Back from The game Sheff Utd

[Northern Git]

I was at the game and I've since watched it twice more on the TV. Rewinding, checking.

I simply think 90% of the people posting on this list are morons.

Just check the thread and see Tabb being slammed and getting MoM from some.
Just check the thread and see Cisse being slammed for being invisible.
Just check the thread and see Stretch both slammed and MoM.

etc.

Point one, SHEFFIELD UNITED ARE A GOOD TEAM, on form, this was their seventh win (and two draws) in 9 games and they recently beat both Cardiff and Birmingham and are now second.

Point 2 we played very well and were a little unlucky not to have scored, then Sheffield had one piece of jam and got the goal.

Had we played like that against Preston, Bristol, Ipswich, Forest, Charlton we would have won those games comfortably.


Go watch Sky-Plus and explain to me why Cisse could be criticised at all. He won tackles, covered everything, completed virtually all his passes. He was a comfortable 8 until he got his injury.

Ditto his replacement, Tabb, gutsy, energetic, flew into tackles, passed well. Name a serious mistake he made other than his first tackle which could have got a card)... sure he might've got that shot on target but it's not like he hit the corner flag. Without a doubt, injury-free he should get a run in the team.

As for Stretch, he was immense, a 9 IMO. He worked and worked and worked, won tackles, supported the LW, and near the end saved us a couple of times and kept the ball in play.

Matejovsky was absolutely excellent for the first 70 minutes. He won tackles, he turned and beat players. IMO that 70 minutes, was as good as he's played and he's real class

Bikey is a great defender, and it's great to see someone take a chance and use the ball instead of the automatic hoof. SURE he'll cost us a goal here and there getting caught in possession but he'd be first man on the team-sheet for me, one of the few who have genuine class.

The boy Kelly, for all bar ten minutes, was playing well enough to keep his place. He played with speed and confidence, way beyond what should be expected for a kid who was starting just his third league game. CONGRATS, kid. There wa once where he took an extra touch to make sure and the ball went for a goal kick, but other than that he looked excellent.




I have been p!ssed off with SHunt for a while but I took the time yesterday to watch just how much work he does, the tackling back, the challenges, the covering. Get this, as a defender, as a defensive midfielder, as all-round support, he had a good game yesterday. A GOOD game. He won ball at least four times in our box. He broke up one Sheffield free-kick, raced away, fed Doyle and ran the length of the pitch with one other RFC player. Both were clear, in space and Doyle fluffed the pass. It should have been a goal.

Hunt played well.

What was WRONG, was he wasn't there on the LW or RW enough. It was our pattern of play that was the problem. They are chasing things too much instead of doing the simple stuff well.


What was wrong (and whose fault is that?) was we played far too much up the middle, chipping balls for Kitson to flick or Doyle to flick. It's boring and predictable and plays right into the hands of big, strong, quality defenders. I know it's easy to blame the wingers as individuals but what was more noticeable was that the overall pattern of play wasn't like the first half of the season (I'm saying pattern, not quality or commitment)....

When we were playing well first half of the season we were playing about 90% wing-play, the FBs worked well with the wings and there was always at least one striker (and the other winger) in the box waiting for the cross. Time and again yesterday, Kitson was deep and Doyle was wide, there was nobody in the box to receive a cross.


For 65 minutes or so, we played very well against a very good, strong side. The possession stats for long periods were 65%. After we let in the slightly unlucky goal we started to panic and could have conceded again, but that's par for the course for most sides chasing a game like that. Either they get the equaliser or conceded the killer second goal on the break.


We will win comfortably to nil at Blackpool and again versus Barnsley. I think we could easily win the next four, and if we beat Birmingham we could still nick second. Even if we don't get the auto-spot, I think we have turned the corner, and we could go into the play-offs with 5 wins or WWWWD and a bit of momentum.

Bloody hell Snowball what are you drinking / smoking? Think you are being optimistic in th extreme

[londinium]

Ok don't give me the Doobs, Bikey, Strech and Kelly shit... we cannot score goals that is our problem.

We have let in just 2 goals in the last 5 games... over the season that would be just 18 goals...I would be elated with that.

What have we scored in the last 5? One single solitary goal.

There's the problem. Midfield that can't create and strikers that can't or won't shoot.

[LoyalRoyalFan]

The problem at the moment is the tactics. Its the same. Teams who play against us know how we are going to play. We'll just hoof the ball up the park and hope for the best. We need to change it now. Two or three players need to be dropped for Monday. Stephen Hunt put in a dreadful performance. I can't believe some people on the radio saying how fantastic he was. Dubbery is too inconsistent and needs to be dropped. Kebe is to lazy for a player who has so many decent attritubes in his game. His final touch was poor once again and that is something that needs to be addressed in training.

Ratings:

USA - 5 - Good saves,Poor kicks.
Kelly - 5 - Looked nervous. However he did produce one or two good crosses and runs forward.
Armstrong - 6 - Consistent.
Bikey - 7 - Apart from one or two mistakes,the guy is the best defender this club has had in a long while.
Dubbery - 4 - Out of the team now.
S.Hunt - 4 - Out of the team now.
Kebe - 4 - Out of the team now.
Cisse - 5 - Played quite well up until his injury. Get well Cisse.
Marek - 7 - Was one of the only players,to look to pass it on the ground. Why was he subbed?
Doyle - 7 - Worked his socks off again. Just not getting the service required.
Kitson - 5 - Poor. Lazy. He just doesn't get in the box.

Subs -

Tabb - 6 - Looked ok. Again he looked for the simple moves rather than playing it far too technical.
Little - 6 - Looked better than Kebe
N.Hunt - 6 - Should start next game. Doyle/N.Hunt partnership is the best we have at the moment.

And... once again the Ref was ****

[Royal Rother]

Excellent post from Snowball - I don't agree with evertything it contains but it is good to see something other than knee-jerk nonsense. (Not that I've read the rest of the thread, I'm just guessing there.)

I also thought Tabb was excellent.

[londinium]

The problem at the moment is the tactics. Its the same. Teams who play against us know how we are going to play. We'll just hoof the ball up the park and hope for the best. We need to change it now. Two or three players need to be dropped for Monday. Stephen Hunt put in a dreadful performance. I can't believe some people on the radio saying how fantastic he was. Dubbery is too inconsistent and needs to be dropped. Kebe is to lazy for a player who has so many decent attritubes in his game. His final touch was poor once again and that is something that needs to be addressed in training.

Ratings:

USA - 5 - Good saves,Poor kicks.
Kelly - 5 - Looked nervous. However he did produce one or two good crosses and runs forward.
Armstrong - 6 - Consistent.
Bikey - 7 - Apart from one or two mistakes,the guy is the best defender this club has had in a long while.
Dubbery - 4 - Out of the team now.
S.Hunt - 4 - Out of the team now.
Kebe - 4 - Out of the team now.
Cisse - 5 - Played quite well up until his injury. Get well Cisse.
Marek - 7 - Was one of the only players,to look to pass it on the ground. Why was he subbed?
Doyle - 7 - Worked his socks off again. Just not getting the service required.
Kitson - 5 - Poor. Lazy. He just doesn't get in the box.

Subs -

Tabb - 6 - Looked ok. Again he looked for the simple moves rather than playing it far too technical.
Little - 6 - Looked better than Kebe
N.Hunt - 6 - Should start next game. Doyle/N.Hunt partnership is the best we have at the moment.

And... once again the Ref was ****

Agree with most of the post but leave of Doobs... yes he is a bit slow and out of position sometimes and he does hoof it, but he is a 'defender' for god sakes and his job is to defend and not create goals. Conceeded 2 in the last 5 games is good enough for me... He even had one of our best two shots on goal.

[LoyalRoyalFan]

The problem at the moment is the tactics. Its the same. Teams who play against us know how we are going to play. We'll just hoof the ball up the park and hope for the best. We need to change it now. Two or three players need to be dropped for Monday. Stephen Hunt put in a dreadful performance. I can't believe some people on the radio saying how fantastic he was. Dubbery is too inconsistent and needs to be dropped. Kebe is to lazy for a player who has so many decent attritubes in his game. His final touch was poor once again and that is something that needs to be addressed in training.

Ratings:

USA - 5 - Good saves,Poor kicks.
Kelly - 5 - Looked nervous. However he did produce one or two good crosses and runs forward.
Armstrong - 6 - Consistent.
Bikey - 7 - Apart from one or two mistakes,the guy is the best defender this club has had in a long while.
Dubbery - 4 - Out of the team now.
S.Hunt - 4 - Out of the team now.
Kebe - 4 - Out of the team now.
Cisse - 5 - Played quite well up until his injury. Get well Cisse.
Marek - 7 - Was one of the only players,to look to pass it on the ground. Why was he subbed?
Doyle - 7 - Worked his socks off again. Just not getting the service required.
Kitson - 5 - Poor. Lazy. He just doesn't get in the box.

Subs -

Tabb - 6 - Looked ok. Again he looked for the simple moves rather than playing it far too technical.
Little - 6 - Looked better than Kebe
N.Hunt - 6 - Should start next game. Doyle/N.Hunt partnership is the best we have at the moment.

And... once again the Ref was ****

Agree with most of the post but leave of Doobs... yes he is a bit slow and out of position sometimes and he does hoof it, but he is a 'defender' for god sakes and his job is to defend and not create goals. Conceeded 2 in the last 5 games is good enough for me... He even had one of our best two shots on goal.

I can see your point. But really what does Coppell see in Dubbery?

[RoyalBlue]

You can't inspire players that have given up on the cause, same as last season.

The mistake that RFC made was to pay over the odds to keep a couple of players that think they are better than RFC, and also to go the foreign players route, when we know little about those players, or how they may settle into English football.

You mean like Kitson? Why sign them back then?

Good managers always manage to lift their teams.

But once the players cross the line what else can the manager do? If the players dont give a toss - well, some today looked as if they cared - they know that the worst that will happen is that 3 of them will be taken off.

The manager can do a great deal before they cross the line the next time. In fact he can make sure they don't cross the line the next time. Drop all of those who don't play their hearts out for the club and put in some players (including the youngsters) who want to. We have nothing to lose and it will send a very clear message to the prima donnas.

[Snowball]

Just one defeat in our last 13 away from home (at Swansea) W6 D6 L1 15-10 and averaging 1.85 points a game away over that period.

That's PROVES we can play, and in four of those games we finished with ten men!

We'll win at Blackpool.

[Berry]

Just one defeat in our last 13 away from home (at Swansea) W6 D6 L1 15-10 and averaging 1.85 points a game away over that period.

That's PROVES we can play, and in four of those games we finished with ten men!

We'll win at Blackpool.

Snowball I like you, In fact the award for the most NORMAL AND BALANCED VIEW OF THE TEAM goes to Mr Snowball Well done!!!! And im not being sarcy!

[Southbank Old Boy]

Kitson just seems to go missing when we need him in the box sometimes, not sure why.

Basically because its not really how he plays

He get goals when he goes in there but his style is to play off a for advanced forward, to link up play with the midfield and create space and opportunities, and so isnt his natural instinct to get in and around the 6 yard box as someone like Lita might

He should be working at getting in there a bit more, but essentially whats given him success in the past is what he is doing right now, but when its worked the service into the box (or around it) has been more intelligent and so has picked out Kitson or his strike partner

We cant expect players to start doing stuff that isnt in their game, thats the managers job to put the right players out there to gell together

[Southbank Old Boy]

Go watch Sky-Plus and explain to me why Cisse could be criticised at all. He won tackles, covered everything, completed virtually all his passes. He was a comfortable 8 until he got his injury.

Cant be bothered with the rest of your post but Tabb showed Cisse how it should be done when he came on

Cisse didnt do too much wrong but he just doesnt attack the ball enough and just ambles through the game a bit too much for someone who is supposedly in there as our physical presence

His injury was a perfect example. If he had attacked the ball and tried to make something happen instead of letting it bounce and give Dariuz a 50/50 ball to contend then he would never have got injured in the first place

Tabb was excellent when he took over. He made sure he got to the ball and put in a tackle. Once he'd won it he passed it to a Reading player

As for being amazed at HNA having a range of opinions on the game, have you never spoken to real people before? We all see things differently, HNA is just a reflection of that

[Woodcote Royal]

Excellent post from Snowball - I don't agree with evertything it contains but it is good to see something other than knee-jerk nonsense. (Not that I've read the rest of the thread, I'm just guessing there.)

I also thought Tabb was excellent.

Whilst I don't agree with his overall conclusion, I certainly concur with most of his assessments of individual players.

Frankly, Tabb was dreadful on the wing at Coventry and looked hopelessly lightweight but, he was a revelation in the centre yesterday. I thoroughly agree that those who have slagged him off simply beggar belief.

At 19, Kelly has impressed me in the last 2 games and we can add him to the list of talented youngsters marginalised by Steve Coppell.

Only those who see no good whatsoever in Stephen Hunt would doubt his work rate but the end product has been dire for months and certainly worse than Kebe's.

Of course our tactics have been poor. Why else would this squad with so many players with top flight experience have been so dire as a team for months?

Either, they've all lost form at the same time or, the problem is a managerial one.

There's no doubt in my mind that it's the latter and we will be limbo until it's dealt with.

[1871royals]

Not sure if anyone else has noticed but I think Armstrong is overrated by our fans.

He can tackle well and is defensively solid but his distribution is shocking. We can never start attacks from the back with someone like him playing. Against Cov he was awful on the ball and same again yesterday. The embarrassing thing is that hes justifiably favourite for POTY.

K Doyle is one of my fav players. But when we need him he goes missing, hes afraid to take a shot on now. Everyone praises him for working hard I would he rather he stayed in the middle and tried to score. I honestly cant remember the last time he had a shot. The service is poor, but if your top scorer is playing scared and constantly running out wide it doesn't help.

[bcubed]

Excellent post from Snowball - I don't agree with evertything it contains but it is good to see something other than knee-jerk nonsense. (Not that I've read the rest of the thread, I'm just guessing there.)

I also thought Tabb was excellent.

Whilst I don't agree with his overall conclusion, I certainly concur with most of his assessments of individual players.

Frankly, Tabb was dreadful on the wing at Coventry and looked hopelessly lightweight but, he was a revelation in the centre yesterday. I thoroughly agree that those who have slagged him off simply beggar belief.

At 19, Kelly has impressed me in the last 2 games and we can add him to the list of talented youngsters marginalised by Steve Coppell.

Only those who see no good whatsoever in Stephen Hunt would doubt his work rate but the end product has been dire for months and certainly worse than Kebe's.

Of course our tactics have been poor. Why else would this squad with so many players with top flight experience have been so dire as a team for months?

Either, they've all lost form at the same time or, the problem is a managerial one.

There's no doubt in my mind that it's the latter and we will be limbo until it's dealt with.

Tabb was excellent in my opinion - noone made more hard hitting tackles (for Royals) and he seems to bounce back onto his feet without injury

What amazed me (tho not sure why) is that it takes an injury to get him playing in his best position
I have noted all the comments slating him in previous games and tried to reconcile this with a Coventry fan's view that he was far and away their best player and at his best in central midfield. He was described as box to box, having a great shot and good control, tough tackling and a real fans favourite. We saw all that yesterday

So why does it take an injury before we play him in his best positon?!! And SSC still says he's looking for the best blend in midfield, even after it's presented to him

[Rex]

Having target man Kits in isn't helping Doyles positioning, though it's noted Doyles goals have dried recently.

[Southbank Old Boy]

Having target man Kits in isn't helping Doyles positioning, though it's noted Doyles goals have dried recently.

Recently?

Is december really classed as recent then?

[Victor Meldrew]

A couple of comments on yesterday's game:-
for those that said earlier in the season that S Hunt should play in centre midfield take a look at a recording of yesterday's game.
The bloke creates havoc and just gets in the way.
He is no good there and no f*****g good anywhere-drop him and his alice band.

As Southbank posted earlier Cisse got injured because he didn't go wholeheartedly for the ball unlike Darius.
In the game as a whole we were outmuscled and really are a team of Southern Softies.
I did laugh at our knowledgable fans chanting "Dirty Northern bastard" at Howard who is of course a Southerner but not a soft one.

I'm not sure of the stats but since Christmas it has felt like relegation form.

[1871royals]

Having target man Kits in isn't helping Doyles positioning, though it's noted Doyles goals have dried recently.

Yeh I agree Kits isn't helping. The thing which I find incredibly frustrating with Doyle is when we need him, he doesn't perform, last season he did nothing, he's a very hot and cold player.

N Hunt played well against Cov and leroy scored goals in reserves disappointing that either one wasn't given more minutes.

On top of his goals drying up, his shots have aswell, he playing scared. He gets a lot of praise for working hard but hes working hard in channels which doesn't help us. He needs to be braver and actually take shots on.

I honestly can't remember the last time he had a shot on goal more importantly on target

[Jeffers217]

I have said it all season and its true- we are the best footballing side in this division by some stretch but playing low on confidence and not a settled starting 11. Sheff Utd won by playing horrible football and have a settled team which man for man is a lot poorer than us apart from perhaps kilgallion against Doobs.

Stretch is a good player but can sometimes be erratic and just hoof it which brings more pressure on us. We were playing well until Coppell made some terrible subs. Matejovsky and Tabb were at the centre of everything we did... I have to say thats the first time all season I've seen our central midfielders at the heart of every move. When he came off and Shunt went in the middle we lost our comppsure. We need to learn not to panic when we go 1 down. Man Utd win the majority of their games in the last quarter of the match because they keep their shape and belief.

we are very low on confidence and we need to play the players who are high on confidence. Lita scored 4 for the reserves, a team that is thrashin teams week in week out. They are sky high on confidence and Coppell needs to learn that these players have massive potential.

Kitson is gettin a lot of stick which annoys me. I dunno if people believe he's the new superman but he's not. He is very low on confidence but I think you can agree with me that a confident Dave Kitson is class. 3/4 years ago he was superb and I know thats a long time ago but he has the potential but no confidence. Thus drop him, play Noel Hunt or Lita, they are confident. Doyle played well, he just needs the service. As soon as Marek came off we lost that.

All in all what I'm trying to say is the team need the belief and confidence. However I'm really not convinced Coppell is the man to inject that at this time of the season so for me, its another year in the championship

[AlexY25]

Having target man Kits in isn't helping Doyles positioning, though it's noted Doyles goals have dried recently.

Yeh I agree Kits isn't helping. The thing which I find incredibly frustrating with Doyle is when we need him, he doesn't perform, last season he did nothing, he's a very hot and cold player.

N Hunt played well against Cov and leroy scored goals in reserves disappointing that either one wasn't given more minutes.

On top of his goals drying up, his shots have aswell, he playing scared. He gets a lot of praise for working hard but hes working hard in channels which doesn't help us. He needs to be braver and actually take shots on.

I honestly can't remember the last time he had a shot on goal more importantly on target

I don't get why we don't just go back to Noel and Doyle. They were doing fine at the beginning of the season.