Back From The Game - Sheff Utd (H)

[facaldaqui]

Better we have this blip now rather than in few games time ( where hopefully Kebe will be fully fit and flying)

If it was a blip and not the culmination of some dodgy performances: Leicester and Leeds were all over us for long periods, and by all accounts so were Scunthorpe in the first half. We're a bit off. No guarantee that we can just switch back on. I back us to struggle against Coventry and Derby, both of whom have revived recently, like Sheff United.

[under the tin]

When I took my seat in the North stand, I saw the smallest visiting support that I had ever seen from Sheff U in my 40 years of watching Reading.
The first 20 minutes showed me why so few had bothered making the trip.
They were devoid of ideas, second to every ball, timid in the challenge, and slower in thought and deed.
We cruised to a 2 - 0 lead without breaking into a sweat, Simonsen probably saved another 2 more; and then, after about 20 minutes, those in the hoops on the pitch colectively decided to take the rest of the game off, as it was already won.
The side became casual, then sloppy. Henderson shanked a soft goal, and it gave the blades a little lift in confidence.
Our passing and (lack of) movement off the ball deteriorated, they scored the equaliser, and knew that our boys were not at the races.
I was expecting a resurgent side in the second half, following a justified bollocking from the manager, but whatever Brian said was interpreted by the players as giving them licence to just lump hopeless balls forward.
Sheff U got the predictable (and deserved) winner because they, quite simply, wanted it more.
Brian belatedly lost patience with the hoofball, and threw on Howard. We passed it a lot better with him in there, but it was too little, too late. against a side who were never likely to look a gift horse in the mouth.
When I was on my way back from the match, the same word was in my mind as the one that Handbags used in a previous post.
Our players were unprofessional today. Sheff U should have been cremated by half time. No excuses.

[RoyalBlue]

Brian belatedly lost patience with the hoofball, and threw on Howard. We passed it a lot better with him in there, but it was too little, too late.

If he had lost patience with the hoofball, why the hell did he sanction Mills playing up front for the last stages of the game? That just encouraged even more pointless hoofball.

I can take the team losing but not when it stops trying to play decent football and resorts to appalling hoofball with the apparent backing of the manager.

[Royalee]

Both wingers shit, both full backs horrendous, Mills shocking...how any of them (in particular Harte, who makes Stuart Gray look like Usain Bolt) get more than a 3 in the ratings on here is beyond me. Strikers given no service, total lack of shape...but hey, 13 games unbeaten's not bad, we just have to learn from this and learn quickly.

[under the tin]

If he had lost patience with the hoofball, why the hell did he sanction Mills playing up front for the last stages of the game? That just encouraged even more pointless hoofball.

Erm.. that might have had something to do with: 1. Manset being very, very raw.
2.Shane Long being in pain after he got the knock on his head, Every time he headed the ball thereafter, he held his head in pain. I agree with an earlier poster, in that he should have been subbed to protect him for more important future games.
3. The only striking option on the bench was Church, and he's about as effective in the air as the Lybian air force currently is.

What would you have done? Pushed Federici on to get on the end of Antonio's long throws?

[Archie's penalty]

First loss of the season Live for me. Two things to say. I agree with Floyd. Mills was abysmal today, as was hrk. Still we've basically made the playoffs so well done. Oh and Stephen Quinn was great, sign him up!

[chilipepper91]

Ratings...

McCarthy - 6 - may have been at fault for the goal, otherwise his distribution was good I thought (apart from their disallowed goal from his throw)
Griffin - 6 - A few good runs, should have tracked better for their second goal.
Mills - 6 - Composed, won most of his headers.
Khiz - 5 - First bad game in a while - kept losing to Henderson.
Harte - 6 - No complaints.
McAnuff - 6 - typical performance, did well then did nothing for 10 minutes. If we were going to equalise it looked like coming through him.
Karacan - 5 - hustle and bustle, but no range of passing.
Leigertwood - 6 - again a typical performance, but lost concentration a few times.
Robson-Kanu - 4 - just like Leeds; did nothing after about the first 20.
Long - 5 - set up the first, his head injury rendered him less useful after that.
Hunt - 4 - yes he scored, but he did little else. Woeful first touch.

Manset - 5 - what he did was good, but he still isn't quite fitting with the rest of the squad.
Antonio - 5 - has a good long throw, but we didn't have the right tactics for it. Good on the ball.
Howard - 5 - performed the role he was brought on for, to help transition between defence and attack.

Just heard that Kebe will be fine for Coventry - boy do we need him. I'd go 4-5-1 with Howard just ahead of Ledge and Karacan.

worst.ratings.ever.

...and why?

[winchester_royal]

The writing was on the wall as soon as they got their first.

We resorted to aimless panicy football, the same kinda stuff we saw up at Leeds, and when that happens we are shit, really very shit.

As usual Manset was a breath of fresh air when he came on, and for me it is not much of a coincidence that since he got dropped from the side we have seen two pretty poor performances. Though obviously Kebe's absence has been a factor too. Howard should be considered for a starting role alongside Ledge for the Cov game IMO. At least when he's on the pitch we have one player who is actually looking to play football.

Poor stuff today, but hopefully it will serve as a bit of a wake-up call to the players and the management, as this result has been coming for a few weeks now.

[chilipepper91]

The writing was on the wall as soon as they got their first.

We resorted to aimless panicy football, the same kinda stuff we saw up at Leeds, and when that happens we are shit, really very shit.

As usual Manset was a breath of fresh air when he came on, and for me it is not much of a coincidence that since he got dropped from the side we have seen two pretty poor performances. Though obviously Kebe's absence has been a factor too. Howard should be considered for a starting role alongside Ledge for the Cov game IMO. At least when he's on the pitch we have one player who is actually looking to play football.

Poor stuff today, but hopefully it will serve as a bit of a wake-up call to the players and the management, as this result has been coming for a few weeks now.

I'm not sure Howard and Leigertwood have enough about them to maintain a 2-man midfield - Howard is too attacking to fit into the modern day 2 man Cm, and works far better either in a 3-man CM or when the opposition is standing off (as Sheff U did today when we brought him on). I think the non-coincidence you talk about is Kebe - both psychologically and really, the team knows HRK isn't as good an outlet as Jimmy. Manset's dropping is merely coincidence. You can't say that the fans feel HRK can seamlessly fit in for Kebe and I'm sure the team feel the same.

[winchester_royal]

The writing was on the wall as soon as they got their first.

We resorted to aimless panicy football, the same kinda stuff we saw up at Leeds, and when that happens we are shit, really very shit.

As usual Manset was a breath of fresh air when he came on, and for me it is not much of a coincidence that since he got dropped from the side we have seen two pretty poor performances. Though obviously Kebe's absence has been a factor too. Howard should be considered for a starting role alongside Ledge for the Cov game IMO. At least when he's on the pitch we have one player who is actually looking to play football.

Poor stuff today, but hopefully it will serve as a bit of a wake-up call to the players and the management, as this result has been coming for a few weeks now.

I'm not sure Howard and Leigertwood have enough about them to maintain a 2-man midfield - Howard is too attacking to fit into the modern day 2 man Cm, and works far better either in a 3-man CM or when the opposition is standing off (as Sheff U did today when we brought him on). I think the non-coincidence you talk about is Kebe - both psychologically and really, the team knows HRK isn't as good an outlet as Jimmy. Manset's dropping is merely coincidence. You can't say that the fans feel HRK can seamlessly fit in for Kebe and I'm sure the team feel the same.

I think we have 2 games before the play-offs to find out. Personally, I just feel Howard gives us more than Karacan does in the centre, and I think he might just get away in a 2-man midfield if he's alongside Ledge.

As I said, Kebe's absence is obviously a massive factor, as HRK is just not up to it, but Manset offers a greater threat than Hunt up top, and I'm not sure he deserved to be dropped for a man who for all his effort and likeability, is a league 1 player in disguise......

[Royal Tezza]

Awful performance after the initial 25 minutes. Credit to Sheffield United, I've had the displeasure of seeing us play them 5 times in the last 3 years and they always stick to the script perfectly once they get something to hang onto. If ever a team was world class at timewasting, niggly fouls, heading away hoofballs from our centre backs and even catching us on the counter (mainly through Quinn, who if nothing else is a hell of an athlete once he can be arsed). Thank oxf*rd its not likely we'll have to play them again next year. Pretty disapointing really as I thought we'd got used to dispatching this kind of team, today was a home performance with a hint of 2009 about it

[The Real Sandhurst Royal]

2-0 up and coasting with Simenson keeping the Blades in the game. At this point RFC's confidence was very high they believed they could get more they did not because they did not do the basics as the midfield became not existant second best to every ball.

I would have liked to have seen a few fresh legs start after the Good Friday fixture with Tabb and Howard in and maybe Antonio for Robson Kanu.

Three point thrown away, move on to Coventry and Derby fixtures to get it right for the play offs.

[RoyalBlue]

If he had lost patience with the hoofball, why the hell did he sanction Mills playing up front for the last stages of the game? That just encouraged even more pointless hoofball.

Erm.. that might have had something to do with: 1. Manset being very, very raw.
2.Shane Long being in pain after he got the knock on his head, Every time he headed the ball thereafter, he held his head in pain. I agree with an earlier poster, in that he should have been subbed to protect him for more important future games.
3. The only striking option on the bench was Church, and he's about as effective in the air as the Lybian air force currently is.

What would you have done? Pushed Federici on to get on the end of Antonio's long throws?

No, tried to play the ball to Long on the ground and to his feet/into his runs rather than aimlessly (and it was extremely aimless as the hoofs rarely ended up near one of our players) hoofing the ball forward.

Manset so raw that we can't rely on him to head the ball?!

As for your sarcastic last point - that really falls flat as none of the b8ggers, including Mills, ever got near any of Antonio's long throws - so they were a sodding awful waste of possession too!

We literally hoofed three points away and McDermott has to take some blame for that.

but Manset offers a greater threat than Hunt up top, and I'm not sure he deserved to be dropped for a man who for all his effort and likeability, is a league 1 player in disguise......

Only Hunt produced one excellent finish plus several other really good efforts, not to mention some fantastic headed flick ons. That's rather more than Manset did.

[Gordons Cumming]

Don't let one result ruin the memory of a fantastic run.

We've played brilliantly to get where we are now.

Bad day at the office.

We'll get over it.

Look out Coventry!!

[RoyalBlue]

Don't let one result ruin the memory of a fantastic run.

We've played brilliantly to get where we are now.

Bad day at the office.

We'll get over it.

Look out Coventry!!

I'm not so sure. I have a horrible feeling we might end up relying on one of the other contenders to slip up. Wouldn't be surprised if Coventry beat us and then crowd and team are really nervous for the Derby game, adversely affecting that performance.

Really hope to be proved wrong.

[knobby_1871]

Mills was the one losing all of his headers to Henderson, jumping far too early and getting caught out of position time and time again. And his distribution was was pub team level. How is captain of this club is beyond me.

+1.

+2

[Silver Fox]

Not very good was it. Legiertwood and Mills stood out for me as particularly poor.

However with my glass full attitude to life I say better to have two shite performances now than in the playoffs, when I'd imagine we'll be able to call on a fully fit and by then canonised Jimmy kebe

Obviously I'm not going to read all the moaning on here about yesterday but if it's anything like the bloke in the bus queue who claimed that "With the ST money banked Madejski's now told them not to get promotion" then I'm better off without it

[Barry the bird boggler]

Absolute bloody crap from beginning to end. Even in the first 20 mins we looked like we couldn't care less and thought we only had to turn up.

Not one player emerged from that debacle unscathed. MotM was Kebe for having the sense to be injured.

Still, given the trend, I think even if we'd played like Brazil we'd have lost as our home record v teams beginning with S this season is appalling

Swansea L 0-1
Scunthorpe L 1-2
Sheff Utd L 2-3

And, remember, two of those teams will be relegated!!

Anyone seriously want us to play Swansea in the play off semis?

[West Stand Man]

A bizarre day out.

If you'd been pulled away from the game after 30 mins you'd have never guessed the outcome; SU were on the ropes and begging for mercy until a shanked goal that turned their spirits dramatically. That came on the back of the Reading team switching into cruise control assuming they could win with ease (and they should have done).

The Reading defence went walkabout for the last 2/3 of the game and allowed SU to create chances they couldn't have dreamed of at the start. The midfield was all over the place and the team generally lost shape. I was surprised by the substitutions, not because I didn't think that we needed fresh blood on the pitch but because I guessed wrongly about those who would be pulled off. Leigertwood had, probably, his worst game for us so far and I thought he was destined for a rest. Equally, McAnuff was largely off the pace (and I mean a bit more than everyone else); from where I was watching Karacan was the sole midfielder delivering on the day (but that is just my perspective).

One thing that really amazed me was that Antonio's long throws seemed to leave our attackers as confused and worried as it did the SU defence. Surely they have practised what to do when he arrows in a throw like that? I can't believe that Stoke rely on intuition to drive the players response to a Delap throw. It was disconcerting to see a really good throw beating the defence and falling onto the 6 yard line - with no attackers closing on it to take advantage. Antonio did have an all round positive impact but it is to be seen if he can do the same from the kick off; it is just possible that he is better as an impact sub when the defence is tiring, we shall see I am sure.

No knee kerk reactions though. This was a bad day at the office and no more than that. It is no more an indication of instant demise than recent wins are an indication that we are ready for the Champions league.

[rhroyal]

I don't think the formation is too much to blame for hoofball. Your football starts at the back. A running criticism of Mills since he joined the club has been his aimless distribution when compared to Zurab, Ivar and Pearce. You can still try playing decent football with 4-4-2, it just appears that Mills is happier to hoof it straight to the opposition.