I'll owe up, Trav and Neko were right....

[El Morto La Hoja!]

... there are big problems at Sheffield United and alot of them lay at the feet of Kevin Blackwell.

To put my impending criticism into prospective, i'll admit that you can't blame a manager for everything such as lack of funds; much criticism leveled at Brian Laws seems to ACTUALLY relate to the fact he has no money to spend and player under-performance; as awful-a-manager as Bryan Robson it is very noticeable that many players during his time at Bramall Lane did not perform for him...

... however there are certain areas which are purely the realm of the manager and as such any criticism leveled at them for these areas, they are at fault for. Such as tactics, team selection and transfer policy and as such i'd like to run through Kevin Blackwell's performance in these areas.

*turns off pc mode*

Tactics

Why the. fuck. are we playing such a turgid, defensive form of football? we look like that leeds side that lost the championship playoff final to Watford (managed by Blackwell) and they were fucking shite! If we don't get a penalty or free kick in shootable range we're fooked! Thats how uncreative and backward to are at the minute, and god for-sake us if we actually come up against a GOOD attacking side (note results against Reading, Wolves, Burnley....) I've seen all but 2 of our home games this season and i've only seen us lose once, but thank is we've been crap throughout the season. Do the players know each other!?!? .... however some of this is undoubtedly down to team seletion....

Team Selection

WHY ARE WE PLAYING A FULL BACK ON THE RIGHT WING!? AND A CENTRAL MIDFIELDER ON THE LEFT!?!?!?! Halford has never, will never be a right-sided midfielder and should NEVER be played there!! Its taken Blackwell almost a third of the fecking season (and a third of the game against Burnley) to realise that if he INSISTS on playing two right full backs with one on the right wing, maybe he should play the two footed one who can run a players (naughton) in midfield! not the lanky sod who is only good at defending and long throws But why not just play WINGERS anyway!?!? .... well that'd be down to transfer policy....

Transfer Policy

We have 4 proper wingers: Coterill - never starts, Dyer - on-loan from Soton, never plays, Carney - Frozen out, Keef - Frozen out and loaned out to Charlton WTF!? i wonder why we play such shocking football and find it hard to break teams down?

But lets review some of the other transfers...

Stead - Runs his socks off, scores goals - webber should have gone instead
Hulse - Hard worker, scores goals - Beattie (on £40,000 A WEEK) should have gone instead
Alan Quinn - if we had Alan Quinn we would have needed Howard
Halford - WHY DO WE HAVE THIS GUY!?! Geary, Naughton, and Sun are all better full backs.
Geary - Off to Palace on loan, one of our most consistent players for the last 3 season, and inspite of formerly being an owl a fans favourite. WE NEED PLAYERS LIKE THIS!!

Sheffield United need to have a complete overhaul in playing style - i'm actually remembering Warnock fondly as we played attacking passing football . but not now..... i've heard people say we've played well this season, i assume they mean we've dominated possession and done little with it.

We'll probably still make the playoffs, but god help us if we get promoted....

HOWEVER do you know whats worse than all of the above?

THEY'VE GIVEN HIM A NEW CONTRACT!!! Supposed because the board like what they've seen this season
What I'VE seen is a disjointed sided playing shit football, capable of grinding results out against weaker sides, but incapable against those with at bit of know how! - the board have just cost themselves more money.

Prediction: Blackwell to be sacked within the next 12 months

... On a side note, cudos to Owen Coyle. With a quarter of the resources we can muster, he's put together a very good attacking and determined Burnley side, who as a Blades fan, i envy. They completed deserved their win today.

[Lollipop]

Dec 6, 2008 18:29:56 GMT -1 El Morto La Hoja! said:

... there are big problems at Sheffield United and alot of them lay at the feet of Kevin Blackwell.
.

Team Selection

WHY ARE WE PLAYING A FULL BACK ON THE RIGHT WING!? AND A CENTRAL MIDFIELDER ON THE LEFT!?!?!?! Halford has never, will never be a right-sided midfielder and should NEVER be played there!! Its taken Blackwell almost a third of the fecking season (and a third of the game against Burnley) to realise that if he INSISTS on playing two right full backs with one on the right wing, maybe he should play the two footed one who can run a players (naughton) in midfield! not the lanky sod who is only good at defending and long throws But why not just play WINGERS anyway!?!? .... well that'd be down to transfer policy....

.

He did similar when he was at Leeds; Healy on the wing! And he thought it was a great idea to put Killa at left back in the play off final...that worked really well, didn't it Kevin.

I actually didn't mind him too much, almost felt sorry for him when he was sacked, but he's a complete idiot. Heard evidence last week at Yorkshire Radio of how sexist he is!

[El Morto La Hoja!]

Dec 6, 2008 18:41:58 GMT -1 Lollipop said:

Dec 6, 2008 18:29:56 GMT -1 El Morto La Hoja! said:

... there are big problems at Sheffield United and alot of them lay at the feet of Kevin Blackwell.
.

Team Selection

WHY ARE WE PLAYING A FULL BACK ON THE RIGHT WING!? AND A CENTRAL MIDFIELDER ON THE LEFT!?!?!?! Halford has never, will never be a right-sided midfielder and should NEVER be played there!! Its taken Blackwell almost a third of the fecking season (and a third of the game against Burnley) to realise that if he INSISTS on playing two right full backs with one on the right wing, maybe he should play the two footed one who can run a players (naughton) in midfield! not the lanky sod who is only good at defending and long throws But why not just play WINGERS anyway!?!? .... well that'd be down to transfer policy....

.

He did similar when he was at Leeds; Healy on the wing! And he thought it was a great idea to put Killa at left back in the play off final...that worked really well, didn't it Kevin.

I actually didn't mind him too much, almost felt sorry for him when he was sacked, but he's a complete idiot. Heard evidence last week at Yorkshire Radio of how sexist he is!

how sweet, a girl commenting on football.... ;D

[Travis]

Dec 6, 2008 23:44:20 GMT -1 El Morto La Hoja! said:

Dec 6, 2008 18:41:58 GMT -1 Lollipop said:

He did similar when he was at Leeds; Healy on the wing! And he thought it was a great idea to put Killa at left back in the play off final...that worked really well, didn't it Kevin.

I actually didn't mind him too much, almost felt sorry for him when he was sacked, but he's a complete idiot. Heard evidence last week at Yorkshire Radio of how sexist he is!

how sweet, a girl commenting on football.... ;D

I know! Spozzy made a couple of articulate remarks yesterday (between the effing and jeffing); it was almost as if she could understand what was happening out on the pitch.

[El Morto La Hoja!]

.... also whats with the criticism of spring? - he was winning tackles and rarely mislays passes

[Kentucky Kid]

HA!

[El Morto La Hoja!]

kk, of course, was not right....

[addicted2venos]

Well I said at the start of last month that the few games that we'd learn a lot in the next few games. Well we've now played all of the sides above us and we've lost 4 and drawn 1. So I think it's fairly safe to say we're a little short of where we need to be. If we finished in the play-offs I'd be shocked my prediction is 8th. I think Blackwell is doing somethings right like stripping out dead wood, although more need to be shown the door ........ Carney, Webber, Monty and Sharp could all do with a fresh start somewhere else!! What we really need is a big holding midfielder and some pace out wide and up front, and to generally be more positive in big games.

[El Morto La Hoja!]

you can't sell monty and sharp - we need the players that take responsiblity

[addicted2venos]

Dec 8, 2008 8:37:49 GMT -1 El Morto La Hoja! said:

you can't sell monty and sharp - we need the players that take responsiblity

Monty can't pass and of late can't tackle or run. He's league one standard a very best. Sharp was bought to score, which he's failed spectacularly to do on any kind of regular basis. He just a step slower than he needs to be for this division. You can't fault either for their enthusiasm in games, or question the fact they love the club. However those two things can't be considerations for signing/keeping players, otherwise I'd get a get game!!

[El Morto La Hoja!]

i disagree with everything about your previous statement.

if sharp took the penalties he'd have scored more than beattie.

monty's major problem is that he tries to do too much

[Mrs H]

Do you two actually watch the same team play because you never agree on how they play?

[El Morto La Hoja!]

infairness monty has barely played this season so stating an opinion on how he's played is redundant. however in general most united fans look at monty and go "he gives away the ball he's crap". a minority (me) say "he gave away the ball because he had no right to win it in the first place, none of our other midfielders would have even got the ball at this point, and maybe if he was supported better, he wouldn't have lost the ball....."

sharp is tricky - he's doing the right things but not scoring. and he feels the pressure more than most because he's a blade.

[El Morto La Hoja!]

..... i forgot armstrong - we shouldn't have sold him either. at least not until we actually had a left winger!

[addicted2venos]

Dec 8, 2008 10:22:35 GMT -1 Mrs H said:

Do you two actually watch the same team play because you never agree on how they play?

That because Mort is always wrong!! ;D

[C@V]

Dec 8, 2008 10:54:31 GMT -1 @addicted2venos said:

Dec 8, 2008 10:22:35 GMT -1 Mrs H said:

Do you two actually watch the same team play because you never agree on how they play?

That because Mort is always wrong!! ;D

You only have to look at Mort's original post on this thread and you will see his terrible grammatic and spelling errors! Not to mention his inability to use punctuation correctly! And he got to bloody university! In my days at university the students actually had a brain! ;D

[El Morto La Hoja!]

Dec 8, 2008 10:54:31 GMT -1 @addicted2venos said:

Dec 8, 2008 10:22:35 GMT -1 Mrs H said:

Do you two actually watch the same team play because you never agree on how they play?

That because Mort is always wrong!! ;D

i'm never wrong


CAV is jules in disguise

[addicted2venos]

Dec 8, 2008 10:31:31 GMT -1 El Morto La Hoja! said:

infairness monty has barely played this season so stating an opinion on how he's played is redundant. however in general most united fans look at monty and go "he gives away the ball he's crap". a minority (me) say "he gave away the ball because he had no right to win it in the first place, none of our other midfielders would have even got the ball at this point, and maybe if he was supported better, he wouldn't have lost the ball....."

sharp is tricky - he's doing the right things but not scoring. and he feels the pressure more than most because he's a blade.

Monty has barely played, but I think a Warnock ran out of patience with him and so did Robson. If Blackwell hasn't figured out the lad couldn't even pass 'the dutchie', he will before very long as it's blatantly obvious. I think we should be looking to continue purging Warnock type players from the squad (all effort and no quality) and Monty would be top of that list.

Sharp works hard running the channels ....... but this is only due to fact that he knows he's not going to get any joy playing through the middle. He's just not quick enough to play right upfront. To play the 'small striker' role you need to carry the threat that you can sprint in behind a defense, and he doesn't. I we were to play him on regular basis in the team, he might actually be better playing in just behind a front two. I'd be looking to try and do a deal for Leroy Lita or someone of that ilk.

[addicted2venos]

Dec 8, 2008 10:52:51 GMT -1 El Morto La Hoja! said:

..... i forgot armstrong - we shouldn't have sold him either. at least not until we actually had a left winger!

I agree with that. We had Armstrong who was a massively mobile left back/winger, and we let him be eased out of our team by Naysmith who is a one paced, one dimensional full back!!

[Mrs H]

Who's your one good player that Stuart Pearce keeps talking about?