I don't think I've ever seen us beat Birmingham City. To be fair, I think the same goes for a lot of Blades fans over the past few years, our last win at home against The Blues came in 2009 apparently and before our win at St Andrews last season, we hadn't won in Birmingham since Christmas 1999. It's fair to say, it's been a fairly barren fixture for us but after the win last year, would our luck change? Let's get into the review.
Despite Hecky insisting we'd be changing the formation for the game due to injuries, we still lined up in the 3-5-2/5-3-2 that has almost become synonymous with Sheffield United over the past few years (I say that very loosely). Anel was missing via injury and so Reda Khadra started at The Lane after his hour stint for Germany's under 21's on Tuesday. This time however, he lined up at wing back. Tommy Doyle returned to the midfield and Adam Davies and, much more excitingly (sorry Adam), Jayden Bogle returned to the matchday squad after a lengthy spell away. The game kicked off in blazing sun shine and, to be honest, not much particularly happened in the first half. McBurnie had a header at John Ruddy that was comfortably saved with a Tahith Chong effort from just behind the penalty spot being blocked by Bash in what was the visitors best chance of the half. The play picked up a bit towards the end as Sander Berge saw a cross-cum-shot almost turned home by Ndiaye but it narrowly rolled past the Bramall Lane End post. A Tommy Doyle free kick rattled crossbar but never really looked like troubling Ruddy. An Ndiaye run and shot was the last effort of note in a first half that saw neither team really assert themselves in the contest. The second period brought more chances with Birmingham beginning to look a little bit more lively than United. Norwood blocked an effort from Graham and a skirmish involving half the outfield of both teams livened the game up a tad. United would turn up the heat even more not long after this and eventually broke the deadlock with a cracking goal from that man Oli McBurnie. A Norwood free kick wasn't cleared at all well by Brum and the ball fell to our number nine who sent a venomous shot careering past Ruddy into The Kop goal to get his fifth of the season and send The Lane into raptures. A thunderous finish from a player that looked incapable of scoring a goal just shy of a month ago. Now McBurnie can't stop scoring and that can only be a good thing for United. The feel good factor didn't last long however with poor defending from a corner 7 minutes later seeing Troy Deeney on his own with the ball inside the six yard box. The ex-Watford man did what he's done for the past decade plus and slot home to see United concede a goal at home for the first time since Sunderland. A really, really disappointing goal to concede with no one really looking sure as to who's man was who from a Blades perspective. Allowing a striker of Deeney's calibre a free shot on goal from six yards out is simply not on and United were punished for their defensive tardiness. After the goal, Birmingham seemed pretty happy to absorb pressure and try and hit us on the break with United probing but not getting a clear look on goal. United did string one decent opportunity together as the game entered injury time with Berge setting Sharp clean through with only Ruddy to beat. Unfortunately, Billy took too much time setting himself and Ruddy acted quicker in getting out and smothering the ball. The game wound down after this and a slightly deflating afternoon saw United's run of home wins come to an end. A really disappointing afternoon. We never really looked like getting out of second gear yesterday with the first half probably being the poorest we've played since Watford on the opening day. We struggled to break down Birmingham who simply employed a low block that we struggled to penetrate. The second half was a bit better and once we got the goal it looked like we picked it up a bit but then we threw it away thanks to some poor defending of a set piece. Despite all this however, we still had the better chances in the game. If the Ndiaye flick or Sharp chance go in, we're looking at a game where you can say we played poorly but did what promotion winning teams do and win ugly. Does not winning yesterday mean we're not dead certs for promotion anymore? Absolutely not, we still managed to get something out of the game and we're still unbeaten since the opening day of the season. We still kept our points total ticking over and still created some good chances despite a drop in creativity. A disappointing game yes, but let's not get our knickers in a twist too much yet. We're still top of the league and we've got a short turnaround to rebound against QPR on Tuesday. Let's hope we're back to winning ways then! Until next time, 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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