Todays Line up - No Simmo!

[DP8789]

About bloody time, that flapper is top of my list for some of our shocking defensive displays this season - i hope he never plays for us again.

Other than that, good youthful side today, i hope we can retain lowry, him, maguire, morgan and collins being 4th choice would suit me for next year as cb's.

lets hope he gives 3 young subs a good run out.

good luck bladesmen.

 

[Bergen Blade]

Think Long was positioned a bit too close to the first post as the free kick was taken.

Yes, hope to see some of the subs pretty soon.

 

[GAZBLADE]

Good to see young George get a game. Good first half by all accounts.

 

[FirthParkBlade]

Sounds as though he has pulled a few decent saves already. A few questioning his position on the goal though. Hope he can establish himself as the new number 1.

---------- Post added at 01:59 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:59 PM ----------

Down to ten men again. Why would anyone in their right mind try and stop the ball going in when we are already relegated is beyond me. Surely it's just instinct.

 

[LoughboroBlade]

Down to ten men again. Why would anyone in their right mind try and stop the ball going in when we are already relegated is beyond me

Brainless. You save a goal, but give away a near certain chance for a goal and reduce the number to 10 men. Were it injury time, fair enough. With a large amount of time left, very stupid.

 

[Bubbleburp]

Brainless. You save a goal, but give away a near certain chance for a goal and reduce the number to 10 men. Were it injury time, fair enough. With a large amount of time left, very stupid.

....there you have it ... the absolute proof that we've desperately missed Morgs ...not only on the ball , but for his communication skills .:cry:

 

[Guesty]

Look poor for the third goal, did Long.

 

[BladeHearts]

On the match thread, I made the comparison with Hearts giving Craig Gordon his chance at a similar age, interestingly Hearts lost that match 4-0 as well against Falkirk.

However, those that had seen him in the Youths knew he was something special, Hearts stuck with him despite the occasional youthful blunders and eventually sold him for a British record £9.5m to Sunderland.

If Long is good enough now, you can only imagine how much better he will be in a couple of seasons. But the only way to learn is to play, I would far rather Long play and make errors due to inexperience than Simmo play and make errors due to being terminally crap!

 

[cooperblade]

We need to be very careful not to be too reliant on the youngsters next season. I haven't been to any of the Academy or Youth Cup games this season so admit I'm far from ideally placed to comment but...

Long is incredibly young for a first team 'keeper and we could do irreparable damage to his confidence if we blood him too early in more than the occasional game.

Maguire looks good physically but is very slow (both across the ground and when turning) and I don't think he'll be at his best until he has a number of league games under his belt. He's going to have to rely on strength and knowhow to have a good career and for now, he only has one of those. Personally I think he'd be better served getting that experience on a season long loan elsewhere. He could then return as a replacement, rather than a partner, for Morgan. Don't expect that'll happen though and I think he'll play a lot next term.

Almost everyone who'd seen Slew regularly thought he wasn't ready and he does look very raw. However, he's scored a couple of goals and I think he might be OK to use off the bench next season.

 

[Ballinpigpubs13]

Simmo the enigma? Some amazing saves every now and then, but look at the howler against Bristol :rant:

 

[Rattly Noise]

One word sums his performances up ... inconsistent. Pulled off some great instinctive saves but then lost us more due to numerous schoolboy errors.

 

[alcoblade]

One word sums his performances up ... inconsistent. Pulled off some great instinctive saves but then lost us more due to numerous schoolboy errors.

He's usually a good shot stopper - but they are ten a penny. Command of the box is what singles out the better keepers . He's woefully lacking there.

UTB

 

[Pragmatic Blade]

Does anyone know how long Simonsen is at the club for? Contract wise? To be honest, I would back him (with Long coming through) if we had a settled and decent back 4. Simonsen was ok at Everton and Stoke and to begin with at United. I would be interested to see him with a settled back 4 in front of him - he might be a whole lot better. (Or not!?)

 

[super_pig]

>We need to be very careful not to be too reliant on the youngsters next season
no we need to be very careful not to play past it overpaid mercenaries that don't give a shit.. man utd got laughed at until they won the league (remember hansens comment?) and that was in the premiership.. mind you there was one difference.. they had a decent manager.. the problem isn't with the players.. it is whether the manager can handle them properly

>Almost everyone who'd seen Slew regularly thought he wasn't ready and he does look very raw
yet he's has the highest goals/games ratio already.. at least when he gets the ball he looks like he might score..

 

[CopenhagenBlade]

Think Long was positioned a bit too close to the first post as the free kick was taken.

Yes, hope to see some of the subs pretty soon.

Agree with that and I don't think that a more experienced keeper would have let that goal in. All in all I think there were more positives than criticisms of his performance and I don't think that the result will affect his long term confidence.

I actually thought that Kennedy looked good when he came on.

Of what I have seen I don't think that these kids are ready and I don't think that we should have more than 2 in the team at one time but needs might dictate next season.

 

[sheffielder]

Not sure I would blame Long for any of the goals. A step up for a keeper from youth to 1st team is a little tougher compared to an outfield position where you can be protected to a degree.

1- Maybe a little close to his front post but I think the positions of is defenders infront of him forced that.
2- Made initial save and with more experience will stand up longer for the rebound
3- Where was the closing down, went through legs
4- slight deflection

All in all good experience for the lad, but again our defending is awful. It is hard for a keeper to set himself when he has no idea what his defenders are doing....

 

[Revolution]

Trivia time: who was the last home grown goalkeeper to make a league appearance for United?

 

[sheffielder]

Trivia time: who was the last home grown goalkeeper to make a league appearance for United?

.......Jags

 

[cooperblade]

Trivia time: who was the last home grown goalkeeper to make a league appearance for United?

Paul Tomlinson?

 

[Revolution]

Yes, Tomlinson in 1986-7. That's a hell of a long time not to develop your own keeper, although for most of that period we had the services of 3 tremendous ones.

On a similar theme, who was the last home grown player to finish as our top league scorer?

 

[Bergen Blade]

I actually thought that Kennedy looked good when he came on.

Poster on BladesMad posted this the other day:

Let me start with saying i've never claimed to be itk about anything when it comes to United other my own personal views, so please dont shoot the messenger I'm just passing on what I've heard today.

Due to circumstance through work I found myself today in a Leicester City Directors Box. Now at no point did I try to mingle with the people that were there, in fact due to me and my customer being an hour early we were on our own until an old guy with a Wolves coat sat next to us. We got chatting and I told him I was a Blade and with him clearly being a scout asked him what he thought of our youth set up. His response was something along the lines of "You lot have in my opinion the single best out and out U18 English defender in this country, and its not McGuire" I said Kennedy? The guy was a bit shocked I'd heard of him but seemed really interested. He said a lot of clubs have been tracking him since an U14's Nike tournament a few years ago and United have flatly refused to entertain any interest as they know what potential they are sat on. There was a rep from Adidas who had joined our table who said he'd been trying to tie him up for a while but he just wasn't bothered about sponsorship, just wanted to play football! Sounds promising! The Adidas guy also said a few people have had a look at Slew but just don't rate him at the moment???

Another guy joined the table who it turned out was from Blackburn and clearly knew most of the other people on the table and started his conversation with, and I quote " Have you heard whats happened at Sheff United? They've made 15 redundant including all of the scouts"!! I dont know whether he'd heard there was a Blade sat on their table but looking at the rest of them I dont thnk any of them had the ability to txt so I doubt it!

On a positive they all agreed that Pembo (as they all referred to him) was the best youth coach around at the moment and wouldn't be going anywhere soon!! On a negative, my customer was a Brighton fan and just gave me 5hit all day!

Like I say, dont shoot the messenger or try and accuse me of being a midweek fan I'm just passing on what I've heard today.

UTB!!!!

He looks a bit small for a centre back though? What is he, 5'10? Is he very quick?

 

[CopenhagenBlade]

To me he looked quick enough but he seemed to read the game well. Would fine it very strange if the club has got rid of all of their scouts, maybe scale down but get rid of them all???

 

[BladeHearts]

I suppose Maguire could pick up the Target man with Kennedy using his pace to cover, possibly a perfect partnership.