Sheffield United bossed the first 25 minutes and kept us hemmed back most of the time without really creating much. We worked our way back into the game and created a couple of good first half opportunities, one of which lead to Eze's excellent goal. It's a shame we went to sleep just before half time and left a man wide right unmarked to cross into the danger area for their first goal. I felt we were at least on a par with United in the second half. I didn't see a push for the penalty (from reasonably close, in C Block) but their man looked nailed on to win the header in a dangerous position at the back post and when he went down like a bag of cement, I assumed the worst and it seems that the ref did too. I thought Ingram's passing, especially in the first half, was very risky, with one pass being intercepted and nearly leading to a goal. However, on the positive side, he made an outstanding save in the second half and another good one late on when we were pressing for an equaliser. Kakay looked useful, confident and might have something to offer going forward. I liked the look of the BFG: big, strong and good in the air. Freeman was very good, as usual, but Eze was my man of the match, being both creative and offering a real goal threat. Neither Sylla nor (later) Smith offered much up front and I'm sure McClaren is laying it on thick to the owners that we desperately need someone up front to convert the relatively few chances we create. And he's right about that. We may be able to survive without another CB but we need a proper No. 9. Without one, we should be afraid. Very afraid. United started wasting time for the last 25 minutes and yet another weak referee failed to punish them for it. My missus doesn't join me for matches very often, she's not used to it and she was livid about it! We deserved a point, I enjoyed the game and I saw enough to be fairly positive about the way things might develop.
Well, the 2 in a 4-2-3-1 would normally have one predominately defensive and one more offensively minded, wouldn't you say?
We are going down Keepers distribution terrible Bidwell now our best defender Bfg2 slow and limited but calm headed Lynch awful without pace next to him Kakay ok but raw Need Hall and Furlong urgently For Lynch and Kakay Luongo needs to improve Freeman ok Scowen a decent tidier but no more Eze class and had at least 6 good shots on target today but gave away the goal Bos raw Smyth fast Sylla go away Smith slow No width so Smith won’t save us No pace no width no genuine quality at the back Long season ahead Most worrying thing is Sheffield we’re terrible but dominated us for 70 minutes Decent strikers will stuff us Defo going down with 3 or 4 big home defeats this season It will look like our worst season in the Premiership
Smyth and BOS when he came on tried to give us width and Bidwell managed it in the first half. No one really managed to beat their man and get a cross in from wide.
If Guardiola rates him as the best coach in the world he must have something, and having seen the way Guardiola bears himself it will be about character as well as coaching. He is a volatile character, and his career seems to be on a bit of a downward curve, but I hope he sticks to his principles (I’m sure he will) and they work.
Do you think Pawel (if told to take people on like he has done once or twice) or Shodipo would be decent options for width? I don’t see any of the players we had on the pitch today as real wingers.
There are rumours that Pawel will be off by the end of the month. Shame if true - he is, or was, a very accurate crosser of the ball, and it looks like we are missing that. Samuel did well at times today getting past defenders, but couldn't manage a decent ball in.
Yes, I was surprised to hear about his reputation according to Pep and Simone. The way they are playing is quite unbelievable to be honest. The training regime is immense.
Way too early to call that in this league but we will see. I think we need to not get stranded though. Today worried me.
I really don't understand what is going on here? This lad is an international player full of energy and seems like he has the right attitude. ( never know though). It smells of asset stripping but we didn't sell Freeman so that theory goes out of the window.
I to an extent agree with DT. This could be 2 leagues in 1 this season and is heading more like the premiership.
It's possible Bob but how often have we seen this league turn into one where you can win or lose any game any week. It's been like that for the last seven or eight seasons.
I was level in R block with their first and it did look offside and the pen looked soft but I was a long way from that. We don't seem to get many things like that go our way do we. Hardly an excellent performance though.
Wasn't at the match but good to hear you feel McClaren had a valid complaint. The right loans taken in the next 3 weeks, particularly up front, could be the difference between whether we stay up or go down. The positive I take from our first two results is that management can see without doubt that we need strengthening in key positions.
Unlucky boys .said at the start schteve is a crap manager but you had loads of decent chances from what I saw on the EFL show. Lastly that pen was an absolute farce. The ref should get sacked for that appalling decision
Tx all for comments. It is not all doom.and gloom just yet. We need to wait for the loan window to close and take stock mid October. In bottom three then and that will be bad news. Took Brentford until game 9 for their first win last season!
