Ayy and we're back to titles that aren't the same length as a Jack Robinson long throw (you remember Jack Robinson, don't you? He did long throws in the Cup Quarter Final last year and it was wicked) but alas, the reintroduction of shorter titles doesn't mean the results have improved on the pitch because, once again, United fell short and ended our run in the FA Cup at the Quarter Final stage for the second year running with a narrow loss to a London team. But wait! It's actually not all negative for once this week! During the second half of the game we actually took the game to our opposition and for the first time arguably this season we didn't look petrified of a team that cost more than the expensive sandwiches at Sainsbury's. So with that being said, let's get on with the review!
After another loss the previous weekend, United made some changes to the starting XI and it looked like we'd actually be using a slightly different shape to our tried and testes 3-5-2/5-3-2. In the words of Mike Bassett "Sheffield United will play four, four, f****** two" it was very exciting. Until you saw John Fleck as a left midfielder and Enda Stevens at centre back. When we actually lined up though, we were playing our traditional 3-5-2 so god knows why the official channels were putting us out as 4-4-2. That wasn't the only team sheet blunder of the day with Chelsea apparently putting out a line up an hour before kick off that just wasn't right. Eventually a pretty strong line up was announced for The Blues with first team mainstays like Mason Mount and Ben Chilwell being mixed in with fringe players like Billy Gilmour and Kepa. The first half kicked off and United came out of the blocks fastest with David McGoldrick attempting to curl a shot past Kepa from about 25 yards out but his shot was straight at the keeper. This didn't dissuade United however and a corner from Flecky found it's way through to Phil Jagielka (just a quick word on Jags, the fact that the man was even on the pitch with the events that occurred this week is genuinely incredible. Anyone would have understood had he not wanted to play this game but he did and put on a very steady performance, so congrats Jags on being brilliant and it's a performance that your brother would definitely have been proud of). However, despite this, Chelsea would take the lead in a somewhat fortuitous way. A corner was not cleared well and fell to Mason Mount on the edge of the box. Frank Lampard's former favourite son shot towards goal and his effort that was going wide was helped into the net by Ollie Norwood who's inadvertent block wrongfooted Rammers and nestled in our net for 1-0. To be fair though, unlike other times this season we didn't just give up we actually tried to get back in the game but before we could look for an equaliser, the half time whistle blew. Second half and by and large, United actually came out looking for a goal which was nice. McGoldrick seemed to be on a one man offensive mission to find a way past Kepa. He put Cesar Azpilicueta on toast with a sublime piece of skill only to see his ball across the six yard box missed by everyone and then the miss came. Last season it's fair to say Dave missed a fair few good chances. Brighton, Bournemouth just to name a couple but this season he seems to have put that behind him a bit. 6 goals this season is a pretty good return for a player in a team that doesn't really create chances but I think Dave must have thought that missing a sitter might spur United onto a positive result like it did so many times last season because that's what happened here. John Lundstram played in a brilliant cross that sat up very nicely for Dave to nod home and restore parity. From about six yards out with only the keeper to beat, Dave put his header wide. That didn't stop United though and as the half went on it looked like we'd be the ones to get a goal. Brewster came on and hit a thunderbolt of a shot that narrowly went wide of Kepa's near post. But we can't have nice things this season and almost immediately after that Chelsea went right up the other end and scored a second. It was disappointing but at least we looked decent for the first time in months, maybe we'll improve after the international break? Leeds I mentioned listening to Instant Crush by Daft Punk the last time I did a post and I think there's a lot of parallels between that song and us this season. In a song about falling in love with someone that may never reciprocate that love and coming to terms with that in a pretty harsh way is a pretty nice summary of what a lot of United fans have surely felt at some point this season. We all had a summer memory that will just never die in last season and the club have been trying to paper over cracks in the road that they'd want to disguise and I think we've all wanted to stop listening to the clubs problems and that they listen to ours, but despite wanting to give it up and give it away we just can't. We keep on watching even though we don't want to because I think above everything we care too much about this club to just stop watching. It's a blessing (not yet, not now) and a curse that we've all lived with whilst watching United this past year. Anyway, we lost to Leeds which was very predictable. Rammers was brilliant again and Ben Osborn scored his first competitive goal for United. That's the only positives about this game, George clattering the Leeds player might have been one but then he went off with concussion so that could mean he's out for Arsenal. It's just not fun. When will this end? At least I got a refund from Amazon Prime aka Leeds's Only Fans account. I'll see you all soon, UTB.
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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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