Reading in March 2020 was the last time that Sheffield United played in front of a travelling contagion and, 16 months and a pandemic later, United once again played in front of a packed out away end but this time in more local climes with 3,200 Blades fans making the short journey to the Keepmoat Stadium to see United comfortably despatch Doncaster Rovers with a blistering performance that showed why these two teams were separated by two divisions last season. Let's have a look at the game.
Just shy of three weeks since our last friendly in Spain against Europa Point, United lined up against our nearby neighbours with a starting XI that you'd like to think would be close to what we'll be playing come opening day unless we have some incomings or, and I really hope this doesn't happen, outgoings. Aaron Ramsdale was back between the sticks after his inclusion in the England squad with Robinson, Egan, Osborn and Baldock sat just in front of him. The other very welcome return was that of Sander Berge with the Norwegian international starting his first game for United since our home loss to Manchester United back in December. He was partnered in midfield by Oli Norwood and another returning figure in John Fleck. Up top for United were McGoldrick, Mousset and Burke. The match got under way and was almost immediately was halted as a clash of heads lead to Rovers trialist Jayden Onen being taken off on a stretcher, I wish him all the best in his recovery and hope that he gets to feature for Rovers again soon! After the restart, United began probing but it would be Rovers who would have the first real opportunity of the game with Gardner seeing his shot roll wide of Ramsdale's right hand post. Rovers were back at it again this time and after good work down the right from Hiwula, the Donnie man manged to get a shot off at goal but the angle and the power in the shot worked against him as it was straight at Rammers. After this, United manged to get a foothold in the game and actually manged to open the scoring! Good pressing from Mousset saw him force Donnie's keeper into playing a ball across his box that Oli Burke acted fastest to and slotted home for his first goal of pre season and United's first in the game. United were fully in the ascendency now with Sander Berge and McGoldrick beginning to orchestrate play. It would be our big Norwegian geezer who would play a vital role in getting our second of the game with the ex Genk man gliding effortlessly through the Rovers midfield and backline then playing a ball to Osborn who saw an effort blocked but Mousset was there to tap home to double the Blades advantage. United continued to press and were rewarded with a third on the cusp of half time with Mousset being played in by Fleck with the Frenchman giving the goalkeeper the eyes and sending him the wrong way to get his second of the game and as the halftime whistle blew, it was a blood and thunder first half for United that left Rovers looking hapless. The start of the second half saw a few changes for United with Ramsdale, Berge and Mousset being replaced by Basham, Foderingham and Rhian Brewster with our record signing now sporting the number 7 shirt instead of 24. United started on the front foot in the second period with slick passing play and darts forward from Bash and Osborn being common during the first section of play in the second period. United would go very close to getting a fourth of the game just shy of the 55 minute mark with a Norwood corner meeting the head of Robinson with the ex Liverpool man's header cascading off of the bar and eventually being cleared by the Doncaster defence, United would once again go close on the hour mark with good work from McGoldrick and Baldock (the pass from Dave was *chef's kiss* very nice indeed) seeing George put the ball in the box for Brewster but unfortunately the keeper got to the ball before Rhian did. United's next attack allowed the away end to get a good view of what an Oli Burke sitter looks like in person with the Scottish international sending the ball into orbit after good work from Brewster and Baldock. At least the ball Simonsen sent into space in 2012 will now have a friend to keep it company. A platoon of changes were made shortly after this with Baldock, Egan, Robinson, Osborn, Norwood, Fleck and Burke all departing to be replaced by Jebbison, Lopata, Seriki, Lowe, Brunt, Slater, Freeman and Gordon. our new number 9 Jebbo was set free not long after coming on but his shot didn't trouble the keeper and was collected with relative ease. Just before the 75 minute mark, another corner was sent into the Rovers box with Lopata meeting it and sending it back across the box for Brewster who somehow missed the target from a few feet out. Bogle was brought on to replace Seriki (bit of a strange one unless injury was involved) and one of the contenders for YPOTY last year made an immediate impact getting the assist for our fourth and final goal of the game with his cross being headed home by Freeman to see us 4-0 up. United had a few more opportunities in the dying embers of the game with the pick of the bunch probably being Reagan Slater's effort from about 25 yards out that was tipped wide by the Doncaster trialist keeper but the final whistle blew with the Blades getting our second win of pre season and sending the 3,200 home very happy. This was a really commanding performance from United. Our class and dynamism that was missing so much last season really shone through in this game with Doncaster looking like they didn't know what to do with us at some points in the game as we just swarmed them. Stand outs from last night have to be Berge, Mousset and Fleck in the first half with Sander looking every bit of the Champions League calibre player that we know he's capable of being. If we keep hold of him for this season, he'll be a massive boost to our promotion aspirations. Flecky reminded us all of how good he can be during that first period with his trademark tenacity and verve on show and his assist for Moose's goal being the least he deserved and Lys Mousset well, what a game for the lad. He pressed the Rovers defence throughout the first 45 tremendously and he played a crucial role in all three of our first half goals. If he can stay fit and more importantly focused. We could have a hell of a player on our hands. Second half standouts were probably Bash, Bogle and Jebbo with all three men driving forward whenever they wanted with Jebbo being a constant threat when he came on. Overall, a very, very good performance tonight. Now, onwards to Saturday where our old friends Norwich will be the visitors to The Lane, yay. Until next time, UTB.
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After 7 months of some of the worst football that the Premier League has probably ever seen, Sheffield United were finally relegated from the English top flight after our, admittedly narrow, loss to Wolves on the 17th. There's probably a bit of irony somewhere that the team that beat us at the start of this wretched season is the team that eventually beats us to send us back down to the Championship. To be fair to United, it was something of an achievement to prolong our stay in the top flight into April after looking dead and buried by January and maybe even February. Right, let's start the review of the month then.
A Brief(ish) Review Of The Month A clash between the two Yorkshire representatives was The Blades first test of the month with a visit to the team that have taken over our title of media darlings from last season in Leeds United (or, should that be Marcelo Bielsa's Leeds United?) Leeds laid siege to United's goal from the word go with Aaron Ramsdale continuing his run of good form with a slew of impressive saves to keep the score to a respectable level. Rammers was eventually beaten however with Jack Harrison converting from about 4 yards out after good work from Leeds saw him receive the ball just in front of our goal with Harrison duly finishing. Leeds continued their onslaught on the Blades goal but it would be United who would have the last laugh of the half with Ben Osborn finishing off our first real move of purpose in the game to see us into the break with the scores level. However, mere minutes after the restart, Leeds had the lead once again with Phil Jagielka unfortunately slamming a Leeds cross into his own net to secure them the 3 points and condemn us to another loss. More misery was piled onto United eight days later with Arsenal visiting The Lane and drubbing us 3-0. Alexandre Lacazette got two for himself with the returning Gabriel Martinelli getting one in between the Frenchman's double to leave us needing a result against Wolves to at least extend our stay in the division a little bit longer. That result didn't come however and, despite a positive performance against the team from Molineux, United got what they deserved from playing 7 months of awful football and were relegated to the Championship after Willian Jose converted an Adama Traore cross just after the hour mark. United actually created enough chances to win the game but, as has been the case over the course of our two seasons in the top flight, we didn't convert them. Our last game of the month saw the visit of Brighton to Bramall Lane and wouldn't you know it, we actually won the game! David McGoldrick once again slammed home after some poor defending from Brighton saw the ex Republic Of Ireland international keep a cool head to give us the lead and the eventual winner. Brighton could feel hard done by after having a goal ruled out in the second half but it didn't really matter in the end, just let us have this Brighton. You stayed up. Let us be happy about winning. Please. Player Of The Month: Aaron Ramsdale Yep, it's another POTM award for Rammers even after he conceded 6 goals in 4 games. A heroic performance against Leeds was the pick of his performances from the month but in pretty much every game that we played this month Rammers pulled off at least one amazing save. The reason why we were still only losing games by the odd goal was by and large down to Rammers. It's a real shame that, unlike last season, we were creating nothing to at least get a goal to get something out of a game and that all of Aaron's good work was ultimately for nothing. But it was another strong month for the former England Under 23's keeper and it's really good to be finally able to have a good goalkeeper that we actually own and don't have to worry about sending back to Man United and hoping they send him back if they feel like it. Rammers is here, and Rammers is ours.# Goal Of The Month: Ben Osborn VS Leeds United, 3rd April 2021 This was probably the most difficult month to decide a GOTM for because both goals we scored this month had a slight tinge of the fortunate against them. I think Ben Osborn's first official goal for United just about edges it out over Dave's winner against Brighton due to the build up play just before it. There were genuine shades of some of the overloading in the opposition box that we saw so many times last season in this goal with Oli McBurnie's eventual shot on goal only being parried as far as Osborn in the Leeds box with our answer to the Energiser Bunny just about getting the ball over the line despite Luke Ayling's best efforts. A deserved goal for a player that always gives 100% no matter what's going on around him. That was a pretty decent little watch wasn't it? A very comfortable and commanding 3-0 win with both teams in both halves putting in a good shift in hot conditions. The opposition might not have been the strongest but that doesn't take away from the professional performance that we put in. Enough build up, let's get on with the review.
United's first half XI saw a slight tweak on our usual 3-5-2/5-3-2 formation with Jokanovic putting us out in a 3-4-3 with Egan, Robinson and Basham in front of Foderingham with a midfield four of Bogle, Norwood, Osborn and, fresh from the Euro's, Rhys Norrington-Davies. Our front three was spearheaded by Lys Mousset with McGoldrick and Brewster on the either flank. Our opponents lined up in a 4-1-4-1 formation. The Blades started out on the front foot and we had the first chance of the game within the first ten minutes after Brewster stole the ball from the Europa defence and after a short drive forward lashed a shot wide from about 25 yards. Despite not being able to get out of their half for the first ten to fifteen minutes, Europa Point would have the next best chance of the game with none of our backline looking like they wanted to close down as one of their players drove through our defence. A shot from the centre of the box was handily saved by Foderingham with our no.18 getting down well to save the shot that may have been disallowed for offside had it gone in. This chance proved a bit of a wake up call for United and we immediately went up the other end with RND and Mousset linking up well with our LWB being denied by the keeper from very close range. Norrington-Davies would be the provider for another very good chance shortly after with good work from McGoldrick eventually seeing the ball played out to our Welshman who played a lovely ball into Brewster with our record signing heading wide with the goal at his mercy. Bash would be the next to go close with his header from a Norwood corner hitting the bar and the ball eventually being cleared despite some Blades player around the keeper United would finally make good of the chances they were creating however with an Oli Norwood corner (I know, what a shocker) being met by John Egan to head home with a bullet header to open his and our account for the pre season. United had a second not long after this with Lys Mousset slotting home after beating the offside trap to put us two up which is how it remain until the whistle blew. Second half and a completely new XI for United with the same formation. It saw Baldock, Lopata and Gordon take over the backline with Eastwood behind them. The midfield saw Seriki, Slater, Freeman and Lowe all make their pre season bows with the front three becoming Jebbison, Smith and Brunt. Tyler Smith made an immediate impact off the bench with a squared pass from Freeman seeing the youngster have the goal at his mercy and he somehow missed the goal completely with the ball eventually being recycled to him again with his effort this time being cleared off the line. United continued to press for a third with Seriki, Brunt, Freeman and Baldock all looking lively. Eventually, we would get our third goal with Smith eventually getting his goal with a well placed finish after a peach of a pass from Lowe set him free. United continued the press with Lopata going close from corners. Despite chances falling to Jebbison, Freeman and Lowe, United were unable to add a fourth and finished the game with a commanding 3-0 win. A first victory under Jokanovic and it could have been more than the three we did score. It was a good performance all around with flashes of brilliance creeping in, mostly coming from our wing backs with Norrington-Davies and Seriki causing problems for the Europa Point backline during the 45 minutes they both played. It was an entertaining game from a United perspective and was a good way for Slav to have a look at the squad and get those all important minutes in legs! So we're heading back home on Tuesday and then, fingers crossed, by the 28th we should all be able to have a bit of an away day and see United at the Keepmoat taking on Doncaster Rovers! Until next time, UTB. Were you expecting something else? I know, it's not the continuing review of the season that I've been putting on the old blog every so often. It's not like anything else big is happening in the next 24 hours is there? I jest, of course I know that in 24 hours time we'll all know who the next winner of the Men's Wimbledon Tournament is! And that's all that's happening, well, that and our first game under Slavisa Jokanovic as we end off our week long stay in Spain tonight with a game against a very interesting outfit in Europa Point. So, what's been going on from a Blades point of view and what about learning a little bit more about our opposition? Read on to find out more about both.
It's been a fairly quiet start to the pre season period for The Blades with no new signings in and no real departures of note on the out as of yet. Slavisa officially joined United at the start of the month and the players came back not long after that with training at Shirecliffe beginning again with the only notable absentees being Jack O'Connell, Sander Berge, John Fleck, Aaron Ramsdale, Kean Bryan and John Egan although all of those player were on international duty over the course of the summer or are suffering from long term injury or are yet to sign a new contract. Michael Verrips and Luke Freeman returned from loan spells away from the club and after a week or two back at Shirecliffe, Slav decided that we needed to do some warm weather training and so squad of 29 including 8 players who featured heavily in the exploits of our youth teams over the course of the past year. Whilst out there, Egan has joined up with the squad and we've also had some new members of staff join. Chema Sanz joins from Valencia to become Slav's assistant, Marco Cesarini reunites with Slav as head medical services and rounding it out, Rafael Cristobal joins as head of performance. That's pretty much all the Blades prep that has been done ahead of tonight's game, now let's take a look at the opposition... Europa Point must have one of the coolest badges in football. Yeah, I said it. If you've not seen it, there's a lighthouse on it whilst atop the club name there is the big rock that is synonymous with Gibraltar. It's very cool, I don't know if I've mentioned that enough yet. Anyway, so, what is are our opponents all about then? Well, they were formed in 2014 and have spent the majority of their 7 year existence plying their trade in the second tier but currently reside in the top National League of the country after finishing second in the 2018-19 season. Last year, they finished 8th in the league and made a run to the quarter finals of The Rock Cup (another very cool thing). The thing that sets Europa Point apart from pretty much any other club maybe in the world is how open they are about being a stepping stone for players to join other clubs with their nickname even being 'A Stepping Stone Club'. This is because they focus their recruitment of players on either homegrown talent from the island itself or, more intriguingly, by hosting trials open to players that have been released by teams in England, Spain and non EU countries with the aim of getting them back into competitive football. It's a recruitment strategy that something that you don't really see in football anymore with Europa Point giving those who have been discarded by other clubs a second chance at making a living for themselves in football. It's very admirable and should be applauded. They're an interesting outfit and should provide a stern test for us tonight. It'll be interesting to see what type of line up Slavisa picks tonight, will it be made up solely of first team players or will there be a mixture of experience and youth? Will we see a change of system or will it be the 3-5-2/5-3-2 that we've seen over the course of the 5 years. Hopefully, all those questions and more should be answered by 8PM(ish) tonight as well as the match hopefully being a good one. I'll see you at some point for the review, until then, UTB. So... This was the month when arguably the most successful era of Sheffield United Football Club since the late 80's-early 90's ended. After 5 years at the helm of his boyhood club and after taking us from being a mid table League One team to a top 10 Premier League team, Chris Wilder stepped down as Sheffield United manager on the 12th of March, two days before our match against Leicester. It was a bombshell moment that shook just about everyone associated with the red and white half of Sheffield football. There were grumblings that Wilder might be sacked or leave United at some point during the season with the rumours at their heaviest over the Christmas/New Year period but then that time passed and it looked like he'd at least stay on until the end of the season then reassess from there but resigning in March with more or less a month of the season left? It just didn't make sense and still doesn't seem to make much sense now. But it happened. It really happened, and it was a really sad way to send off the man who revived this club from a poisoned chalice to being the darlings of the nation for much of 2019/20. Instead of going out at a full Bramall Lane with all four sides of the ground serenading him being 'one of our own', Wilder left with stadiums empty and only the frustrated growls of his squad conceding goal after goal to send him off into the sunset. It's an interesting month to say the least folks, let's get on with the review.
A Brief(ish) Review Of The Month Aston Villa were the first visitors to The Lane in March and it's fair to say that the fortunes of both clubs have decidedly changed since we reopened football in England back in June. Villa went from fighting relegation to knocking on the door of the top 10 with a team filled with expensive players whereas United went from knocking on the door of European football to being rock bottom of the league and all but relegated. But when Villa visited on the 3rd of March, it would be United who came away with the 3 points after an absolute tour de force of a goal from David McGoldrick put away The Villains despite Phil Jagielka being sent off during the final third of the game in acrimonious circumstances. But United held on with a brilliant rear guard performance. Three days later and we were brought back down to Earth with a thud in what turned out to be Wilder's last game in charge for United. A convincing 2-0 win for the visitors with a Ward-Prowse penalty and a Che Adams goal (of course) was not the send off that Wilder perhaps thought he'd get when he eventually left The Blades. Two days after Wilder left The Lane, we travelled to the King Power with under 23's boss Paul Heckingbottom in charge and a very subdued performance led to a thumping 5-0 loss to The Foxes with Billy Sharp's post match interview painting the picture of a squad that was still in shock about the events that transpired a couple of days prior. Our last game of the month saw a visit to Stamford Bridge for our FA Cup Quarter Final tie with Chelsea and despite putting up a very valiant fight against The Blues, an Oli Norwood own goal and a Hakim Ziyech sucker punch right at the death saw us exit the cup and have virtually nothing left to play for in the season. Player Of The Month: Aaron Ramsdale It might come as a bit of a shock that the goalkeeper of a team that conceded 9 goals in 4 games is the POTM for March but that total could have been a lot larger than 9 if it wasn't for the exploits of our no.1. We probably wouldn't have won the one game we did this month if it wasn't for Rammers. After a, it's safe to say, poor start to his United return, Rammers really turned it on in the second half of the season with his performances post New Year seeing him basically be the difference between a battering and a respectable score line that gave us chance to get something out of a game. Whisper it quietly but at times during this second half of the season, he's been better than Dean Henderson and was probably the most in form keeper in the Premier League. He's more than earned his call up to the EURO 2020 squad and hopefully he'll be our no.1 for many years to come. Goal Of The Month: David McGoldrick VS Aston Villa, 3rd March 2021 It is the only goal that we scored in March but it was an absolute worldy of a goal that I believe was robbed of being voted our goal of the season. When David McGoldrick was compared to Zidane in our match against Everton in May, this is a goal that is further proof of that comparison. Picking up the ball just inside the Villa half, Dave twisted away from a Villa defender and sprayed out a wonderful cross field ball to Baldock that our wing back trapped and began to advance towards goal. As George worked his way to just inside the penalty box, Dave was wandering unmarked and unnoticed by everyone in a black shirt to the six yard box. George managed to squirm free of the attentions of a Villa defender and fired a ball across the face of goal that looked like a shot but, actually, turned out to be a good pass to that man McGoldrick with our no. 17 firing the ball high into the roof of the Bramall Lane end goal to give us the winner and score what should have been our goal of the season. It's an absolute tragedy that it didn't win GOTS and could be more blasphemous than us actually getting relegated. |
AuthorHi my name is John and i will be giving my thoughts on the blades matches and all blades related news in this section Archives
November 2022
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