Ollessendro
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Aug 13, 2009
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Summary
Kevin Blackwell’s red and white erm …… powder puffs slumped to their second defeat in a row in a lack lustre performance at Vicarage Road. In an extremely comfortable performance Watford beat the Blades 3 nil and could have had more. I’m sure the home team were wondering how on earth their opponents were sat at 6th in the table as they cruised passed them. Crowley and Helgusson capitalised on terrible United defending and Cowie added a third. It took the blades until the final few minutes to have a shot on target in what was one of the worst blades performance I’ve seen.
Ollessendro’s thoughts
Accepting mediocrity
I’ve been arguing with different Blades fans for weeks that we have a strong side/squad that should be pushing for promotion, but tonight really brought it home to me that I have been misguided. We have a very average team lacking in any real quality. Our manager is completely out of his depth and cannot utilise the few decent players we have to best effect. The team is completely and utterly devoid of pace, flair and creativity. We look completely static and uncomfortable on the ball. The likes of Montgomery, Morgan, Henderson, Cresswell and Geary are not world beaters but will give 100% effort. We then need some pace and creativity to accompany these. We don’t have any. Harper looks a shadow of his former self, Quinn is so hit and miss it’s untrue, Ward didn’t look interested and Fortune and Stewart are simply not good enough.
Our manager
Kevin Blackwell is completely and utterly out of his depth. People will think that I am just another Blackwell knocker and state his win record is still very good, but before you dismiss this here me out. I watched Blackwell last night and after we conceded a goal he looked like a lost puppy. He sat with his hands in his pockets on the bench, failing to give out any instructions or orders. When the team desperately needed some leadership he just went missing. He is clueless of what to do when we go behind.
By contrast Mally Mackay was out on the touch line the whole game. He was out there giving instructions and showing leadership to his players. I give him credit for out foxing Blackwell. He clearly did his homework over the weekend and it paid off. He obviously pre warned his centre backs of Henderson and Creswell and told his team to put pressure on us at every opportunity. By doing this and not giving us any space, they limited us to long balls. They could have dealt with these long balls til 2015.
Tactics
This is linked in to the above, but why on earth Blackwell thought it was a good idea to play the same team and tactics that had got him comprehensively beaten I do not know. He played 4-4-2 with Henderson and Cresswell up top. I like both of them, they are triers, but they are very static and one dimensional. With Monty, Quinn, Harper and the out of sorts Ward I was wondering were the goals, chances etc would come from. We just lumped balls up to Henderson and Cresswell and the big Watford centre backs just lapped it up. Unfortunately any team with a big centre half can do their homework and out fox us. Owen Coyle’s team did it last year and we saw it last night. It’s embarrassing that Blackwell hasn’t learnt anything since being in charge.
Opposition
This was Watford’s first win in 7 games and they cruised passed us very easily. Thus said, it was difficult to gage them as we were so, so poor. The game was scrappy and devoid of any real class, but Watford were comfortable. They started slowly, but really got a foot hold of the game and never gave United a look in. Cleverley looked a very good player, but no others really stood out. De Merit and Taylor looked fairly solid, but we didn’t really test them. They are both big centre halves and they could have dealt with those balls all day. Henderson and Creswell never got a look in.
I was impressed by Watford at times. I mean they are no world beaters, but they pass and move quite well. Mally Makcay has got them playing some decent football. They always look for the short pass and word hard to create space for each other. They played vastly superior football to United. They also worked hard to put pressure on United. We didn’t look comfortable on the ball and they added to that by hassling and harrying us all the time.
United
It can be summed up by something a Watford fan I over heard outside the ground when he said ‘I didn’t expect Sheffield United to be so bad’. We were completely devoid of any skills, idea, flair, pace and creativity. I’m not going to harp on about it, as that is already being done on the forum, but that was the worst performance of the season (I believe Keith Edwards also said that).
Referee
The referee was terrible. He gave everything to Watford and showed double standards the whole game. He booked Harper for a late challenge, only minutes after a Watford player had done the same. He then booked Quinn for making a challenge on a 50/50 ball and booked Henderson for being err… taller than him?!
Crowd
The home fans were pathetic and it would have been like a library but for the United fans. In fact it was during the second half.
The away support was good and we started off in real voice. I was impressed at how noisy we were. Right up until the 2nd goal the Blades fan were in full voice. That’s said things were a little ugly at times. There was a bunch of young idiots’ right at the back singing stupid songs, such as 4-4-2. One bloke turned round at half time and told them to ‘fuck off to Hillsborough’. He was a bit out of order for shouting this, but I could understand his frustration.
There was then a mild altercation on the train going back into London. I was grumbling away with some fellow Blades fans who I had just met when someone got on the train and told me to burn my scarf in a very aggressive manner. I asked him why and he started mouthing about United being wank. I realised he was blade and told him to calm down. He then came steaming back over to us and starting shouting insults. Their was a guy who handled the situation really well, despite this guy clearly wanting trouble. He sat this guy down, said what’s up, we’re all Blades, we’re all upset and no one wants trouble. He completely defused the situation and I was thankful for that. The incident upset me a little actually. I mean I wasn’t harmed or anything, but ‘we’re all Blades’ and no matter how bade we play we shouldn’t be wanting to fight each other.
The Match
The Blades started in a 4-4-2 formation with the only change being new singing Nyron Nosworthy coming in for Fortune at centra back.
The match started very slowly and it was a significant time before either team had any chances. Quinn fired over early on and Loach flapped at a Harper corner, just turning it out for another corner. Henderson then put in a good cross to towards Ward, after good defending from Montgomery, but the ball was cleared by the Watford full back. United then had the first real chance as Morgan flicked on a Geary long throw and Ward forced the keeper to make a save. Morgan then had his header saved by Loach from a Harper free kick, after Montgomery was cynically fouled just outside the area.
It was then Mark Bunn’s turn to save his team. A long throw caused confusion in the area and Bunn saved a point blank header from range. Nosworthy seemed more intent on fouling his man and the ball went over everyone’s heads and bounced before the Eustace half headed it goal wards.
United then had another let off as Cresswell slipped when Watford had a set piece and Eustace headed wide. It was a fee header and he really should have done better. Watford were really putting themselves in the driving seat at this point and they almost broke the deadlock when Cleverley’s free kick hit the post. It then took a decisive flick header to deny Watford.
Disaster struck for Sheffield United on 39 minutes when a terrible defensive mix up allowed Watford a gift of an opening goal. Morgan had been off injured and had just come back on to the pitch. The Blades captain was clearly struggling from a rib injury, but returned to the field. A long ball came up towards the United defence and Henderson (who was still in defence after covering for Morgan) looked set to clear. He clearly hear a shout from Morgan, who was close to him and in a good defensive position, and he left the ball. Morgan was unable to get to the ball, presumably because of his injury, and CLEVERLEY nipped in and headed the ball past Bunn.
Morgan was then replaced by Fortune. It was a poor first half from the Blades and they would be furious to have given away such a soft goal. To be honest, at this point I could never see us coming back. We all know our record of when we go a goal down and I looked at the players we had on the pitch and Blackwell sat down with his hands in his pockets and thought ‘this game is over’.
The Blades had another let off when Bunn saved from Helgusson after his poor clearance. Harper was dallying on the ball and under pressure sent a poor back pass to Bunn. The keeper then fluffed his clearance straight to Helgusson. The Watford striker in acres of space should have buried, but Bunn dove to his right to make the save.
Watford then missed another chance when full back Taylor fired a shot across the goal. This was after a spell of particularly disdainful football (if you can call it that). The ball was headed around in the area and the teams seemed to prefer to play head tennis rather than football.
Watford were asserting themselves more and more in this scrappy, dire contest and doubled their lead after another gift form the Sheffield united defence. The defence was nowhere, with Fortune off the pace and Nosworthy playing HELGUSSON on side the striker finished coolly.
Watford were comfortable at this point and United never looked like troubling them. The icing on the cake was when COWIE’s in swinging free kick eluded everyone and went into the back of the net.
A good passing move by United involving Montgomery and Yeates resulted in Quinn forcing loach to save. This resulted in ironic celebrating form the away support and chants of ‘we had a shot on target’. I left with 10 minutes to go, but heard afterward that there was nothing much to talk about.
Player ratings
Bunn 6.5 - Didn’t play too badly despite conceding 3 goals. He probably could have done better with the 3rd, but the other 2 he couldn’t have done anything about. He also made a couple of good saves and was alert to smother the ball on several occasions.
Geary 5 - Didn't do that much wrong tonight defensively and had little time on the ball going forward. He looked off the pace a little and wasn't positionally great. He needs time to get to full fitness, but we are going to miss Walker.
Stewart 4.5 – the guy is not good enough. I know Taylor is dodgy, but I’m not sure that this guy is any better. He is quick, but that is it. He looked out of his depth defending and clueless on the ball.
Nosworthy 4.5/10 – a very poor performance and a poor start to his united career. He desperately needs to improve. He looked shaky when Morgan was on, but fell apart when he was partnered by Fortune.
Ward 4 – Not involved in the game at all. He didn’t look interested and never got involved, but to be fair to him we didn’t utilise him at all. He looks out of sorts and I’m not sure if this is due to fitness or the rumoured fall out with KB.
Harper 2.5 – Simply awful. He wasn’t involved at all. He put no effort in and apart from shouting, flapping his arms around and taking the odd free kick he never got involved in the game. His performance last night really reminded me of Brian Howard in a red and white shirt.
MONTGOMERY 6 – Bets Player in a Blades shirt and he wasn’t outstanding. He did his usual array of foot ins and breaking up opposition play, but also got involved going forward. He utilised the ball quite well and looked accomplished at times.
Quinn 4 – Didn’t get involved at all, like the rest of the midfield. He did put some effort in, but most of it was chasing the ball.
Henderson 4 – Didn’t win a header all night and never had a sniff of a chance.
Cresswell 4.5 – Same as Henderson. I’ve given him an extra half a point for sheer effort. He ran and ran, although it was to little effect.
Subs
Fortune 3 – The guy is out of his depth. He looked slow, off the pace, not strong enough and poor positionally.
Yeates 5 – His fist touch he whacked the ball high in the air and about 50 yards and I though ‘I know why KB singed him!?!?’ But to be fair he improved. He got involved and showed the odd moment of class, such as his ball into the box close to the end.
Kevin Blackwell’s red and white erm …… powder puffs slumped to their second defeat in a row in a lack lustre performance at Vicarage Road. In an extremely comfortable performance Watford beat the Blades 3 nil and could have had more. I’m sure the home team were wondering how on earth their opponents were sat at 6th in the table as they cruised passed them. Crowley and Helgusson capitalised on terrible United defending and Cowie added a third. It took the blades until the final few minutes to have a shot on target in what was one of the worst blades performance I’ve seen.
Ollessendro’s thoughts
Accepting mediocrity
I’ve been arguing with different Blades fans for weeks that we have a strong side/squad that should be pushing for promotion, but tonight really brought it home to me that I have been misguided. We have a very average team lacking in any real quality. Our manager is completely out of his depth and cannot utilise the few decent players we have to best effect. The team is completely and utterly devoid of pace, flair and creativity. We look completely static and uncomfortable on the ball. The likes of Montgomery, Morgan, Henderson, Cresswell and Geary are not world beaters but will give 100% effort. We then need some pace and creativity to accompany these. We don’t have any. Harper looks a shadow of his former self, Quinn is so hit and miss it’s untrue, Ward didn’t look interested and Fortune and Stewart are simply not good enough.
Our manager
Kevin Blackwell is completely and utterly out of his depth. People will think that I am just another Blackwell knocker and state his win record is still very good, but before you dismiss this here me out. I watched Blackwell last night and after we conceded a goal he looked like a lost puppy. He sat with his hands in his pockets on the bench, failing to give out any instructions or orders. When the team desperately needed some leadership he just went missing. He is clueless of what to do when we go behind.
By contrast Mally Mackay was out on the touch line the whole game. He was out there giving instructions and showing leadership to his players. I give him credit for out foxing Blackwell. He clearly did his homework over the weekend and it paid off. He obviously pre warned his centre backs of Henderson and Creswell and told his team to put pressure on us at every opportunity. By doing this and not giving us any space, they limited us to long balls. They could have dealt with these long balls til 2015.
Tactics
This is linked in to the above, but why on earth Blackwell thought it was a good idea to play the same team and tactics that had got him comprehensively beaten I do not know. He played 4-4-2 with Henderson and Cresswell up top. I like both of them, they are triers, but they are very static and one dimensional. With Monty, Quinn, Harper and the out of sorts Ward I was wondering were the goals, chances etc would come from. We just lumped balls up to Henderson and Cresswell and the big Watford centre backs just lapped it up. Unfortunately any team with a big centre half can do their homework and out fox us. Owen Coyle’s team did it last year and we saw it last night. It’s embarrassing that Blackwell hasn’t learnt anything since being in charge.
Opposition
This was Watford’s first win in 7 games and they cruised passed us very easily. Thus said, it was difficult to gage them as we were so, so poor. The game was scrappy and devoid of any real class, but Watford were comfortable. They started slowly, but really got a foot hold of the game and never gave United a look in. Cleverley looked a very good player, but no others really stood out. De Merit and Taylor looked fairly solid, but we didn’t really test them. They are both big centre halves and they could have dealt with those balls all day. Henderson and Creswell never got a look in.
I was impressed by Watford at times. I mean they are no world beaters, but they pass and move quite well. Mally Makcay has got them playing some decent football. They always look for the short pass and word hard to create space for each other. They played vastly superior football to United. They also worked hard to put pressure on United. We didn’t look comfortable on the ball and they added to that by hassling and harrying us all the time.
United
It can be summed up by something a Watford fan I over heard outside the ground when he said ‘I didn’t expect Sheffield United to be so bad’. We were completely devoid of any skills, idea, flair, pace and creativity. I’m not going to harp on about it, as that is already being done on the forum, but that was the worst performance of the season (I believe Keith Edwards also said that).
Referee
The referee was terrible. He gave everything to Watford and showed double standards the whole game. He booked Harper for a late challenge, only minutes after a Watford player had done the same. He then booked Quinn for making a challenge on a 50/50 ball and booked Henderson for being err… taller than him?!
Crowd
The home fans were pathetic and it would have been like a library but for the United fans. In fact it was during the second half.
The away support was good and we started off in real voice. I was impressed at how noisy we were. Right up until the 2nd goal the Blades fan were in full voice. That’s said things were a little ugly at times. There was a bunch of young idiots’ right at the back singing stupid songs, such as 4-4-2. One bloke turned round at half time and told them to ‘fuck off to Hillsborough’. He was a bit out of order for shouting this, but I could understand his frustration.
There was then a mild altercation on the train going back into London. I was grumbling away with some fellow Blades fans who I had just met when someone got on the train and told me to burn my scarf in a very aggressive manner. I asked him why and he started mouthing about United being wank. I realised he was blade and told him to calm down. He then came steaming back over to us and starting shouting insults. Their was a guy who handled the situation really well, despite this guy clearly wanting trouble. He sat this guy down, said what’s up, we’re all Blades, we’re all upset and no one wants trouble. He completely defused the situation and I was thankful for that. The incident upset me a little actually. I mean I wasn’t harmed or anything, but ‘we’re all Blades’ and no matter how bade we play we shouldn’t be wanting to fight each other.
The Match
The Blades started in a 4-4-2 formation with the only change being new singing Nyron Nosworthy coming in for Fortune at centra back.
The match started very slowly and it was a significant time before either team had any chances. Quinn fired over early on and Loach flapped at a Harper corner, just turning it out for another corner. Henderson then put in a good cross to towards Ward, after good defending from Montgomery, but the ball was cleared by the Watford full back. United then had the first real chance as Morgan flicked on a Geary long throw and Ward forced the keeper to make a save. Morgan then had his header saved by Loach from a Harper free kick, after Montgomery was cynically fouled just outside the area.
It was then Mark Bunn’s turn to save his team. A long throw caused confusion in the area and Bunn saved a point blank header from range. Nosworthy seemed more intent on fouling his man and the ball went over everyone’s heads and bounced before the Eustace half headed it goal wards.
United then had another let off as Cresswell slipped when Watford had a set piece and Eustace headed wide. It was a fee header and he really should have done better. Watford were really putting themselves in the driving seat at this point and they almost broke the deadlock when Cleverley’s free kick hit the post. It then took a decisive flick header to deny Watford.
Disaster struck for Sheffield United on 39 minutes when a terrible defensive mix up allowed Watford a gift of an opening goal. Morgan had been off injured and had just come back on to the pitch. The Blades captain was clearly struggling from a rib injury, but returned to the field. A long ball came up towards the United defence and Henderson (who was still in defence after covering for Morgan) looked set to clear. He clearly hear a shout from Morgan, who was close to him and in a good defensive position, and he left the ball. Morgan was unable to get to the ball, presumably because of his injury, and CLEVERLEY nipped in and headed the ball past Bunn.
Morgan was then replaced by Fortune. It was a poor first half from the Blades and they would be furious to have given away such a soft goal. To be honest, at this point I could never see us coming back. We all know our record of when we go a goal down and I looked at the players we had on the pitch and Blackwell sat down with his hands in his pockets and thought ‘this game is over’.
The Blades had another let off when Bunn saved from Helgusson after his poor clearance. Harper was dallying on the ball and under pressure sent a poor back pass to Bunn. The keeper then fluffed his clearance straight to Helgusson. The Watford striker in acres of space should have buried, but Bunn dove to his right to make the save.
Watford then missed another chance when full back Taylor fired a shot across the goal. This was after a spell of particularly disdainful football (if you can call it that). The ball was headed around in the area and the teams seemed to prefer to play head tennis rather than football.
Watford were asserting themselves more and more in this scrappy, dire contest and doubled their lead after another gift form the Sheffield united defence. The defence was nowhere, with Fortune off the pace and Nosworthy playing HELGUSSON on side the striker finished coolly.
Watford were comfortable at this point and United never looked like troubling them. The icing on the cake was when COWIE’s in swinging free kick eluded everyone and went into the back of the net.
A good passing move by United involving Montgomery and Yeates resulted in Quinn forcing loach to save. This resulted in ironic celebrating form the away support and chants of ‘we had a shot on target’. I left with 10 minutes to go, but heard afterward that there was nothing much to talk about.
Player ratings
Bunn 6.5 - Didn’t play too badly despite conceding 3 goals. He probably could have done better with the 3rd, but the other 2 he couldn’t have done anything about. He also made a couple of good saves and was alert to smother the ball on several occasions.
Geary 5 - Didn't do that much wrong tonight defensively and had little time on the ball going forward. He looked off the pace a little and wasn't positionally great. He needs time to get to full fitness, but we are going to miss Walker.
Stewart 4.5 – the guy is not good enough. I know Taylor is dodgy, but I’m not sure that this guy is any better. He is quick, but that is it. He looked out of his depth defending and clueless on the ball.
Nosworthy 4.5/10 – a very poor performance and a poor start to his united career. He desperately needs to improve. He looked shaky when Morgan was on, but fell apart when he was partnered by Fortune.
Ward 4 – Not involved in the game at all. He didn’t look interested and never got involved, but to be fair to him we didn’t utilise him at all. He looks out of sorts and I’m not sure if this is due to fitness or the rumoured fall out with KB.
Harper 2.5 – Simply awful. He wasn’t involved at all. He put no effort in and apart from shouting, flapping his arms around and taking the odd free kick he never got involved in the game. His performance last night really reminded me of Brian Howard in a red and white shirt.
MONTGOMERY 6 – Bets Player in a Blades shirt and he wasn’t outstanding. He did his usual array of foot ins and breaking up opposition play, but also got involved going forward. He utilised the ball quite well and looked accomplished at times.
Quinn 4 – Didn’t get involved at all, like the rest of the midfield. He did put some effort in, but most of it was chasing the ball.
Henderson 4 – Didn’t win a header all night and never had a sniff of a chance.
Cresswell 4.5 – Same as Henderson. I’ve given him an extra half a point for sheer effort. He ran and ran, although it was to little effect.
Subs
Fortune 3 – The guy is out of his depth. He looked slow, off the pace, not strong enough and poor positionally.
Yeates 5 – His fist touch he whacked the ball high in the air and about 50 yards and I though ‘I know why KB singed him!?!?’ But to be fair he improved. He got involved and showed the odd moment of class, such as his ball into the box close to the end.
