So... How's everybody been? Have you been keeping well? How's the dog? I know they were ill the other week, I'm glad to hear their better, that's good. That petrol stuff is pretty crazy isn't it? And what about the weather? Pretty crazy. Anyway, now the catch up's are all done and dusted, let's not waste anymore time and review these last five games shall we starting with a very, very special win against Peterborough.
Game 1: Sheffield United 6(!)-2 Peterborough United That was absolutely incredible wasn't it? After the drab draw against Luton when we didn't look like we could buy a goal for love nor money, a week later we scored six goals in a game for the first time since the start of the century. New signing Morgan Gibbs-White heavily contributed to the win with an assist and a goal on his debut (what a goal by the way, a real thronker of a shot) alongside Iliman Ndiaye who bagged a well deserved brace on his first professional start a few days after signing a new three year deal to extend his stay at The Lane until 2024. Billy Sharp got a hat trick but not of goals instead laying on three assists with Ben Osborn grabbing a brace and John Fleck scoring his first Blades goal since January 2020 to round off the scoring. We might have looked toothless early doors this season but this game showed that United under Slavisa Jokanovic have the ability to tear apart a team if they want to. Game 2: Sheffield United 2-2 Preston North End It was another exciting game at Bramall Lane three days after the Peterborough game but this time it was The Blades on the end of late goal heartbreak for the second time this season with Emil Ris pouncing on defensive jitters to prod home in the 95th minute to cancel out what many believed to have been a Blades winner when Sander Berge opened his account for the season in the 85th minute. Aside from the late, late drama, United gave a debut to new no.1 Robin Olsen with the Swedish international goalkeeper not covering himself in glory for Preston's first equaliser with another defensive error allowing Daniel Johnson to tap home into an empty net in front of the Kop. Morgan Gibbs-White continued his blistering form since signing on deadline day for United with a second goal to give United an early lead. There was more signs that progress was being made but those defensive frailties once again reared their head to ensure that we came away with only 4 points instead of the full 6 from our back to back home games. Game 3: Hull City 1-3 Sheffield United After the disappointment of the last minute draw against Preston, United quickly put that result in the rear view mirror with a very commanding 3-1 win against fellow Yorkshire team Hull. A late injury to Sander Berge in the warm up saw Rhian Brewster come into the starting XI and it would be The Blades who would strike first with who else but Billy Sharp heading home a Morgan Gibbs-White cross to give us the opener. On the cusp of half time, we had a very good opportunity to extend our lead after Billy was brought down in the penalty box but when he stepped up to take the pen, Billy missed with Ingram guessing right to push the ball away and ensure that we went into half time only up by one. The second half saw us do something that we haven't done for a very long time and that's score a goal from a set piece not once, but twice! John Egan got our second five minutes after the restart and then not long after that got another one to put us three up with about half an hour left. Hull did get a consolation late on and former Blade Tyler Smith did have a goal ruled out for offside but United manged to see off the late Tiger rush of offence to get our first away win of the season. Game 4: Sheffield United 2-2 Southampton (Southampton win on penalties) Cup action was next for The Blades with the visit of Premier League Southampton to The Lane on a brisk Tuesday night in the back end of September. United took it to the Premier League outfit and had our finishing been better, we could have booked our place in the 4th round instead of The Saints but, alas, that didn't happen and despite opening the scoring via a returning Enda Stevens, Southampton took the lead with goals from Diallo and Salisu. In the final ten minutes however, Oli McBurnie opened his account for the 2021/22 season with a well taken volley. That combined with a tremendous save from Wes Foderingham to deny Che Adams another goal against United saw the tie go to penalties with Southampton eventually prevailing after McBurnie and Brewster missed penalties for United. We might have been eliminated but it was still a very positive performance against a team in the Prem. All in all, a pretty good evening result remitted. Game 5: Sheffield United 1-0 Derby County People often say that teams that win leagues do so because they find a way to win games when they themselves have played poorly. That sentiment was definitely true this weekend for The Blades with a pretty average performance eventually seeing us get a very gritty win against a Derby team that were resilient and had Curtis Davies not had a rush of blood to give away the penalty when he did, they probably get away from Bramall Lane with a point and maybe even a win had Tom Lawrence converted the late chance that hit the post. But it was Billy Sharp again who was the match winner for United, converting a clutch penalty a week after missing the one at Hull. After enduring awful abuse from a vocal section of the Derby support throughout the game, Sharp had the last laugh and ensured that we go into tonight's game against Middlesbrough unbeaten in 5 league games. Well... We've definitely clicked since the Luton game. Going from scoring 1 goal in our opening 5 league games to 12 in our last 5 is proof that the players are finally getting used to the way Slav wants them to play. Fulham and Watford fans did tell us that it took a bit of time for Slav to implement his ideas and they were right. After the disappointment of those opening games, it has been brilliant to see everything start to come together a bit and hopefully that can continue going forward. So, until next time, UTB.
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It's out a little bit later than I would have liked but it's here now! Yes, in lieu of no United game this weekend gone due to the international break, I decided that it was about time that I ventured to the far away land of Chesterfield and the Proact/Technique stadium to see our women's team take on Durham women in our home season opener. As far as the venue goes, it's a decent little stadium with a massive (and I mean MASSIVE) Tesco Extra next door to it with the stand the fans were sat in extremely close to the team dugouts. This lead to a first experience of what it's like being a part of the prawn sandwich brigade, sitting in cushioned seats at the very top of the stand. I will say, it was very comfy and I thoroughly enjoyed the extra bit of leg room (I think it was extra leg room anyway) and the view was very good. So, enough build up, what about the game itself?
After losing our season opener thanks to a poor second half against Blackburn, United, manger Neil Redfearn brought in a few changes with Georgia Robert, Jess Clarke and Sophie Walton coming in. United were at it from the off and should have had the lead a few minutes in when good play from The Blades seeing Courtney Sweetman-Kirk one on one with Megan Borthwick with the Durham keeper pulling off a very good save to deny Sweetman-Kirk a first goal of the season. Despite being denied an opener then, United got a deserved opener a couple of minutes later with a cracking goal. The Blades won a free kick outside the right hand side of the penalty box with our no.9 Lucy Watson whipping the ball up and above the Durham wall and putting the ball right in the top corner of the net. It's a brilliant goal and if you haven't seen it, go out of your way to watch it, it's fantastic. United went on the hunt for a second goal and nearly got one directly from a corner with Maddy Cusack's delivery keeping Borthwick busy. Watson was at it again not long after this with a rasping drive that was tipped over the bar and from the resulting corner United had a second. Cusack put another corner right on the goal line of the Durham goal with Jess Clarke manging to get on the end of it with a deserved first goal for the club. Durham began to get out of their own half a little bit after this but didn't mange to trouble either our backline our Fran Kitching in the United goal much with the nearest they got to halving the deficit being an effort from outside the box that sailed wide of Kitching's post. A bit more pressure was applied by the north-east outfit but to no avail and United went into the break two goals to the good. Durham started the second half the brighter of the two teams but they were struggling to break down The Blades staunch backline with Robert being a rock at the back and ensuring that everyone kept their shape. Durham had a free kick in a dangerous position that they sent sailing over the bar and after missing multiple chances to get back in the game, the next goal of the game went the way of the home team with another Cusack corner causing chaos and eventually being poked home by Jess Clarke with the ex-England international topping off her very impressive debut with a brace. Four minutes later, Durham did manage to pull one back with a good cross from Sarah Wilson finding the boot of Iris Achterhof making an impact after coming on as a sub with a venomous volley that Kitching could do little about. Durham did take confidence from their consolation and began to probe as United tried to catch them on the counter. Tackles were flying in with Cusack throwing caution to the wind with the some big tackles. As the timer wound down to full time, United did get one last big chance to add to our goal tally with Lucy Watson bursting through the Durham defence and with a two on one against Borthwick, Watson took the unselfish route and tried to lay the ball off to Sweetman-Kirk which was unfortunately cleared up before our no.7 could slot it home. The whistle blew not long after that and United's league points total was up and running! This was a very good afternoon of football with United being full value for the three points with a commanding performance against the team that finished second in the league last season. Standout performers have to be Robert, Cusack, Watson and Clarke with Robert being a huge presence at the back with multiple blocks and tackles that denied Durham an opportunity to get back into the game. Plus, she was extremely vocal and was constantly organising and encouraging her team mates. Cusack put in a battling performance in the middle of the park with her harrying of opponents and putting in multiple crunching tackles that broke up opposition play and allowed us to move the ball up the park quickly, plus, her set piece delivery was top quality and led to her getting two assists. Up top, Watson and Clarke were tireless with both players constantly pressing and harrying the Durham back line. Clarke also showed why she has spent the majority of her career playing with the elite of the game with her dribbling and pace causing constant problems all afternoon and the two goals she got were the least she deserved for a very impressive all round performance. Lucy Watson was similar to her strike partner and her free kick finish was just absolutely fantastic. At 17 years old, she's got a huge future in the game and hopefully that can be spent playing for United. Overall, it was a great time finally being able to watch our women's team live and the amount of young people there avidly supporting the players was great to see! I will definitely be making another trip and look forward to the next home game against Watford. Until next time, UTB. M. Night Shyamalan is an extremely successful director who has given the world some great cinematic experiences with films like Unbreakable, Split and The Sixth Sense. He's also given us some really, REALLY bad films like Glass, Old, After Earth and perhaps most heinously, The Visit. But the one thing that Mr Shyamalan can consistently produce is a shocking twist in his film that should make the audience go "wow! I never saw THAT coming!" So what does this all have to do with Sheffield United and our summer transfer window? Well, up until yesterday, it appeared that United would be continuing the rest of our season with just the one signing that we made a fair while ago now. As the fans began to become a little bit perturbed (and rightfully so) by our lack of activity in the transfer market, it took for transfer deadline day for us to truly spring the Shyamalan twist and appear to be signing a lot of very exciting players including a player from Barcelona(!) As it turned out, out of the 4 players we appeared to have a deal in place for yesterday we signed 2. Which is better than none but it's still frustrating that we couldn't get the Koromah and Collado deals over the line but instead of lingering on the deals that didn't happen, let's talk about the ones that did. So here is the low down on all our new players!
Ben Davies D.O.B: 11/08/95 Signed From: Liverpool (loan) Previous Clubs: Preston North End, York City, Tranmere Rovers, Southport, Newport County, Fleetwood Town, Liverpool Career Appearances/Goals: 233/3 Honours: N/A Our first signing of the transfer window is a player that we've had a vested interest in over the course of the last couple of years. Originally wanted by Chris Wilder as a replacement for Jack O'Connell as he recovered from his long term injury. After not getting our man, we went through players like Jack Robinson and Ethan Ampadu to try and fill the massive hole that the absence of O'Connell. I believe that our inability to replace O'Connell has been one of, if not, the biggest reasons why we began to struggle as much as we have over the course of the past year and a bit. But now it appears we have that quality replacement. Davies comes to The Blades looking to reboot his career a little bit after his January move to the then defending Premier League champions Liverpool led to him not playing a professional game of football for well over 7 months. Despite the ring rust, Davies is still an incredibly talented footballer at this level and was very consistent during his spell at Preston. Things have looked fairly decent so far and hopefully he can only continue to improve as he plays more games for us and, whisper it quietly, he could be the replacement for O'Connell in the long run rather than just the season he's currently scheduled to spend with us. Conor Hourihane D.O.B: 2/02/91 Signed From: Aston Villa (loan) Previous Clubs: Sunderland, Ipswich Town, Plymouth Argyle, Barnsley, Aston Villa, Swansea City Career Appearances/Goals: 388/72 Honours: Football League Trophy 2015-16, Football League One Playoffs 2016, EFL Championship Playoffs 2019, EFL Cup Runner Up 2019-20, Football League One Player Of The Month August 2014, Barnsley Player Of The Year 2014-15, EFL Championship Player Of The Month September 2016 The start of a crazy 48 hours of transfer whispers and conformations began with another loan signing. This time we bolstered arguably our weakest area of the pitch in the midfield with the loan signing of experienced Republic Of Ireland international Conor Hourihane. Another player who we've had links with in the past, probably more tenuously than our links with Davies if we're being honest, Hourihane comes to us on the back of a fairly successful season with Swansea where he manged to bag 5 goals in 19 appearances for The Swans as they narrowly missed out on a return to the top flight. Aside from last season, Hourihane had been a crucial part of Aston Villa's asserting themselves as a top flight team once again, playing 27 times as they secured safety in the 2019-20 season. Hourihane, like Davies, is a quality operator at this level and his set piece delivery could be crucial to us as we look to climb towards the upper echelons of the Championship table. He should be an upgrade on Norwood or Fleck in current form and should give us that much needed shot in the arm to improve in that midfield area, Morgan Gibbs-White D.O.B: 27/01/00 Signed From: Wolverhampton Wanderers (loan) Previous Clubs: Wolves, Swansea City Career Appearances/Goals: 69/2 Honours: EFL Championship 2017-18, FIFA U-17 World Cup 2017 Our first deadline day signing is a bit of a coup if I do say so myself. Morgan Gibbs-White is probably the next big thing that's come out of Wolves youth academy in the last couple of years and has backed that up by being a presence in and around the Wolves starting XI for the past couple of years as well as being capped by England at every level up to the under 23's. A versatile operator, Gibbs-White can play in the midfield or up front either on the wing or leading the line. This ability to play anywhere in the offensive part of the field will be very useful to Jokanovic as we try and adapt to the new system he wants to implement. In a squad that has been very Subbuteo like in the early stages of the campaign, Gibbs-White should add a bit of mobility to a team that has been very immobile and could be a very shrewd signing as the season continues to unfold. Robin Olsen D.O.B: 8/01/90 Signed From: Roma (loan with an option to buy next summer) Previous Clubs: IF Limhamn Bunkeflo, Bunkeflo FF, IFK Klagshamn, Malmo FF, PAOK, Copenhagen, Roma, Cagliari, Everton Career Appearances/Goals: 231/0 Honours: Division 5 Skane Sydvastra A 2010, Division 2 Sodra Gotaland 2011, Allsvenskan 2013 2014, Svenska Supercupen 2013, Danish Superliga 2015-16 2016-17, Danish Cup 2015-16 2016-17, Allsvenskan Goalkeeper Of The Year 2014, Swedish Goalkeeper Of The Year 2016-2019 Our final signing of deadline day and the transfer window as a whole was for the position that we made our biggest sale of the window. We secured the services of a new starting goalkeeper for the 5th year running (I'm going to say the spell Deano had between 2018-19, 2019-20 counts as signing a new player) in Sweden's starting goalkeeper Robin Olsen. After moving to Roma for around €12,000,000 in 2018, Olsen hasn't been able to establish himself as the de facto no.1 in Rome despite impressive performances for Sweden over that time span. Spending the last two seasons out on loan first at Cagliari and then Everton last season, Olsen is an experienced stopper who comes with experience playing in some of the biggest competitions in the world with his exploits helping Sweden to the Last 16 of Euro 2020 still fresh in the mind of many. Olsen should hopefully be an upgrade on both Wes Foderingham and Michael Verrips and fingers crossed will hopefully lead to us finally having some stability at the no.1 position. So, that's that then. Another transfer window in the books and after initially being quite slow in the transfer market, United did mange to bring in some additions that definitely improve the squad and the starting XI ahead of our home game against Peterborough. Despite missing out on Koromah and Collado, I believe that the signings we have made this window are probably a bit better than the signings that we made in the summer window last year with this year's new boys bringing a nice mix of experience at the highest level and young player who should freshen us up a bit. It'll be interesting to see if any of deadline day signings appear against The Posh with Olsen currently away with Sweden. We will have to wait and see but at least the last 24 hours have been a tad more exciting than the January 2021 window. 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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