At least we didn't lose another game! To be honest, we should have been out of Fulham's sight before halftime in a blistering performance that was reminiscent of the very best of Wilder's Sheffield United. Then the second half saw a change to the United that we've seen for a lot of since the restart of the Premier League. It looked like the same old story of our season so far when Ademola Lookman danced into our box and slammed home to give Fulham a lead just before the 75th minute. But then who would step up and save the day? Of course it was our beloved leader and captain Billy Sharp who scored his 99th competitive goal for United with a bullet of a penalty that looked like it might have snapped the net of the Kop End goal. So we're off the mark for points but I think most Blades fans feel that we should have got more than just the one point out of that game, plus, going into our next set of three games, this really looked like one of the few games where we could get three points. Anyway, enough build up, let's have a look at Sunday's game.
Changes were afoot for The Blades with Jack Robinson making way for Enda Stevens at left centre back, Max Lowe was given a Premier League debut at left wing back after putting in a very good performance in the Carabao Cup against Burnley. John Lundstram was moved across to the left side of our midfield three with Ben Osborn dropping to the bench with Oli Norwood returning to the starting XI for the first time since Burnley in the cup and Sander Berge moving to the right of our triumvirate. Fulham gave debuts to loan signings Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Ademola Lookman. The game started and almost immediately United had more injury problems. Mere minutes into his Premier League debut, Max Lowe smashed into the cheek of Loftus-Cheek (thanks BladesPod) and was taken off to check for concussion. Incredibly, he was let back onto the field but was taken off about 10 minutes later with Robinson coming on to replace him. Before that, United started the game very quickly with a period of time in the game where we were just camped in the Fulham half. Oli McBurnie had the best chances to score during this period with a header that really should have worked the keeper Areola more. More pressure from the Blades saw another golden chance for McBurnie with the Scotsman somehow managing to miss the goal from about six yards out. The bombardment continued and United did actually manage to put the ball in the back of the net with a Sander Berge cross being turned home by Fulham defender Adarabiyo but the goal was ruled out (correctly) for offside. The half ended with Fulham mounting a little bit of a comeback but we went into the break somehow on level turns. United looked like they would take the second half much like they dominated the first with another McBurnie heading at the keeper once again but this chance was also offiside. The domination did not continue however and it would be Fulham who would have the better chances of the second half. It would all culminate in a bizarre penalty for The Cottagers after Jack Robinson appeared to be possessed by the spirit of Jay McEveley (it is spooky season) and throw his hand up to defend a corner. So despite Fulham not really having a concrete attempt on goal so far, they now had the greatest opportunity of them all to open the scoring and who else would step up but one of the most deadly strikers in England in Aleksander Mitrovic. Mitrovic stepped up... And blazed the ball over the bar! There was a slight bit of worry that Rammers might have stepped off his line but that was unnecessary and United had been given the biggest let off. Would we be able to use this to our advantage and crack on? No. Actually, it seemed to reinvigorate Fulham and on the 75th minute they would eventually get their goal. A couple of very weak challenges from Basham and Berge allowed Lookman a chance to bear down on goal and the Leipzig loanee did what his Serbian striker partner couldn't and lashed home past Ramsdale to put Fulham ahead and surely kill the game off. United did throw more bodies forward in search for an equaliser but that left us vulnerable on the counter and Fulham probably should have killed us off in our search for a goal. But they didn't and once again United had a huge bit of luck fall our way when Mitrovic appeared to foul Robinson in the aftermath of a corner. VAR confirmed this and all of a sudden, United had an opportunity to level the game. Billy Sharp was the man to step up to take the penalty (much to the horror of myself, I'm sorry Billy but your penalties do put the fear of god into me) but I needn't have worried because Billy bulleted his penalty into the top of the goal that pulled United level with five minutes of the game remaining. Instead of going out for a winner, it was Fulham who looked more likely in the last five minutes but United held on and secured a slightly disappointing first point of the season. So we're no longer pointless but if I'm honest we really should have secured more than one point based on our first half performance alone. It was a vintage performance of United under Wilder in the first half with Fulham looking lost as we pushed them further and further back into their own half and created umpteen opportunities that were begging to be converted. It was just a shame that none of them were converted and we once again looked bereft of ideas in the second half as Fulham grew in confidence and got their goal. If it wasn't for the penalty, I doubt we would have got a goal in this game and we would have been staring down the barrel of five straight losses to open the season with games against Liverpool, Man City and Chelsea all on the horizon. But I guess a point is better than none and who knows? We could go out and absolutely batter Liverpool. We'll see about that but one can dream. Until next time, UTB. P.S. Unfortunately, The Premier League has made the very smart decision to keep all games in the country televised. Sounds good right? Well, it does until you realise that your paying an extra £15 for the pleasure on top of paying your fee for BT Sport and Sky. A scheme that has been dressed up by all but one of the Premier League clubs as a way to "help out" your team in these dire financial times, this is a complete and utter farce of an idea. How can you tell me that clubs that have spent upwards of hundreds of millions of pounds on players during this window, a window where some were suggesting that money would be tight and we'd see less multi million pound transfers than in previous summer windows, and then turning around and saying "actually, we're skint, do you mind paying us £15 so we can stay afloat during these tough financial times?" It's almost a thing that something like Black Mirror would come up with. It's exploitation of fans of the highest level. I also heard on the grapevine that whilst the game was being presented on the premium service that your paying for on top of the premium prices you pay for BT and Sky, they had the gall to advertise other games that would be coming to the box office service alongside ads for BT itself. It's a complete mess and something that really proves that the Premier League really has misread the room when it comes to what fans are willing to do to watch their teams. It's embarrassing that the supposed 'best league in the world' has come to this to make an extra couple of quid from fans they are already bleeding dry.
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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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