I find it personally hilarious that Reading appear to have a squad list this season of, wait for it, 42 players. Seriously. Go and look at the back of yesterday's programme if you don't believe me. 42 Players and about half of them were in FourFourTwo's best players of the Football League 10 years ago. Yep, back before it was colloquially called 'The EFL' half of them are there. Which makes it interesting to say something like 'Reading would have a top Championship squad... If it was 2012" because despite being saved from relegation largely due to other teams points deductions, Reading found themselves top of the league going into last night's game. Shocking, I'm sure you'll agree and just to further add to that football nostalgia, United were second! It's 2005-06 all over again and I think I can see David Kitson and Leroy Lita about to tear us a new one. Except that didn't happen did it? Because it's not 2005 and because Sheffield United appear to have a squad capable of decimating a team quicker than Adam Rickman can eat a kitchen sink full of ice cream. So, let's talk about last night then, shall we?
Two changes were made from our Friday night sojourn to the nation's favourite airport Luton (more of a Doncaster/Sheffield man myself, but each to their own) with Anel coming in for Bash and Tommy Doyle coming in for James 'Jimbo' McAtee. Reading was as i mentioned above, a who's that of good Championship players gone by. Junior Hoilett, Jeff Hendrick and former wonder boy Tom Ince all lined up for our opposition. Ex Wednesday players Sam Hutchinson and Lucas Joao were also said but they didn't really do much apart from get booed. Anyway, United started like prime Road Runner and created openings for Lowe, Doyle and Berge that none of them actually got to then it happened. Foul. Edge of the box. This is now prime Norwood country pardner and he's about to make Joe Lumley cry. Here he goes... Close, but no cigar. No worry Oli, your counterpart is about to score. Yes, like the proverbial adage about buses, Oli McBurnie continued his hot streak in front of goal and leapt like a Salmon to meet a Lowe cross with a bullet header that I'm pretty sure would have caused poor Lumley's hand to disintegrate had he got a hand to it, he didn't and it was one nil Blades! Reading came into a bit after this with a Loum effort dragging wide but then Unied were back at it again. McBurnie had an effort deflect into Lumley's hands and then Ndiaye saw a shot blocked. The pressure continued but no dice and United were nearly made to pay for our semi tardiness when Egan decided he wanted to give Joao a clean run on goal but then, like a Welsh version of Nightcrawler, RND came outta nowhere to nick the ball off his tootsies before he could think about the shot. Reading went close again before the half hour mark as Anel let Tom Ince try and recreate his youth when he sent a first time effort from his attempted clearance spiralling towards him in the box. Thankfully, Tom Ince is old now and sent his effort well wide of Wes's post. United bucked their ideas the F up after this and should have had a second. Tommy Doyle sent a ball into the dark Sheffield night apparently to no one but wait! It's dropping and Illiman is clean through on goal! Will he finish? He couldn't. His effort bobbled past Lumley's post with Illi perhaps not realising he had more time to get a shot off. United ended the first period strong and Ndiaye had another chance to get a goal just before the break but his effort from a Lowe cross went so far over the bar that I'm pretty sure it's the reason Artemis 1 isn't launching before Saturday. Alas, it was still a decent half for Illi and the boys, could it get better in the second half? It could you know, a corner won by McBurnie was swung in by Doyle with Anel swiping in like Dora's arch nemesis to get his second goal of the season and his first in front of The Kop. Reading did respond a teeny, tiny bit after this but didn't really have a shot on goal. A whipped Hoilett cross was nearly met by Holmes but not quite and it curled behind for a goal kick. It would be United who would get the next goal in the game and it was that man Illiman Ndiaye who would get the goal. Lowe broke onto the edge of the Reading box and he played the ball to Berge who layed the ball onto Illi who rolled the ball past a couple of Reading men, took aim and placed his shot past Lumley for his 4th of the season. The game went into a bit of a lull after this with neither team looking like they wanted to attack anymore. Reading were done and it looked like we were pretty content to knock the ball around too. The Blades did have a half effort as we entered the final twenty when the Brewster/Berge connection combined which almost saw Brewster backheel into the net. It didn't quite come off but it seemed to wake United up a bit with Doyle going close not long after. Bash was the next to test Lumley's wrists as he got on the end of a McAtee cross with his downwards header being agonisingly tipped over by Lumley. That was quickly forgotten however as from the resulting corner (well, the resulting recycling of play per se) United had a fourth. Bash rolled the ball back to Norwood in his 'zone' with his whipped cross being met by Anel with a diving header that Edin Dzeko would be proud of to get his second of the game and his third of the campaign. And just like that, a mesmerising night at The Lane was over and United reclaimed top spot and continued our unbeaten run at home. I could spit so many superlatives about how good last night was. Incisive, cutting, dangerous they're all there but I'll leave it at them because this article is getting a bit long in the tooth. It was just good wasn't it? We were worried about how we'd create chances with the loss of MGW but we've managed to replace his creativity and, more impressively, then some. We've scored 11 goals in four home games and that could have been even more all the while only conceding once in those game. Bramall Lane has genuinely become a fortress again for the first time in a while and that can only lead to good things if we continue to keep it that way. All in all, a very good August for United with only one loss and being unbeaten since that loss with a few very commanding performances and lots and lots of goals. We're top after the first month, it's all good so far bit there's still a long way to go. So, until next time, UTB.
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Deja Vu was in the air as United kicked off their home campaign for the Barclays Championship. A year on from a dominating win against yesterday's opposition where we eventually won 3-0, United and Durham met again in United's home fixture the difference this year being the venue. United have swapped Chesterfield and The Technique Stadium for what it should have been all along in a homecoming to Sheffield and, more importantly, Bramall Lane as opposed to Olympic Legacy Park. It's a move long overdue for United and thanks largely to this move back to the city and also the exploits of our Lionesses this summer, we almost doubled the crowd that watched last season's home opener with just over 850 people venturing to The Lane to see if United could bounce back from a slightly undeserved opening day loss to Blackburn. Durham were looking to build on a draw against Sunderland so who would come away with the three points?
United were unchanged from the opening day fixture at Ewood Park with the only new inclusion in the 18 being Ellie Wilson taking a place on the bench. Durham had ex United player Jess Clarke leading the line and it would be Clarke who would test Davies in goal just shy of the ten minute mark with a curling effort that Davies did very well to tip over the bar. United replied to the effort with a long range shot from Rayner a couple of minutes later that The Blades stalwart saw comfortably saved by Saunders in the Durham net. The game became a little bit of a stalemate after this with some probing on either side of the ball as well as some crunching challenges. Just before the half hour mark, Chene Muir took the game by the scruff of the neck. Firstly, sending an effort scurrying wide of the post then almost getting on the end of of a Courtney Sweetman-Kirk cross that just evaded Muir's boot as it flew across the six yard box. Another CSK cross saw Sophie Haywood meet the ball but despite having time to place a shot in The Kop net, the Villa loanee sent the ball flying over the bar. That was it for the first half with both teams going close to opening the scoring in what was a bit of a come down from last weeks bombastic first half for United with the big positive being we didn't concede deep into time added on. A quick start to the second half was just what the doctor ordered for United as we grabbed our first goal of the season in some style! CSK picked the ball up on the left hand wing and drifted into the box, picking her spot from the corner of the penalty area to lob Saunders and give us a spectacular opener! Durham didn't take this laying down however and forced Davies into another smart stop just before the hour mark. The ex-Huddersfield stopper tipped a long range effort onto the bar and eventually United went up the other end with Haywood being denied by Saunders as the game became stretched. Good passing play from United saw Charley Docherty fire over the bar as we entered the final twenty minutes. With 18 minutes of the 90 left, United would be the ones to get the next goal in the game as some brilliant team play saw Rhema Lord-Mears loft a ball over the Durham backline for the elusive CSK who beat the offside trap and deftly lobbed Saunders to give United breathing room. A third was almost forthcoming as we entered the final exchanges when Wilcock and RLM combined to see Lord-Mears close range effort saved by Saunders. It was the last meaningful action of the game as United saw out the final 10 minutes to secure a first three points of the season! Last week was a very, very good performance that saw us ultimately get nothing despite a flurry of good attacking play. This week wasn't as open and attacking as that but the big difference is that we got the three points and a clean sheet. The first half was a little bit cagey from both sides with Durham perhaps edging the play in the opening exchanges before United slowly but surely played our way into contention. The second half was a lot more open and that seemed to benefit The Blades as we scored two goals of the highest quality. CSK had a couple of chances to open her account last week that she didn't take but that was all change this week as she made her own chances and took them with aplomb. A real captain's performance with two goals and a real desire to get back and help the defensive cause with a real highlight being a hard but fair tackle to deny a Durham chance from coming to fruition with a cracking challenge in our box. All in all though, United did what they failed to do last week and took the chances we created and get the points we deserved! We now look to build on the three points with a visit to Sunderland. I'll be back with another report then so, until next time, UTB. We've had two longstanding records broken in the space of a week. Like the perennial buses coming thick and fast after a wait that feels like an eternity, first Oli Norwood scores our first goal directly from a free kick since September 2018 and, after nearly two years, Oli McBurnie netted a goal in a League game. After the game against Blackburn where it was a McGoldrick-esque showcase of missing gilt edged chances, McBurnie netted our equaliser with a chance that was much more difficult than all of those chances put together. It wasn't a vintage performance from United, far from it in fact, but when your playing badly the old adage is that you don't lose and United did just that. Let's take a look at a, can we call it historic? Game at Kenilworth Road last night.
A couple more changes for United from our triumph against Blackburn. Basham comes in for his first start of the season and James McAtee returns to the eleven for John Fleck who, somehow, someway, has fractured his leg? Obviously first of all, best wishes to Flecky in his recovery but these injuries are just getting laughable now. It's not even the fact they're all happening on the training pitch because we had another two happen tonight. What do we do in our pre match warm up? It's beyond a joke at this point and seriously needs addressing. Anyway, Luton lined up with a familiar face in their starting eleven in former record signing Luke Freeman. It would be our hosts who would make the quicker start and open the scoring within the first ten minutes. A half cleared throw in found it's way back to Amari'i Bell who lofted a ball into the area that found the head of an unmarked Carlton Morris who's looped header left Wes planted to the ground watching the ball nestle into the net. A real slow start for United who did rally a little bit after the goal. McAtee had a side footed effort from the edge of the box blocked and from the resulting corner, McAtee turned near provider as his floated corner found Norwood on the edge of the box with the ex Northern Ireland international feeling it after his goal against Blackburn. He fizzed an effort goalward that looked like it would fly past Horvath, that fantasy did not play out however, with Sander doing some great defending for the hosts and deflecting the effort wide for a goal kick. A couple of half chances for McBurnie and Lowe followed but nothing on target for United as Luton frustrated us. Freeman had an effort from just inside the area saved comfortably by Wes as we rumbled towards half time. Luton would finish the half the stronger and nearly doubled the lead just before the break with Adebayo volleying over in the area after meeting a cross from Bree. That was that for the first period where United left a lot to be desired. Would it improve in the second half? United made a change at the break with Doyle coming on for the booked McAtee as we looked for an equaliser. United started the second period much better than we ended the first and got that equaliser within the first ten minutes of the restart with Doyle cushioning a header into the box after a Norwood corner. Egan flicked it on to an unmarked McBurnie who deftly volleyed home to send the away end into raptures and get us back into the game. Despite us getting the equaliser, we didn't really look for a winner as Luton regrouped and began to press us again. The aerial bombardment commenced with Bree whipping on in Bell who sent an effort wide of the post. United did create a couple of chances as we headed towards the final third. RND and Bash had crosses turned home for corners but then Luton were back at it again. Campbell was first to a Morris knock down with his shot blocked but only falling as far as Morris who nearly had his second, forcing Wes into a quick save for a corner. It would be Wes's last contribution in the game as he went off not long after with what apparently was diarrhoea and sickness. Hopefully Wes will be back for Tuesday and best of wishes for his recovery! Jordan Amissah came on for his League debut for United and would be called into action not long after coming on. Cameron Jerome (yep, he's still playing) burst through our back line and saw his effort tipped effortlessly over the bar by our Ghanaian youth international. That effort from Jerome came in the 94th minute and that was about it for the game. We came away with a point and that's a decent result all things considered. Not our best ever performance. Far from it to be fair. The first half was a hard watch as we were penned back by a Luton team that looked well up for it. They opened the scoring in the first ten that looked like it unsettled us and we didn't really regain our composure after that. Luton got up in our face and physically disrupted us and didn't let our major players get into the match. After half time it was a bit better and we got our goal when we were on top with Oli McBurnie breaking his goal duck with a cultured finish. McBurnie has deserved the goal after a pretty good start to the season with a battling performance against Blackburn and another hard fought game last night. Could we finally be seeing the best of McBurnie? Hopefully so! He looks a lot more on it than he has the past two years, here's hoping that correlates to goals this season. All in all, not great but not completely terrible last night. We were just 'meh'. But we got the point and when you are just 'meh' that's a decent effort. We now look to midweek and the end of the month with Reading visiting The Lane. I'll be doing a report on that as per, but this is not the last you'll be hearing of me this weekend. United Women are opening their home campaign today at half five at The Lane. Get down there to support them! Tickets are still on sale and are available on the South Stand. Get down if you can, and I hope to see you there. Until next time, UTB. There are events in human history that people constantly ask "where were you when xxxx happened?" That event could be when the clock struck midnight on December 31st 1999 to roll in the millennium, super Saturday back in 2012 and, most pertinently, when Mr Blobby went to Christmas no.1 with his seminal musical outing 'Mr Blobby'. Something happened this summer that might just have eclipsed all of those events (yes, even the Blobster going to no.1) when England won the women's Euro's in a record breaking tournament at a sold out Wembley against Germany. This summer's tournament was an event that will not be forgotten for a long, long time and rightfully so. The best of Europe descended on England and put on a hell of a tournament that saw record breaking attendances up and down the country including at our very own Bramall Lane. Some people said that "the grounds will be half empty", "who wants to watch that? It's not the same" well, I hope those naysayers are enjoying the humble pie that was constantly being fed into their mouths as the attendances soared and the football was pulsating. It's the type of summer that you don't want to end, but it it did and now we're left with what will be the legacy of a tournament that fully ensured that women's football is here and it's here to stay. Part of that legacy is our league's and the uptake in attendances and quality of the grounds teams will play at. Our own team have moved from Chesterfield and will now be playing all our home games at Bramall Lane. It's a change that has been a long time coming and hopefully we'll be seeing a big crowd for the team next week against Durham. But before that, we've got today's season opener against Blackburn Rovers to discuss so let's do it to it!
There was another big turnover of players from the first team for United with first team stalwarts Fran Kitching, Ocean Rolandsen, Jess Revill, Jess Clarke and Georgia Robert all left for pastures new. Kasia Lipka and Sophie Bradley-Auckland both took steps back from football to pursue matters away from the pitch whilst Lucy Watson left only to go and turn up at the premier team in the country in Chelsea. Congratulations to Lucy on the move and it'll be a little bit sad to not see some of last season's cohort line up in a United shirt this campaign. With all those outgoings, there have been a slew of incomings and four of those new signings started the game today! Bethan Davies started between the sticks and we had a new(ish) centre back pairing in Grace Riglar and Naomi Hartley with Hartley coming back to the club after a short stint away at Coventry United. Sophie Haywood was the last of the newbies in the starting eleven with our other two new signings Francis-Jones and Brown making the bench. United came out of the blocks quickest and put our hosts under the cosh early doors. Sweetman-Kirk had an effort from distance that was calmly claimed by Brooks in the Blackburn goal, seven minutes later and it probably should have been 1-0. United broke with pace down the right with Bex Rayner playing a hell of a ball to Sweetman-Kirk who was on her own about 14 yards out from goal. Unfortunately, CSK couldn't keep the ball down and the ball flew high over Brooks' net in what was a very, very good chance. This didn't deter United however and more good play saw a ball roll across the six yard box that CSK was inches away from tapping home. Just after the half hour mark and Chene Muir took aim from distance and saw her looping effort kiss the top of the crossbar and go over. It was a cracking attempt from the 16 year old making her senior debut. Despite all this pressure, it would be Blackburn who would open the scoring literally with the last kick of the half. A free kick from the left hand flank was met by Jordan in the box who duly knocked the ball past Davies to give the hosts an unlikely lead. The half time whistle went seconds later as United were left to rue missed opportunities. The second period saw much of the same as the first as United huffed and puffed but just couldn't blow down the proverbial brick house of the Blackburn backline. Bex Rayner went on another jinking run with her lay off to Althea Paul seeing the ex-Man City player seeing her effort blocked and the follow up from Sweetman-Kirk float wide of the post. Rayner was at it again minutes later with another silky smooth run that saw Paul send an effort flying over the bar. At this point it seemed a manner of if not when United would score but some brilliant last ditch defending from Rovers and lack of a killer blow from United saw us carry on probing but just not getting the final touch. Four minutes before the end and the crossbar was shaking once again. Sweetman-Kirk took matters into her own hands and took aim from about 25 yards out. Her dipping effort just wouldn't drop quickly enough and like Muir in the first half, the ball crashed against the crossbar and went over. United continued to look for the equaliser but it just wouldn't come and the final whistle blew with Blackburn taking away the three points despite then not really threatening throughout. A frustrating day to say the least. I still have no clue how United didn't score in that game. Our attacking play was fluid and free flowing at times but we just lacked either the final touch or the composure to score the goals that our build up play warranted. There were a lot more positives than negatives despite the result. As mentioned, we attacked with a gusto during the 90 and we were lining up at times to put the ball in the net. The departure of Watson did seem like we might struggle a bit to create but that fear was put to bed thanks largely to the efforts of Rayner and the very impressive Muir. Both looked extremely dangerous going forward with Rayner's runs and fantastic passes putting our hosts on high alert with Muir doing similar on the other side of the pitch. Muir had a very encouraging debut and to say that was her first senior start at the age of just 16, she looked like a seasoned pro at times and could be a very important player as the season progresses. All in all, frustrating, That's today's word of the day. We should have had at least a draw out of that game but I guess that's just the way the cookie crumbles some times in regards to football. Lot's of positives though! And I'm very much looking forward to next weeks home opener against Durham! If you can get down and support the team, please do! It's at The Lane and I think tickets are still on sale as I write this, I'll leave the link here (Buy Tickets: Sheffield United Ticketing (sufc.co.uk)) and I hope to see you there! Until next time, UTB. We don't really score a lot of free kicks. The last time we scored directly from a free kick was way, way back in September 2018 when Oli Norwood on what I believe was his League debut, curled home to put the cherry on top of a particularly tasty first half cake when we beat Aston Villa 4-1 on our way to eventually winning promotion to the Premier League at the end of the season. Since then, there's been nothing. Nada. Despite us having plenty of players who could be deemed as 'set piece specialists' on our roster in the ensuing 4(!) Years, we've not been able to score a direct free kick. That all changed today however, but more on that soon. Before that, we've got some more things to discuss...
A couple of changes were afoot for United after the midweek win with Reda Khadra and Oli McBurnie both earning starts after impressive showings in cameo appearances. League topping Blackburn started with main man Ben Brereton-Diaz (I remember when he was just called Ben Brereton) leading the line with perennial United transfer target Sam Gallagher next to him. Sammie Szmodics and Daniel Ayala were the other notable starters for Rovers. United came out of the blocks like prime Usain Bolt and should have opened the scoring when good work on the left saw John Fleck square a ball from the John Street by line to McBurnie who's poked effort was blocked by Phillips with Kaminski out of the picture. The probing continued with a deflected Anel effort from a Norwood corner going close but we just couldn't unlock the Blackburn backline, until the 31st minute that was. A foul just outside the 18 yard box saw a very long wall consisting of Blackburn and Blades (with a Blackburn player very casually laying on the floor) looked to have blinded Kaminski who could only watch as Oli Norwood proceeded to whip a cracker of a shot high into the right hand corner of the Bramall Lane end net. There was a mix of shock and euphoria as the score was opened in a way we haven't seen in 4 years. The pressure continued but there were no more goals and the half ended with most of the stadium (perhaps it was just D block on John Street, I'm not sure what the rest of the stadium thought, answers on a postcard please! Or the Twitter comments) still slightly in shock at the fact we'd scored a goal directly from a free kick. Was a good first half though, and we deserved the goal. Second half you say? Oh, that was even better. Blackburn did improve a bit after the halftime break and started to knock the ball around our box a bit more and tried to work an effort on goal. Some last ditch defending from Anel, Lowe and RND restricted Rovers whilst at the other end Khadra nicked the ball in the Rovers half and raced away from the defenders with Oli McBurnie in support. Reda held onto the ball just a little bit too long however and Blackburn crowded out Khadra before the ball could be released to McBurnie or he could get a shot off. Just after the hour mark, Illiman Ndiaye entered the game for Khadra not long after that and proceeded to have a half hour or so that simply blew everyone away. Firstly, scrambled play on the Kop by line saw McBurnie hook a ball into the area where Sander Berge sent a shot barrelling towards goal and, lo and behold, it ended up in the back of the net for what appeared to be Sander's 3rd goal of the season but wait! Before the goal nestled into the bottom corner, it took a mighty deflection that wrong footed Kaminski. That deflection was off of Illiman Ndiaye and what appeared to (this hasn't yet been confirmed, Illi, if your reading this, get in touch) hit his arse and in. That however, doesn't really matter in the grand scheme of things and it certainly didn't matter to illi who came away with his 2nd goal of the season. He would soon have his third six minutes later with a hell of a goal. Describing it does a disservice to this goal, if you can, stop reading this and go watch it. It's that good. If you still want a transcription of the goal, then here it goes. Illi picks the ball up inside our half and proceeds to dribble forward. He slips and slides around three Blackburn players, riding tackles and beating men, before taking aim from just outside the box and firing home with the ball kissing the post before it rippled the net. A superb goal to wrap up a superb performance from a superb player. Two goals off the bench from Illi was a hell of an impact. United nearly had a few more goals before the ref blew the whistle with McBurnie and Brewster going close to adding insult to injury but, alas, it wasn't to be but that didn't matter. All that mattered is that United blew away Blackburn, got the three points and topped the Championship for the first time since 2017. All in all, a very, very good day at the office. What. A. Performance. We completely dismantled Blackburn who, let's not forget, were top of the league at start of play. It could and should have been more than the three goals we did score in that game and the xG shows with a 4.09 from 23 shots. our attacking play was something that a lot of the fanbase (myself included) were worried would drop off with the departure of Morgan Gibbs-White but, so far, we've managed to cope just fine with our plethora of players who are creating chances most pertinently Illiman Ndiaye. What a player this young man has been, after looking like he'd be heading for the exit door last year, Illi has become arguably our most important attacking player who we actually own. His ability to run at defenders and beat them is something we've not seen for a very long time in a United shirt and it's an absolute joy to watch him play. Hopefully, fingers crossed, he'll be here for a long time yet alongside Sander. But let's not think about that right now, let's just bask in the glory of a third home win in a row. Until next time, UTB. August feels unnecessarily long this year. I'm not really sure how that measures in comparison to previous August's, but it does feel long or is that just me? As such, it feels like a long time since we all gathered at The Lane to watch United kick some hybrid materials roughly denigrated into the shape of a sphere around a patch of grass for an hour and a half. In reality, there were 11 days between our game against Millwall and last night's against Sunderland which seems somewhat barely believable despite it most definitely being true. Since the last home game, we've played twice with a League game and a cup game seeing us lose to West Brom in the Carabao Cup (heart-breaking I know) and draw inexplicably at The Riverside against Middlesbrough. And so after all that and all that time here we are. Our first midweek League match of the season which saw us take on newly promoted Sunderland for the first time in a League bout since 2017. How did we fare? You probably already know but please do read on. You might find some cutting comments about Baldock's hair or something of the like and everyone likes that don't they?
Team news and United made a couple of changes to the team that started against Boro with Rhian Brewster coming in to replace Billy Sharp and James McAtee making his full League debut replacing John Fleck. Sunderland lined up with in form Everton loanee Ellis Simms leading the line alongside Ross Stewart with Pritchard, Cirkin, O'Nien, Gooch and ex-United and Wednesday man Danny Batth the other notable starters for the opposition. The game kicked off and United were on the back foot for quite a bit of the opening fifteen with Sunderland deploying a high line that kept us penned in a bit. A few early crosses and a couple of half chances were either claimed by Wes or skimmed just wide of the goal to keep us in it. United did start to rally a bit as we approached the midway point with Brewster and Norwood sending efforts towards goal with varying degrees of success. The first being flashpoint of the game came just after the half hour mark and it would go in the favour of United. Good pressing between Brewster and McAtee saw the Man City loanee nick the ball off of Dan Neil just outside the area. McAtee looked like he was through on goal but was hauled back by Neil leaving the referee no choice bit to give The Black Cat's defender his marching orders. With the numerical advantage in their favour, United began to enjoy more of the ball and more chances on goal and a few minutes after the sending off, we broke the deadlock! A corner from Norwood(!) Was whipped into the box and saw Anel Ahmedhodzic meet it to crash home a bullet header to get him and us off the mark. Anel went close again not long after with a cross-cum-shot that kept Patterson on his toes. United did continue to ask questions with a couple of efforts almost breaching the Sunderland backline but that was that for the first period with good fortune smiling down on The Blades to give us the lead. No changes were forthcoming at half time and United started the stronger as we looked to kill the game off and two minutes after kick off, we had our goal! Brilliant link up play down the right saw Norwood play Anel in behind the Sunderland defence with the Bosnian sliding the ball across to Max Lowe who placed the ball under Patterson in front of the Kop End for his first United goal and the monet that gave us breathing space against The Black Cat's. United continued to look for more goals but the final touch just wasn't there and it looked like we would be made to pay for our tardiness when converting chances. 8 Minutes after we doubled our lead, poor distribution in our own half allowed Sunderland a clean break on goal which Lynden Gooch happily capitalised on to loft the ball over an onrushing Foderingham to reduce the areas and set up a needlessly nervy second period. Despite being down to ten men, Sunderland now had the impetuous to get something out of the game and began to press for a second. Some last ditch defending and fortunate fouls going United's way stemmed the flow of momentum a bit for the visitors but they did look more likely to get another goal as the game headed toward the hour mark. United did slowly but surely work their way back into the game however and were unfortunate not to get a third when a deflected Sander Berge effort looked like it would nestle into the Kop End net but floated just wide and tickled the post and away before anyone could tap in the rebound. The killer coup de grace just wouldn't come for United as we continued to pressure Sunderland as the clock ticked towards the end. Norwood went close with a rasping drive that had Patterson at full stretch to turn behind and Oli McBurnie had a couple of chances to extend the lead and end his year long goal drought. In the end however, United managed to see out the game and get our second home win of the season and propel ourselves into the top four ahead of the visit of early league leaders Blackburn at the weekend. A positive night tonight despite the close score line. United had control of the game for large parts after the sending off and could have killed Sunderland off long before we even had our second goal had our finishing just been that little bit better. It's been an issue that's plagued United for a while now and is something that will hopefully be addressed as the season goes on and we get more into the competitive flow of games. The big positive is that we did create those chances to extend our lead and, as has been mentioned, on another day we get another two or three goals and run away with the game even if we have a defensive lapse which ultimately Sunderland exploited and set up a nervy finish. Not an awful lot to complain about however and despite us being notorious bad starters the past couple of years, we've actually made a decent start to this season and find ourselves nicely placed in the table after the opening games. We're now unbeaten in three and look very capable of playing good football at home. Let's hope for another positive result this weekend eh? Until then, UTB. Jake Cooper is a defender who has played the majority of his playing career at today's visitors Millwall. A stint currently lasting 5 years over the course of a loan spell and a subsequent permanent spell, Cooper has made 229 appearances for The Lions and, for the interest of this opening salvo, scored 20 goals over the course of that spell. Out of those 20 goals, I'll leave this up to you to decide dear reader, have a guess how many of those goals have come against our beloved Blades? I'll give you a minute, whilst you think I'm just going to do a quick Google hold on. Ok, I think I've got an answer after a furious Google. So, what do we think? The answer is... 6! Congratulations if you got that right and if you got it wrong take solace in the fact that I myself probably got the stats wrong but still. Over 25% of Cooper's goals have come against us, he's up there in the pantheon of Blades bogey players with Daniel Johnson and Luke Freeman. What is all this for exactly? Well, all eyes (well, from a United and Millwall perspective) were on Bramall Lane today as United opened our home campaign with the visit of Cooper's Millwall. Would Cooper get his third goal in three games against United? Let's find out.
Changes were afoot for United after the opening day loss to Watford. Anel Ahmedhodzic made his debut for United after the farce of the situation that meant he couldn't play against The Hornets. Rhian Brewster was the second change for United coming in for Daniel Jebbison. Millwall started, of course, with Cooper at the heart of the defence alongside Charlie Cresswell who just happens to be the son of former United striker Richard Cresswell. George Saville, Benik Afobe and Bennett were the other notable starters for the visitors with the only other player worth mentioning for the visitors was Blades academy graduate George Long taking a seat on the Millwall bench. Slightly scary thing I've just found out from another Google, our former wonderkid Long turns 30 next year. Let that sink in a bit. Yeah. We're all old. Anyway, onto the match and what a start United made! Oli Norwood first tried to lob Bialkowski from just inside the right hand half of the centre circle which caught everyone off guard and then a few minutes later United had their first goal of the league season with a bit of a throwback goal. A thumping goal kick from Wes bounced over the head of Cooper which allowed Iliman Ndiaye to dance in behind and muscle past the last Millwall defender to slot home between Bialkowski's legs to open his account for the year and give United an early lead. United were well up for it after the flat performance against Watford with Anel being particularly influential from RCB with some bursting runs and some lovely passes. The probing and pressing of United led to a second goal just shy of the twenty minute mark. A loose pass from Cresswell was met with Cooper scrambling to get in front of John Fleck. Alas, for our well known nemesis, he couldn't clear the ball and Fleck played a crisp slide rule pass into Sander Berge who darted forward, rounded the keeper and just about turned the ball home to double our lead. It was dreamland for United and down in the dumps-ville for our visitors. United continued to look for more goals and had a chance handed on a silver platter when a ducking and diving Rhian Brewster was brought down inside the box by, yes you guessed it, Jake Cooper to allow United a penalty just before half time. Oli Norwood stepped up to take the penalty looking to banish the demons of the play off semi back in May. Unfortunately, Norwood didn't learn from the situation at The Forest Ground and allowed Bialkowski to do all sorts of things with the ball before it was put on the spot. Norwood stepped up and... Put it in the place where he always puts penalties which Bialkowski guessed and the penalty was saved. Not to worry though, United had by and large blew Millwall away a bit and could have had a couple of goals sans penalty. Would the good work continue after the break? Kind of? We weren't as bombastic as we were in the first period with Millwall waking up a bit and pressing us a bit more but the inevitable goal, Cooper or otherwise, never came despite a slew of corners and set pieces from The Lions with the closest they got to a goal being a couple of hooked efforts over the bar and a break near the end when a flashed ball across our six yard box was almost met by that man again Cooper. United grew into the half as the game progressed with Berge providing a couple of jinking runs through the Millwall backline. The closest United went in the second period was a fizzing effort from Norwood that Bialkowski spilled but reclaimed before Ndiaye or Brewster could tap home and a bullet header from Osborn (yes, really) that flew wide and Daniel Jebbison dancing towards goal and having a shot when a pass might have been the better option. But that was about it for the match itself, United broke the Millwall/Cooper hoodoo (until we play them next at least) and responded to the opening day defeat with our first win and three points of the season! A really, really good first half that saw us play some wonderful stuff and saw us create a fair few chances to get more goals than the two we did. Ndiaye, Sander and Anel were running the show with each of them darting towards the Millwall backline and forcing them to back track. Illi was Illi and was a constant nuisance buzzing around the field either helping to break up a Millwall attack, starting a United attack with a mesmerising dribble or two or holding the ball up and laying it off to willing runners. Berge was at his Rolls Royce best with some just fantastic movement with Millwall just unable to do anything about him because of his pure size. He's a wrecking ball of a player when he gets going and I hope to all that's holy that we keep hold of him for one more year at least. Anel was a very, very nice surprise with his speed and defensive acumen showing us all why he's one of the most talked about prospects in European football at the minute. That pass to George in the first half was just *chef's kiss*. The second half saw a more subdued performance from United seeing us absorb pressure and try and hit our visitors on the counter but it was still by and large a decent performance. All in all though, a very nice day all around and a good way to bounce back after the Watford disappointment. I'm a very positive boy tonight and I'm looking forward to the next game. Until that game, I'll leave you. I'll see you all soon thanks very much for reading, as always. UTB. I miss the summer of football we had already. It's only been two days as of writing this piece since our Lionesses put the icing on the cake of a fantastic tournament that saw Sheffield and the rest of the country fully embrace women's football with a mass outpouring of support and praise that should see these footballer's, rightfully so, on a level with their male counterparts. It was a fantastic summer that saw Sweden and The Netherlands stage a peaceful invasion of our city and bring an atmosphere to Bramall Lane that was just nice. That sounds a bit blasé but I think it's true. Being able to see people come together and support their respective nations whilst sat next to a fan of their opposition and just respect the fact they support someone else was great to see and is how football should be spectated in an ideal world. Sheffield United returned for our opening day of league action last night and put in a fairly lacklustre performance against newly relegated Watford to make that longing for a summer of no pressure football even more crystal clear. But, I guess we wouldn't have it any other way than pure pain would we? I guess it's time to review the game, let's get on with it.
A doozy of a surprise was in store for United fans as the team sheet was announced at 7PM. There was no inclusion for premier summer signing Ahmedhodzic in the starting XI as he had a suspension that he had to serve that apparently no one in the United camp knew about until Thursday. Not a fantastic hour for our scouting team but that's by the by. Ciaran Clark was the only summer signing to come into the starting eleven in a fairly hodgepodge backline that saw RND line up at left centre back rather than wing back and Enda Stevens start at LWB despite pre-season indicating that Max Lowe had usurped him in the role. Berge, Norwood and Fleck manned the midfield and Daniel Jebbison led the line in another mini shock line up choice alongside newly minted Senegal international Iliman Ndiaye. On the Watford side of things, the real standout was a very, very, very strong front three that saw Pedro, Sarr and Dennis all start despite moves away for the latter two looking likely in the pipeline. For now however, they're still in the yellow of Watford and both combined early doors to fire an early warning shot for United. Dennis sold Clark for a dummy on the halfway line and quickly released Sarr into the box. A snapshot from the Senegal man rustled the side netting of Wes's net. United did have more of the ball in the opening exchanges but struggled to find any openings on goal. Ndiaye tried his best to draw defenders and open up play but we weren't able to fully break The Hornets down. Sander Berge had our first effort on goal just before the 20 minute mark when he was left alone about 20 yards out from goal. His effort was pretty straightforward for Bachmann to claim however despite the keeper almost spilling the ball back into play. After this, momentum swung back to the hosts who had a few half chances with Dennis and Sarr causing issues for our backline. Dennis was released on the edge of the box a bit later on but his effort on the turn was tame and straight at Wes. United went close 10 minutes before the end of the first period when Foderingham hoofed a ball towards Jebbison who did extremely well to nod on to Ndiaye who muscled Kamara away from the ball and had the keeper to beat! Unfortunately, his effort was straight at Bachmann but it was encouraging stuff from United. Watford nearly took the lead just before the half ended however when Sema crossed for Pedro who's low header looked like it went in from the TV angle but thankfully, Wes was equal to it and claimed the ball with a smart save. A quick break from United at the end of the half saw Baldock, Berge and Jebbo combine with our England youngster seeing a lofted effort keep Bachmann on his toes. It was the last action of a fairly even first half that saw both teams have chances to take the lead, how would the second half pan out? Watford began the second half with a couple of probing moves in and around the United box but Egan and Clark did some good work to deny Dennis and Pedro. The early pressure for the hosts eventually paid off 10 minutes into the half. A United corner saw Norwood zip a ball at Fleck on the edge of the box. Flecky saw his effort blocked before it reached the penalty spot and Watford broke. United had a very good chance to clear the ball in midfield before it got to Sarr but RND and Fleck decided not to do anything about it as the ball reached Sarr. The Senegal man burst into the box and squared for Pedro who slotted between Wes's legs to give the hosts and deserved lead albeit a very disappointing goal to concede. Watford smelled blood in the water after this and a Pedro cross deflected off Clark and fell to Kamara who's volley bounced into the turf and over the bar. United rallied a little but never really had that final killer ball to put anyone in on goal. A platoon of Blades subs came on the cusp of the 70 minute mark with Brewster, Khadra and Osborn making way for Jebbo, Clark and Norwood. United continued to probe but just had very little creativity to get something on goal. Egan saw an effort from a Fleck free kick flash across the face of goal and go wide. That was it really for chances in the game and United fell to a fairly drab result and performance on opening day. A really, really disappointing night for United all in all. We looked a bit lost out there tonight and looked very scared of a Watford team that has just come off the back of a chastening relegation. They had a very dangerous front three yes, but we just didn't look too interested in attacking really and looked happy with the point which, to be fair, we would have had if either RND or Fleck put their foot through the ball that made it's way to Sarr before he crossed for Pedro. It's such a poor goal to concede and even if Sarr was offside that ball should never have got to him. The midfield was pretty poor and despite Ndiaye trying his best to link the midfield and forwards it just wasn't coming off with Fleck not having one of his best days in a Blades shirt. I don't really want to talk about this anymore, it's just a bit... Bleurgh. Oh well, hopefully there'll be a response against Millwall in front of the home fans on Saturday. Until then, 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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