Three, maybe four seasons away I think..

[bartman]

????????

Kept losing the ball bu over elaborating. We needed to be quick and direct yesterday and his insistence on taking the same player on 3-4 times when once would suffice cost us. He lost the ball in forward positions often espeically when an overlap or simple forward pass was on (Flynn showed him how to do this when he came on). He rarely creates chances and when he doe,the cross is usually poor.His general control was awful last night. His touch was worse than Higdon'd..

He kept cutting inside and losing the ball as well

He didn't creating anything yesterday apart from the odd corner. For me he is an impact sub rather than a starter

 

[alcoblade]

But this is the thing, perhaps things are working in the first half? I look back to the cup games of last season, we always set up cautiously. But last season we had two very good players in Brayford and Harry.

This season we had a few games where we lost first half goals. Now were conceding fewer, but it's still not ideal.

Don't get me wrong we need to improve. But promotion will be gained by not losing games as well as winning

It wont be gained by getting single points at home though.

The earlier season form was far more acceptable because of the number of new players. I really hope he doesn't justify the current 60 minutes of ritual paint drying that we're exposed to every match on that.

The quality of football on show for large parts of many games is right down there with Weir, and Blackwell / Wilson's last season. It's turgid and not acceptable.

UTB

 

[Cyprus Blade]

Don't get me wrong we need to improve. But promotion will be gained by not losing games as well as winning

I agree with you there up to a point - don't lose to teams close to you in what amounts to six pointers but I would have agreed more with you if it was the old 2 pts for a win. The points system gives a premium to winning - too many draws are bad news at either end of the table.

 

[zablade]

You mean a Plan B like the 4-4-2 formation he switched to immediately after they scored ?

FFS! I mean a different plan from the start of the game not when we are chasing it and it's shit or bust, we set up exactly the same way every game, our opponents know this and plan accordingly, why not surprise a few and start 4 4 2 from the start and have a fuckin go at teams?

 

[Hartley Hare]

 

[Silent Blade]

Kept losing the ball bu over elaborating. We needed to be quick and direct yesterday and his insistence on taking the same player on 3-4 times when once would suffice cost us. He lost the ball in forward positions often espeically when an overlap or simple forward pass was on (Flynn showed him how to do this when he came on). He rarely creates chances and when he doe,the cross is usually poor.His general control was awful last night. His touch was worse than Higdon'd..

He kept cutting inside and losing the ball as well

He didn't creating anything yesterday apart from the odd corner. For me he is an impact sub rather than a starter

County players paid more attention to JCR than they did to Higdon who was beaten to the air or outpaced numerous times. JCR played in two or three decent crosses including a cross in the 2nd half to the unmarked Basham who should have scored. Higdon was a much less impact than JCR was last night even though JCR made more mistakes than normal. Tell me the positives Higdon did last night apart from one chest down in the 1st half and playing the ball to a central midfielder

 

[GRUMPY BLADE]

... From having a side good enough to challenge for the top two, we aren't going up this time around, not with this squad, next season we will be weaker as it's likely our best player (Murphy) will be gone, then you are talking about another couple of seasons to build a new side, possibly Including the seach for yet another new manager during that period as well, as Clough may survive not going up this season but patience will run out when we struggle to challenge next season.

The board / owners should be ashamed of themselves for the absolute mess they have made of it this season, this was a golden opportunity and it has been squandered.

Watching WBA v Arsenal can't help thinking that we'd be comfortable against either side and Clough is the man for the future.

If we could only get out of this league.

 

[GRUMPY BLADE]

But this is the thing, perhaps things are working in the first half? I look back to the cup games of last season, we always set up cautiously. But last season we had two very good players in Brayford and Harry.

This season we had a few games where we lost first half goals. Now were conceding fewer, but it's still not ideal.

Don't get me wrong we need to improve. But promotion will be gained by not losing games as well as winning

There is an argument that promotion could be won by losing instead of not losing,
If we had played for wins instead of playing not to lose then one win and one loss gives 3 points instead of 2.

Beat Oldham and lose to County would have been better.

We need to be braver.

 

[bartman]

County players paid more attention to JCR than they did to Higdon who was beaten to the air or outpaced numerous times. JCR played in two or three decent crosses including a cross in the 2nd half to the unmarked Basham who should have scored. Higdon was a much less impact than JCR was last night even though JCR made more mistakes than normal. Tell me the positives Higdon did last night apart from one chest down in the 1st half and playing the ball to a central midfielder

As in a previous post,Higdon didn't play well at all but did hold the ball up well in the first half at times when the ball was actually played to him. Like Higdon,JCR maybe did well on 3 occasions yesterday which is not good enough from either of them

 

[bartman]

FFS! I mean a different plan from the start of the game not when we are chasing it and it's shit or bust, we set up exactly the same way every game, our opponents know this and plan accordingly, why not surprise a few and start 4 4 2 from the start and have a fuckin go at teams?

You mean like the 4-3-3 we have played in other games ? As i have said in another thread,it is not about formations or 'Plan B',it is more about tempo,pace of passing and movement which some players seem to take 45 minutes to realise

 

[Jonboy60]

i've more chance of having a threesome with megan fox and cheryl cole than this team has of winning automatic promotion

What time do you kick Off BM, and is it all ticket or pay on the day.

 

[zablade]

You mean like the 4-3-3 we have played in other games ? As i have said in another thread,it is not about formations or 'Plan B',it is more about tempo,pace of passing and movement which some players seem to take 45 minutes to realise

You don't seriously call what we have benn playing 4 3 3 do you? It's been barely 4 5 1.

 

[Silent Blade]

As in a previous post,Higdon didn't play well at all but did hold the ball up well in the first half at times when the ball was actually played to him. Like Higdon,JCR maybe did well on 3 occasions yesterday which is not good enough from either of them

You originally said JCR did far worse than Higdon did. Had a look at cooperblade's extended highlights in a different thread. JCR put in 5 decent crosses (2 in 1st half and 3 in 2nd half) and two or three good passes to set up an attack. Higdon had just 3 headers (first was a difficult one, 2nd was a good direction to the left side of the box but no one was there- like sitwell says we dont have someone lurking on the blind side- which I had forgotten about and the third one was a cross from JCR that Higdon would have buried if he was more mobile). Even though JCR was well below his normal self, he contributed far more than Higdon did last night

 

[OllyBlade]

County haven't lost away all season nand you could see why. Not a disastrous result in the scheme of thinhs and i still think we will scrape into the top 2

I respect your optimism but in my opinion that kind of thinking will see us sleep walk into the playoffs or worse. When will the players play like something is on the line? When will we make a statement of intent on the pitch? Our squad feels cobbled together with no specific goal in mind, not a machine designed to win promotion. Failure at all levels for me at the moment. The board aren't communicating minimum objectives, the management still don't know their best 11, and the players aren't delivering on the pitch.

 

[bartman]

You don't seriously call what we have benn playing 4 3 3 do you? It's been barely 4 5 1.

you can't seriously call JCR and Murphy anything other than forwards? They don't tackle so they can't be midfielders.

 

[bartman]

You originally said JCR did far worse than Higdon did. Had a look at cooperblade's extended highlights in a different thread. JCR put in 5 decent crosses (2 in 1st half and 3 in 2nd half) and two or three good passes to set up an attack. Higdon had just 3 headers (first was a difficult one, 2nd was a good direction to the left side of the box but no one was there- like sitwell says we dont have someone lurking on the blind side- which I had forgotten about and the third one was a cross from JCR that Higdon would have buried if he was more mobile). Even though JCR was well below his normal self, he contributed far more than Higdon did last night

They are highlights. The low lights were the numerous times JCR turned into blind alleys which won't be shown. We'll have to disagree on this one

 

[robbiez666]

Next season we'll not be able to bring anyone in as we'll have to get rid of half of our ludicrously big squad first.

 

[Patrick Suffaux]

This group of players will improve if they stay together but I feel they won't improve sufficiently within this season to enable promotion. Hope I'm wrong.

The future is brighter than it was. We look competent, even when we're below par. We have young players like McGahey, Reed and McNulty to bring on a little and they will keep improving if they listen to Cloughie and Morgs etc.

At the moment I don't think we have the balance right in defence and a tight rearguard is vital if you're going to play one up top and try to win games by a goal. It can be done consistently but you have to be well drilled and cohesive when you don't have the ball. That takes time.

We will make the playoffs (top 5 at a guess) so best to just hope we win the lottery for once. We won't make top two, not strong enough. Sadly expectation at this club is always that we should win every game and storm to automatic promotion so 3rd won't be good enough in most people's eyes.

 

[Harry's Game]

This group of players will improve if they stay together but I feel they won't improve sufficiently within this season to enable promotion. Hope I'm wrong.

The future is brighter than it was. We look competent, even when we're below par. We have young players like McGahey, Reed and McNulty to bring on a little and they will keep improving if they listen to Cloughie and Morgs etc.

At the moment I don't think we have the balance right in defence and a tight rearguard is vital if you're going to play one up top and try to win games by a goal. It can be done consistently but you have to be well drilled and cohesive when you don't have the ball. That takes time.

We will make the playoffs (top 5 at a guess) so best to just hope we win the lottery for once. We won't make top two, not strong enough. Sadly expectation at this club is always that we should win every game and storm to automatic promotion so 3rd won't be good enough in most people's eyes.

"3rd won't be good enough in most people's eyes"

That's because it's not good enough, we are Sheffield United in the Third division with nearly 20,000 crowds for Christ Sake

Look at the likes of friggin Bornemouth, BOUREMOUTH! Heading for the Premiership because they have spent the money to get there.

Our board should hang their heads.

 

[Patrick Suffaux]

"3rd won't be good enough in most people's eyes"

That's because it's not good enough, we are Sheffield United in the Third division with nearly 20,000 crowds for Christ Sake

Look at the likes of friggin Bornemouth, BOUREMOUTH! Heading for the Premiership because they have spent the money to get there.

Our board should hang their heads.

Means nothing. I've just posted in another thread about this.

Big crowds don't score goals, however money does buy good players. We are what we are, probably because we haven't spent enough money I agree.

I hate that big club argument. It's very you know who.

 

[Harry's Game]

Means nothing. I've just posted in another thread about this.

Big crowds don't score goals, however money does buy good players. We are what we are, probably because we haven't spent enough money I agree.

I hate that big club argument. It's very you know who.

Big crowds do however bring in revenue, if that means nowt then let everyone In for free..

 

[Patrick Suffaux]

Big crowds do however bring in revenue, if that means nowt then let everyone In for free..

They don't have as big an impact as they used to. A lot of different revenue streams and costs nowadays. Naturally a bigger crowd brings in more money but ticket revenue barely pays the bulk of running costs for a stadium now, especially clubs with older stadiums.

It's important as a bill payer but has no impact on transfers.

 

[SwissBlade]

There is an argument that promotion could be won by losing instead of not losing,
If we had played for wins instead of playing not to lose then one win and one loss gives 3 points instead of 2.

Beat Oldham and lose to County would have been better.

We need to be braver.

And mostly you'd be right, points wise we'd be 1 pt better off.

But we would have slipped a position and be a point behind Notts county...

 

[GRUMPY BLADE]

And mostly you'd be right, points wise we'd be 1 pt better off.

But we would have slipped a position and be a point behind Notts county...

But the four draws would be two wins under my thinking so 6 points instead of 4 so better off.