Elsecar_Blade
Active Member
Despite my heart being in Bury yesterday afternoon, I made use of my wife's season ticket and went along to check out two of SUFC's promotion rivals at the Rust Bucket yesterday afternoon as league leaders Charlton Athletic travelled up to face Sheffield Wednesday. With the Addicks in good form all season and the Owls fans disputing the alleged 'hoofball' claims of United fans, I was expecting a display of excellent attacking football laden with goals and excitement. How bloody wrong I was.
Look, I'm going to try and be objective about Wednesday. But there is no denying it. What I witnessed yesterday was akin to something I'm very familiar with. I've seen Blackwell's Blades and let me tell you all, it was very, very similar.
First off, Charlton Athletic. The league leaders. Not outstanding but, like at t'Lane earlier in the season, effective and organised. They were up for matching the physical nature of the Owls and this allowed them to repel most attacks and counter. Although I saw little going forward to make me tremble in my boots for SUFC next week, I think that they have the potential to be better going forward. They only needed one moment of magic at Hillsborough and they got it through a wonderful free kick from Johnnie Jackson. Bradley Wright Phillips was quiet but burst into life twice and could have scored a couple. Yann Kermorgant battled well against the giant defence of Wednesday and Danny Green on the right wing looks to be the guy that makes them tick. They also have two full backs who are good going forward - Solly on the right and Wiggins on the left. Wiggins particularly impressed me. On a par with Lowton going forward but better defensively. Wish we had him. It'll be interesting to see how the game goes at the Valley next week. United's football might cause the Addicks more problems but they will be full of confidence after this win which gives them a gap to play with. They can play knowing that even if United beat them, they will stay top of the league. Their main strength looks to be defensively where Morrison and Taylor were excellent; nothing fancy, they just defend well and they are well supported by excellent full backs. What I didn't see is how they cope with the ball around their feet - United will provide the Addicks defence with a sterner test in my humble opinion.
Onto the Wednesday. Since derby day, my favourite word to their fans has been 'Hoof!' and they consistently deny it. I'm told that they do get the ball forward quickly (a la Warnock, Blackwell) and then they play off their front men by exploiting the wings. I'm also told that in the centre of midfield, Semedo and Lines make them tick. I'm not calling them liars; I've just not seen no evidence of it. They only appear to have one game plan - granted, I'm sure that 80% of the time, it works. However, there are sides that will be able to cope with it and it appears that Megson has no plan B. Either Weaver, Batth, Jones or 'Big Reda' play the ball forward, Madine or O'Grady look to win the ball. It's not direct, it's aimless and hopeful and it appears that they just aim in the general direction of the front men to me. Telling fact: not once did a Wednesday player have control of the ball at his feet in the centre of the Addicks half yesterday. Whenever the ball was 20-40 yards out in the centre of the pitch, it was around Madine or O'Grady's chests or heads. Now, I don't know about the rest of you Blades, but that sounds like Blackwell tactics to me. To be fair, they do try to win the ball and play it off to the wings with Marshall and their new signing from Bury, Mike Jones. Tellingly though, when push came to shove and they needed a goal desperately, Megson took both of his wingers off and put another 6 foot plus defender on and Clinton Morrison. From then, it was even more hoofing forward. Coming out of Hillsborough, the main comment from the Owls fans was "It just wouldn't drop for us, today!" - well, if you're relying on getting the ball to drop for you, you've got problems. Charlton dealt with the aerial bombardment well and if United can do that and stay strong at the Sty in February, I see our current football causing them problems.
All in all, I wasn't impressed by the Owls and I saw nothing to fear. With Marshall looking to be on his way out - when he went off, his body language said he was off and he later tweeted his thanks to the Wednesdayites - I can't see where they can score goals other from things "dropping in the box" or from set plays and long throws. To think that the Wednesday fans have derided United for years over this tactic - amazing that they're putting up with it now. The buzz of excitement around the ground whenever they got a throw in near the Charlton box was, to be frank, rather embarrassing. I've tried to remain objective, I really have, but there was nothing to make me think that Wednesday are a good side. Maybe it's just the games that I've seen?
As for Charlton, funny one. Effective and organised, definitely. I didn't see lots of attacking flair and quality yesterday or on SKY when they played Orient the other week but I think it's probably unfair to judge on those two games - they were down to ten men at Orient and playing Wednesday, with their style, is never going to make a pretty football match. Like I say, Green, whilst not in outstanding form yesterday, looks to be a big player for them and their full backs are probably the best in the division. They are solid at the back and difficult to break down. And they have goals in BWP up front. I still expect them to finish as champions and hopefully we can join them in the automatic promotion spots. We are capable of going to the Valley next week though and getting a result.
UTB!
Look, I'm going to try and be objective about Wednesday. But there is no denying it. What I witnessed yesterday was akin to something I'm very familiar with. I've seen Blackwell's Blades and let me tell you all, it was very, very similar.
First off, Charlton Athletic. The league leaders. Not outstanding but, like at t'Lane earlier in the season, effective and organised. They were up for matching the physical nature of the Owls and this allowed them to repel most attacks and counter. Although I saw little going forward to make me tremble in my boots for SUFC next week, I think that they have the potential to be better going forward. They only needed one moment of magic at Hillsborough and they got it through a wonderful free kick from Johnnie Jackson. Bradley Wright Phillips was quiet but burst into life twice and could have scored a couple. Yann Kermorgant battled well against the giant defence of Wednesday and Danny Green on the right wing looks to be the guy that makes them tick. They also have two full backs who are good going forward - Solly on the right and Wiggins on the left. Wiggins particularly impressed me. On a par with Lowton going forward but better defensively. Wish we had him. It'll be interesting to see how the game goes at the Valley next week. United's football might cause the Addicks more problems but they will be full of confidence after this win which gives them a gap to play with. They can play knowing that even if United beat them, they will stay top of the league. Their main strength looks to be defensively where Morrison and Taylor were excellent; nothing fancy, they just defend well and they are well supported by excellent full backs. What I didn't see is how they cope with the ball around their feet - United will provide the Addicks defence with a sterner test in my humble opinion.
Onto the Wednesday. Since derby day, my favourite word to their fans has been 'Hoof!' and they consistently deny it. I'm told that they do get the ball forward quickly (a la Warnock, Blackwell) and then they play off their front men by exploiting the wings. I'm also told that in the centre of midfield, Semedo and Lines make them tick. I'm not calling them liars; I've just not seen no evidence of it. They only appear to have one game plan - granted, I'm sure that 80% of the time, it works. However, there are sides that will be able to cope with it and it appears that Megson has no plan B. Either Weaver, Batth, Jones or 'Big Reda' play the ball forward, Madine or O'Grady look to win the ball. It's not direct, it's aimless and hopeful and it appears that they just aim in the general direction of the front men to me. Telling fact: not once did a Wednesday player have control of the ball at his feet in the centre of the Addicks half yesterday. Whenever the ball was 20-40 yards out in the centre of the pitch, it was around Madine or O'Grady's chests or heads. Now, I don't know about the rest of you Blades, but that sounds like Blackwell tactics to me. To be fair, they do try to win the ball and play it off to the wings with Marshall and their new signing from Bury, Mike Jones. Tellingly though, when push came to shove and they needed a goal desperately, Megson took both of his wingers off and put another 6 foot plus defender on and Clinton Morrison. From then, it was even more hoofing forward. Coming out of Hillsborough, the main comment from the Owls fans was "It just wouldn't drop for us, today!" - well, if you're relying on getting the ball to drop for you, you've got problems. Charlton dealt with the aerial bombardment well and if United can do that and stay strong at the Sty in February, I see our current football causing them problems.
All in all, I wasn't impressed by the Owls and I saw nothing to fear. With Marshall looking to be on his way out - when he went off, his body language said he was off and he later tweeted his thanks to the Wednesdayites - I can't see where they can score goals other from things "dropping in the box" or from set plays and long throws. To think that the Wednesday fans have derided United for years over this tactic - amazing that they're putting up with it now. The buzz of excitement around the ground whenever they got a throw in near the Charlton box was, to be frank, rather embarrassing. I've tried to remain objective, I really have, but there was nothing to make me think that Wednesday are a good side. Maybe it's just the games that I've seen?
As for Charlton, funny one. Effective and organised, definitely. I didn't see lots of attacking flair and quality yesterday or on SKY when they played Orient the other week but I think it's probably unfair to judge on those two games - they were down to ten men at Orient and playing Wednesday, with their style, is never going to make a pretty football match. Like I say, Green, whilst not in outstanding form yesterday, looks to be a big player for them and their full backs are probably the best in the division. They are solid at the back and difficult to break down. And they have goals in BWP up front. I still expect them to finish as champions and hopefully we can join them in the automatic promotion spots. We are capable of going to the Valley next week though and getting a result.
UTB!
