Sheffield United v Tottenham Hotspur - July 2nd - 6pm(UK)

[Distaste for scouse]

We have been a top 6 club for 13 of the past 14 years....

Yes this season has been shit but that doesn't mean it's set to be the 90s all over again.

Chelsea have already shown their intent by bringing in two top drawer players. Liverpool and City are light years ahead of us, Man Utd will strengthen and have now overtaken us.
Even Wolves are moving in a better direction than us.

How are we going to get back into the top 6 and at whose expense?

We need two top drawer fullbacks, a top drawer CB and DM. Then we can compete. But we are talking £200 investment at least there. Which we don't have.

We also need to clear out a lot of chaff including the likes of Dele, Sissoko, Lamela, both fullbacks.

It's a massive rebuild. So I strongly believe we are set for a few years in the wilderness.

 

[bus-conductor]

You and I both know that he’s not capable of that but Toby is and should play against Everton

Instead of Sissoko?

 

[Bazali]

We need an entire new defence and a defensive midfielder, I actually think Dier played ok last night and his versatility is useful, but everyone else can get to fuck

Sanchez had so much promise but has turned into a bumbling idiot

Dier and Sanchez must never play together again

I don’t think Sanchez is a defender at all
Dier was better but still ball watched and maybe needs to play alongside Toby

 

[Bazali]

Chelsea have already shown their intent by bringing in two top drawer players. Liverpool and City are light years ahead of us, Man Utd will strengthen and have now overtaken us.
Even Wolves are moving in a better direction than us.

How are we going to get back into the top 6 and at whose expense?

We need two top drawer fullbacks, a top drawer CB and DM. Then we can compete. But we are talking £200 investment at least there. Which we don't have.

We also need to clear out a lot of chaff including the likes of Dele, Sissoko, Lamela, both fullbacks.

It's a massive rebuild. So I strongly believe we are set for a few years in the wilderness.

And you haven’t mentioned Leicester either

 

[Bazali]

Instead of Sissoko?

I’d try Sissoko at RB
He can’t do any worse than Aurier surely
But instead of Sanchez

 

[Airfixx]

Chelsea have already shown their intent by bringing in two top drawer players. Liverpool and City are light years ahead of us, Man Utd will strengthen and have now overtaken us.
Even Wolves are moving in a better direction than us.

How are we going to get back into the top 6 and at whose expense?

We need two top drawer fullbacks, a top drawer CB and DM. Then we can compete. But we are talking £200 investment at least there. Which we don't have.

We also need to clear out a lot of chaff including the likes of Dele, Sissoko, Lamela, both fullbacks.

It's a massive rebuild. So I strongly believe we are set for a few years in the wilderness.

Ah, I see you're already tempering your prior rant from "10 years" to a "few".....

See, all it takes is calm and measured thinking and the miserable hyperbole can be avoided for the greater good.

 

[deadleyledley]

We have zero players in our squad who can deliver the ball from a wide position. It doesn't take a tactical genius to set up to defend against us.

This is another thing that infuriates me.

Our plan is essentially to get the spare man the ball to cross. This spare man happens to be Aurier.

I'm sorry but why are we relying on players with limited quality to be pivotal to our attacking play. His ability to cross is actually very poor. He manages a good cross once every 5 crosses.

I would love to see the comparison in % number of crosses that find one of players from his crosses. And how many go out of play for a goal kick.

Compared to Tripps, Walker, Walker-Peters and TAA.

Wouldn't be surprised if Aurier comes bottom.

Why have attacking players with more skill than him to play down that side and deliver crosses. Let them do the job.

The 4231 formation works well when you have 2 good fullbacks with quality. We don't have that. This makes us lopsided and also hinders our team shape when defending.

 

[MouraThat]

I mean this is one of the worst examples of defending I've ever ever seen in the Premier league

Can this be coached? In a way I feel sorry for Jose now , these are professional footballers and this is littered with mistake

- Dier's position is good and bad , its good that he would block anything that goes across goal and that he's goalside but its bad that he's playing everyone onside and not in line with his back 4
- The back 4 that you can see there is Sissoko-Sanchez-Lo Celso-Davies , I mean how on earth does that happen.
- Aurier is nowhere to be seen
- As a result of the two CM'S being made to cover in this makeshift back 4 , 4 players are free on the edge of the box , Son's left to deal with all 4 , Should Moura and Bergwijn be trakcing back too? Yes but the CM's should be there.
- Even there where Berge is , Lo Celso or Sanchez should be able to step out and block him instead that doesn't happen and he scores

this is awful.

 

[Distaste for scouse]

Ah, I see you're already tempering your prior rant from "10 years" to a "few".....

See, all it takes is calm and measured thinking and the miserable hyperbole can be avoided for the greater good.

Well none of us have crystal balls so....
Also do you think whoever the manager is, is going to be given funds to bring in the 4-5 players we badly need to compete for the top 4-6?
Where are we getting the money from?
Also will players like Kane and Son hang around for a re-build? Because if they lose patience and leave then my original estimate of a decade or more looks increasingly likely doesn't it?

It might not be time to pick your spot on the life raft just yet I agree, but if we don't secure some funds from somewhere and have a good splurge in the transfer window my "hyperbole" will quickly start to look prescient

 

[Airfixx]

I mean this is one of the worst examples of defending I've ever ever seen in the Premier league

Can this be coached? In a way I feel sorry for Jose now , these are professional footballers and this is littered with mistake

- Dier's position is good and bad , its good that he would block anything that goes across goal and that he's goalside but its bad that he's playing everyone onside and not in line with his back 4
- The back 4 that you can see there is Sissoko-Sanchez-Lo Celso-Davies , I mean how on earth does that happen.
- Aurier is nowhere to be seen
- As a result of the two CM'S being made to cover in this makeshift back 4 , 4 players are free on the edge of the box , Son's left to deal with all 4 , Should Moura and Bergwijn be trakcing back too? Yes but the CM's should be there.
- Even there where Berge is , Lo Celso or Sanchez should be able to step out and block him instead that doesn't happen and he scores

this is awful.

Immediate thought: 7 vs 5 in the box..... Fair play to them! :lamelashock:

 

[Cranston]

Sheffield UTD basically did to us what we did to City away.

They surrendered the wide areas as they knew our FBs are average and wouldn’t trouble them. They packed the middle and we couldn’t do anything.

We rode our luck with City, to get the draw, but it was far more comfortable for UTD.

Last night has made me realise that LB and maybe even RB are as important as a new DM.

 

[Airfixx]

Well none of us have crystal balls so....
Also do you think whoever the manager is, is going to be given funds to bring in the 4-5 players we badly need to compete for the top 4-6?
Where are we getting the money from?
Also will players like Kane and Son hang around for a re-build? Because if they lose patience and leave then my original estimate of a decade or more looks increasingly likely doesn't it?

It might not be time to pick your spot on the life raft just yet I agree, but if we don't secure some funds from somewhere and have a good splurge in the transfer window my "hyperbole" will quickly start to look prescient

Crystal balls... Not the most reliable of internet phenomena. Luckily, one of us isn't driven to wield one.

 

[Bazali]

This is another thing that infuriates me.

Our plan is essentially to get the spare man the ball to cross. This spare man happens to be Aurier.

I'm sorry but why are we relying on players with limited quality to be pivotal to our attacking play. His ability to cross is actually very poor. He manages a good cross once every 5 crosses.

I would love to see the comparison in % number of crosses that find one of players from his crosses. And how many go out of play for a goal kick.

Compared to Tripps, Walker, Walker-Peters and TAA.

Wouldn't be surprised if Aurier comes bottom.

Why have attacking players with more skill than him to play down that side and deliver crosses. Let them do the job.

The 4231 formation works well when you have 2 good fullbacks with quality. We don't have that. This makes us lopsided and also hinders our team shape when defending.

One out of five is being very kind

I agree the whole shape looked wrong last night

 

[Distaste for scouse]

And you haven’t mentioned Leicester either

I don't think they are all that to be fair, their wheels have come off.
Depends if Brenda has money to spend.

I'm a bit concerned about the barcodes if they get Arab money.

Woolwich might get their shit together as well, they splurged on Pepe they could sink another hundred million on players under pressure from their fanbase.

We could easily be staring at mid table

 

[Bazali]

I don't think they are all that to be fair, their wheels have come off.
Depends if Brenda has money to spend.

I'm a bit concerned about the barcodes if they get Arab money.

Woolwich might get their shit together as well, they splurged on Pepe they could sink another hundred million on players under pressure from their fanbase.

We could easily be staring at mid table

Yes that’s worrying me too
The barcodes will have someone better than Bruce next season and maybe more investment
Scum are on the rise and if badly lose the NLD I don’t know what will happen and we will end up being another Palace

 

[bus-conductor]

I’d try Sissoko at RB
He can’t do any worse than Aurier surely
But instead of Sanchez

I don’t think we were any better with Toby at CB at least Sanchez can move.

Sissoko played RB away at Brighton. Was terrible.

Aurier and Sanchez aren’t our biggest problems now. A DM that can’t play football and just stands and lets people run off him is much more worrying. As much as you would my want to admit it. And a bunch of attacking players that don’t have the brains to create anything and also don’t work smart or hard enough without the ball.

 

[Distaste for scouse]

Crystal balls... Not the most reliable of internet phenomena. Luckily, one of us isn't driven to wield one.

Well let's take the crystal ball out of the equation then and look at it from cold logic.

Does this squad need major investment to get back into the top 4? Imo yes. What do you think?
Do we have the funds available? Imo No. What do you think?
Are Kane and Son going to hang around for a couple of seasons of mediocrity? Imo No. What do you think?
Are the clubs around us in a better position to move forwards than we currently are, whether it be that they have more funds available or better squads? Imo yes. What do you think?

Rather than flippantly shooting down my arguments I'm interested in why you think I'm being hyperbolic. And what points I've made above are don't stand up to scrutiny.

 

[deadleyledley]

I mean this is one of the worst examples of defending I've ever ever seen in the Premier league

Can this be coached? In a way I feel sorry for Jose now , these are professional footballers and this is littered with mistake

- Dier's position is good and bad , its good that he would block anything that goes across goal and that he's goalside but its bad that he's playing everyone onside and not in line with his back 4
- The back 4 that you can see there is Sissoko-Sanchez-Lo Celso-Davies , I mean how on earth does that happen.
- Aurier is nowhere to be seen
- As a result of the two CM'S being made to cover in this makeshift back 4 , 4 players are free on the edge of the box , Son's left to deal with all 4 , Should Moura and Bergwijn be trakcing back too? Yes but the CM's should be there.
- Even there where Berge is , Lo Celso or Sanchez should be able to step out and block him instead that doesn't happen and he scores

this is awful.

It is awful.
As a coach I use examples like this of defenders marking space.
I said earlier in a post. Space never scored a goal. The player did. This is defending 101. Mark players not space, that's basically what Sheffield did to us.

Aurier is there, you just can't see him. He is just in front of Sissoko. Why we have both of them at the back post l have no idea. The danger players are those in the middle on the edge of the box.

Don't mind Diers position too much. He has taken out the option of the cross across the goal. But Lo Celso needs to be out of the line marking Berge and Sissoko needs to be on penalty spot marking Stevens.

The guy at the back post is not a threat. Believe it or not its a 7v7 situation in that picture. Each of our defenders should pick up a man.

But tbh it all started with a 2v1 against Davies. Son needs to do more in helping, he just ball watches. He works hard trying to get back but doesn't affect play. So might as well not be there.

 

[LEGO Boy]

I was thinking, who'd get our player of the season award? Can't even give it to Covid-19 now. Honestly, I'd cancel the bloody thing as can't think of a single player who's been decent/fairly consistent.

 

[Raiders]

I mean this is one of the worst examples of defending I've ever ever seen in the Premier league

Can this be coached? In a way I feel sorry for Jose now , these are professional footballers and this is littered with mistake

- Dier's position is good and bad , its good that he would block anything that goes across goal and that he's goalside but its bad that he's playing everyone onside and not in line with his back 4
- The back 4 that you can see there is Sissoko-Sanchez-Lo Celso-Davies , I mean how on earth does that happen.
- Aurier is nowhere to be seen
- As a result of the two CM'S being made to cover in this makeshift back 4 , 4 players are free on the edge of the box , Son's left to deal with all 4 , Should Moura and Bergwijn be trakcing back too? Yes but the CM's should be there.
- Even there where Berge is , Lo Celso or Sanchez should be able to step out and block him instead that doesn't happen and he scores

this is awful.

Son's defending for this goal was pathetic; he just gave up.
start at 8 seconds