Deadbat
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The Blades fell to their second successive home defeat after they went down to mid table Yeovil at Bramall Lane. United had only lost once in 15 months at the Lane up to the Hartlepool fixture but now have lost back to back league games and have now gone three games without a victory. With sides around the top winning it means United now are back in the Playoff pack and have wasted the good work done prior to Xmas to get into the top spot.
In truth United were well beaten and like the previous game against Hartlepool; United were outworked from start to finish. The two goals were from the same source but quite different in their execution as a well taken first goal was then added to after the sort of mistake you see on Bloopers DVD’s; as Madden robbed George Long to score. United were awful and never really looked like scoring. It is worrying that with injuries mounting up allied to many players hitting a really poor spell of form; that United seem to be slipping away. Those that have been all season will hardly say it is a surprise as most of the performances have been masked by good results when in truth United have never totally convinced.
United brought in Marcus Williams for Matt Hill after the defender had been ruled out with a broken jaw. New comers Danny Higginbotham and Jamie Murphy made their home debuts for United and the bench was full of youngsters including defender Aaron Barry.
United won a corner in the first minute as they forced to kick towards the Kop end in the first half but this came to nothing. Indeed the visitors made the early running and had a spell in the United third which culminated in an awful mistake by Maguire whose header back to Long was nowhere near the United keeper but Madden got his radar wrong and his finish went high and wide. United had a few long range efforts from Blackman and Doyle but these went a long way over the bar. McMahon’s free kick drifted wide but in truth United had been less than certain in possession of the ball. New man Murphy had seen little of the ball whilst Kitson was in a running battle with the giant centre backs.
Yeovil had kept the ball better and from one such move they nearly profited but Hayter shot wide. The same man flashed a shot in that Long had to tip over and then another effort from outside the box flashed past Long but wide of the post. United had looked ragged and the game game became stop-start with a number of free kicks punctuated when McMahon was fouled from behind and this led to a booking for Foley but then soon after McMahon was booked for allegedly use of the elbow when he jumped to win a header. Both bookings seemed a little harsh.
The half time whistle came soon after with a non event of a half going by with very few chances or incidents but the away side definitely shading the game. You would have hoped the home side would have come out and tried to take the initiative after a lacklustre first half performance but the game sadly continued in the same vein. There was little football of note but Yeovil as the away side were solid, well organised and working exceptionally hard to ensure they had most of the ball when it mattered.
After Webster sent the ball forward into the left hand channel, MADDEN cut inside and was left unchallenged as he steadied himself before firing low into the corner past Long who did not even dive. It was not a huge surprise that the visitors had taken the lead as they had been the better side and it had been coming.
United looked to respond but were relying on the long punt up to Kitson. Dolan was booked after a number of fouls; most of them on Kitson but United looked clueless on how to create anything. Ironside came on for Flynn and Murphy went down the left hand side and had appeals for a penalty but the award would have been soft. Kitson had a shot blocked but the keeper had still not had a save to make.
Disaster struck on 66 minutes when Yeovil doubled their advantage. The ball was played back to Long who stupidly took a touch and tried to dribble around the oncoming MADDEN. The striker simply tackled him and then tapped into the empty net. An embarrassing moment for the young keeper and United were now up against it as the small band of Yeovil fans celebrated wildly.
Cresswell came on for Kitson soon after but the changes to the personnel did not have any real impact as the strikers were still living off scraps and the long high ball to the two centre back who just headed away was becoming rather too repetitive. United won a few corners but these came to nothing and Yeovil were rather comfortable as the game ebbed away. Maguire picked up another needless booking; the second game he has done this as frustration was setting in.
Right at the end Williams came off for Philliskirk to ironic cheers from the Kop who had witnessed another less than impressive performance from the left back. The next noise to come from the crowd were boos as the final whistle confirmed a second successive home defeat.
United – There is not a lot of positive things to say about the United performance, the players and the management today. Higginbotham did alright and Ironside chucked himself about. That’s it. We were dire. Worse than Hartlepool in many ways but I suppose we were playing a better side. I cannot recall one decent effort on goal all game? We never got one good cross in or a good ball played in the last third. We did not have any spell of possession more than maybe 2 or 3 passes all game. We lacked organisation, shape, discipline and technically we were poor all game. The strikers did not work hard enough nor link up, the wingers never got on the ball, the central midfield were shocking and never kept the ball nor won the ball and the defence gave too many openings. The keeper then gave away the worst kind of mistake (other than throwing it into your own net). The manager kept the same line up, did not change the tactics and seemed unable to get his side to up the tempo after an awful first half. If anything we got even worse in the second half.
Our passing, touch and link up were nonexistent. We never got into the last third, players did not move out of their areas and we had little to no idea how to even fashion a chance on goal let alone have one.
The most galling thing though about all of the above is you can kind of accept poor control, skill, passing, movement, vision etc (even though we should be superior to players they are up against – our wage bill significantly higher). What I find hard to accept is the fact that routinely in recent weeks and games we seem to be getting outworked and outhustled every game. Teams and players are simply ‘wanting’ it more than any of our players as many seem to just seem disinterested or thinking they just have to turn up to win. Our midfield duo is a big issue at the moment. Normally if they play well we tend to win but recent weeks they have been awful. Players up against them have worked harder, are often quicker and more mobile. Doyle and McDonald are so slow and very undisciplined too leading to big gaps when teams break. They both need a major kick up the backside as at the moment the central midfield area we are coming out second best most weeks. I am sure there will be a lot of talk on forums about the tactics, line up, individuals etc but for me it the single most important factor in recent performances has been players not working hard enough.
If this United team does not wake up and liven up their work ethic and approach we will slip further and further down the league. Does not matter if we have some talented players if you don’t win the battle, then you do not give yourself a chance for your better players to affect things. Now with quite a few away games coming up (although we have been better away) we face a critical time. The gap is now 6 points which is a fair bit at this stage and we have thrown away a good position. I never thought we were good enough for automatic promotion and sadly recent results are showing this. We easily could have lost the last 3 games. I got hammered for saying I feared it would be an almighty struggle to get into the playoffs and many said there is now way we would not make the top 6. I stand by what I said and fear this side does not simply have the heart and desire to turn things around. There is not much between the top 8 or 9 teams really but on today’s performance you would not be surprised if someone like Yeovil got around the top 6 and with sides like MK Dons, Brentford, Bournemouth, Swindon aside from the top 2 who seem strong; it is going to be touch. Sides like Swindon and Bournemouth have been routinely dispatching sides at home by significant margins. Other than the odd game at the Lane we have struggled badly to put teams away and now teams have realised we aren't that good and are coming here and attacking not defending. This means we should be able to get more chances but actually the last two home games, the opposition has created far more clear chances than us. They looked a sorry bunch at the end of the last two home games and with no one getting hold of them (how could they come out and play even worse in the second half – what did Wilson say?) on and off the pitch they seem a little rudderless to me.
In truth United were well beaten and like the previous game against Hartlepool; United were outworked from start to finish. The two goals were from the same source but quite different in their execution as a well taken first goal was then added to after the sort of mistake you see on Bloopers DVD’s; as Madden robbed George Long to score. United were awful and never really looked like scoring. It is worrying that with injuries mounting up allied to many players hitting a really poor spell of form; that United seem to be slipping away. Those that have been all season will hardly say it is a surprise as most of the performances have been masked by good results when in truth United have never totally convinced.
United brought in Marcus Williams for Matt Hill after the defender had been ruled out with a broken jaw. New comers Danny Higginbotham and Jamie Murphy made their home debuts for United and the bench was full of youngsters including defender Aaron Barry.
United won a corner in the first minute as they forced to kick towards the Kop end in the first half but this came to nothing. Indeed the visitors made the early running and had a spell in the United third which culminated in an awful mistake by Maguire whose header back to Long was nowhere near the United keeper but Madden got his radar wrong and his finish went high and wide. United had a few long range efforts from Blackman and Doyle but these went a long way over the bar. McMahon’s free kick drifted wide but in truth United had been less than certain in possession of the ball. New man Murphy had seen little of the ball whilst Kitson was in a running battle with the giant centre backs.
Yeovil had kept the ball better and from one such move they nearly profited but Hayter shot wide. The same man flashed a shot in that Long had to tip over and then another effort from outside the box flashed past Long but wide of the post. United had looked ragged and the game game became stop-start with a number of free kicks punctuated when McMahon was fouled from behind and this led to a booking for Foley but then soon after McMahon was booked for allegedly use of the elbow when he jumped to win a header. Both bookings seemed a little harsh.
The half time whistle came soon after with a non event of a half going by with very few chances or incidents but the away side definitely shading the game. You would have hoped the home side would have come out and tried to take the initiative after a lacklustre first half performance but the game sadly continued in the same vein. There was little football of note but Yeovil as the away side were solid, well organised and working exceptionally hard to ensure they had most of the ball when it mattered.
After Webster sent the ball forward into the left hand channel, MADDEN cut inside and was left unchallenged as he steadied himself before firing low into the corner past Long who did not even dive. It was not a huge surprise that the visitors had taken the lead as they had been the better side and it had been coming.
United looked to respond but were relying on the long punt up to Kitson. Dolan was booked after a number of fouls; most of them on Kitson but United looked clueless on how to create anything. Ironside came on for Flynn and Murphy went down the left hand side and had appeals for a penalty but the award would have been soft. Kitson had a shot blocked but the keeper had still not had a save to make.
Disaster struck on 66 minutes when Yeovil doubled their advantage. The ball was played back to Long who stupidly took a touch and tried to dribble around the oncoming MADDEN. The striker simply tackled him and then tapped into the empty net. An embarrassing moment for the young keeper and United were now up against it as the small band of Yeovil fans celebrated wildly.
Cresswell came on for Kitson soon after but the changes to the personnel did not have any real impact as the strikers were still living off scraps and the long high ball to the two centre back who just headed away was becoming rather too repetitive. United won a few corners but these came to nothing and Yeovil were rather comfortable as the game ebbed away. Maguire picked up another needless booking; the second game he has done this as frustration was setting in.
Right at the end Williams came off for Philliskirk to ironic cheers from the Kop who had witnessed another less than impressive performance from the left back. The next noise to come from the crowd were boos as the final whistle confirmed a second successive home defeat.
United – There is not a lot of positive things to say about the United performance, the players and the management today. Higginbotham did alright and Ironside chucked himself about. That’s it. We were dire. Worse than Hartlepool in many ways but I suppose we were playing a better side. I cannot recall one decent effort on goal all game? We never got one good cross in or a good ball played in the last third. We did not have any spell of possession more than maybe 2 or 3 passes all game. We lacked organisation, shape, discipline and technically we were poor all game. The strikers did not work hard enough nor link up, the wingers never got on the ball, the central midfield were shocking and never kept the ball nor won the ball and the defence gave too many openings. The keeper then gave away the worst kind of mistake (other than throwing it into your own net). The manager kept the same line up, did not change the tactics and seemed unable to get his side to up the tempo after an awful first half. If anything we got even worse in the second half.
Our passing, touch and link up were nonexistent. We never got into the last third, players did not move out of their areas and we had little to no idea how to even fashion a chance on goal let alone have one.
The most galling thing though about all of the above is you can kind of accept poor control, skill, passing, movement, vision etc (even though we should be superior to players they are up against – our wage bill significantly higher). What I find hard to accept is the fact that routinely in recent weeks and games we seem to be getting outworked and outhustled every game. Teams and players are simply ‘wanting’ it more than any of our players as many seem to just seem disinterested or thinking they just have to turn up to win. Our midfield duo is a big issue at the moment. Normally if they play well we tend to win but recent weeks they have been awful. Players up against them have worked harder, are often quicker and more mobile. Doyle and McDonald are so slow and very undisciplined too leading to big gaps when teams break. They both need a major kick up the backside as at the moment the central midfield area we are coming out second best most weeks. I am sure there will be a lot of talk on forums about the tactics, line up, individuals etc but for me it the single most important factor in recent performances has been players not working hard enough.
If this United team does not wake up and liven up their work ethic and approach we will slip further and further down the league. Does not matter if we have some talented players if you don’t win the battle, then you do not give yourself a chance for your better players to affect things. Now with quite a few away games coming up (although we have been better away) we face a critical time. The gap is now 6 points which is a fair bit at this stage and we have thrown away a good position. I never thought we were good enough for automatic promotion and sadly recent results are showing this. We easily could have lost the last 3 games. I got hammered for saying I feared it would be an almighty struggle to get into the playoffs and many said there is now way we would not make the top 6. I stand by what I said and fear this side does not simply have the heart and desire to turn things around. There is not much between the top 8 or 9 teams really but on today’s performance you would not be surprised if someone like Yeovil got around the top 6 and with sides like MK Dons, Brentford, Bournemouth, Swindon aside from the top 2 who seem strong; it is going to be touch. Sides like Swindon and Bournemouth have been routinely dispatching sides at home by significant margins. Other than the odd game at the Lane we have struggled badly to put teams away and now teams have realised we aren't that good and are coming here and attacking not defending. This means we should be able to get more chances but actually the last two home games, the opposition has created far more clear chances than us. They looked a sorry bunch at the end of the last two home games and with no one getting hold of them (how could they come out and play even worse in the second half – what did Wilson say?) on and off the pitch they seem a little rudderless to me.
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