Post-Match Thread and Ratings Sheffield United 2-2 Southend United

[shrimperjon]

Brilliant away day. My first visit to Sheff Utd, locals very friendly and good to talk to. In the car on the way up we would have happily taken a draw, at 2-0 up gutted to go in 2-2 at half time, at the final whistle very happy with 2-2. First 35 minutes we were brilliant, and they were simply awful. From the minute they scored the first, it was pretty much one way traffic. Both our goals classy, both theirs awful defending. Second half we clung on for dear life, but at least we tried to get forward.

Defence very shaky all game, would get Bolger in next to Barrett who was the pick today. Midfield worked very hard, Leonard, Worrall and Atkinson in particular, would have liked Timlin to have started. Hurst did some good stuff in the first half as did Payne but both faded after the break. Upfront poor old Mooney had to feed off scraps, did well with the ball at his feet, but struggled when the ball was pumped long. Piggott, Weston and Timlin all did ok when they came on.

In in the end a point gained rather than 2 lost as second half we were lucky not to concede. As for us fans, 1060, sounded like 2060, brilliant noise and out sung 18000 Sheff Utd fans all game. Must get back to winning ways, get in front and hold onto leads. All in all a great day out.

 

[shrimperjon]

1060 Travelled up, sounded more to be honest

 

[Pubey]

Really enjoyed the afternoon out and given the sodden conditions it was a good contest with some great goals (by us!). I think a point was about fair - disappointed at half time and relieved at full time, but they only had a chance to win it after a fortuitous goal and some sloppy defending. We raced into a 2-0 lead playing some really decent stuff.

Ratings:
Bentley - 5 - One great save, one howler, some poor kicking
White - 6 - Solid, but clearly targeted by Sheff Utd and JCR, and suffered at times because of that. Worrying that it takes Lenny to try and organise the defence at set-pieces, why isn't he the one to be doing this?
Barrett - 6 - Pretty solid given the conditions.
Thompson - 5.5 - I thought he started off great with some excellent tackles, but he was a liability at times
Coker - 6 - Played a conservative game which was unusual for him, but still popped up with a great assist for Payne. Got in one real mess during the first half
Worrall - 6 - Some good moments but too often was on the periphary of the game and faded
Leonard - 7.5 (JMOTM) - ran the show for us and scored a beauty. Some sloppy moments but he's fast becoming our real captain and leader.
Atkinson - 7 - I think people are being harsh on him. I don't particularly rate him but he kept it simple, was good in possession and made some great tackles
Hurst - 7 - Best he's played for ages.
Payne - 7.5 (JMOTM) - Ok he only really turned up for 45 mins, but what a performance it was. Very impressive against a strong and decent side and in poor conditions. More of that please Jack!
Mooney - 6.5 - Worked his nuts off, but doesn't quite have the guile to work something for himself

Subs:
Pigott - 5 - Quite poor
Timlin - 5 - Unusually sloppy in possession
Weston - 6 - Ok

 

[amsemp]

Watch it again. He didn't have three men to mark, he was marking one and left him.

I love Barrett but he was at fault..

Watched it several times and have to disagree. I had Worrall at fault for the second.

Barrett left his man who subsequently scored, but he only left his man as he spotted the immediate danger of a Sheffield United player running into the box unchallenged. The Sheffield player who made the run into the box wasn't tracked at all by Worrall who left him completely alone. If Worral had been more alert and tracked him in, showing a bit more presence, Barrett wouldn't have left his man and Collins wouldn't have had the space to bury it.

Defending is everyone's responsibility.

 

[Shrimperforlife]

Now I'm not Atkinson's biggest fan, but boy was that a driving run at the death, though he did well to keep the ball alive when closed down, he should have slipped in Worrall a few seconds earlier.

this sums up Atkinson for me. I concede his energy levels and input but it's lack of end product that is frustrating.....

 

[yogi bear up the cagire]

Watched it several times and have to disagree. I had Worrall at fault for the second.

Barrett left his man who subsequently scored, but he only left his man as he spotted the immediate danger of a Sheffield United player running into the box unchallenged. The Sheffield player who made the run into the box wasn't tracked at all by Worrall who left him completely alone. If Worral had been more alert and tracked him in, showing a bit more presence, Barrett wouldn't have left his man and Collins wouldn't have had the space to bury it.

Defending is everyone's responsibility.

Perhaps I'm wide of the mark but I put their second goal down to a mistake before that cross came in. As I saw it (difficult with age and watching streaming) I gave the blame (perhaps incorrectly) to White, who I thought I saw, taking the ball forward, out of defence, on the right hand side, before being tackled and losing possession?

 

[spoons]

He let the ball slip under his arms and through his legs.Bit unlucky I'd say but there you go.

The cameras don't lie.:winking:

It was a howler from Bentley, and hard to see as it was at the far end but tv shows it clearly.
When Southend were doing the warm up Bentley was practicing taking shots and I pointed out to my son that he was spilling most of them, no doubt due to the incessant rain. He was constantly drying his gloves with a towel, so he was fully aware of the problem, but still managed to let the ball run loose and through his legs.
He did redeem somewhat in the 2nd half, saving with his legs to deny Sheffield a winner.

 

[Massimo Giovanni]

Super day out despite the weather. Great football ground and atmosphere. The pitch was wide and flat, it ran true despite the rain and showed excellant drainage with no standing water at all and no slips for any player.
Stewards good, well organised.
We bossed the first 30 + minutes and they had no attempts on goal other than a poor long JCR shot. Lenny has his shooting mojo back and Jack was a pain, Wozza showed pace, Adam and Thommo played high line defending.
Goal - super goal!
Goal- young Jack "Messi" makes it two!
Still the Baldes offered little BUT we did do a few back passes, all the way back to Dan and then he kicks long and we kept giving possession and ground - little by little, slight changes in our game.
Two poor set piece goals and then it was half time.
What do we do at half time? what is said?
We hung on for next 50 minutes, we had 3 good chances 2nd half- Westy near post header -weak and wide when he didn't even have to jump. Timlin break when he flopped over when touched which was NEVER going to be given as pen, and then the Atko (why not shoot?) to Wozza blaze over.
Fair result BUT worrying in the trend for scrapping draws from winning positions.

It is harsh to pick on individuals and others have pointed out them, already; I don't think that was anywhere close to our best 14 players used AND we will be better with the options of HUNT, Macca, Deegs, Rea and Words- either starters or subs.

Good noise from the 1060 Shrimpers!

 

[hockleyshrimper]

Great effort from all, to take over 1000 to Sheffield is impressive. There could well have been more if there wasnt uncertainty over whether the game would be on a few months ago - people making other plans etc.

 

[rlb999]

Great effort from all, to take over 1000 to Sheffield is impressive. There could well have been more if there wasn't uncertainty over whether the game would be on a few months ago - people making other plans etc.

It's good, but a big crowd also means that the Roots Hall Whingers come too. Hearing "oh **** off Hurst" within the first 5 minutes isn't something the hard core 250 away fans are there on their own.

 

[Barry.C]

Dans not having the best time of it. We lost 2 points at Gillingham from the fairly flukey effort by Lofts although by his own admission an error by Dan. The turning point was in my view his failure to smother the ball yesterday and let it slip through his legs. Another 2 points lost Brilliant keeper will go far and we wouldnt be where we are without him. Certainly I would compare him with Hart, who is also a fantastic keeper, but also in amongst the tremendous saves has strange lapses. Buckland is looking a steadier and more consistent England keeper. Dont think Dans confidence will be unduly affected, he is too good for that as a keeper, professional and character, but like any striker or Ian Bells batting, Dans have a few lesser moments lately amongst the great saves

 

[Rattus Norvegicus]

Can I digress from the general conversation on here which is about our players (and some about allocating blame) and ask about Sheffield United.

Clearly they (Sheffield) did something different in the second half ............. but what was it? Has anybody worked that out?

I don't think Brown did (although he was "doing his nut" on the side at times) ......... and clearly Southend did not manage to change tactics either.

I ask because we have had a few games where the second half has not gone our way and in this division it seems like the opposition have the nous to improve their game ........ whilst we don't seem to be able to do so quite so easily.

 

[Pubey]

Can I digress from the general conversation on here which is about our players (and some about allocating blame) and ask about Sheffield United.

Clearly they (Sheffield) did something different in the second half ............. but what was it? Has anybody worked that out?

I don't think Brown did (although he was "doing his nut" on the side at times) ......... and clearly Southend did not manage to change tactics either.

I ask because we have had a few games where the second half has not gone our way and in this division it seems like the opposition have the nous to improve their game ........ whilst we don't seem to be able to do so quite so easily.

Good questions.

I don't think the substitutions on the whole worked for us, and we made the first moves with the subs.

Weston worked hard but wasn't particularly effective

Timlin made things a bit confused in the middle for 5-10 mins before things settled down and we actually finished the last 5-10 minutes quite strong. He was also a bit sloppy in possession.

Pigott was chasing shadows on a large pitch and didn't get a sniff of a chance.

I think in general JCR stretched the pitch in the second half and White doesn't play particularly wide so they were able to move the ball around quite easily. That also had the effect of stretching the middle of the pitch and (the excellent) Baxter found a lot more time and space.

Also our line dropped off and we tired a bit (unsurprisingly).

 

[rigsby]

It was a howler from Bentley, and hard to see as it was at the far end but tv shows it clearly.
When Southend were doing the warm up Bentley was practicing taking shots and I pointed out to my son that he was spilling most of them, no doubt due to the incessant rain. He was constantly drying his gloves with a towel, so he was fully aware of the problem, but still managed to let the ball run loose and through his legs.
He did redeem somewhat in the 2nd half, saving with his legs to deny Sheffield a winner.

I don't think it was as bad as some people are saying. He was trying to smother the ball not stop a shot. The way we have been treating a loose ball in the penalty area lately put Dan under more pressure to grab hold of it rather than just block a shot. Credit to the Sheffield lad, he was in the right area and reacted in a split second. Doubt any of our forwards would have scored that one.

Both corners were conceded because we failed to deal with along hoof. Several times we committed the cardinal CB's sin.....letting along punt bounce. It often goes unnoticed how well Bolger deals with that sort of ball and he was missed yesterday. Why did Coker allow the ball to go for their first corner, when he could have at least made it a throw. In fact at the moment we would be better giving a team a penalty rather than a corner. At least Dan might save a penalty.

I noticed from the far end the ref actually waited a second before giving the first goal it was that close to a foul. Some keepers would have immediately screamed in pain and grabbed their hand whilst four or five team mates rushed the ref demanding a free kick. Our honest body language helped the ref make his decision. This is no way a criticism I like our honesty. Just an observation on the modern game

 

[OldBlueLady]

I do have a bit of an issue with Timlin being a sub. He always comes on with the determination of trying to show Brown exactly how wrong he was in not starting him, and doing everything at 100 miles an hour and with the eagerness of a rampant tup let loose for the first time in a field of young ewes - a little clumsily and a little too wholeheartedly!


(Apologies for the analogy - was the best I could think of!)

 

[southend_aussies]

Geez I think a lot of people need to take some cool aid from the reality fountain.

* First point in 26 YEARS at Bramall Lane.

* We are three points off the playoffs.

* For 35 minutes we played some cracking football. Best I've seen in around 5 years.

Yep the two goals up sucks but we are more than competitive in this league.

If someone asked me that at the start of the season, with Corr gone, I would have taken it and paid thousands.

We always have a rough patch at this time. Just be patient.

 

[RobB11]

Great result. Mooney has scored once from open play all season, that is truly awful. Need to get a loan striker in ASAP. Anyone still think we're better without Corr? He 150% would have scored more than Pigott and mooney so far this season.

 

[Ex-Member1]

Geez I think a lot of people need to take some cool aid from the reality fountain.

* First point in 26 YEARS at Bramall Lane.

* We are three points off the playoffs.

* For 35 minutes we played some cracking football. Best I've seen in around 5 years.

Yep the two goals up sucks but we are more than competitive in this league.

If someone asked me that at the start of the season, with Corr gone, I would have taken it and paid thousands.

We always have a rough patch at this time. Just be patient.

Well said sir, so many people on here with unrealistic expectations. Accept the fact that we are holding our own in a decent league. Give us all a break from the whingeing, please. COYBB

 

[Weston's left foot]

Why didn't Brown speak to the Press, post match yesterday?

 

[Rattus Norvegicus]

I'm not sure many people are whinging - some are allocating blame and that seems unnecessary but I think most people are talking about the various parts of the game because it was a very interesting game - I suspect even a neutral watching would have enjoyed themselves. Far, far, far better than the game at Scunthorpe. :thumbsup: