United 1 Brentford 0 - report

[wizadry]

Don't mind ayling at all but Ryan Woods of Shrewsbury is more up our street, he's a very versatile, good up and coming player.

Iv'e suggested Ryan Woods in numerous threads, he's just signed a 1 year deal with Shrewsbury and he is more versatile than people think.

These were from 2014 by some daft muppet on here.

 

[Grappler]

Agree with most of the scores that Deadbat has put against each player. I thought Clarke was immense in the second half, he was a real handful for defenders and is deceptively quick for a big lad. Brentford had a lot of pace, some lovely passing stuff, but could not find a way through, and when they did, Blackman was there.

Ryan Woods reminded me of Duffy!, similar look and build from where I was sitting.

I also thought Dalsgaard, the big number 22 was a handful down the right side, especially in the second half.

The main point is that we put the ball over the line three times, and at least one of the two disallowed was very suspect, and Brentford did not cross the line once. At 5pm last night, all that mattered was three points on the opening day.

UTB.

 

[Grappler]

Oh, and I have to say, the length of time between the end of last season and the opening day of this season seemed to go on forever! Glad to be back at BDTBL.

 

[wizadry]

What an atmosphere by the way, that will help the players at times this season when we will at times have our backs against the wall. What a fucking ground!

 

[axel smeets]

Agree with every word, Deadbat. Hardly surprising that Smith made bitter comments afterwards. He is, of course, a former employee of Parson Cross Rovers, and they are not renowned for showing dignity, class or grace in defeat.

 

[super_pig]

One thing I noticed about Brentford was that they seemed very fit and pressed us hard when we didn't have the ball. I don't recall any League One team putting us under that much pressure. It will be interesting to see if we get more space against other teams.

agree.. it was a bit weird to see a team come out and have a go.. this might actually work to our advantage

 

[Cyprus Blade]

Brilliant to have you back in harness Deadbat

Opposition Man of the Match: Ryan Woods

Very nice player, good control and passing - have to agree with you Deadbat. I would like to see him in a Blades team if he can do that week in week out.

I'm overjoyed with that result (and the dark side's) and our competitiveness, though I do think the mental awareness and physical fitness of what I think is a very good team for their budget brought home the difference between L1 and Championship opposition. By and large though an awful lot to be pleased with. I thought it was good game to watch and infinitely better than the dross Sunderland and Derby served up on Friday night.

Clarke was caught offside too many times in the first half ( he was a vast improvement in the 2nd) and some sloppiness nearly cost us (Stearman and Fleck first half). Carruthers I thought was busy,penetrating and overall very good though some of his passing in the first half was a bit sloppy. Blackman's distribution wasn't consistent but it was the only issue in what was a quality debut. I thought Stevens was an improvement on Lafferty. Basham and O'Connell continue to impress. Basham's positioning has come on in leaps and bounds (I think Jake Wright may have had something to do with that).

Coutts and Fleck are not going to have it all their own way in midfield like they did last season,but they dug in deep. Coutts looks fitter now than at any point since he came to the Lane and his attitude is now spot on. There was a point when I would have been pleased to see the back of him so credit where credit is due. Fleck was slow to start with (like last season) but he grew into the game I thought. Might be one of those players who definitely needs to be playing regularly to be at his best..The pass switching play was a beauty. I can't see us scoring nearly as many goals this season though and I think we may need to strengthen a bit up front. I'm not convinced Lavery is the answer unless he improves his first touch.

My main concern though was the way we got ourselves pinned in a bit for the last 5-10 minutes and struggled to retain possession or find an outlet. Yesterday we held on though and put in some decent blocks and challenges. At the end you could feel (and hear) the Kop trying to pull the Blades over the line. Excellent support and atmosphere from the best supporters in the land

UTB

 

[coaxingstar71]

It seems I watched a different game to you and many, many others by the sounds of it. Clarke was really sloppy and lazy in the first half, caught offside 3 or 4 times due to it, barring the assist which he sloppily attempted something the first time I didn't rate his first half performance.

It was clear as mud though that Wilder gave him a talking too at half time as he came out all guns blazing and put in a good second half performance which I think most people remember, although his performance dropped off in the last 10 to 15 mins when we needed an out ball and someone to hold it up which resulted in us having to defend quite a lot, which we did manfully.

As I say, I'm not saying he was shit but I thought it was a game of two halves for him which in turn shouldn't get no where near an 8 or 9 but like I say it's all about opinions and it looks like I'm in a minority of one, ah well.

Coutts defensive work was brilliant today, he worked back on two occasions to pinch the ball just as they were about to let leash in the first half so that's already improving and Basham really was immense, he looked like a Premier league defender at times, he was cool, calm and didn't shirk nothing. Just to add, I've given these two players some stick in years gone by so it's only fair to try and balance things out when needed.

Absolutely agree about Coutts, he was constantly nicking loose balls and anticipated and cut out a couple of dangerous moves in his own box and then coolly dealt with them. Class player.

 

[Deadbat]

Who"s. Jamal Blackburn?

He plays just behind Richard Spearman as my Uncle kept calling him!

Dreadful return - first 6 lines at least 4 mistakes (typos etc).

Rusty after the break!!!

 

[JJ Sefton]

Watched it back on Sunday. Thought we did well, we were easily on top in the first half playing some decent stuff. Carruthers, in particular, looked impressive.

Second half we let them back into it a bit. I worry that a better team than them might have made more of it but a win is a win. Dead pleased, overall.

 

[itsinyerblood]

Watched it back on Sunday. Thought we did well, we were easily on top in the first half playing some decent stuff. Carruthers, in particular, looked impressive.

Second half we let them back into it a bit. I worry that a better team than them might have made more of it but a win is a win. Dead pleased, overall.

Good news that you can watch the games, like you I thought we did ok. Think we'll need to learn fairly quickly but that doesn't concern me simply because we have Wilder and Knill who'll ensure we take whatever lessons are needed on board quickly. Think Samir will get better the more he plays, same goes for Blacklman. He's a big bugger who will dominate his area, it's just his kicking that leaves a bit to be desired.

 

[Dnblade]

Agree that Ryan Woods was their best player. Interesting to see they bought him from Shrewsbury for reportedly £1mill. Just shows that you can pick up players from L1/2 who can star in the Championship. Bet he is not on huge wages either. Another justification of CW's transfer policy. I think Samir will be a similar player for us this year.

Agree that Woods looked quality,but he was dropping deep between the Centre Backs to get on the ball...sometimes deeper and start things off,and no United player near him....Coutts and Fleck weren't afforded the same time in possession...they were closed down straight away...He was in the thick of it at times though and still looked good,but to be fair Coutts would have looked good in that roll.

 

[Pittsburg Blade]

Fast forward to 5:35 to see a ringside view of Brentford's miss, followed by Jamal's save..

 

[Jacopo]

Deadbat as an ST holder currently out of the country for the next couple of months, your reports are invaluable to me. Even when I do attend games, I always look forward to reading your reports. The level of detail is incredible. Thank you. If there is a charity close to your heart, I am willing to make a small (small being the key word here!! ) donation for your efforts. Or I can make a donation to the forum?

 

[loyalblade95]

This Brentford fan has a completely different view on the game and some of his points are comical though for his age he may be seeing the game through tinted glasses
Sharp diving
Clarke miles offside
Claimed they deserved to win then says they deserved to draw
bigs up Brentfords pre season but no comment of ours surprisingly