well done the the 11+ on the field saturday

[Pinchy]

How anyone can actually defend and even seek to justify the turgid, monotonous, one-dimensional, alehouse, neanderthal, sterile, mind-numbing, dinosaur-reviving, low-flying aircraft endangering, purist-nauseating, insomniac-curing garbage that Blacko the Clown serves up as an excuse for football is quite beyond me.

Apart from being the aesthetic equivalent of Bernard Manning in a porn movie it simply DOES NOT WORK! The days of Wimbledon beating Liverpool are long gone [Thank the Pele] and will never return.

The only way to succeed, certainly at Premiership and Championship levels, is to keep possession of the football, pass it and move into space to receive it again. Done properly you end up in the opposition penalty area on a regular basis with players in good positions and pop in a goal or two [Sorry Blacko, did I lose you back there?] whilst the opposition are starved of the ball for long periods and don't know what to do when they get it [Ah, you understand that bit, Kevin!].

This season is a turning point, one way or another. Blacko will not deliver promotion. Either we change significantly the way we play [which axiomatically involves a change of manager] and enter at least the 20th, if not the 21st, century or we stick with the man in the long shoes, red nose and orange wig, in which case the circus will perform to ever-reducing numbers.

Roll up!

Join the Campaign for Real Football!

 

[Fiery Blade]

Just watched Watford beat QPR playing some great football
Thats the type of stuff I want to see down at the lane!
Cheers from Gran Canaria
Fiery XXX

 

[alcoblade]

How anyone can actually defend and even seek to justify the turgid, monotonous, one-dimensional, alehouse, neanderthal, sterile, mind-numbing, dinosaur-reviving, low-flying aircraft endangering, purist-nauseating, insomniac-curing garbage that Blacko the Clown serves up as an excuse for football is quite beyond me.

Apart from being the aesthetic equivalent of Bernard Manning in a porn movie it simply DOES NOT WORK! The days of Wimbledon beating Liverpool are long gone [Thank the Pele] and will never return.

The only way to succeed, certainly at Premiership and Championship levels, is to keep possession of the football, pass it and move into space to receive it again. Done properly you end up in the opposition penalty area on a regular basis with players in good positions and pop in a goal or two [Sorry Blacko, did I lose you back there?] whilst the opposition are starved of the ball for long periods and don't know what to do when they get it [Ah, you understand that bit, Kevin!].

This season is a turning point, one way or another. Blacko will not deliver promotion. Either we change significantly the way we play [which axiomatically involves a change of manager] and enter at least the 20th, if not the 21st, century or we stick with the man in the long shoes, red nose and orange wig, in which case the circus will perform to ever-reducing numbers.

Roll up!

Join the Campaign for Real Football!

good post and it made me laugh, but surely Stoke prove that it can still work.

My problem isn't really the long ball, it's that we're crap at playing that too. Under Warnock we attacked. We could throw the kitchen sink. Under Blackwell we concentrate on defending (we're crap at that too) and pinching goals on the counter via long ball. Our forwards are dropped because they can't defend.

Can you imagine Ndlovu thriving under Blackwell? He did under Warnock, with both being considered "long ball".

I don't think "long ball" and the "beautiful game" are broad enough to describe the spectrum of ways that football can be played. Sadly, "shite" succinctly describes the way we play.

UTB

 

[Micalijo]

Fair comments for me Alco. Been some good stuff on this thread in my opinion.

Got to be careful because I think the performance against Newcastle was somewhere near what I would call entertaining so it can be done and PNE last May was clearly a brilliant effort. I accept this is football and it can't happen every week but we are getting nothing memorable at all. The way to keep fans of a mid-table club happy is I think by playing some attractive stuff, a decent home record and a few goals - we've seen a few goals I suppose but in terms of ticket selling stuff it is a million miles away from what McCabe requires.

At least now Watford are 6th Blackwell can claim for a day that we have beaten a top side this term. I know they are id deep trouble but I bet they don't go bust and it must pain McCabe to see them up there - then again I bet it doesn't really bother him because in the long term we will be above thme won't we lads?

 

[alcoblade]

Fair comments for me Alco. Been some good stuff on this thread in my opinion.

Got to be careful because I think the performance against Newcastle was somewhere near what I would call entertaining so it can be done and PNE last May was clearly a brilliant effort. I accept this is football and it can't happen every week but we are getting nothing memorable at all. The way to keep fans of a mid-table club happy is I think by playing some attractive stuff, a decent home record and a few goals - we've seen a few goals I suppose but in terms of ticket selling stuff it is a million miles away from what McCabe requires.

At least now Watford are 6th Blackwell can claim for a day that we have beaten a top side this term. I know they are id deep trouble but I bet they don't go bust and it must pain McCabe to see them up there - then again I bet it doesn't really bother him because in the long term we will be above thme won't we lads?

I looked at the PNE performance and took that as a sign of the way we could play and hopefully were going to play, and was very supportive of Blackwell at the time. But naming a few perofrmances after 2 years in charge says it all really.

I've come to realise that the one off good entertaining performance is just a random act that will occur from time to time, with the turgid grind being the norm. I want better.

UTB

 

[Wards]

Just a point that struck home with me is that I don't mind us being mid-table for a few years if we're changing the philosophy of the club, trying to play decent football and generally changing the whole image of SUFC. I'd rather that than put up with the turgid dross I'm witnessing week in week out at the moment, even if it did get us back up - in the long term I don't think it's a sustainable way to achieve success and retain our current fan base. If we are still playing this way by the end of the season I reckon ST sales will be down sharpish and the average attendence down near 20k again.

Anyway, can't say I like moaning but good to get it off the chest now and again! Hope to see a good Blades win tonight WITH a decent performance

 

[mattbianco1]

i really don't recall many teams getting out of this division by playing poorly, looking erratic but winning around 1 in three games.

Stoke City. And they still play the same but grind results out.

Or why when you're playing football manager as manager of Real Madrid you sign Richard Cresswell cos you know his sort and should be able to ease him in

Really?

I must admit to not going to Plymouth however from the radio I'd say the tactics didn't seem to work well at all and we struggled to create much until after cresswell had beeen taken off..

And the manager noticed this and changed it and hey presto, we win. Is that "Blackwell, shit manager, should've never started with Cresswel" OR "Blackwell made the correct tactical decission and changed it for the last 20 minutes, resulting in a victory" ?

Suppose on here where many people speak in monotone it is the first comment.

I was pretty happy against Bristol to see what we could do with Evans and Camara playing together, I thought more than anything we did ok because Bristol weren't prepared for us playing like we did.

Got your wires crossed mate?

You must be refering to the "ABYSSMAL", "SHOCKING", "HORRENDOUS" (to quote a few) performance against Peterborough. As neither Camara or Evans featured against Bristol City we played 4-5-1 and booted it to the big man Henderson for him to score all 3 goals.

Being a Blade, i know this. :thumbup:

 

[Wards]

I wouldn't say Stoke played poorly when they got promoted, they played bloody well in an awful yet effective style of play. We try the same style and are about as effective at it as a chocolate fireguard.

 

[Blade]

sorry, of course that should have read Peterborough. I do still feel the first 45 mins at least of that game we saw some decent football, for me it was only the last 45 mins when Blackwell shat himself that we looked increasingly under the cosh.

As for being more a blade than me because I accidently said Bristol I hope most people understood what I was getting at, to make a mistake after putting together a 670 word post on my thoughts isn't going to stop me getting to sleep tonight. Regardless of the smiley I think that comment stinks.

And stoke won 21 games the year they went up actually but never mind just make stats up rather than do some research. I also happen to think although not amazing football they played some better stuff than we've seen yet that year, including taking us apart at home and winning 3-0 (although admittedly we still had Robson in charge!)

And yes I'd suggest I feel Blackwell was stupid expecting Cresswell to do much better than he did after a long layout. It sounded like he hardly got a sniff of anything played up to his head and on the deck it sounded like most passes were out to the channels for him to chase which we must have intended and is never going to be ideal for him.

Anyway I thought this thread was boring you?

 

[BornOnShorehamStreet]

Just watched Watford beat QPR playing some great football
Thats the type of stuff I want to see down at the lane!
Cheers from Gran Canaria
Fiery XXX

If you want to see football like that then p*ss off to Watford...

 

[mattbianco1]

Anyone would think we are in the hunt for automatic listening to you Matt.

If WBA lose tonight we're 7 points behind them. We clawed back 15 points from Birmingham last year. Don't forget West Brom haven't had a sticky patch yet. We've got ours out of the way hopefully.

Keep the faith!!!

And stoke won 21 games the year they went up actually but never mind just make stats up rather than do some research. I also happen to think although not amazing football they played some better stuff than we've seen yet that year, including taking us apart at home and winning 3-0 (although admittedly we still had Robson in charge!)

I was meaning that Stoke played like we play. Long direct ball. We've now won 8 with 25 to play. If we win 13 games from the remaining 25 games then we will reach the 21 wins Stoke obtained. Personally at a quick glance at fixtures we should win...

Preston H
Watford A
Reading H
Derby H
Bristol C H
Peterboro A
Plymouth H
Blackpool H
Doncaster A
Scunthorpe H
Barnsley H
Coventry H
Swansea H.... thats 13 easily winable games. We wont win them all but we'll win some away games that i haven't stated. That's 70points we'd end up with if we lose every game i haven't stated. But.. Middlesbro & QPR both at home are winnable. Pigs away.

70 points wasn't enough for play offs last year but should be this year.

Have faith boyo!

 

[TAMUS]

Donny away i dont think we will get owt there after the Drubbing they gave us last year [ yes i know we fluked a win.]

 

[davidpinder]

Your living in dream land, just because we have beaten some bad teams now it automatic promotion? We haven't played well yet.

 

[bricktop]

Its doesn't mean that because we haven't played well yet, that means we will get promotion.

It means that if we start playing well then we have every chance of getting close to automatic promotion.

There is a lot of football to be played this season, but at the moment we have not been able to enjoy the benefits of a settled first XI, and i think at times it has been telling.

A couple of things that are making me sit up and pay attention are the fact we are now unbeaten for a games under Blackwell, and long unbeaten runs without playing paticularly well are something of a trademark of Blackwell's and usually get us near to where we want to be, and quite often teams who go on long unbeaten runs without playing paticularly well are usually the teams who are in the mix at the business end of the season.

The other thing that is exciting me is Lee Williamson, i think he looks like a cracking player and a fine piece of business, and if he can keep it up, he offers something different to what we have got, and what we have had and i think he can really put his stamp on things and get us playing well

 

[LouTheBlade]

Good grief!!! Its all doom and gloom on here. Like many United fans I can have a moan at the best of times but some people just want everything don't they?! I don't think we have played particularly well yet either but under the circumstances we arent doing that badly.

I don't worry too much about how well we have played in individual games. Look at some of the teams that have been to the lane this year. Sadly I don't rate what we're up against either. Beyond Newcastle and West Brom its a pretty average division and I doubt anyone other than those teams would survive in the Premier League.

In terms of our opposition ive seen anything ranging from average sides to complete dross this season. For example ive watched Forest on three or four occasions this season including against us and ive never seen such an ordinary team in my life. If they can sit in third, anyone has a chance! The only thing close to decent passing ive seen in the last few weeks was from Peterborough and they're bottom so it just shows the league is much of a muchness.

Lets just see how things pan out - once we get key players back and move on the wantaway ones (no names mentioned) we can judge then.

 

[Robbie]

Personally at a quick glance at fixtures we should win...

Preston H
Watford A
Reading H
Derby H
Bristol C H
Peterboro A
Plymouth H
Blackpool H
Doncaster A
Scunthorpe H
Barnsley H
Coventry H
Swansea H

Last season from those games....

Watford away Lost
Reading home Lost
Blackpool home Draw
Coventry home Draw
Didn't play P'boro, Scunny (but we drew at home versus them the season prior)

And that was with a better team....

Should and do are 2 totally different things.

There's been games this season we should have won but we didn't

 

[tomtheblade]

It's very tight and all up in the air at the moment.

We could be as high as 5th or as low as 12/13th come sat evening

I think there's cause for optimisim, pessimisim and neutrality right now!

 

[Fiery Blade]

Its a very tight league this season - low on quality hence our ability to bounce back after such a horrendous run of results to be just two points from a play off place.
But we have been far from convincing and only a poor Palace side made us look half decent last Saturday!
Peterborough, Plymouth, Forest, Barnsley and Bristol City were far from convincing and we have had more than our fair share of luck.
We are not out of the woods or turned that elusive corner yet We are some way from a quality side and reliance on the likes of Cresswell, Monty and Quinny does not fill me with confidence!

 

[SheepdipBlade]

People keep saying the division is low on quality - but the Premiership isn't what it once was either - with teams like Pompey, Hull, Burnley, Wolves and Stoke.

Where's all the quality gone then???

 

[Pinchy]

It's very tight and all up in the air at the moment.

We could be as high as 5th or as low as 12/13th come sat evening

I think there's cause for optimisim, pessimisim and neutrality right now!

I used to be indecisive but I'm not so sure now.

 

[LouTheBlade]

What will be, will be. I wouldnt necessarily suggest that the Championship is completely devoid of quality, more that it is full of very average teams who are all falible in one way or another. There are some poor teams in it, some are near the bottom and some are higher up due to good fortune, physical tactics or whatever else.

United will be there or there abouts at the end of the season and that is purely because we are one of the best six teams in the division, regardless of whether we are good bad or indifferent. I can only truly accept that West Brom and Newcastle are better sides. I dont belive for a minute that the rest are any better than us. Look at how tight it is from 3rd downwards. Those playoff places are anybodies.

I don't understand the Cresswell bashing by the way, hes always been a decent player - as proved at Preston and Leeds. I don't care if he used to play for Wednesday, he's a blade now so get behind him.

 

[tomtheblade]

I never understood this 'div2/div 1/championship is poor' comment, made by many premier league pundits amongst others. I mean, poor compared to what? Compared to the Prem? Well of course it is but it's the division below what do you expect?

If they mean compared to previous years then which previous years? At what time was the 2nd tier of English football full of wonderful teams playing fantastic flowing magnificent football?

If they mean the drop in quality from Prem-> Champ is greater than the drop in quality from Champ-> league 1, then maybe slightly (though i'd argue to the contrary), but that's because i bet if there was somehow some sort of 'Quality-O-Meter', it would range in direct proportion to the amount of money within that league. The money isn't an even gradient so the quality won't be either.

If a division is really tight, as ours often is, then does that mean that we're all really good, all really average, or all really crap? I thnk it's more exciting not knowing who's going to win nearly every game anyway.
In the end, who really cares? The fans still enjoy watching the matches. Some Champ clubs clubs get higher average attendances than a fair few Prem clubs. The whole idea smacks of Premier league snobbery to me.

/rant over

 

[LouTheBlade]

A realistic insight as ever from tomtheblade - fair play mate. My take on the difference in quality is that there are subtle differences between the divisions, which creates the image that one division is stronger than the next.

For instance there is this engraved belief that Premier League games have a higher tempo and are more 'franetic' so to speak. This isn't actually the case. If people actually sit and watch your average top flight game closely - the high tempo game is all in the final third. Think about it - how often do we see the likes of Man Utd and Chelsea casually passing the ball around their own half - it only explodes in the final third of the pitch, when they find space to attack.

The main difference as we all know is that Premier League forwards are more clinical and will punish 99% of the mistakes. As you work your way down the leagues more and more mistakes go unpunished. The main difference is in the quality of the forwards.

It winds me up when pundits frown and tut at a championship player knocking a 40 yard ball to someones chest or head. Yet when Steven Gerrard or Paul Scholes does it (and thats at least half a dozen times a game) its all of a sudden 'a magnificent ball.' Even the experts spew garbage at times. People say what they want to believe - be it a fan or an ex-player.