I mean, the last time we were bottom of a league after three games we did end up winning that league come May. Ignore the fact that that league contained Southend and Scunthorpe rather than Leicester and Liverpool and I've come to the conclusion that we will be winning the Premier League in May! Is no one else that optimistic? *Sigh* me neither if I'm being honest, three losses in three games to start a season is never really good but in the Premier League those three losses could be very difficult to overturn. The frustrating thing is that despite still not scoring goals in our games we arguably should have had two on Sunday. Unfortunately, we came up against a Leeds keeper that was in inspired form and we got sucker punched right at the very end of the game by a striker that scores goals but somehow still looks like one of the most unconvincing strikers in British football and that comes from watching McGoldrick for the majority of last season. And to top it all off, Jack O'Connell is probably out for the season. Let's review this game I guess.
After the loss at Villa, there were three changes for The Blades with Ethan Ampadu and Jack Robinson coming in for the suspended Egan and the injured O'Connell respectively along with Ben Osborn starting over the also injured John Fleck. Leeds didn't start their new centre back Llorente and the in-form (ew) Patrick Bamford was preferred over record signing Rodrigo. The game started with both teams cancelling each other out a little bit with half chances at both ends either flying wide of the posts or being comfortably claimed by either keeper. It would be United who would have the first big chance of the game and what a chance it was. Good work down the left saw a low cross helped on by McGoldrick to an onrushing Lundstram in a position he bagged goals from last season but our Liverpudlian somehow missed with a rasping drive that the Leeds keeper Meslier kept out with a wonderful save. A few minutes later and it was the turn of Rammers to pull off a brilliant save with a snap shot from Dallas that looked like it was creeping into the top right hand corner of the net. It was United again who had another good opportunity to take the lead with Baldock making space for himself in the Bramall Lane end box but his rasping drive was turned over by another good save from Meslier. So as the first half came to an end, it looked like this Yorkshire clash of cities would be living up to expectations and United looked very good during the first half. The second half came around and Leeds started to assert themselves onto the game more but never really looked like causing our back line any issues. United at the other end looked a little bit creatively spent but did spurn some good opportunities to get in behind Leeds. However, Leeds would be the next team to go closest to scoring with Ampadu making a rash attempt at a clearance that set Dallas free. The Irishman rounded Ramsdale but his effort was dramatically cleared off the line by a very cool looking Chris Basham who decided he had time to let the ball roll across his body and clear in a moment that was not good for the old ticker. Then came another good chance for United that should have ended up in the back of the net. A Ben Osborn corner was allowed to travel to the centre of the six yard box with McBurnie looking like he'd meet it and head home... Unfortunately, Jack Robinson got a touch on it that took it away from McBurnie and went wide of the right hand side of the net. United would be left to rue these opportunities with none other than Patrick Bamford nodding home to kill the game off with minutes remaining. It was a tough pill to swallow but it perfectly epitomises what you have to do in the Premier League, take your chances when they come and that is what Leeds did. So Leeds continue their impressive start to life back in the Prem and United end September in poor form, oh well, at least the next games can't be that bad. Arsenal away next you say? Ok they've done well this season so far but I still don't rate Arteta. Fulham after that? Winnable definitely, and to end the month, only Liverpool and City, gulp. It wasn't the greatest month in Sheffield United's recent history but on the positive side, we've only conceded 4 goals which is good enough for joint third best record in the League. We just need to learn how to score a goal. Hopefully we'll get one before the deadline but we'll have to see. Until next time, UTB.
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It's fair to say that United haven't had the best of luck at Villa Park over the past year or so. It all kicked off at the backend of the 2018/19 season when with eight minutes of the game left, United blew a 3-0 lead and ended up drawing 3-3 which at the time looked like it could derail our promotion push. Fast forward almost a year and the first match of Project Restart, just before half time, Oli Norwood lofts in a freekick that goes all the way to keeper Nyland who proceeded to carry the ball over his own line and into his net. The goal wasn't given however and United were arguably denied 3 points and Villa earned a point that could be argued helped them stay in the Premier League for this season. And just to top off the worst hat trick of all time United lost to a fairly average Villa squad after John Egan was controversially sent off in the 13th minutes and then proceeded to miss a penalty which led to Villa eventually getting their goal just after the hour mark to get a 1-0 win that they struggled to earn themselves. Let's get this review on the way then.
United made a few changes to the last League game against Wolves with Sander Berge starting ahead of Oli Norwood and David McGoldrick and Oli Burke continuing their partnership after impressing against Burnley in midweek. Villa started with notable new signings Emiliano Martinez and record purchase Oli Watkins in the XI alongside everyone's favourite Brummie Jack Grealish. Villa pressed United back a little bit within opening exchanges but looked vulnerable when the ball was passed around the backline with Oli Burke continuing to pressurise defenders and Martinez with his blistering pace. But just as it looked like United were gaining a foothold in the game, disaster struck once again. A long ball forward from Tyrone Mings was chased down by Oli Watkins and John Egan. Both men engaged in a bit of tussling Aaron Ramsdale was on his way out of the goal and did mange to smash the ball clear. Much to the amazement of many, a throw in was not given but instead Egan was given a straight red! It looked a baffling decision at the time and still looks baffling in hindsight, although you can argue that Egan shouldn't have given the referee a chance to send him off it really does look like a harsh decision. Yes Egan was the last man back but the ball wasn't played directly down the middle of the pitch, Watkins still would have had a lot to do to beat Ramsdale from where he would have probably collected the ball, and to the fact that Ramsdale would probably have beaten him to the ball before he'd have gotten the chance to settle himself and the situation just doesn't seem to make a lot of sense. But never mind, United were down to ten men with over 70 minutes of the match still to play. But Villa still didn't look like scoring with a man advantage with United managing to repel any attack that they put in on our goal which consisted of a few crosses and a few potshots. It would actually be United who would have the clearest opportunity on goal as the half came to an end. A quick counter attack led by Oli Burke eventually saw our league debutant play a lovely pass to an onrushing Chris Basham who was about to pull the trigger from about 6 yards out but was taken out by Matt Targett. Targett was booked despite denying a clear goalscoring opportunity and United had a penalty! Who will take our first league penalty since Boxing Day 2019? The guy who hasn't signed a contract that's been on the table for about a year, that's who! Lunny stepped up and missed with Martinez guessing the right way and pushing the ball away for a United corner that Lunny also took and launched into the first man. It wasn't a great minute or so for the Liverpudlian. Villa attacked again but United held firm and went into half time on level terms. The second half stated with more Villa attacking that lead to nothing and United managing to keep them at a fairly comfortable arm's length. The real positive of this defending was our ability to keep the opposition out where we could see them. We managed to close out overlapping lanes that led to Villa knocking the ball around the penalty area without any real penetration. It was a good bordering brilliant defensive effort from United but it was all undone from, you guessed it, another set piece. just after the hour mark, a corner was whipped in by Villa with Tyrone Mings managing to peel away from his marker to knock on the ball to the back post where Konsa was waiting to beat O'Connell in the air and head home to give Villa a lead. United did try and press forward for an equaliser but just didn't have the numbers whenever we went forward. We managed to hold Villa again but ended the match losing two in a row in the League and just on the cusp of the relegation zone. I know it's not great that we haven't got anything from our first two games, but that doesn't mean we have just become crap overnight. We looked a lot more defensively sound in open play, we just need to remember how to defend set pieces, especially corners. It's looking like Sunday against Leeds could be a pretty big game, let's hope the boys are up for it. Until next time, UTB. Oh well... Wasn't very bothered about a Cup run anyway, at least not in a Cup competition that has been apparently disowned by at least the top two tiers of English football. It does make you wonder why the FA decided to continue to run this competition, they may say it was for the teams lower down the football league pyramid to have a good tie against a Premier League team. But then you remember that no one was allowed in the grounds to see it. At least the lower teams might get a bit of money from being on the telly or from the streaming service, it's a real shame that the FA could only be bothered to give the lower tiered teams money via a streaming service rather than giving them some money during the pandemic but that's a tale for another time. Anyway, let's talk about a match that was fairly entertaining and how Max Lowe could in fact be the second player in our team that can play an accurate cross into the box which could be very, very exciting indeed.
United made wholesale changes to the XI that played in our season opener against Wolves with only Oli Norwood retaining his berth in the XI. Wes Foderingham, Max Lowe, Ethan Ampadu, Jayden Bogle and Oli Burke all made their competitive debuts for The Blades with Burnley on the other hand naming a very strong starting line up with the only notable absentees being centre back pairing Ben Mee and James Tarkowski (who, by the way, was apparently injured due to, and I quote, a 'tactical toe injury' budding Burnley podcast/fanzine writers, please name your aforementioned product Tarkowski's tactical toe injury that would please me greatly) despite the strong XI, United were quick out of the blocks to score our first goal of the season with good work around the Burnley box resulting in Jack Robinson playing in our new debutant Lowe who duly lasered in a bullet of a cross that David McGoldrick tapping home to open his account for the year. To say that he doesn't score many goals, Dave has got off the mark very quickly this year and currently sits at 1 goal in two games. We'll see if that improves or recedes during the season but that doesn't matter, we scored a great goal and looked comfortable. The new boys were looking very, very good with Ethan Ampadu putting in a good shift at RCB and Jayden Bogle looking very lively. The pick of the bunch however was Max Lowe, the ex-Derby man looked defensively solid throughout the game and managed to get in behind the Burnley backline a few times during the game as well as whipping in some lovely balls during the game. It's fair to say, with Enda looking a little bit suspect at the moment, he should be a little bit worried if Lowe continues to impress. Anyway, it would be Burnley who would have the next couple of chances to equalise with Jay Rodriguez going close a couple of times. Wes Foderingham could also be very fortunate to have not given away a penalty when he poleaxed Matej Vydra who was thankfully offside. Despite some late pressure, United managed to hold off Burnley till halftime and looked good going into the fifteen minute break. The second half started with Burnley continuing to crank up the pressure on the Blades net and after nearly equalising with Foderingham being equal to what looked a certain goal from Robbie Brady which he turned onto the post. Burnley would eventually get their equaliser however with some lovely play from Burnley seeing Rodriguez chest down to Vydra who lobbed Foderingham to bring The Clarets level. This woke United up a little bit and efforts from Billy Sharp and Oli McBurnie looking like they would be easier to score than miss. Despite looking more likely late on, the match would be going to penalties which went something like this. Oli Norwood scored a great penalty. Chris Wood scored. Oli McBurnie missed his penalty that he didn't really look like he wanted to score and brought a look from Phil Jagielka that looked part ways disappointed and I'm going to batter you. The rest were scored with Ben Osborn putting his name in the hat to be our regular penalty kick taker, he leathered the ball into the top right hand corner, it was brilliant. Unfortunately, Fodders capped off a less than impressive debut by appearing to not have studied any of the Burnley penalties and began diving for the winning penalty before it had even been taken. So we're out of the cup but we played well, I think at the end of the day, that's probably the biggest positive of this match, it's given Wilder some time to think on who should be in our starting XI. It'll be interesting to see who starts on Monday. Until then, UTB. Well... It's fair to say that wasn't perhaps the best way to start a new Premier League campaign. Conceding a goal within the first three minutes of the game isn't the best thing to do normally but then to concede another three minutes later? Even the best teams on the planet would probably struggle to come to terms with that one-two punch. It was once again truly a game of two halves but then even in the second half when we probably just edged it, we still almost conceded at least twice. So we lost our opening game of the season, let's get on with the review then.
United started ten of the eleven players that started the last game of the 2019/20 season with only goalkeeper Aaron Ramsdale the new addition to the starting line up. Ethan Ampadu and Oli Burke made the bench with Lys Mousset still struggling with the injury that he sustained at the back end of the Preston game. Wolves on the other hand gave a debut to their new right wing back Marcal with the only notable excpetion from their starting XI probably being Ruben Neves who started on the bench. The match kicked off and after two minutes and twenty seconds United were behind. Poor play from Lundstram allowed Podence to blow by him and put in a lovely ball to the lethal Raul Jimenez who duly slammed home the ball. Three minutes later and the lead was doubled, a corner from Neto was poorly defended by United (shades of the Preston leveller) and Romain Saiss headed home and if United had a hill to climb before, that hill had now become a mountain. There was some attempts at trying to get back into the game with Basham (rather fortuitously) and McBurnie both seeing efforts comfortably saved by Rui Patricio. Although there was no real other clear cut chances at either end, Wolves were firmly in control and it looked like United would need a minor miracle to get back into this game after half time. The Blades did actually start the second half pretty well with Enda Stevens managing to get around Adama Traore but the Irishman could only sky his effort when he really should have worked the keeper. That seemed to gee United up a little bit however with good work down the left again seeing John Fleck almost pull a goal back with his low drive from just inside the box beating Patricio but slamming against the foot of the left post with the follow up from Baldock being blocked by Boly for a corner. This spurt of chances continued with the final ball or the final finish eluding United the chance to grab a goal. All the good work that we did at one end however was almost undone several times with Saiss and Jimenez again going close from corners with Saiss heading narrowly wide and Jimenez slamming the left post of the Bramall Lane end goal. Jimenez should have added a third not long after that with Ramsdale pulling off a good save that deflected off of his post and out to Jimenez who had the goal at his mercy and no one near him but somehow managed to put his shot wide. The game began to peter out a little bit with the only other opportunity of any note coming from McBurnie with the Scotsman getting on the end of a bullet cross from Berge but his goalbound header was cleared off the line by that man Boly and United start the season with a very humbling 2-0 defeat. Even though we were good during the second half, we still looked very, very vulnerable to Wolves whenever they went out on the counter attack or whenever they had a set piece, especially corners. To be honest though, after conceding two goals within the first 10 minutes of the game killed us. Looking back, the first half had very little positives but the second half did at least see us create some opportunities and perhaps if we had some more clinical finishing, we could have at least gotten back on level terms. Anyway, we're in the cup on Thursday then away at Villa on Monday, here's hoping we can have a positive response to this disappointing opening day. Until next time, UTB. 3 wins and 1 draw. After a very, very short pre season United go into the new Premier League campaign on the back of an unbeaten pre season. It could very well have been 4 wins out of 4 had we decided to defend a last minute corner like lemmings and let Jayden Stockley possibly handball the equaliser home for Preston in the last action of the game but, to be honest, who really cares enough to check? It is only pre season after all, anyway, enough of that, let's review our last game of the pre season.
After the win at Derby in Midweek, United only made a couple of changes to the XI that started out against The Rams. Rhys Norrington-Davies was loaned out to Luton (good look Rhys!) the day after the game against Derby and was replaced by Kean Bryan who impressed in his short stint on the park when he replaced RND. Also coming back into the squad was none other than the big boy himself John Lundstram. Despite still not signing his new contact (thus putting the very bloodline that my twitter and this blog survive on close to the brink of pointlessness) there hasn't really been any interest in him transfer wise so until he either leaves or signs his improved terms we may as well use him. Preston on the other hand started with a pretty strong XI which seemed strange due to the fact that they were playing Everton literally 24 hours after playing us. The game was underway and it was every bit the footballing cliché of two teams feeling each other out. The first shot of any note in the game went against the Blades with a rasping effort from about 20 yards out being met by Foderingham in the United goal. This was a warning sign that United did not heed however and shortly after, despite twice being challenged by a Blades player, Scott Sinclair (remember him?) broke through for a one-on-one with Fodders. The ex-Celtic man manged to beat the ex-Rangers keeper but somehow manged to hit the foot of the post. Another Preston player was darting in however but with the goal gaping at his mercy somehow manged to smash the ball against the post in an early contender for miss of the season (and we've technically not even started the season yet). Despite this pressure for The Lilywhites, United would in fact be the ones to break the deadlock with John Lundstram popping up in the box with a lovely curling finish that kissed the Bramall Lane end goalpost as it went in and gave United a somewhat fortuitous lead. That would be all she wrote for first half incidents as we went in not long after for the break. The second half started with another one-on-one opportunity, this time it was for United with Lys Mousset being played in but with only the Preston keeper to beat somehow manged to place his chip wide of the Kop End post. Moose was at it again not long after with a long ball forward seeing our mercurial Frenchman set off after it like a dog chasing a ball. Unfortunately Lys was caught and despite winning the foul was taken off as a precaution not long after this. Before this however there was drama in the Blades box after Jack Robinson made a clumsy challenge from behind that Jon Moss was more than happy to give as a penalty. Daniel Johnson stepped up for Preston and duly dispatched which made the score 1-1 and drew Preston level. Not to be outdone however, United had a penalty of their own at the other end not long after this with a blatant handball seeing us given our second penalty of pre season. Instead of missing this time Billy Sharp duly sent the Preston keeper the wrong way and scored in front of an empty Kop to grab his 3rd goal of pre season and United's second in the game. The Blades nearly had a third not long after but Ben Osborn's fierce drive smacked against the Kop post and came back out. After this, United seemed content to soak up the Preston pressure and settle for the 2-1 win. This tactic would come back to bite us on our behind however and in the dying embers of the game, Preston's hard work finally paid off with Jayden Stockley heading home from a corner that United didn't look like they wanted to defend. United didn't even get the chance to kick off with Jon Moss blowing his whistle and bringing an end to an entertaining pre season campaign. So, on a whole, what did I think of United this pre season? Well, we definitely look pretty raring to go for our date with Wolves on the 14th of September. After initially struggling to create chances in our earlier games of the pre season, we looked more and more assured as the games came and went. It was a bit of a shame to see so many of our first team regulars away due to the bizarre international break that is currently ongoing but it was nice to see a couple of the fringe players get some game time alongside some youngsters. There has to be a special mention for the outstanding performance in the Preston game for Kean Bryan. After impressing in his stint at LWB against Derby, Bryan looked assured of himself as he put in a very solid performance in what was probably his best game in a Blades shirt so far. Hopefully his last two games will give him a little bit of confidence as he looks to break back into the matchday 18. All in all, it was just nice to see United play again and this stretch of games has definitely got me excited for our league campaign to get up and running again. Until next time, UTB. Hoo boy that second half was very impressive wasn't it? Despite our heroics during the 2019/20 season I can only think of a couple of times during the season where we completely dominated a team for a full 90 minutes (Burnley probably being the first one that comes to mind) but during this pre season friendly with a lot of our first team away on international duty, United did just that. For 90 minutes, United exercised complete domination over a Derby County outfit that couldn't really cope with our high pressing and one touch passing. It was brilliant to watch and I cannot wait to talk about it.
Due to the strangely placed international break that takes place next week, United made wholesale changes to the team that started against our last runout against Hearts. Wes Foderingham, Rhys Norrington-Davies, Phil Jagielka, Regan Slater, Ben Osborn and Lys Mousset all came into the team. Derby actually had probably the best chance of the early exchanges with poor goalkeeping from Foderingham almost leading to the ball bouncing over the line with George Baldock scrambling to clear before the ball crossed the line. United began to exert a little bit of pressure on the Derby backline and a chance almost fell to Robinson with Mousset initially showing quick feet to take out two Derby players with Robinson snatching at the lay off and seeing his effort fly wide of the keeper's post. It would be United who would open the scoring with a free kick won by Baldock (who then tried to start a fight with Sibley of Derby) being floated into the box by Norwood with the freekick only cleared as far away as Osborn who connected with a lovely volley that zipped into the bottom right hand corner of the net and gave United a lead. Not long after the half time whistle blew and United could be very happy with their first half performance. The second half started with Oli McBurnie entering the fray to replace Mousset and he was almost immediately on the scoresheet with a glancing header just narrowly landing on the top of the net. The Blades were back at it again shortly after with none other than Phil Jagielka rising highest to meet another Norwood freekick with his header narrowly falling to the wrong side of right hand post. Now this, this is when the seemingly none stop pressing began. At one point, there was no player actually inside the United half with Jags the closest back and he was still a good 10 yards into the Derby half. It was a relentless press that saw Derby being forced into conceding an indirect free kick. Fun Fact, the last two times United have had indirect free kicks are both against Derby County. It's useless facts like this that make people come back to the blog. Anyway, the free kick was belted into the groin of a Derby player who definitely took one for the team with that block. It would all be in vain however as shortly after, United doubled their lead. Now Kean Bryan has not really done much during his 2 year stay in the club. He was injured during the vast majority of his first season and was on loan for a lot of last season. It's fair to say Kean hasn't had much of note to do during his spell at the club but this, this cross right here, this was a thing of pure beauty. A wonderfully whipped ball from Bryan found the feet of Billy Sharp with our captain doing what he does best and slamming home from six yards out. A lovely goal and hopefully a big confidence booster for Bryan. United's pressure continued and Billy nearly had a second when he got on the end of a pass that, frankly, should be illegal. Norwood had the ball about 10 yards in front of his own penalty box. He proceeded to send a piercing ball that split the Derby defence in half and also put Sharp perfectly in one-on-one with the Derby keeper. It's a pass that deserved a goal and Sharp almost had it with his initial chip being palmed back towards him but unfortunately Sharp couldn't angle his second effort on target. It was the last moment of any note in the game and United's 100% pre season record continues with a very, VERY good performance. That second half was a frankly incredible United performance and was very different to the usual outcome when we usually play a much changed XI in the cups. Whilst we usually look quite disjointed whenever anything other than 100% of the first XI play but yesterday's performance gives me hope that we could be pretty good when people are out next season. Our pressing was incredible and at times we weren't giving them a moments rest. It was a very pleasing performance and I'm very much looking forward to Preston on Friday. 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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