Threw it away

[diplomat]

I think there's a good player in Coutts but if he's 70% fit and suffering from a virus then he shouldn't be playing games. He looked a lot better than Holt.

I also thought their giant had a good game aside from being mugged by Done

 

[William Henry Foulkes]

The subs were understandable, it was flynns injury that really cost us

Absolutely. 1-0 up we play to nick the ball and score on the break. Once Flynn was injured and with no subs we were in trouble.

In hindsight given we nearly created once we were 2-1 down maybe we should still have attacked, but that would have been a tough call.

 

[Foxy]

You create your space with passing and movement.
We should have been punished a good few times getting caught in possession they were instances where we should have got shut.

and you get passing and movement with composure and the right players. We've been aided in this by playing 5 in midfield most of the season and therefore often having another outlet than backwards or a long hopeful ball.

 

[Louismarven]

Admittedly the decision to bring on freeman instead of Adams wasn't great, but we were playing with 10 men for the last 10 mins, I wouldn't put it entirely down to clough

 

[Guesty]

If you surrender half the pitch as we did, you're going to get punished. After Done went off they could play out from the back at will with all the time in the world.

 

[longinthe toothblade]

Not sure we threw it away - did we ever have it?

Can't use the excuse that too many on here like to peddle about "we are the Barcelona of league 1.....this is their biggest game of the season..........they came to frustrate.....they sat behind the ball.....bla, bla, bla". They must have had 50% of the play - which is a fair stat for anyone away from home. 12 shots against our 8; 7 corners against our 2 shows they were well and truly in the game and for me they deserved the points - they wanted it. Add to that some of the decisions from our bench and we were goosed.

Been saying for weeks now that we have been flattering to deceive. Home and away [and I have been in attendance at both] we have been getting the rub of the green. Tonight, our luck ran out, as it is always prone to do if you aren't playing well.

These next 13 games are likely to be a REAL dog fight and for me the play offs are by no means a certainty in any way, shape or form.

Frustrating doesn't adequately cover it.

 

[William Henry Foulkes]

Leading 1-0 and then making the final substitution to finish the game with this team:

Turner
Brayford Basham McEveley Harris
Flynn Reed Doyle Holt Freeman
Murphy​

Physical strength apart, on paper it's not catastrophic, and the tactic was probably to find Murphy with a through ball and let the rest work hard to preserve the lead. Flynn's injury must have made it difficult as the - only - attacking plan went out the window and I can see a lot of nerves and confusion sneaking in (especially in that midfield) when that happened.

Yes and if Freeman(?) had played that through ball to a United player (Murphy?) when we were piling forward and massively outnumbered them it'd've probably been 2-0, at least.

 

[JasonEllis]

Yes and if Freeman(?) had played that through ball to a United player (Murphy?) when we were piling forward and massively outnumbered them it'd've probably been 2-0, at least.

If my aunt had testicles she'd be my uncle as the old adage goes

 

[Sothall_Blade]

Leading 1-0 and then making the final substitution to finish the game with this team:

Turner
Brayford Basham McEveley Harris
Flynn Reed Doyle Holt Freeman
Murphy​

Physical strength apart, on paper it's not catastrophic, and the tactic was probably to find Murphy with a through ball and let the rest work hard to preserve the lead. Flynn's injury must have made it difficult as the - only - attacking plan went out the window and I can see a lot of nerves and confusion sneaking in (especially in that midfield) when that happened.

When Flynn got injured we should have played as if he'd been sent off and kept Murphy up front as an attacking outlet.

When you are down to ten men, you normally would play 4-4-1 or even 4-3-2. Never 4-5-0 which is efffectively how we played with Flynn hobbling about up front. No attacking outlet at all meant we were destined to be totally under the cosh for far too long. I think Clough got that wrong.

The other point I would make is that you shouldn't throw on your last sub when in a winning position as there is always a chance the Flynn situation will arise.

You might gamble by playing your last card when you have nothing to lose but not when holding on to a lead. Surely Done could have lasted ten minutes more or swapped positions with Murphy if too knackered to continue up front?

 

[Jon Bon]

Clough - He's not his Dad. He's a very average lower league manager. We are a very average lower league team and will never be anything other while ever a very average lower league manager is in charge. It's not rocket science. Really, it isn't...

 

[Dkc]

Looking at the other results tonight, I'm reminded of Jim Bowen's famous catchphrase "come and have a look at what you could have won"

No one sems to want second place. Except Donnie maybe.

 

[Dkc]

Clough - He's not his Dad. He's a very average lower league manager. We are a very average lower league team and will never be anything other while ever a very average lower league manager is in charge. It's not rocket science. Really, it isn't...

How do you explain the two cup semis and the amazing run of wins at the end of last season?

 

[alcoblade]

How do you explain the two cup semis and the amazing run of wins at the end of last season?

You can counter that with about 15 unsuccessful league campaigns though.

UTB

 

[Jon Bon]

You can counter that with about 15 unsuccessful league campaigns though.

UTB

Ahhhh, he asked me. I wanted to answer...

 

[Dkc]

You can counter that with about 15 unsuccessful league campaigns though.

UTB

I prefer to judge him on his Blades record which, so far is very good

 

[JohnDenver]

But overall, just about everyone had an off day.

This. ^^^^

I'm baffled by the rest of the thread. The subs were nothing in the context of a defeat earned by a really bad performance by a team struggling for fitness, form and a pattern.

Subs schmubs.

 

[grafikhaus]

Agreed. Disgraceful substitutions. Negative Nigel at his worst.

Nonsense! He showed his attacking ambitions when were were under the cosh defending corners. Not one player more than five yards outside our own area. No outlet. The inevitable hoof upfield always went to one of theirs. Piss poor last night and, to be fair, most of this season (Cups excepted).

 

[cooperblade]

It looked to me like Flynn was struggling before we made our final sub and when I saw Freeman coming on, I assumed it would be a straight swap.

I also wonder if we'd have been better taking Flynn off and playing with 10 rather than having him hobbling around the pitch.

Despite that and despite the poor performance for the last 70 mins of the game, we lost purely and simply because we conceded two absolutely shocking goals.

 

[super_pig]

and you get passing and movement with composure and the right players. We've been aided in this by playing 5 in midfield most of the season and therefore often having another outlet than backwards or a long hopeful ball.

5 in midfield is bullshit.. it is everyone trying to copy Barcelona. at this level it means playing constant sideways and backwards as the players don't have the vision and the forwards don't have the movement..Bayern destroyed Barca last year playing 442.. then the Barca manager went to Bayern and comically don't know what they are playing. (yes they are top of the league but my German mates who are from Munich say it is a mess and the fans are very unhappy)
Barcelona have ditched 451 and gone proper 433 btw

 

[forever_blade]

I'm as positive as they come, love Clough & I'm 100% behind what he's trying to build but he cost us three points last night & his after-match interview was just as mind boggling, admit you got this one so horribly wrong Nige & move on, clean slate & onto Saturday because you can't change what's gone & now you need to pick them lads & yourselves up instead of slating them & chucking the toys out the pram.

The substitution of Freeman for Done cost us, simple as that. Nothing to do with Freeman's performance when he came on but there's no outlet if you take off both forwards.

Done was relieving all the pressure the back lads were under, he takes him off and Peterborough are no mugs they stuck another few bodies forward and come at us as they know there's no release for us.

Alright he says Done was shattered well they all were, I'm sure he could have lasted another 10 minutes & if he couldn't then bring on Adams to take the weight off the back lads, Che's a big lad, he's played upfront nearly all his career, has pace & could have stretched them.

Another thing that is really grating on me if why not take off Flynn & place Freeman down the right if he wanted to get Freeman on so badly?

Done's not been out injured like Flynn has for 5-6 weeks, take Flynn off for Freeman, a like for like change, RM for RM, keep the shape & get the fresh legs down the wing instead he completely disrupted the shape & brought the pressure onto us & we got everything we deserved for it. Flynn pulling up he says was unavoidable but he's not fully fit & expected him to play three games in three weeks (& now won't be available to play for a further 6 weeks). We played the last ten with ten men and threw it away. Frustrating & stupid.

Last night was first time I've really questioned his decision. I didn't boo 'em or slag 'em off & as always keep the faith Blades but fuck me just basic logic that ain't it?!

 

[Revolution]

Done's not been out injured like Flynn has for 5-6 weeks, take Flynn off for Freeman, a like for like change, RM for RM, keep the shape & get the fresh legs down the wing instead he completely disrupted the shape & brought the pressure onto us & we got everything we deserved for it. Flynn pulling up he says was unavoidable but he's not fully fit & expected him to play three games in three weeks (& now won't be available to play for a further 6 weeks). We played the last ten with ten men and threw it away. Frustrating & stupid.

The logical thing to do now would be to bring JCR back. You know, like Brighton did with O'Grady when they needed a striker.

But he won't.

I do like the way that we (a) go into our shell but (b) do this with the smallest players in the squad, 2 of whom can be knocked over by a gust of wind.

The mind boggles.