Well, I feel like I've started this article the same way since the start of the season but the results haven't changed so why should this introduction? United once again lost with a long range strike from ex Blade Kyle Walker just before the half hour mark of the first half enough to see off United in a match where we looked very much like a lower league outfit drawing the big scary top flight team away from home in the FA Cup with the hope that a draw could get the Premier League outfit back to their place where maybe, just maybe, they'd be able to pull off a giant killing. The thing is we are both Premier League teams and both finished in the top half of the Premier League last season. And we weren't playing away at City's Etihad, we were at our own home ground. It's not the fact that we lost the game that has frustrated me and I assume you yourself dear reader. It's the fact that we didn't really look like we wanted to attack City due to the fear that they could absolutely destroy us on the counter. But that didn't seem to bother us as much last season. We threw caution to the wind last season against the big boys, that's why we managed to take 8 points from teams like Chelsea and Tottenham but this season? We look awed by playing these players whose reputation we didn't seem too bothered by last season. Anyway, let's get a bit more in depth into this game.
United made one change from our encouraging defeat last time out at Liverpool with John Lundstram dropping to the bench and Ethan Ampadu being pushed into the midfield with Max Lowe returning to the starting XI after recovering from his concussion against Fulham. Despite various injuries to their ranks, City still managed to put out a starting XI that many teams in the world could only dream of assembling. Ruben Dias and Aymeric Laporte anchored the defense with Rodri and Kevin De Bruyne playing in the midfield and despite Sergio Aguero being absent, City still fielded Raheem Sterling and Ferran Torres in his absence. The match kicked off with very little actually happening between both teams with United looking very stout defensively with the best chance of the opening exchanges probably coming after a Raheem Sterling cross found the unmarked head of Torres who's header was turned away by Ramsdale in the Blades net. The Sterling/Torres connection was at it once again not long after with a low ball from the England international finding the young Spaniard in the six yard box with Ramsdale once again pulling off a cracking save to keep the Blades on level terms. Despite the heroics of Ramsdale, United's backline was eventually breached and the player who breached the deadlock would be one of our own. Kyle Walker picked the ball up from about 25 yards out and sent a shot flashing towards the United goal that evaded the outstretched hand of Ramsdale and nestled into the bottom right hand corner of the Kop net. Usually going behind would have seen a resurgence from United and at least an attempt to attack our opponents net but that didn't happen. We continued to sit back and try and contain City to just the one goal. We did mange to hold City to just the one goal as we entered the half time break. It was more of the same in the second half with United not coming out of the half time break full of fire but instead looking more frightened of City. There were no real stand out attempts by City in the second half but you felt like it was just a matter of time before they scored a second goal and put themselves out of reach. Somehow, they didn't manage to get that second goal and United grew into the game a little as the match went on. That doesn't necessarily mean we were creating clear cut opportunities or even long shot opportunities. We just looked content to just have the ball out of our half for a little bit. John Lundstram probably went closest for us during the second half with a pull back from Sander seeing our contract rebel sending his effort flying over the bar when it was perhaps easier to get his effort on target. That was the last chance of note that United got in the game and despite some late pressing from City, the match ended 1-0 and United's search for a first win of the season continues. So where do we go from here? Because clearly something isn't going right within the Blades at the minute. Is it our formation? Is it our choice of personnel? Is it the injuries? Is it the lack of fans in the ground? I could go on and on and on with questions about what's going wrong for United at the minute but I honestly don't really have an answer as to how we get out of this funk we're in. If we have real ambitions about staying in this league longer than two seasons then we really need to buck our ideas up and start grinding out results because otherwise it's going to be a very, very long season. Anyway, I'll leave you with that and I'll see you after the match on Saturday against Chelsea. Until next time, UTB.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
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
Categories |