The Sheffield United Footballing Indentity

[Alfreton14Blade]

Yeah agree about Brayford. I've read comments from the likes of Baxter and even managers before about "matching the opposition for effort" and "our quality shining through" though. Hammond does seem to have the right attitude. He's just incredibly slow. He might do better with more mobile midfielders alongside him.

Fully agree with your point about this "matching the opposition for effort" bollocks. It's a bit of a tell-tale sign of the club's negativity & timidity these days.

We shouldn't need to be measuring our effort against the opposition - full-on effort & passion ought to be a fundamental characteristic, just like it used to be, just like it is with, say, Spurs.

And the thing is, when it happens then the crowd respond.

 

[William Henry Foulkes]

I take exception to that argument. People talk about showing character in coming back. I would say the complete lack of urgency until we go 1 or 2 nil down and the crowd are furious shows a lack of character and professionalism as does the attitude of “we need to match the opposition for effort”. Does anyone think the opposition come to the lane looking to “match” our effort? If not, you have a scenario where one team is looking to match the opposition for effort and the other is looking to exceed the opposition’s effort, which do you think is going to put more effort in in that scenario? Brayford mentioned this in a recent interview and it seemed the penny has at least dropped with him. Let’s hope we’ve seen the end of those sort of comments and that mentality. For me, attitude and application have been a massive issue for a good chunk of our time down here. Clough managed to harness a spirit in the run-in of 2013/14 season but since then, there seems so little desire or spirit in the squad for so much of the time.

Generally we concede due to individual errors and sometimes the whole set up being wrong.

Lack of effort is just a cheap and lazy and a low blow.

Strikes me as utter nonsense that a team that didn't care at kick off suddenly started caring at 2-0 down.

Southend, for instance, the players cared plenty. More than can be said for some of the fans.

 

[William Henry Foulkes]

Fully agree with your point about this "matching the opposition for effort" bollocks. It's a bit of a tell-tale sign of the club's negativity & timidity these days.

We shouldn't need to be measuring our effort against the opposition - full-on effort & passion ought to be a fundamental characteristic, just like it used to be, just like it is with, say, Spurs.

And the thing is, when it happens then the crowd respond.

We matched and/or exceeded Barnsley and Oldham for effort and it was pretty dreadful to watch.

Collins puts in as much effort as is possible and is regularly vilified.

This line about just wanting to see effort doesn't bear any scrutiny whatsoever afaics.

 

[William Henry Foulkes]

Can I ask the relevance or am I getting a condescending response either way?

I can't do much about whether you feel the answer is condescending, "pal".

I'll go for over 30.

 

[Alfreton14Blade]

We matched and/or exceeded Barnsley and Oldham for effort and it was pretty dreadful to watch.

Collins puts in as much effort as is possible and is regularly vilified.

This line about just wanting to see effort doesn't bear any scrutiny whatsoever afaics.

The point is though that merely seeking "to match" the opposition's effort is reactive rather than proactive.

The energy levels & key performance stats (like sprints during the 90 minutes) - all easily measurable these days - ought to be set at overdrive regardless of the opposition & their approach. Tottenham, to use an example, do it - why can't we?

As for unaesthetic performances recently, I reckon we've got a lot more of those to come as we dig ourselves out of this hole we're in right now - needs must, & all that.

 

[William Henry Foulkes]

The point is though that merely seeking "to match" the opposition's effort is reactive rather than proactive.

The energy levels & key performance stats (like sprints during the 90 minutes) - all easily measurable these days - ought to be set at overdrive regardless of the opposition & their approach. Tottenham, to use an example, do it - why can't we?

As for unaesthetic performances recently, I reckon we've got a lot more of those to come as we dig ourselves out of this hole we're in right now - needs must, & all that.

Ok I take the point about matching but it all seems a bit forensic.

I can't imagine matching was well thought out by whoever said it: it's just an off the cuff remark.

Player performance is analysed afaik (it is often mentioned on passing in Adkins' interviews).

I agree there might be some ugly football over the next few weeks, starting Sunday where, given the form of the opposition I can't see anything other than playing backs to the wall football, and *still* getting beaten - the worst of all possible worlds.

 

[Alfreton14Blade]

Ok I take the point about matching but it all seems a bit forensic.

I can't imagine matching was well thought out by whoever said it: it's just an off the cuff remark.

Player performance is analysed afaik (it is often mentioned on passing in Adkins' interviews).

I agree there might be some ugly football over the next few weeks, starting Sunday where, given the form of the opposition I can't see anything other than playing backs to the wall football, and *still* getting beaten - the worst of all possible worlds.

Fair point about the off the cuff nature of the matching the opposition remark.

We're gonna stuff Cov, I can feel it in my waters. Very uglily though

 

[Wards]

I can't do much about whether you feel the answer is condescending, "pal".

I'll go for over 30.

Still not grasping what you're getting at but I'll leave it there - you've clearly a lot of time on your hands.

 

[William Henry Foulkes]

Still not grasping what you're getting at but I'll leave it there - you've clearly a lot of time on your hands.

He said condescendingly.

 

[1danewhitehouse]

Generally we concede due to individual errors and sometimes the whole set up being wrong.

Lack of effort is just a cheap and lazy and a low blow.

Strikes me as utter nonsense that a team that didn't care at kick off suddenly started caring at 2-0 down.

Southend, for instance, the players cared plenty. More than can be said for some of the fans.

I agree that “don’t care” is over simplified but I think it’s naïve to suggest that lack of fight, determination and professionalism coupled with a complacent attitude haven’t been contributing factors in us falling behind in games and losing to awful opponents like Crewe. It’s only once that happens they seem to realize they need to step it up a gear. In terms of effort and guts, we’ve been found wanting on too many occasions this season. That being said, there does seem to have been an improvement on that front post Shrewsbury (coupled with the return of Brayford). We seem to have realized that we need to do the dirty work and earn the right to play. Quality was lacking at times yesterday but it was refreshing to see them battling harder.


Regarding the off the cuff remark. I posted a thread about it a few weeks ago because I saw it again. It was something I’d seen said last season and I think I’ve seen or heard interviews where it’s now been said by 3 different people (I think, from memory Baxter, McNulty and Basham). When a few different players are trotting out the same line, it seems that it might have come from above. That being said, Brayford corrected that line in a recent interview and we seem to be starting to see some strides forward in terms of effort and commitment.