Sheffield Utd v Rovers: 20th August 2022

[Dunnfc]

You have your opinion and I have mine. I really hope he comes good and proves me wrong.

Brittain is four times the player Nyambe is going forwards but is looking suspect positionally at the back in my eyes. Deffo a player used to being a wing back with 3 cbs the totally opposite of nyambe. Coiindentally we now play with 2 cbs where a Nyambe was suited to playing with.

You couldn't make it up.

Chaddy your in your 40s are you not? Your worryingly slightly naive.

 

[steve w]

Brittain is four times the player Nyambe is going forwards but is looking suspect positionally at the back in my eyes. Deffo a player used to being a wing back with 3 cbs the totally opposite of nyambe. Coiindentally we now play with 2 cbs where a Nyambe was suited to playing with.

You couldn't make it up.

Chaddy your in your 40s are you not? Your worryingly slightly naive.

Nyambe had a rough deal IMO - He was shackled 95% of the time by lack of cover - poor lad never knew whether to stick or twist.
It didnt help that he lacked confidence and I would suggest maybe a bit of brain power
But four times worse!!
Never!!

 

[Drog]

I'm going to put as much effort into my report as the team did into the game yesterday when on Sheff Utd TV at HT the commentators were ridiculing the Rovers pathetic efforts and questioning how we ever managed to go top.
So straight to player ratings it is........


Kaminsky... 8 Messed up with the first goal but prevented a cricket score.

Brittain.... 5 Difficult game with the inexperienced Phillips alongside.

Phillips.... 4 Typical with most young newbies... a top performance fuelled on adrenalin then a gradual decline followed by a spell back with the kids to allow them to find their feet again.

Ayala... 7 Stood up as well as could be expected with so many underachieving colleagues.

Pickering... 6 Struggled but made a few interventions to prevent more Sheff Utd goals.

Travis.... 5 Overwhelmed in midfield and without his usual influence and presence.

Buckley... 4 Being given the wrong role in midfield.

Edun.....6 Bit of a headless chicken performance but even so gave plenty of effort and strange (maybe contentious) to say I have him down as the pick of the midfielders.

Szmodics... 4 Brought little to the game. Needs a rest with no shortages of replacements in his position in Dack, Buckley, Morton, Hedges and Dolan.

Brereton.... 4 I just hope there were no scouts watching this match.

Gallagher... 5 Poor upfront but in the plus column did his share of defensive duties.

Subs

Dolan.... 6 (Szmodics 66). Not a great improvement..... but an improvement.

Morton.... 6 (Phillips 72). Unfortunately this change was quickly followed by SU's second goal and hope was replaced by hopelessness in plaers and supporters alike.


Manager

JDT.... 3 Poor showing. Certainly hit by our shortage of centre halves after the injury to Scott Wharton but but it appears to me that neither his players nor his tactics are working. He needs a re-think.

Referee Leigh Doughty 6 Decent performance despite awarding a harsh free kick for Sheff Utd's opening goal. Was put under pressure by some Sheff play acting and a large crowd of just under 28000.

 

[Dunnfc]

Nyambe had a rough deal IMO - He was shackled 95% of the time by lack of cover - poor lad never knew whether to stick or twist.
It didnt help that he lacked confidence and I would suggest maybe a bit of brain power
But four times worse!!
Never!!

Maybe an exaggeration but the lad couldn't cross, brain froze at halfway and never took on anyone. Constantly checked back.

 

[Drog]

Nyambe had a rough deal IMO - He was shackled 95% of the time by lack of cover - poor lad never knew whether to stick or twist.
It didnt help that he lacked confidence and I would suggest maybe a bit of brain power
But four times worse!!
Never!!

Nyambe had Lenihan looking out for and covering for him most of the time whilst Brittain on the contrary is having to look after Phillips so I doubt we can make a fair judgement as yet.

 

[Drog]

Maybe an exaggeration but the lad couldn't cross, brain froze at halfway and never took on anyone. Constantly checked back.

I haven't seen many good crosses made by Brittain tbh whilst our corner kicks are abysmal under JDT. What do they do at Brockhall all week?

 

[steve w]

I haven't seen many good crosses made by Brittain tbh whilst our corner kicks are abysmal under JDT. What do they do at Brockhall all week?

There was a cracking cross at Lincoln pre - season
Since then all I have seen is Nyambe like reluctance to actually cross the ball.
Lenihan had JPVH and Wharton doing a sterling job
Ayala is Phillips support - or should be - Right sided midfield should be supporting Brittain. Just as it should have been giving Nyambe options and cover

 

[Andreas Dei.]

A couple of mini-straws to clutch to - as shared in my regular Sunday morning (here)/evening (there) WhatsApp chat with an old schoolpal of the Claret & Blue persuasion now living in NZ:
i) we're top of the County Palatine teams in the Championship;
ii) apart from about 20 hours when That Lot were top of the table - by virtue of winning the first Championship game of the season played a day before the rest of the Division ‐ their trajectory has been inexorably down the table.

But something's not right. Whether it's dressing room bust-ups, lack of meaningful incoming transfers/loans; or both, it needs sorting and soon. Stoke City need to suffer a right good tonking next Saturday. Otherwise the mood of optimism that surrounded JDT's appointment will begin to evaporate.

 

[Robin]

How do you or anybody on the outside know what is the truth? Football manager speak is naturally flawed as far as the truth is concerned/

The following is c&p'd from the Daily Mirror in 2012.

Steve said: “We are not going to be able to invent 10 games where we can go on an unbeaten run because there are not enough games left.”
Gordon says: Steve is certainly on top of things.??

Steve on Ryan Nelsen: “He's in a bad way. I've just been to see him. He's in traction. We need experienced players in the team and I can't wait to get him back, but I doubt he'll be let out before the end of the season."
Gordon says: Four days later Nelsen made his debut for Spurs.



Steve on Junior Hoilett, December 2010: “He's desperate to sign, we're making progress”.
Gordon says: Needless to say, Hoilett will walk away for nothing in the coming weeks.

Steve said: “We feel that Myles Anderson is a player with great potential as a late developer. He could become something of a Chris Smalling, who came through late in football and Myles has done the same.”
Gordon says: Myles Anderson, son of Kean's agent Jerome, has never played for Blackburn.

Steve said: “Bruno - or Denis after Denis Irwin, the boys call him, because he never gives the ball away - will fill in that position and that is great for us."
Gordon says: Bruno Ribeiro - or Denis - has never played for Rovers. None of us even knows what he looks like!

Steve said: “David’s always been put on a par with a young Rooney and he can certainly score all types of goals… It’s not just nice tap-ins, he can create a goal for himself, score from outside the box, chip them in, pass them in, smash them in."
Gordon says: A young Mickey Rooney more like. David Goodwillie has scored two league goals this season.

Steve said: “There is no way Chris Samba is leaving this football club. I've spoken to the owners and that's the end of the matter.”
Gordon says: Samba left two weeks later.?

Steve on being knocked out of the Carling Cup quarter-finals by Cardiff: “We are in a position where we have forfeited going through and having the chance to reach a Cup final. We have games against sides within touching distance of us in the league. We need to treat those games as Cup finals.”
Gordon says: Why did he not say that beforehand in order to save supporters a wasted journey? We ended up 'forfeiting' a lot of those other 'Cup finals' too.

Steve on the January 2012 transfer window: “We are going to do our business early and get experienced players."
Gordon says: The unknown Antony Modeste arrived on January 19th. The rest of the business was done on deadline day and the ‘experienced’ players were uncapped Bradley Orr and the obscure Marcus Olsson.??




So you see chaddy 'As Abe Lincoln is reported to have said "
“You can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you can not fool all of the people all of the time.”

Those quotes @Drog, those quotes….

 

[blueandwhitehalves]

I'm going to put as much effort into my report as the team did into the game yesterday when on Sheff Utd TV at HT the commentators were ridiculing the Rovers pathetic efforts and questioning how we ever managed to go top.
So straight to player ratings it is........


Kaminsky... 8 Messed up with the first goal but prevented a cricket score.

Brittain.... 5 Difficult game with the inexperienced Phillips alongside.

Phillips.... 4 Typical with most young newbies... a top performance fuelled on adrenalin then a gradual decline followed by a spell back with the kids to allow them to find their feet again.

Ayala... 7 Stood up as well as could be expected with so many underachieving colleagues.

Pickering... 6 Struggled but made a few interventions to prevent more Sheff Utd goals.

Travis.... 5 Overwhelmed in midfield and without his usual influence and presence.

Buckley... 4 Being given the wrong role in midfield.

Edun.....6 Bit of a headless chicken performance but even so gave plenty of effort and strange (maybe contentious) to say I have him down as the pick of the midfielders.

Szmodics... 4 Brought little to the game. Needs a rest with no shortages of replacements in his position in Dack, Buckley, Morton, Hedges and Dolan.

Brereton.... 4 I just hope there were no scouts watching this match.

Gallagher... 5 Poor upfront but in the plus column did his share of defensive duties.

Subs

Dolan.... 6 (Szmodics 66). Not a great improvement..... but an improvement.

Morton.... 6 (Phillips 72). Unfortunately this change was quickly followed by SU's second goal and hope was replaced by hopelessness in plaers and supporters alike.


Manager

JDT.... 3 Poor showing. Certainly hit by our shortage of centre halves after the injury to Scott Wharton but but it appears to me that neither his players nor his tactics are working. He needs a re-think.

Referee Leigh Doughty 6 Decent performance despite awarding a harsh free kick for Sheff Utd's opening goal. Was put under pressure by some Sheff play acting and a large crowd of just under 28000.

Depressingly predictable that some of your worst ratings are in the 3 positions we lost (IMO) huge players in Lenihan, Nyambe and Rothwell.

I've always been a Rothwell man over Buckley. Rothwell's closing down is miles better, he can carry the ball, get us up the pitch, beat players. Buckley seems to be of the mindset that sitting in front of the defence pinging passes and not doing a whole lot else is a sufficient contribution. That's literally only the case if you're Tugay.

For everyone else, he could do with studying De Bruyne. He pings passes but then follows them, he ball carries, scores goals, makes tackles, makes presses. Obviously not expecting Buckley to be a similar world beater, but you need more from midfielders than just stroking the ball about.

 

[Drog]

....Correct BWH Rothwell is now playing in the Prem as I predicted he would.

 

[tonygreenbank]

....Correct BWH Rothwell is now playing in the Prem as I predicted he would.

To be fair Drog he has yet to appear in the Premiership. He has been injured I know but I shall look at his progress with some interest. My gut feeling is that he will struggle.

 

[Old Darwen Blue]

Those quotes @Drog, those quotes….

Yes I wonder where the mirror got them from?

 

[Drog]

To be fair Drog he has yet to appear in the Premiership. He has been injured I know but I shall look at his progress with some interest. My gut feeling is that he will struggle.

My gut feeling is that he will be earning more money in the latter stages of his career and that Bournemouth will struggle too.

 

[blueandwhitehalves]

To be fair Drog he has yet to appear in the Premiership. He has been injured I know but I shall look at his progress with some interest. My gut feeling is that he will struggle.

I'd probably agree with that, for me Rothwell's inconsistent application of his ability will stop him succeeding in the PL, but I certainly think he's a top level Championship player and was under-appreciated here. I think we're already missing his ball carrying.

 

[Old Darwen Blue]

I'd probably agree with that, for me Rothwell's inconsistent application of his ability will stop him succeeding in the PL, but I certainly think he's a top level Championship player and was under-appreciated here. I think we're already missing his ball carrying.

On the rare occasions he actually ran at the opposition with pace of course. This seemed more evident in the last twelve months or so when he was keen to attract the attention of another club! Nah, I don’t miss him. How many goals did he score for us in total?

 

[blueandwhitehalves]

On the rare occasions he actually ran at the opposition with pace of course. This seemed more evident in the last twelve months or so when he was keen to attract the attention of another club! Nah, I don’t miss him. How many goals did he score for us in total?

When I say ball carrying, I'm not really talking about beating players, it's more about attacking the space, getting us up the pitch. I often see Buckley (particularly in his deeper position) with space in front of him but he immediately looks for a pass and then just stands there admiring it.

As I said that's fine if you're Tugay with a completion rate of 95% no matter how difficult the pass, but otherwise I think it traps us in our own half too much.

Preston at home last season really stood out for me as an example of this. First half we couldn't get out of our own third and it was only the brick wall of Van Hecke, Wharton and Lenihan keeping it to 0-0. Second half I really felt like Rothwell (and Brereton) dragged us up the pitch by just constantly running with the ball.