[Archived] Sheffield United 0 Blackburn Rovers 0

[thenodrog]

Bloody hell, Inspector 'Drog's got it right twice in a month!

No different Macca..... You must just have learned to read more slowly this summer.

You're right, that must be the narrowest pitch I've ever seen.

We play without wingers so it can't be an excuse.

May not be an excuse, I never said that it was ....but it's certainly a very valid reason. It really does make one hell of a difference and helps more physical, less talented and slower players no end.

[AxesFirstTouch]

MGP was the worst player on the pitch

Emerton again very good at left back, for a right back he is very quick and much fast then lucas.

Jeffers - was a suprise didnt realise he was as good as he played, if he continues to improve then he could definately nail a starting place. Just needs a goal, can tell he is a class player who once cost 8 mill

Nonda - didnt look very good to be honest.

Ooijer - played well but does look clumsy at times.

if anyone wants to rematch the match i found these torrents of both halfs:

http://tracker.denness.net:6969/stats.html...e93e0b5bb715943

http://tracker.denness.net:6969/stats.html...7f1a867628b3dbc

Edited September 10, 2006 by wakefieldrawks

[USABlue]

That was the first one frpm the press I've read. The second was Neil says the majority. I haven't seen it on TV. I posted before I was just quoting to BBC report here

Quite happy to accept I was wrong

Yes deinately Neill on the second, thought you was referring to the first. Not handball either, as we all know.

[rover6]

Just a question for people, is it me or does Robbie Savage always get let off lightly whenever he has a average/poor game. It seems to be the bonus that goes with being a technically limited central midfielder. (Garry Flitcroft's anonymity was often effective enough to avoid influence on matches and in the fans' analyses.)

Shouldn't we be expecting more from Robbie Savage? People acknowledge that he 'ran around' and did 'usual Savage stuff of tackling and trying' but the analysis rarely goes further than that. We're all quick to point out Gamst's deficiencies.

I'm not saying this particularly in response to this game but generally from what I've read, people seem to assume a game in which Savage ran around is a par performance for him. But seeing as he has a bit of licence to get forward when he plays alongside Tugay, we should be demanding more from him.

[AxesFirstTouch]

Savage doesnt go missing for nearly a whole match though does he? Waste corners for personal glory or back out of all 50/50's

Rovers6 did you even see the match or are you again judging your views on opinions of other people you have read and from match reports?

Edited September 10, 2006 by wakefieldrawks

[USABlue]

Well, I've just seen the game on a delay here and my thoughts for what its worth...I'm getting worried. There was something disjointed about us...not co-ordinated, off the pace, lack of confidence...something. MGP needs to be dropped badly. He looks totally off the pace and unable to do anything right. Infact, he's pretty much on the level he's been playing for Norway during the last year or so (with the exception of that goal against Hungary). I mean, Lucas Neill looked more dangerous coming forward than "Gamst" ever did!

Infact, Bentley looked like the only one even remotely interested and willing to get anything going in attack. He put some decent crosses in and he's always willing to take on his man...the complete opposite of MGP then. A lot of things need to improve in the next week if we're going to kick start our season.

My thoughts in a nutshell really. MGP must be benched, been saying it a looong time now so I will keep on about it. Don't understand why Gally did not even get a kick. As Rev mentioned our lack of chances created is alarming and very worriesome. Bentley looked the most likely of anyone to provide anything, the lad can cross a ball well, we should be taking advantage of that. Jeffers had good run out, was more effective than Roberts by a mile IMHO. We have no service to the front of any quality, tap the ball around nicely at the back and in the middle but there is a disticnt lack of going for the jugular MGP is a weak link here too, a luxury we can not afford right now, I'd prefer Gally pr even Peters more direct style at the mo'.

What can I say about Big Brad, being one of his FORMER critics at times, I must hold my hand up and say that, the two great penalty saves apart, his whole round game has improved immensely. Positioning, coming for the ball all the stuff that make a keeper a great, it's good to see. Perhaps hidden behind the penalty saves was the superb reflex save at the death.

Edited September 10, 2006 by USABlue

[thenodrog]

What can I say about Big Brad, being one of his FORMER critics at times, I must hold my hand up and say that, the two great penalty saves apart, his whole round game has improved immensely. Positioning, coming for the ball all the stuff that make a keeper a great, it's good to see. Perhaps hidden behind the penalty saves was the superb reflex save at the death.

Bloody odd thing. I can never understand why Brad ever attracted criticism. Even on a poor day he is still the best keeper that has played for us in the past half century.

[OhmiBRFC]

What can I say about Big Brad, being one of his FORMER critics at times, I must hold my hand up and say that, the two great penalty saves apart, his whole round game has improved immensely. Positioning, coming for the ball all the stuff that make a keeper a great, it's good to see. Perhaps hidden behind the penalty saves was the superb reflex save at the death.

How can Fridel attract critism? Hes been one of our most consitant players for years hes a quality player and very rarely has a bad game

[G Somerset Rover]

What annoys me is that after every game this season Hughesey has said "If we'd got one goal then Im sure we would have won quite comfortably" and other comments like "I really think we can push on from here". Managers need to tell it like it is "We're not creating any chances at the minute and it's a worry" would be a good start. If Hughes honestly believes that we're capable of getting one and then a hat load more in games like that then we should start to worry. I'm not trying to have a go but my annoyance at this thing, I think, stems from the souness days of "Lady Luck".

Finally, can some people stop saying that we are where we are in the league because Pompey imparticularly and possibly Everton are "Near the top of the league". Would they be if they'd not spanked us and earned a point at our ground respectively?

[SIMON GARNERS 194]

Apart from Friedal we struggled against the mighty sheffield utd,cover it up anyway you like but matters are far from good at the moment,we look so disorganized its unbelievable...are our lot still on pre-season holiday or what?

Edited September 10, 2006 by SIMON GARNERS 194

[philipl]

Every game this season- you mean all four of them?

Except Pompey where he admitted we were poor, so all three of the ones afterwards.

[G Somerset Rover]

Every game this season- you mean all four of them?

Except Pompey where he admitted we were poor, so all three of the ones afterwards.

Yes Phil all four. As Bobby G said we're showing no sings whatsoever of turning the corner yet. Most of Hughes' interviews these days are concentrated on penalties and sendings off anyway. Lets hope due to refereeing errors and individual errors that this won't continue to be the case.

And as for being poor-we've not been overly poor after Pompey-I will admit that, but football relies on creating chances and putting the ball in the net, which we're doing neither of right now.

Edited September 10, 2006 by Somerset Rover!

[78]

2. Nobody has mentioned this but it appears that that dodgy git Warnock in recognising his sides poverty of talent has narrowed the Bramhall Lane pitch! Very difficult for footballing teams to 'play'. The prem should be frowning on this type of tactic.

He's not the only one. Bolton do the same. If anyone watched them in the UEFA Cup last year, they would have noticed there was two touch lines, one 1.5 yards inside of the outer.

I would have thought that's one of the reasons why Arsenal are suffering this season. They're not used to be playing regularly on a larger pitch

[Fife Rover]

I would just like to "thank" all the contributors on this thread up to about the 55th minute of the match. Why? Because their contributions whilst presumably listening to some commentary or other had convinced me that Rovers had struck yet another depth of crap play, the worst yet seen this season. So at this point I gave up and went out to enjoy the beautiful sunshine and do some gardening.

I managed to avoid all contact with radio and TV results until time for Footie First and proceeded to record the match on my DVD recorder. Imagine my surprise when watching it to find that it was actually the people on this site who had been accusing Rovers of producing crap that were the "crap merchants"! OK it was not a pretty one touch football match, but then who in their right minds had expected it to be? Rovers whilst still far from their best were still the better of the two sides and did try to play some creative stuff out of defence and from midfield. All the real problems lay up front where McCarthy was totally absent from any contribution to attack. He might just as well have not been on the pitch. The ONLY thing he did of note all day was to "win" Rovers a penalty with a blatant dive. Jeffers to give him some credit DID put himself about with some good movement up front and got in a number of decent headers; unfortunately mostly off-target but some of them only just! At least he tried which is more than can be said for McCarthy. Also when Nonda came on he did nothing of any value either. Though to be fair to him he was only on for about 20 mins and it was his first game with a new set of team mates.

The officials were a joke! The ref gave 3 penalties that never were! Each of the assistants in turn made at least one howler; in the first half Jeffers was clean through on a superb pass from Tugs but was given offside when the replay clearly showed he was onside at the time the pass was made. Then the other clown in the second half gave a penalty for handball against Lucas which replays again proved hit his chest and not his hand!

Thank God for Brad Friedal! He was MAGNIFICENT! No other word for it. He gained us a valuable away point.

As for the rest it was not pretty but it was not the worst we have played by a very long country mile, Which IS the impression some of you hysterical clowns were giving by your stupid comments early on.

Edited September 10, 2006 by Fife Rover

[92er]

Just a question for people, is it me or does Robbie Savage always get let off lightly whenever he has a average/poor game. It seems to be the bonus that goes with being a technically limited central midfielder. (Garry Flitcroft's anonymity was often effective enough to avoid influence on matches and in the fans' analyses.)

Shouldn't we be expecting more from Robbie Savage? People acknowledge that he 'ran around' and did 'usual Savage stuff of tackling and trying' but the analysis rarely goes further than that. We're all quick to point out Gamst's deficiencies.

I'm not saying this particularly in response to this game but generally from what I've read, people seem to assume a game in which Savage ran around is a par performance for him. But seeing as he has a bit of licence to get forward when he plays alongside Tugay, we should be demanding more from him.

I think it is a very interesting question. Some people. including some whose opinions I value, rate Savage and think he makes a valuable contribution. I personally think along the lines of the Emperor's new clothes. Not many people on this board agree with me, but many of my friends who support the Rovers do!

[Ozz]

£2.90 for a 330ml bottle of Carlsberg.

[thenodrog]

Emerton again very good at left back, for a right back he is very quick and much fast then lucas.

?

[Scotty]

Anyone who, before the game, thought "oh, it's only Sheffield United - we should be easily beating this lot" clearly know nothing about football. It was always going to be a tough game against a fully-committed team played in a hostile atmosphere, and so it proved.

The first half was just a battle. Both teams worked hard to close their opponents down, both were physical (without being over-physical), both defended reasonably well and, as a result, both created little. In fact each team only had one real chance each. United's came from (yet another) long ball through the middle of our defence that found Hulse free inside our area. Fortunately he went for power rather than finesse and blasted the ball wide on the half volley. He really should have scored. Our chance came after a neat bit of passing on the left that found the on-rushing Neill clear on the edge of the area. His curled right-foot shot floated wide when he really should have hit the target at least.

So 0-0 at half-time which was a pretty fair reflection on the what had taken place.

I thought we started the second half well and took the game to United. With Bentley and Emerton in particular playing well we started to string some passes together, found some space at last, and genuinely exerted some pressure for the first time in the match. Bentley put some great crosses over during this period, at least one of which should have been converted - Jeffers heading narrowly wide. Jeffers could also have had a penalty when it looked like he was brought down just inside the area.

Eventually though our pressure was rewarded when McCarthy "won" a penalty. Neill and McCarthy had what looked like a bit of a heated debate over who'd be taking the spot-kick, Neill won, and then hit a poor penalty that was comfortably saved by Kenny. The Sheffield crowd, who had been totally silent for most of the second half, suddenly went beserk and reacted as if they'd just scored the winner in a cup final. And you could just see their team lift and Rovers' confidence wilt.

Suddenly it was all United. Playing direct, pacey football they poured up field and took their turn to put us under pressure. And again, their pressure was rewarded with a penalty. I haven't seen the incident on TV yet, and I was sat at the other end of the ground so couldn't tell whether it should have been a penalty or not, but what I did see was the ref warning Zurab about holding before the corner took place. And I also saw that the ref never took his eyes off Zurab as the ball came in. So you'd think that Zurab might have had the sense not to hold on to his attacker. Anyway, the penalty was given, Unsworth stepped up to take it, and Friedel saved it magnificently.

The game then became a bit frantic. Both teams took turns to attack, both looked as capable as the other of getting a winner, and neither seemed happy to settle for a draw. However, it was a total surprise when Sheffield were awarded a second penalty five minutes from time. A long, misdirected ball was seemingly controlled by Neill on his chest at the edge of our area. He wasn't under any pressure and I didn't see any of the United players appeal for anything. So quite why the linesman was manically waving his flag and signalling a penalty was anyone's guess. Unsurprisingly the Rovers players couldn't believe it but their protests were in vain. Up stepped Hulse this time and Friedel pulled off another fantastic save.

Finally, in what was the last move of the match, United created another gilt-edged opportunity and Friedel, once again, made a point-blank save to preserve the point.

Friedel was just a collosus. The man just gets better and better. Man of the match by a mile.

Our full-backs played well again. Emerton linked well with Bentley going forward and defended well when he had to. His pace helped us out on a couple of occasions. Neill looks comfortable at left-back and again roamed forward well. If he'd have scored his penalty he'd have been a contender for man of the match.

Ooijer looked much more assured than he did against Chelsea. He won most things in the air (he's good in the air) and stood up well to United's physical strikers. Zurab again looked composed but gave away what looked to be a stupid penalty. And it's worrying how often we get caught out by a simple long ball through the centre of our defence. We're just not commanding enough at the back at times.

Our midfield improved with the addition of Tugay. Although he wasn't anywhere near his best (United didn't allow him the time and space he likes) he still helped us to pass the ball better than we have so far this season, certainly in the second half anyway. Savage did his job well but picked up a stupid booking in the dying minutes of the game - you have to wonder what goes through his head sometimes.

Out wide we had two completely contrasting performances. On the left, Pedersen did little right. He frequently gave the ball away, his set-pieces were woeful, and it's hard to understand why he wasn't replaced early in the second half. On the right I thought Bentley was our (outfield) man of the match. He linked well with Emerton (we're a real threat down the right now) and whipped in some great crosses. He also worked his socks off defensively.

We were found lacking up front. McCarthy did nothing and didn't work hard enopugh imo. He continues to try fancy flicks and back-heels as well that, more often than not, only serve to break down our attacks and allow the opposition to break at us. Jeffers worked hard and was easily our best attacker. He got into good positions, frequently finding space, sadly though his finishing wasn't clinical enough. He looked sharp though. Nonda came on for McCarthy with about 20 minutes to go and, but for one piece of classy control, didn't really have the service to impress. It's a shame that Roberts was injured as I think it was his sort of game. He'd have held the ball up better and would have had more chance to get on the end of Benley's crosses.

You have to say that it was a good point in the end. When you go away from home, conceed two penalties, and our keeper is man of the match you have to be happy to gain a point. But that doesn't tell the whole story. We battled well in the first half and looked the better team in the second half until we missed our penalty. I'm sure if we'd scored it we'd have gone on to win the game fairly comfortably.

However, it's worrying that we're not creating enough chances, or taking enough of the one's we do create. It's a bit like the last year of Souness's reign when we frequently outplayed opponents but created little. The difference though is that, back then, our forwards were just not good enough. Now I feel that we have real quality up front but it's just taking time for the team to click and work out how best to supply them.

I'm still not worried about our league position, we're much better than where we currently find ourselves. I think it's unrealistic, after losing Bellamy, to expect us to finish as high as we did last season, but I'm sure we'll be comfortably mid-table at least by the end of the season. But we definately have some problems to sort out, specifically in central defence and sorting out our forward combination - and how best to feed them.

[Fife Rover]

Back from the game so here is my report.

First and foremost thank the lord for Brad Friedel.

Now, this isn't a knee jerk reaction but if Ooijer and Zurab play like that in Salzburg we will get beat 4-0. I really do fear for us on Thursday. I think back to Everton at Dinamo Bucharest last year and them getting beat 4-1 - It may well be our turn on Thursday if we don't learn how to defend. If Sheff Utd had a striker instead of Rob Hulse they would have won easily.

Back to today. Pedersen or Gamst was awful, simply awful. Bentley, Tugay, Emerton did well. We missed Roberts up front - he holds the ball up well. While Jeffers did ok he's no back to the goal front man.

I can't blame Neill for missing the pen. He had the bottle to take it and I applaud him for that. Anyone who thinks he is doing 'a Gallas' is completely stupid. I was pleasantly suprised to see Lucas go round all the players prior to K.O and give them a pep talk and at full-time nobody looked more gutted than Lucas.

In summary - Lots of possession, no cutting edge and can't defend. Oh, Nelsen hurry back and Brad you earned your wages this week.

When does he not?

[budha]

This caught my eye:

Manchester United 1 Blackburn 2

SEPTEMBER 24: Barclays Premiership at Old Trafford. (More)

Blackburn 0 Newcastle 3

SEPTEMBER 18: Barclays Premiership at Ewood Park. (More)

Bolton 0 Blackburn 0

SEPTEMBER 11: Barclays Premiership at the Reebok. (More)

Aston Villa 1 Blackburn 0

AUGUST 27: Barclays Premiership at Villa Park. (More)

Blackburn 0 Tottenham 0

AUGUST 24: Barclays Premiership at Ewood Park. (More)

Blackburn 2 Fulham 1

AUGUST 20: Barclays Premiership at Ewood Park. (More)

West Ham 3 Blackburn 1

AUGUST 13: Barclays Premiership at Upton Park.

5 points from the first 7 games last season. And the only win against the worst away team in the league (Fulham). If we can win either City or Wigan at home and lose the other 2 games, we'd on the exact same situation after 7 games as we did last year. And the last campaign wasn't that bad, was it?

Edited September 10, 2006 by budha

[Drakefyre]

That's actually 5 from the first 6, and 8 from the first 7.

[budha]

That's actually 5 from the first 6, and 8 from the first 7.

True Well, then we need to win Citizens and Wigan

[Big A]

Sounds like Bentley had a half decent game out on the right. He's obviously a skilful player but I've been saying for some time that we just don't know his best position (we do know it's not central midfield though!). On the right he should have more time and be able to give us some creativity, I'd like to see him given an extended run there.

[Ozz]

Bentley should make the RH wide position is own. He played well V Everton and was subbed in my opinion at the wrong time. Did OK again yesterday, and is too easily dispossessed to play in the middle.

[stuwilky]

He's not the only one. Bolton do the same. If anyone watched them in the UEFA Cup last year, they would have noticed there was two touch lines, one 1.5 yards inside of the outer.

I would have thought that's one of the reasons why Arsenal are suffering this season. They're not used to be playing regularly on a larger pitch

You have to declare the size of the pitch at the start of the season, it cannot simply be changed at the whim of the staff for each match.

The pitch may well be narrower this season than last, but thats one of the things about home advantage.