Well... that was a poor way to go into the international break. Yes, instead of going into the week long break to play international football during a pandemic (which is a really, REALLY, good idea, totally) with a bang, United enter the first break of the season with a whimper with a pretty lucky 0-0 draw against Luton Town. This has led to more questions (mainly from the fans, but also from Slav) about the direction that the football club is looking to go in. We have a manager that has a proven track record of winning at this level and we still have players like Sander Berge and George Baldock that have courted interest from some of the top teams in the game over the course of the summer but are still here. So why have we only managed two points from a possible twelve? It's a worrying conundrum that has roots in more or less every aspect of the club. But that's a discussion for another time, for now, let's have a look at this weekend's draw.
After our cup exploits in the week, United deployed a new XI to what started against The Rams with Wes Foderingham making his second league appearance with Baldock, Basham, Egan, Davies and Norrington-Davies coming back to start. Fleck, Berge and Norwood manned the midfield with McBurnie and Sharp, fresh off the matchwinner against Derby, leading the line. I didn't actually see that much of the first half with my laptop appearing to struggle with the fact that my VPN said it was in Osaka, Japan rather than an attic in Hillsborough, Sheffield. I gather I missed probably our best chances of the game with Baldock and McBurnie going close along with Luton going close. When my feed did finally settle down, I wished it hadn't because it was one of the most boring twenty minutes of football I've ever seen. Most of the action was happening on the right hand side of the pitch with the only battle on the pitch seeming to be which team would have the most throw in's. In between this battle of the throws, George Baldock went down injured and was replaced by Jayden Bogle. United did ping a few balls into the Luton box but nothing found a United shirt and Luton probably had the better chances of that half with one of their forwards just failing to reach the ball when played through with just Fodders to beat. But the halftime whistle went with the spoils so far being shared. United began the second half a bit brighter than they ended the first with Luke Freeman making his first league appearance after replacing Basham at the break. Our probing passing around the Luton box didn't really amount to much and we were nearly made to pay for our profligacy for creating chances when Luton began to take charge and fashion some real chances. Fodders decided that he was bored doing very little and a ball being played around our penalty box found the feet of a Luton striker but Fodders got away with it with the Luton player hitting the bar. The Hatters continued to press and efforts from James Bree and Onyedimna were unfortunate to not find the back of the net. United did press a bit as the game entered the final ten minutes but again we were left ruing our ability to create chances and the less said about the Brewster 'cross' the better. So we came off a little bit lucky to have a draw but at least we didn't lose or concede a last minute goal again. Two points from twelve is pretty poor to say the least and with the players and, all respect to the teams we've played so far this season, the teams we've played so far this season we really should be doing better than second bottom in the division after the first month of play. It's been a frustrating start to say the least for Slav with players taking time to adapt to his ideas as well as a lack of manoeuvring in the transfer market leading to questions being asked. Fingers crossed that we can get more bodies into the building before the deadline tonight and that by the time we play Peterborough, our squad looks a whole lot healthier. Until next time, UTB.
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The Apollo Moon Landing. England winning the World Cup. The end of Dick and Dom in Da Bungalow. These events are all things that you'll remember where you were when you witnessed them. Sheffield United have had a fair few of those moments over the years and another one of those 'where were you when *blank* happened?" last night. Just shy of 7,000 Blades fans were there to finally see Rhian Brewster open his goalscoring account for Sheffield United which proved to be the match winner as we advanced to round two of the Carabao Cup and, more importantly, got our first competitive win under our new boss Slavisa Jokanovic. It might not have been the biggest match in terms of attendance or opposition, but getting that first win under a new boss and Rhian getting his first Blades goal after 32 times of trying could prove to be big events as we look forwards to the rest of the season. Let's start the review!
Changes were afoot for United last night with a new XI coming in for the cup clash. Michael Verrips made his second start for United 19 months after his first Blades game, Chris Basham was the veteran presence in a very young looking back line with Kyron Gordon, Kacper Lopata and Rhys Norrington-Davies all making competetive debuts whilst Jayden Bogle took over from Baldock on the right flank. There were more competitive debuts for United in the attacking thirds of the pitch with Zak Brunt and Tyler Smith slotting into the midfield and attack respectively. Ex loanee Joe Riley started for The Cumbrians. United started the game on the front foot with Luke Freeman and Lopata linking up well on corners with our former record signing sending in a lovely ball from a corner that our Polish youth international met with his head with Carlisle keeper Jensen making a very good point blank stop to keep the score tied. Lopata went close again soon after from another corner with the ball this time being cleared away before anyone could capitalise and slam home. The press continued for United with set pieces (unusually) providing us with good efforts on goal with Tyler Smith seeing a header whizz well wide after another good corner and free kick causing chaos in the Carlisle box that somehow stayed away from their net. Not long after those efforts, it happened. Good work down the right eventually saw Sharp able to get a shot off at goal that Jensen could only parry as far as Rhian Brewster with our record signing coolly slotting home to send the John Street stand into raptures with Rhian looking absolutely delighted to have finally got his first goal for the Blades and the first goal of the Slavisa Jokanovic era. After a rapturous reception on the way back for the restart, United tried to get a second before the half ended with Brewster once again providing our best efforts with some long range drives that admittedly didn't go very close to the goal. But the first half ended and United could be very pleased with our first half output. The second half saw more of the same for United with us pressing for a second goal. Tyler Smith nicked the ball just inside the centre circle and his driving run eventually saw him lay the ball off to Brewster with Rhian going one on one with Jensen and unfortunately sending the ball flying into the empty Kop. Good work eventually saw the ball worked over to Bogle on the right hand side of the pitch with his cross finding the head of Oli McBurnie who sent his header flying wide. There wasn't much more goalmouth action after this from a United perspective with Carlisle beginning to probe for an equaliser with their closest effort coming about 5 minutes before the end with their striker sending the ball flying wide from about 10 yards out. Despite some late pressure from The Cumbrians, United held on and secured our passage through to the second round of the League Cup! So, a very positive night all in all. There were some very promising performances from some of our youth academy products with Lopata and Brunt probably being the standouts although all who started all had positive influences on the game, Rhian Brewster finally broke his goalscoring duck for the Blades and fingers crossed that will now lead to rise in confidence and we now start to see more of the player that went to Swansea and scored 11 goals in 22 games, speaking of the Swans, they'll be our opponents on Saturday, here's hoping we can use the positive result we earned yesterday as a booster and get our first league win of the season! Until next time, UTB. For the first time since March 2020, Bramall Lane was open to all and as we opened this, our brand new season, the conclusion of the match had a similar outcome to pretty much every single game that we've played since fans weren't allowed in the stadium. United start the 2021/22 season with a chastising 1-0 loss to The Blues. It was a game that promised so much with high expectation but reminded all Blades fans that perhaps we should temper what this team is capable of before declaring them a dream team among squalors. So, enough build up, let's review the game.
After a stinted pre season where we only managed to play 2 games out of our scheduled 3, United lined up in a very different formation to what we did under the tenure of Wilder. Deploying a 4-3-3 formation, Jokanovic put out the same starting XI that began the last pre season friendly at the Keepmoat with Aaron Ramsdale between the sticks with Baldock, Egan, Robinson and Osborn making up our backline. In front of them was a midfield three of Norwood, Fleck and Berge with McGoldrick, Burke and Mousset leading the line. On the Birmingham side of things ex Blade (and a player I completely forgot played for Birmingham despite him scoring semi regularly for them) Scott Hogan paired Lukas Jutkiewicz up front with the only other notable Blade related news on the Birmingham side being former transfer target Dion Sanderson starting on the bench. After all the pre match hype and build up, a highly emotional and stirring rendition of the Greasy Chip Butty song rang out from all four sides of The Lane and the 2021/22 season was underway! Birmingham started the game on the front foot with Man United loanee Tahith Chong causing problems on our right flank early on along with long throws from Marc Roberts seeing our new look back line tested. United grew into the game with patient build up play that eventually led to us trying to spring Mousset and Burke with runs in behind The Brum back line. It was a little bit strange to not see one (or both) of our outside centre backs bombing on to provide an out ball for our wing backs/midfield and I think that Osborn and Baldock especially thought similarly. Multiple times throughout the game would both players burst forward with the ball, stop, then cut back due to Birmingham covering. Despite us having the majority of the ball, we did very little with it with Birmingham soaking up the pressure and happy to break on the counter. It was thanks to this ability to break out quickly that saw Birmingham open the scoring. A quick break down the right and a cut inside followed by a cross to the back post saw wing back Maxime Colin head past Rammers to quieten the Blades crowd and send the away end into raptures. United woke up a little bit after this and almost immediately equalised with Berge sending Burke through on goal with the Scottish international electing to shoot instead of square the ball with his shot beating Sarkic but bouncing off of the Bramall Lane end post and away to safety. United had a few more efforts before the end of the half with a long range effort from Norwood probably being the next time we went closest to scoring. But his effort bounced narrowly wide of Sarkic's goal and the first half ended with United trailing. It was more of the same in the second half with United's patient build up (maybe too patient) leading to us being a real life recreation of that episode of The Simpson's when they go to watch Portugal and Mexico play football. It was side to side passing with the occasional back pass as Birmingham simply set up to deny our very few overlaps. When we did mange to break down the blue wall a little bit, the efforts we did have on goal were mediocre at best and atrocious at worst with the best efforts (if they can even be called good) probably being Ben Osborn lashing over the bar with Rhian Brewster doing similar. At the other end, Birmingham had a few good opportunities to add to their lead with Jutkiewicz being the focal point of both of them. He first ballooned an effort over the bar with the goal gaping from six yards out and then actually put the ball in the back of the net from a set piece which was disallowed for some reason. United continued to press (albeit half-heartedly) for an equaliser with our patient build up play now testing the patience of the 25,000+ United fans in attendance as the clock ticked towards the final whistle. Despite some very valid shouts for penalties being turned down, United couldn't break down the City masses and we ended the match like so many over the course of the last 18 months. With a loss. At least we got to hear the very happy Birmingham fans in the away end as we walked out of the ground. This wasn't the start to the season that we wanted it's fair to say. After 18 months away from The Lane, of course the return of fans saw United put in a mediocre performance that eventually saw us fall short despite having the majority of play. Despite the disappointing result, there does need to be some perspective on the outcome and the team in general. Let's not forget that we didn't have the best pre season and that this is only the third time that United have played under Jokanovic and only the second time really that they played the 4-3-3 formation. You could see that the players were still adapting to the formation and our new philosophy of playing out from the back instead of us instantly hoofing it forward like in the dying embers of the Wilder tenure. It was disappointing that we lost and that the performance was sub par but let's be patient Blades fans. It will take a bit of time for the players to adapt to Slav's tactics. They've just been playing a very unique system for one manager over the course of the past five years, it's safe to say that being asked to unlearn all of that and learn something new will take time. In the mean time, it'll be very interesting to see what type of team takes part in tomorrow's cup clash with Carlisle with a very good opportunity to get our first competitive win under our belts as we prepare to take on Swansea. So, until next time, UTB. |
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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