed as normal in the first half and his distribution was not his normal standard. This could simply be the occassion of the final and the extra pressure of being the keeper, where one error could cost you a trophy. As the second half went on he became more calm and assured and he looked like the same Faxon who has been great all season. He started shaky and finished strong.

Sasnauskas wasn't as good as he usually was and kept playing a lot of risky balls back to Faxon, putting him under pressure as Birmingham closed him down very quickly. He wasn't as impressive as normal tonight. He looked very nervous.

Pitan was a rock at the back and looked like a man among boys. He is a tall, solid unit. I thought he was fantastic tonight from start to finish. A solid professional performance. Pitan gave his boots to young fans when the team took the trophy over to them. A nice touch. He would have been my man of the match but for Marsh. A worthy runner up.

Marsh was by far our best player. A true #10 performance. Dropping back to help the midfield off the ball. Linking up play in attack. As the game was closing down he was even back tackling on the edge of our box. He was everywhere. Everytime he got the ball his first thought was turn to face goal and either drive at it himself and shoot, or try to play someone in quickly. Constant positive forward play. An absolute class player who has gotten better as the season has gone on. I'm still not sure he's ready for the Championship as his lack of physicality will hinder him against stronger, more physical players. That said he did well and got stuck in well against Birmingham's team of units. He's also mastered shithousery and knows how to draw fouls, how to irritate defenders etc, but he does it for the benefit of the attack. When the players collected their medals the Premier League guy had quite a long chat with Marsh but not with the others, so he certainly caught his eye.

Waldron was also first class when he came on. What a player. Hard working and tenacious off the ball, positive with it, constantly driving play forward or playing triangle balls to get past Birmingham's players. He played a beautiful distant through ball to Aston who should've scored but for hesitancy/poor control, then a minute later whipped in a beautiful cross for Aston's goal, and then put another in after great work by Marsh. But for poor contact from a player in the box he would've had another assist. He only quietened down towards the end from managerial instructions to sit deep and play out the game. A fantastic substitution and cracking player. He might struggle to tower over Derek Geary and looks 36, but he was brilliant tonight.

Speaking of which, it was nice to see Del at the match even if he was Billy No Mates in the John Street Stand. Oli Arblaster was at the game and so was Jili Buyabu, with that infectious smile. He must be a joy to be around.

Well done Blades for a great season and for allowing me to walk out of Bramall Lane again with a smile and some pride.

Thanks for this Tony. I can’t get to the games and only see the highlights so it’s really nice to have some of this context.

The young lads starting to come through is really the only positive about the club at the moment. I realise it’s probably one in a hundred 18 year olds that actually make a career at a decent level. But it looks like we’ve got an exceptional bunch at the moment. Blaster looks like he will make it - I hope we can get a couple more through to championship standard in the next year or two.

Is it just me or does Marsh have the look of young David Brooks? Not saying he’s as good - Brooks was ripping it up with England before he broke through. But they both have a lovely languid style. If he’s ready physically, would love to see him on a decent L1 loan or even off the bench next year for us.

 

[finlaytheblade]

Just got back, a good game to watch and deserved victory for the Blades.

At first I was nervous as Birmingham's team and subs were all units. Everyone of them clearly hit the gym regularly as their arms and thighs were all huge in comparison to our skinny beanpoles, Pitan aside. This begs the question what physical conditioning if any occurs at Sheffield United full stop, as the first team is also full of skinny beanpoles, Anel, Slimane, Trusty, Lowe, Bogle, Arblaster, Osula, McBurnie? This is perhaps one of the reasons we pick up so many injuries.

But I digress. I felt we deserved to go in front and we were excellent in the opening 12 minutes or so. After this we started to allow Birmingham to play. A lot of sloppy passes going astray and way too many paint by number, safety first back passes, many of which were putting Faxon under unnecessary pressure. This may have been the occassion getting to them or reaction to Birmingham's quick press. But I've seen the development team do this in other matches, coincidentally against pacey, tall, strong sides. A few players tonight were a bit robotic where it was like every decision had been made for them and they had been programmed to play without their own intuition. But that's harsh criticism against a good team performance and deserved victory. That aside, no United players were poor by any means.

In the second half we looked more composed and assured. We deserved the second goal after the introduction of the excellent Waldron after Easton went off injured. This proved to be the catalyst to finish Birmingham off. We saw the game out professionally but made the last ten minutes a bit uncomfortable for ourselves. With Birmingham having brought on 5 subs and us having used only 1, we entered the last part of the game and extra time sat very deep, defending the score and allowing Birmingham onto us with fresher legs. But for an unlucky finish just going wide of the post and a couple of good pieces of work from Faxon, Birmingham would have deservedly at least pulled one back. That said, the victory never looked at risk.

We thoroughly deserved the victory and the game was good and entertaining to watch, even if it was a bit of a stalemate at the end of the first half and start of the second. I don't think overall that either keeper had a lot of saves to make, even though there was a lot of great build up play by both teams. Birmingham had some good players, their #18 being the stand out for me. He constantly gave Tahir and Easton a hard time and danced past them with ease with his quick bursts. Unfortunately he was often so far ahead that there wasn't really anyone there to effectively challenge for his final ball.

I won't go through the team player for player but I will add that Faxon had a mixed game tonight. Very nervy and not as composed as normal in the first half and his distribution was not his normal standard. This could simply be the occassion of the final and the extra pressure of being the keeper, where one error could cost you a trophy. As the second half went on he became more calm and assured and he looked like the same Faxon who has been great all season. He started shaky and finished strong.

Sasnauskas wasn't as good as he usually was and kept playing a lot of risky balls back to Faxon, putting him under pressure as Birmingham closed him down very quickly. He wasn't as impressive as normal tonight. He looked very nervous.

Pitan was a rock at the back and looked like a man among boys. He is a tall, solid unit. I thought he was fantastic tonight from start to finish. A solid professional performance. Pitan gave his boots to young fans when the team took the trophy over to them. A nice touch. He would have been my man of the match but for Marsh. A worthy runner up.

Marsh was by far our best player. A true #10 performance. Dropping back to help the midfield off the ball. Linking up play in attack. As the game was closing down he was even back tackling on the edge of our box. He was everywhere. Everytime he got the ball his first thought was turn to face goal and either drive at it himself and shoot, or try to play someone in quickly. Constant positive forward play. An absolute class player who has gotten better as the season has gone on. I'm still not sure he's ready for the Championship as his lack of physicality will hinder him against stronger, more physical players. That said he did well and got stuck in well against Birmingham's team of units. He's also mastered shithousery and knows how to draw fouls, how to irritate defenders etc, but he does it for the benefit of the attack. When the players collected their medals the Premier League guy had quite a long chat with Marsh but not with the others, so he certainly caught his eye.

Waldron was also first class when he came on. What a player. Hard working and tenacious off the ball, positive with it, constantly driving play forward or playing triangle balls to get past Birmingham's players. He played a beautiful distant through ball to Aston who should've scored but for hesitancy/poor control, then a minute later whipped in a beautiful cross for Aston's goal, and then put another in after great work by Marsh. But for poor contact from a player in the box he would've had another assist. He only quietened down towards the end from managerial instructions to sit deep and play out the game. A fantastic substitution and cracking player. He might struggle to tower over Derek Geary and looks 36, but he was brilliant tonight.

Speaking of which, it was nice to see Del at the match even if he was Billy No Mates in the John Street Stand. Oli Arblaster was at the game and so was Jili Buyabu, with that infectious smile. He must be a joy to be around.

Well done Blades for a great season and for allowing me to walk out of Bramall Lane again with a smile and some pride.

Marsh has to be around the 1st team next season he is a bit lightweight as he is a late developer.He has great vision allied to his skills and will still be a weapon in the championship ,we will use him correctly I'm sure and not spoil what is a gifted player with great football intelligence.

 

[Tony_Kaufman]

Thanks for this Tony. I can’t get to the games and only see the highlights so it’s really nice to have some of this context.

The young lads starting to come through is really the only positive about the club at the moment. I realise it’s probably one in a hundred 18 year olds that actually make a career at a decent level. But it looks like we’ve got an exceptional bunch at the moment. Blaster looks like he will make it - I hope we can get a couple more through to championship standard in the next year or two.

Is it just me or does Marsh have the look of young David Brooks? Not saying he’s as good - Brooks was ripping it up with England before he broke through. But they both have a lovely languid style. If he’s ready physically, would love to see him on a decent L1 loan or even off the bench next year for us.

If anyone Marsh reminds me of McGoldrick due to his forward play, his intelligence, his work rate and willingness to drop back to help the midfield. With the right loan move and right development he could be a great player.