Unfortunately, Sheffield United got knocked out of the Carabao Cup by Sunderland. Please contain your tears Blades fans, I know it's difficult to comprehend that United will no longer be participating in this prestigious tournament (for this season at least) but in all honesty, I'm not too bothered that we're not in the League Cup. For this season at least, we have to be more focused on League than Cup and the fact that we've got eliminated early on just means we won't have any potential midweek distractions for a little bit and that's a good thing. Anyway, let's have a look at this riveting contest.
So I'd had a good day up until about 7:35pm tonight. I got to go into a meeting about a project I'm excited about and I got to properly talk to a colleague that I hadn't seen for a while. I was looking forward to seeing some of our fringe players play and was happy to be back at The Lane after a few weeks away. Then the floodlights started flickering. Then they started to turn on and off in time with musical masterpieces like Madeon's 'Finale' and songs of that ilk (I think there was some Skrillex in there, to be honest, it all sounded the same) now don't get me wrong, I love new things to improve the matchday experience as much as anyone but this was just... Boring. This had genuinely been described by stadium announcer Gary Sinclair as something that you wouldn't want to miss. Gary, I'm sorry but, this was something that I could have indeed missed. I hope they don't roll it out at all night games. The lights are bright enough, I don't want them to flash to the tune of something like 'Give Me Everything' just stick to the normal build up, it's simple and it works. Anyway, pre match bits and bobs done, it's kick off time. United had made 10 changes to the team that beat Everton at the weekend with Callum Robinson being the only player to retain his starting berth and it was he who would test the Sunderland keeper first with a curling effort that was palmed away to safety. Now this was much better than Blackburn, against Blackburn we just looked uninterested but tonight? We looked decent. Besic was doing something other than trying to snap an opposition players legs, Robinson and Mousset were looking dangerous and everything else looked good. Then Max Power (what a name by the way) thwacked an absolute belter into the top left hand corner of the net. Well... Damn... After that, everything just sort of stopped. United stopped attacking with intent, instead trying to pick apart a defence that was stingier than student saving for the weekend. Sunderland didn't do much either to be fair and the half ended with nothing happening apart from the goal. Second half and United were now attacking an empty Kop. I say attack, we passed the ball in the general direction of the Kop but again didn't really seem to want to trouble the Sunderland goalkeeper. Ben Osborn, bless him, seemed like the only person on the pitch who actually remembered that this was a competitive fixture and tried to drive the team forward but found no support from his team mates whenever he did. In a bid to change up the team, that or save legs for Saturday, Wilder threw on Oli McBurnie and LEON GODAMN CLARKE for Mousset and Robinson around the hour mark. It was weird but strangely comforting seeing Leon in a United shirt again, I mean, he didn't do much but it was lovely to see him. Oh the match ended and we lost. Literally nothing else of note happened in that half. It wasn't as frustrating as the Blackburn game but I think I just felt so indifferent to the result that I didn't really care that we just got knocked out of the cup by a League One team. All in all, this was just a stopgap on the road to Saturday. It gave Wilder the chance to give minutes to players who haven't had many so far this season and perhaps gave him an idea of where we need to strengthen in January. A very 'meh' game this one, well done Sunderland, best of luck for the rest of the season! As for United, we've got a date with the defending European Champions up next, let's see how that goes. Until next time, UTB.
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Imagine what would have happened if David McGoldrick tucks away that one on one chance in the first half. I think if Dave puts that chance away we push on and pressure Southampton and perhaps score another goal because up to that point, United were more than matching Southampton in the game. Norwood was spraying balls like a sprinkler, Baldock was bombing on and causing Southampton's left back problems throughout the first half and Fleck was darting forward more than he was in his previous appearances. Southampton didn't really offer much in the game until the second half, they looked pretty toothless. Then we had a second half and hoo boy, it was pretty eventful.
United once again started the brighter of the two sides and looked to have taken a deserved lead when Oli McBurnie slotted in at the back post. Oh wait, VAR is here and its coming to crush Blades dreams. Goal disallowed for offside. To be fair, the decision was correct, but this setback seemed to kill United because from that point on United looked pretty clueless and United invited pressure from Southampton onto themselves and Southampton took advantage. Norwood played a sloppy ball to Lundstram that Djenepo took full advantage of and sped away towards goal. Norwood half heartedly tried to stop Djenepo but it wasn't enough and Djenepo slotted coolly beyond Henderson. 1-0. Surely we'll wake up now? We did for a bit and we arguably should have had a penalty when James Ward Prowse handled in the area, the penalty wasn't given and The Blades frustrations with VAR continued and that frustration turned into anger when Billy Sharp was sent off for a challenge near the John Street touchline. Now this is more murky than the offside goal, yes, Sharp was silly to go in as sloppily as he did but was it really a straight red card challenge? In my opinion, I don't think it was, yellow maybe red? No. Anyway Southampton came away with the win and United were made to rue missed chances. United can't really complain much about VAR going against them too much because we had enough chances to put this game to bed way before VAR even got involved. As long as we learn how to start finishing our chances, we'll be okay in this league but it's a big if. At the end of the day, its a frustrating loss for everyone. Let's hope we can take our chances this weekend at Everton. As ever, UTB. It's been a while since the FNRL: TB book club opened. In fact, the last time a book was reviewed, it was by the same man Danny Hall Sheffield United journalist for the Sheffield Star. His last book 'He's One Of Our Own' about United's promotion to the Championship is essential reading and if you've not read it, please do so. So how does 'We're Not Going To Wembley' compare to Danny's last tome about United?
So much like the last book, every chapter covers a month of the season with bits from the players and fans thrown in as well. You can tell Hall is a United fan and his descriptive and emotive writing does genuinely transport you back to crucial moments within the season. Memories of the dismantling of Villa, Billy's goal to break the goalscoring record for the millennium, John Lundstram's tackle on Jack Grealish all came flooding back. There aren't only memories that come back though, there are interesting nuggets of information, that to my knowledge, haven't been spoken about until this book was published. Reading about Wilder pitching up to CEO Stephen Bettis's Santa Cruz home to convince him to re-join United are particularly memorable. However, the best parts of the book have to be the players and fans chapters. To hear what players like Oliver Norwood and David McGoldrick had to say about crucial points in our season was fascinating. Along with that, the players all really opened up about what playing for Sheffield United and Chris Wilder meant to them. McGoldrick's piece was a real highlight, first of learning of him being adopted from a young age and then about his earlier opportunity for Premier League football with a transfer to Leicester that broke down. You really get the sense that these players do really care about each other and the club. Reading their thoughts on the season just made me feel even more proud of them than I already was. The fans chapter were also absolutely excellent with a little bit of every emotion you could think of mixed into their accounts. A personal favourite of mine was Chris Reilly's account found within the November chapter. Chris talks openly and honestly about his struggles with mental health and how it got so bad that he wasn't able to renew his season ticket. This story really hit home hard because I also struggled with my mental health during the League One promotion season and, like Chris, the only thing I looked forward to was Sheffield United. It's things like this that have made the last three years under Wilder so good. The community feel to the club is back and Hall has really manged to convey that feeling via the book. In conclusion, 'We're Not Going To Wembley' is a fine sequel to 'He's One Of Our Own' and in many ways surpasses it. If your Blades fan, heck, if your a fan of reading about how a football club on a meagre budget managed to upset the big boys and make it to the big time, read this book. It really is incredible. Rating: 5 Lundstram's/5 Lundstram's |
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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