Sheffield United haven't really done draws on a regular basis under Chris Wilder before this season. In the 138 league matches under Wilder before our Premier League campaign, we drew 30 League games. So far this season we've drawn 8, including this match against Watford. I think drawing a game of football (especially in the Premier League) is a positive result. It keeps the points total ticking over and can continue an unbeaten streak if a team is on one at the time. In that respect, United have kept their unbeaten run going and that's good, considering the matches we have coming up next points a precious and that's what we got in this game. I'm waffling so I'll stop boring you dear reader and get on with the review.
United made one change from the away win at Brighton with John Fleck coming back into the starting XI and Luke Freeman dropped back to the bench. Despite a delay to kick off thanks to a technical fault on the turnstiles, the atmosphere was crackling under the lights. Watford initially caused some early issues with Troy Deeney providing some knock on's from long balls into the onrushing Deulofeu or Sarr. United soon took control of the tie and David McGoldrick almost got that first goal after a scramble which left him with the ball in the six yard box, unfortunately Ben Foster turned the ball around the post and United had to go again and shortly after the ball was in the back of the net but the linesman's flag went up straight away. Despite this, VAR did get involved but there was nothing doing and play continued. Watford opened the scoring not long after the disallowed goal, Foster sent a searching ball forward and after a header from Deeney, Deulofeu was left with the freedom of the Kop end and beat Henderson at his near post. It was disappointing for United who, despite the early pressure, had largely dominated the first half and now had to come from behind. And they did! About 9 minutes later, George Baldock was brought down in the box and the ref pointed to the spot for our first Premier League penalty. Oli Norwood stepped up and duly despatched the penalty to put us back on level turns going into half time. Second half and United tried to crank up the pressure on The Hornets but were regularly denied by Foster and his backline. McGoldrick again looked like he'd have the chance to score but he hit the post and the flag had already gone up for offside so the goal probably wouldn't have counted anyway. Lys Mousset came on around the hour mark and made an immediate impact after racing onto a through ball, Moose managed to get the ball in the box and all John Fleck had to do was hit it home from about 6 yards out... Ben Foster somehow managed to save it! It was a brilliant save from Foster but Fleck really should have been putting that one away. The rest of the half was more of the same, United attacked and Watford repelled. At the end of the match, 1-1 was a fair result. Despite being bottom of the league, Watford are a very talented unit and showed it in this match. Despite his complaining, I thought Deulofeu was a menace all game and if he is available I'd have him in a heartbeat. The real star of the show for The Hornets was Ben Foster. Despite his advancing years he really has developed into a top quality keeper and should be considered one of the best outside of the top six despite Watford's league position. You can see why United are linked with him. Well, the unbeaten run continues and the points keep on coming. It's only Man City up next, how hard can that match be? Until next time, UTB.
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Fifth. Sheffield United are fifth in the Premier League going into Christmas. It feels good, doesn't it? It feels even better doing it in such a 'basic' manner. Not only are we fifth, but we are 4 POINTS OFF OF A CHAMPIONS LEAGUE SPOT! Now if that's not truly mental, I don't know what is. Thursday is a chance to get a fourth straight win on the board against a Watford team that have largely struggled for form so far this season. Before we preview our Boxing day opposition, let's have a look back at Saturday's win on South coast.
United came into the game on Saturday on the back of two big wins against fellow promoted teams Norwich and Aston Villa with excellent performances in the second half of both games securing the wins for United. Despite the wins, there was a slight concern about how The Blades started out in both those matches. That wasn't to be the case here, John Egan had the ball in the back of the net after 8 minutes after a lovely corner from a returning Luke Freeman. Unfortunately, our ol' pal VAR reared it's head again and Egan's first ball was chalked off for handball. This didn't deter The Blades however, and John Lundstram kept Mat Ryan honest with a snapshot that narrowly missed the top left hand corner of the goal. United's pressure did eventually pay off and a searching ball forward from Henderson was met by McBurnie who beat his defender to the first and second ball and despite pressure from another Brighton defender managed to stay on his feet and drive the ball home off the left post. It was a cracking goal from our Scottish Yorkshireman and it showed off all the reasons why we payed the big bucks for him. Tenacity, strength and coolness under pressure. Shortly after this, the half time whistle blew and United were 1-0 to the good at the half. Second half and United were at it again with David McGoldrick pouncing on hesitant defending from Adam Webster and after taking it round a floundering Ryan all he had to do was put it into an empty net... He didn't. It's a real, real shame for Dave and the sooner he scores that first goal the better, hopefully he'll get it on Sunday. Some people might question why we're still playing a striker that doesn't score and the simple answer to that is that he's so, so important to everything else that United do in the attacking third. His link up play is outstanding and in the absence of a central attacking midfielder that link between the midfield and the frontline his ability to create space and pick passes is essential to our attacking play. Fingers crossed for Thursday Dave, we're all hoping you score. The Blades had the ball in the back of the net for a third time shortly after McGoldrick's miss with Jack O'Connell tapping home after Ryan failed to gather an Egan header alas, it was ruled out for offside. Nothing much else to say about this one, it went to VAR, it was disallowed, same as it ever was. Brighton did rally after this second disallowed goal but never really forced Henderson into any serious saves and as time wound down, United managed to keep The Seagulls at bay and gained a third straight win and continued the long unbeaten run. Now onto our opposition on Boxing day in Watford! Despite an impressive season last year, which included a run to the FA Cup Final, this year has been far from vintage Watford. Bottom of the League and looking pretty disjointed under Sanchez Flores Watford needed a shot in the arm. That shot in the arm it turned out has been ex Leicester (and Wednesday captain) Nigel Pearson who has managed to come in and spark a mini revival of sorts as of late. Despite losing to Liverpool, Watford had plenty of chances on the day to score and had they taken those chances, Liverpool might not have the unbeaten record that they currently are protecting. Following on from that, a much needed win against Manchester United raised eyebrows and perhaps reminds you that this is a team that is brimming with talent. The obvious dangerman for The Hornets is talisman striker Troy Deeney. Deeney is a stalwart of Watford, having been at the club since 2010, and despite being 31 his stats over the past few years point towards a striker that is extremely prolific. Since 2016, Deeney has scored 25 Premier League goals in 105 games. This is a man that knows how to score and needs tabs kept on him if we want to win. Another player who could cause problems is Barcelona academy graduate Gerard Deulofeu. A livewire midfielder, Deulofeu may not have lived up fully to the early expectations that were placed upon him at Barca but he has still had a very steady career in both the Premier League and La Liga alongside a stint in Serie A. If Deulofeu is on his game come Sunday, United could have problems. Before Watford's result on Sunday, this game looked like a game that United should really be winning. But with a result against The Red Devils under their belts, Watford will be looking to continue their good run of performances under Pearson and will not be a push over. As long as United can diffuse the dangerman, I could see The Blades getting a positive result in this game. I'm going for a 2-1 win with Mousset a McBurnie bagging for United. This is the lost post I'll be writing before Christmas so I'd like to wish all readers a very Merry Christmas and I hope you get everything you asked for! Until next time, UTB. We're 9 days out from Christmas at the time of writing this article and Sheffield United went all out on Saturday to ensure that Blades fans came home from the last home game before yuletide full of Christmas joy. For the first time in the history of predictions (or at least for the first time in a while) I got a score prediction right! United comfortably put away a frankly flat Villa side 2-0 thanks to a second half brace from our Scottish hero John Fleck. So let's get into a little review of the game.
I'm going to be honest here, the first half was incredibly boring. I know I've said it before in reviews but during the first half of this game, literally nothing of note happened. So whilst I was watching this first half where there were no shots on target from either team my mind wandered. It was nice to see that Jack Grealish had lived up to his reputation of the man of many haircuts and came to The Lane sporting blonde highlights. I wonder if Grealish dyes his hair himself or does he go to the barbers? The other thing I noticed about Grealish's hair was the lack of product that was in it. Usually, his hair is plastered to his head with a very attractive shine that can only be achieved by putting an ungodly amount of V05 on your head. But on Saturday, his hair had a distinctive bounce to it. It must have been particularly annoying for him as his hair continually flopped into his eyes as he threw himself dramatically to The Lane turf in his quest to earn his team a foul. Oh half time is here? That's convenient, hopefully the second half will be much better. Oh it was much better, United came out of the traps like bat out of hell and almost opened the scoring thanks to David McGoldrick. Unfortunately, Dave couldn't set his feet and the ball cannoned off of his shin and went agonisingly wide. It wouldn't be long before United opened the scoring though and what a goal it was. Basham played a glorious back heel into the path of the onrushing John Lundstram who whipped in a lovely cross that was met first time by John Fleck and the ball whizzed past Tom Heaton and into the net. A top quality goal, made by a top quality team and the fun didn't stop there! Villa had some good opportunities to equalise thanks to Wesley and that man Grealish but it would be United who struck again and it was another top quality goal. John Fleck picked up the ball from a Oli Norwood pass on the left hand side of the box. He played it to George Baldock who chipped it on to David McGoldrick who cushioned a lovely ball into the path of Fleck who placed the ball into the Kop net. It was an astonishing goal and should be shown to anybody who is still under the belief that we play 'basic' football because this goal and the previous one were anything but basic. So 2-0 up and Villa looked hapless, surely we wouldn't let them back into this one? Penalty to Villa. Oh. And Grealish is taking it? Brilliant. Here we go then, get on with it Jack, HE'S MISSED IT! OH MY GOD! HE'S HIT THE BAR! THIS IS BRILLIANT!... Ahem. Yeah so I don't know if Grealish had accidentally got his V05 in his eyes, but he hit the bar and play carried on. From that point onwards Villa just rolled over and posed very little threat. United did have chances to score more goals but because it is the Christmas season, we didn't want to make the score look too bad for Villa so kept it at 2-0. The whistle blew for full time and United have back to back Premier League victories for the first time 2006/07. What a victory this was for United. Not only have we now beaten both of our fellow promoted teams in a week but we've now put a 10 point gap between ourselves and 18th. At this point in the season, that is huge. So next up it's a trip to the seaside as we come up against a manger that Wilder has not yet been able to beat. But if we play like we did in the second half for the full game against Brighton, we could be looking at three straight wins for United. Until next time, UTB. Despite what might have happened on Friday, what's more important than all of that is that Sheffield United are back in action at Bramall Lane. There's nothing better than watching United at the Lane and on Saturday we're facing familiar opposition in our old friends Aston Villa. Before we preview that, let's look back at last week's important win at the home of Norwich.
United weren't great in the first half, I don't think that is a blasphemous thing to say, in fact it could have been one of the worst first half performances of the season. As a reaction to the disappointment of Thursday, this wasn't it chief. United looked disjointed and just didn't look like they wanted to attack a Norwich team that have so far been pretty poor on home turf. Norwich could have gone into the break with more goals than the one they scored, a big second half was needed and United gave it to us and then some! Minutes in, a throw in routine that must now be as old as pack of 2006/07 Shoot Out cards led to Enda Stevens heading home to bring The Blades level. Not long after that, United were at it again, George Baldock showed sublime skill and composure to wrong foot the Norwich defender and than power the ball home past a despairing Tim Krul. Just like that, United were ahead. It could have got much worse for Norwich after it looked like Chris Basham had been bundled over in the box, would United be awarded a first Premier League penalty?... No. Instead the VAR check wasn't for a penalty but for an offside on John Lundstram, would United ever get a VAR decision in their favour? They would! And it came about 10 minutes later when that man Basham went into a tackle. The ref sent off Bash, Bash walked off, Bash waited, and Bash was let back on with his red card downgraded to a yellow. Not only have United scored the first goal in Premier League history, but we've now had the first red card rescinded via VAR. That's one to put in the trophy cabinet. Anyway, Norwich did get a breakthrough towards the end of the game with Dean Henderson pulling off a belter of a save from a cracking shot from Todd Cantwell. After that, United saw out time and secured a vital second away win of the season and momentum is rebuilt going into the game against Villa on Saturday. Speaking about Villa... Aston Villa. A team that came up with us from the Championship and share a few qualities with ourselves. Fan turned manager? Tick. Boyhood player as club captain? Tick. Both play entertaining football? Tick. So how are Villa fairing so far in the big league? Not brilliantly, but not badly. Villa sit just above the relegation zone and are level on points with 18th place Southampton. However, it's been a tough period for The Villains with matches against 4 of the top 6 all coming in their last 5 matches. Performances have been decent so far this season but an inability to see out matches has been Villa's downfall. The most dangerous player for Villa on Saturday will probably be their captain, the local lad, the man with a thousand haircuts, Jack Grealish. Don't let the hair deceive you, Grealish has adapted well to life in the Premier League scoring 4 goals in 14 games amid calls for him to be included in England squads. As long as Grealish can be kept quiet (and who better to keep him quiet than the man who snapped him last year?) United should be able to take advantage of a pretty leaky defence. Prediction wise, I'm going for a solid 2-0 Blades win. Until next time, UTB. Well I guess the Palermo scarf had a good run. Unfortunately it will probably be retired (for now at least) because, for the first time in nearly 2 months, Sheffield United lost a game of football. The fact of the matter is that this was a very depressing result, hence the reason why I'm writing with just over 10 minutes of Friday night left. I don't really want to relive this match but I guess I have to. So... Let's get on with the review.
United made two changes to the team that faced Wolves on Sunday and it was surprisingly the front two of McGoldrick and Mousset with Billy Sharp coming in for his full Premier League debut alongside Oli McBurnie. It seemed a strange choice from Wilder, our best run of results of the season have come with M'N'M (nobody better steal that, even though I just came up with it on the spot, I think it's the best thing I've ever created) up top. But with another game just 3 days away, rotation is necessary and Sharp and McBurnie should have been more than capable of leading the line. The match started and United created some early chances with Stevens having a deflected effort turned behind by Dubravka followed shortly by McBurnie narrowly missing the top left hand corner from about 18 yards out. Early optimism soon turned to despair though as Newcastle opened the scoring thanks to a powerful header from Saint- Maximin that came about after Basham and Baldock failed to fully deal with a Newcastle press. Surely this would kick United into gear? It didn't. We looked pretty toothless and looked devoid of forward movement. It was like the Brazil/Portugal game in The Simpsons, just sideways passing and the occasional hold up. We went in to half time deservedly behind, surely we'd improve in the second half though? We didn't really. We just continued to just knock the ball around with no real purpose. Soon after, Newcastle got their second albeit in controversial fashion. Despite the linesman flagging Jonjo Shelvey offside, Shelvey continued towards goal and slotted it home. It was expected that the ball would be returned to the place of the offside and play would continue. However, VAR got involved and deemed that Shelvey was onside and that the goal would stand. Nothing more to say about this really, apart from the fact that my disappointment was immeasurable and my day was ruined. After that, the impetus was sucked out of United and we just stumbled to the finish line. There was more sideways passing, more displaced passing and very little overlapping. The final whistle blew and for the first time in a long time, I was disappointed coming out of Bramall Lane. Don't get me wrong, Newcastle and Steve Bruce came with a game plan and executed it to perfection. People have said that the football must be bad to watch but the fact of the matter is that it worked against us. The combination of the deep laying blocks from Newcastle combined with Almiron and Saint Maximin pressing Baldock and Stevens at almost every opportunity made sure that our centre backs could never really overlap. Even when we did manage to overlap and get a ball in the box, it was easy clearances for the Newcastle centre backs. United really need to find a way to break down teams that sit deep. Whenever that tactic has been used against us, we've been unable to combat it. It'll be interesting to see how Norwich set up on Sunday. All in all, the best thing about this match was when John Lundstram floored Andy Carroll at some point. That was good, enjoyed that. Apart from that, it wasn't great. Anyway, onto Sunday and a date with Norwich. Until next time, UTB. Amazon Prime is not something that you'd normally associate with showing Premier League football. They're the people that send you the lovely (and sometimes not so lovely) brown boxes, and now they're showing a two rounds of Premier League action, with the midweek fixtures this week and the Boxing Day fixtures being the ones they have bought. So because of this new contender to the football streaming platform, the midweek fixtures have been spread over several days starting on Tuesday and ending on Thursday. United have been chosen to play on Thursday and after this weekends fixture, go into the match against The Toon unbeaten in 6 games. So, what happened in this weekends game against Wolves?
United were quick on the draw this weekend with that man Moose scoring again a mere minute after kick off. It's five goals from five shots for the Mooseman now and what a revelation he has been. There was some scepticism over the signing of Mousset in the summer, signing a bit part player for £10 million seemed like a very risky move but that caution looks to have been completely blown away thanks to some scintillating performances. You can tell that Mousset is loving life at The Lane and he has already built a brilliant rapport with Blades fans. For a player that many had written off, Moose has been brilliant. It looked like there was only one team in it in the first half with Wolves not really being able to handle The Blades pressure but United weren't able to add to their tally and would be made to rue missed opportunities when Wolves found an equaliser midway through the second half. United then had to hold on and repel a resurgent Wolves bombardment. Despite some knockings on the door, United held on and kept the Premier League points tally ticking over and extended the away unbeaten run to 7 games. Although United probably should have been out of sight before Wolves found their equaliser, lets not forget the fact that Wolves are a very, very good team and not many people will (or have) gone to The Molineux and come away with something. Either way, the result extends our unbeaten run and keeps our heads up for Thursday's game against the Geordie's. Let's take a look at what has been going on in Geordie land so far shall we? Although there was discontent (and rightfully so) over Mike Ashley allowing a manager like Rafa Benitez leave in the summer and replacing him with a manager like Steve Bruce, Newcastle have started to gel a little bit and come into Thursday's match with two wins and two draws from their last 5 games. The most eye catching result of the last 5 is the draw at home to defending champions Man City. Despite twice falling behind in the game, Newcastle managed to battle hard and were good value for their point against Guardiola's men. The interesting thing that stood out to me in this match is when Paul Dummet did something very familiar to United fans. He overlapped. Now, from what I could gather, it looked like Paul Dummet was playing as a centre back in a back line of 5 so whether Bruce is trying to mirror our famed specialty or not is up for debate. What isn't up for debate is the fact that Newcastle have some dangerous players that could cause our backline some issues. Players like Allan Saint-Maximin and Miguel Almiron have been particularly impressive since moving to the North East and should be ones to watch on Thursday. So how do I see this going down? Well Newcastle have proven this season that they can cause teams problems but at times can also be bafflingly bad so it could all depend on what team shows up on Thursday. If the team that got a draw with City turn up then we'll have to be at our best to get the three points. My prediction is a 2-1 for the Blades with Mousset and Lundstram getting our goals. 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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