Paulus
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- Joined
- Jul 17, 2009
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This was the first time I have seen us play under Adkins and I thought that I would jot down my thoughts.
Plenty of good news, more energy, more threat, more purpose and especially more solidity and balance to the team. Sammon led the line excellently and took his goals well, his link up play with Sharp, who also impressed, was really promising, if they can build on that they will pose a real threat and we've not had that for far too long. In midfield Baxter and Basham looked the part, Baxter is too casual on occasions and he does need to be more careful with lay offs and passes to the back four but on the positive side he is very comfortable on the ball and is a class above this division with his passes around the edge of the opposition box. It was nice to see JCR back on the wing, he worked hard (in particular, one long lung busting run to get back to cover in the second half comes to mind) and wasted little, he gave a natural balance to the team; I would play him ahead of Scougal in this role.
The defence that started the match was better than anything I saw last season, but the injury to Collins and the subsequent movement of McEveley to centre half brought back some of the weaknesses. I quite like him at fullback but at centre back? shudder... The positive part of the Collins injury was the introduction of Wallace K, I hadn't seen much of him before and I was quite taken by him, he is strong enough to defend at this level and his all round play was a lot more mature than I expected given his lack of experience. This was in contrast to Adams who I thought had quite a poor game, his control when running with the ball let him down a bit and he seemed to be struggling a bit positionally and with his passing/awareness of the movement of others. Perhaps he was a little jaded, maybe he's not ready yet for 2 matches a week and needs to further develop his stamina; he clearly has potential but the hype needs to be tempered with the developments he still needs to make. Freeman did well, I think he is a good player but I do prefer him further up the pitch, he will be another serious option on the right side of midfield when Brayford returns.
Finally, as far as the Blades are concerned, it was great to see the introduction of Wallace J; On the few occasions I have seen him he has caught my eye and he did again in his appearance yesterday. He was instrumental in both the goals we scored in the second half and we have to hope he can build up his match fitness and enjoy an injury free year he is the most complete central midfielder we have.
I think the victory needs to tempered a bit by the reality of the Peterborough team, they were the weakest I can remember from them, they have some players out but I would be more than a bit worried if I was a Posh supporter, there was very little of the attacking verve I have become quite used to seeing from them and they were lacking bite in midfield and looking ponderous in defence. We will have harder tests and we need to improve in order to meet them. I would still like to see another centre half and a big solid goalkeeper brought in to help us with this.
Plenty of good news, more energy, more threat, more purpose and especially more solidity and balance to the team. Sammon led the line excellently and took his goals well, his link up play with Sharp, who also impressed, was really promising, if they can build on that they will pose a real threat and we've not had that for far too long. In midfield Baxter and Basham looked the part, Baxter is too casual on occasions and he does need to be more careful with lay offs and passes to the back four but on the positive side he is very comfortable on the ball and is a class above this division with his passes around the edge of the opposition box. It was nice to see JCR back on the wing, he worked hard (in particular, one long lung busting run to get back to cover in the second half comes to mind) and wasted little, he gave a natural balance to the team; I would play him ahead of Scougal in this role.
The defence that started the match was better than anything I saw last season, but the injury to Collins and the subsequent movement of McEveley to centre half brought back some of the weaknesses. I quite like him at fullback but at centre back? shudder... The positive part of the Collins injury was the introduction of Wallace K, I hadn't seen much of him before and I was quite taken by him, he is strong enough to defend at this level and his all round play was a lot more mature than I expected given his lack of experience. This was in contrast to Adams who I thought had quite a poor game, his control when running with the ball let him down a bit and he seemed to be struggling a bit positionally and with his passing/awareness of the movement of others. Perhaps he was a little jaded, maybe he's not ready yet for 2 matches a week and needs to further develop his stamina; he clearly has potential but the hype needs to be tempered with the developments he still needs to make. Freeman did well, I think he is a good player but I do prefer him further up the pitch, he will be another serious option on the right side of midfield when Brayford returns.
Finally, as far as the Blades are concerned, it was great to see the introduction of Wallace J; On the few occasions I have seen him he has caught my eye and he did again in his appearance yesterday. He was instrumental in both the goals we scored in the second half and we have to hope he can build up his match fitness and enjoy an injury free year he is the most complete central midfielder we have.
I think the victory needs to tempered a bit by the reality of the Peterborough team, they were the weakest I can remember from them, they have some players out but I would be more than a bit worried if I was a Posh supporter, there was very little of the attacking verve I have become quite used to seeing from them and they were lacking bite in midfield and looking ponderous in defence. We will have harder tests and we need to improve in order to meet them. I would still like to see another centre half and a big solid goalkeeper brought in to help us with this.
