Sheffield United away player ratings

Weale 8 - Fantastic stuff. One bad kick, but brilliant for the rest. At least 2 match saving saves. If Ricardo is in for the next game it would be a disgrace.

Naughton 7 - Very assured for the most of it, the naivety showed itself again as he gave it away in a dangerous area a couple of times, but mostly solid and good defending. Didn't get forward as much as he would have liked.
Bamba 8 - Similar to his previous performances, won everything in the air, some silky skills, very good performance.
Mee 8 - A massive improvement on his leage debut. I wasn't happy he was picked beforehand, but he was on a par with Bamba really. Won most headers and put in some great tackles.
Van Aanholt 3 - Very poor tbh. I was expecting good things from what I've heard and what little I've seen, but he seemed to be bullied. His clearances and passing were poor, and got forward little. Berner should take his place on Saturday.

Abe 5.5 - Didn't really have much time on the ball, but mostly used it well. Didn't really do his defensive job well though.
Wellens 6 - Got stuck in, but had little time on the ball. Not his most influential game but he wasn't bad by any means
King 6 - The 6 is for his goal, he did very little else after that. Pretty anonymous, though it wasn't really his fault, our distribution from the back was appalling.

Vassell 4 - Again, mostly anonymous, as most of his performances on the wing have been. Lacked effort at times. Generally poor. How he stays on the pitch for 90 minutes every week I don't know, he's obviously Sven's favourite. Gally should take his place on Saturday.
Yakubu 3 - Had a hand in the goal but other than that was really poor. Seemed to lack effort for most of it, touch was terrible, was barely in the game. In fairness, the service was poor, but he did nothing.
Dyer 4.5 - Did a bit more than Vassell, but his effective runs into the box were few and far between. His shooting and use of the right foot is atrocious, needs to work on that

Subs
Gallagher 6 - Didn't change the flow of the game, but worked hard and didn't misplace any passes. Is much better on the wing than Vassell.
Oakley 7 - Cleared a certain goal off the line, can't remember much else but that was the second most important contribution of the match
Waghorn 6.5 - Did more in about 5 minutes than Vassell did the whole match. Sven massively underrates him, he came on in the last minute and looked dangerous, and created a chance for Vassell with the last kick. BRING HIM ON EARLIER.

Atmosphere 6 - I stood in quite a decent place, was a reasonable amount of singing (think J block for a big game). Never been to Bramall Lane before and the acoustics in that ground are about 100 times better than at Filbert Way. Their fans didn't sing much but came in decent numbers considering they're in a relegation fight and it was a Tuesday night game.

Ref 3 - I'm told he denied them 2 stone wall penalties (which I didn't see), and other than that he gave them everything. ****.

I'm going to be honest, I don't think I'll ever see us play that badly and win again. We won 1-0, but if we had lost 4-1 I couldn't have complained. By my reckoning they had 90% of possession. They misssed a number of sitters, were denied big penalty claims, and were better than us in every department apart from defending and chance conversion. We played hoofball for most of the game and a few players lacked effort. Sven should have made changes a lot earlier than he did. I can't criticise our passing because there wasn't any worth a name.

Sadly I was having a piss when Mattock got stretchered off, so I missed one of the best moments of the night. Enjoyed giving him stick up until then though. Sheffield United reminded me of us when we went down in 2008, they dominated the game but had no luck. And for that reason I would not be surprised if they went down this season.

Anyone else go?

 

On the radio they said that Paddy Van Aanholt was targeted for his inability in the air.

They said that every ball was over to the left back position and that Ben Mee had to cover.

They also said he was caught way out of position too many times.

3 sounds a bit harsh although I wasn't there so I can't really say.


Ah well, an excellent 3 points now onto Barnsley

 

I think i will be unfair to judge Van Aanholt last night. Saturday will be a better pointer.

As i said we would grind out a win last night and hammer Barnsley

 

Yeh tbf to the lad he wasn't quite as bad as Mee was against Millwall, and he was very good last night. So maybe I'm being a bit rash by saying he should be dropped. TBH I think Sven would be better off bringing new signings on as subs instead chucking them straight in at the deep end.

 

i agree, im going on saturday, anyone else?

 

Yep

 

Oh yes.

Should be comfortable win

 

I think BAMBA is turning out to be the buy of the season.

 

i'll be there on saturday. 2-0 to us.