"Where were you when you were shit?" Was one of the maybe 4 chants that the Manchester City fans brought out during our match at The Lane on Tuesday. I don't know if Man City fans know a lot about us, but the majority of Blades fans were at Bramall Lane when United have been shit. thrashings at home to the likes of Southend United and Shrewsbury Town all happened within the last 5 years. Those were genuinely worrying times to be a blade with the club looking rudderless and without hope of escaping League One. So to come out of Bramall Lane feeling disappointed to lose 1-0 to the champions of England, who in those five years have won eight trophies including two Premier League titles and three League Cups, a team that a few weeks ago beat fellow promoted club Aston Villa 6-1 shows how far we really have come. It's been an incredible rise, let's hope it continues. Anyway, let's have a closer look at the match.
United made two changes coming into this match with the less shocking change of Mo Besic for John Lundstram and the more shocking change of Billy Sharp for Lys Mousset. I think Sheffield United are one of the only clubs in the country where it is a genuine shock when the club captain starts a match. City took a lot of the early exchanges (to be honest, they took a LOT of the possession 67.3% of it to be exact) but United were resolute and kept City at bay. It looked like all that hard work would be undone when Basham made a rare error which really should have seen Riyad Mahrez put City one up. Dean Henderson had other ideas. Our number 1 made an astounding save that saw Henderson push the ball one handed around the post. Henderson would be called into action once again, making another cracking save from a Nicolas Otamendi scissor kick. The heroics would further continue for Hendo after Basham gave away a soft penalty. Jesus stepped up, and Henderson saved it! It wasn't a great penalty from the Brazilian but that doesn't matter, Henderson clawed it away from goal and scurried after the ball to gather the rebound. Incredibly, out of the last 10 penalties that Henderson has faced, 7 have been missed. It's a brilliant statistic and it further backs up why Henderson should be in with a shout of being number 1 at the Euro's. The half ended with City on top, but United's rear guard action was holding firm. United came out fast in the second half and started pressing City back a little bit more but City were still creating chances. Around the hour mark Sharp came off and Mousset came on. It would be Mousset who would register United's first shot on target, after a bit of confusion caused by a United cross, Mousset tried to squirm away from the City defence and managed to get away a cheeky backheel that left everyone in the ground holding there breath... Unfortunately, it was a tame backheel and Ederson claimed the ball relatively easily. United would come again however and nearly got the opener with good work from United nearly seeing Oli McBurnie slotting home, if only he had bigger feet... And shortly after this, City broke United down with De Bruyne putting in a simply incredible ball that was put into an empty net by a waiting Sergio Aguero. It was a body blow but the United fans rallied behind the team but it wasn't to be. Despite some late pressure, it just wasn't to be and City came away from Sheffield with a win that keeps their very faint title chances alive. United come away from this match without the win, but can feel proud in the performance they put in. Not many teams have suppressed City like United have and if Oli McBurnie had bigger feet, who knows? Maybe we go on to win the match? These are the questions we can ask, but will never know the answer to. But hold your heads high United, you did us proud. Anyway, it's a break from the league this weekend and we visit fackin Millwall. It'll be nice to focus on something other than the league, here's hoping we get through! 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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