Thetownend.com

The opponent:  Sheffield United

A club whose nickname proudly reflected the city's steel making  tradition are a little way short of where many Blades fans believe their rightful home in the football hierarchy actually is. The club's nickname was taken from the steel produced in Sheffield and turned into cut-throat razors.  These were the stock tools of the local barbers and the practice of swathing cuts from shaving with crepe bandages gave the club their traditional red and white striped shirts (ever wondered why a barber has a red and white sign outside their shops?) It was from this that the nickname of The Bleeds was taken and which, in the fullness of time, has been transmogrified into The Blades of current usage. I can understand why they felt the need to change it, “Up The Bleeds” sounds painful. Bramall Lane in Sheffield is said to be the oldest football ground anywhere in the world, the first professional match being played in 1862 between Hallam and Sheffield Club, some 16 years later the world’s first ever floodlit match was played at Bramall Lane. It is fair to say today’s opponents have some history.

With Sheffield having a population of some 513’000, they have a who’s who of famous supporters, from managers and players to well known celebrities. The list starts with the manager of the 6 fingered banjo players up the road, Chris Wilder as well as Alan Hodgkinson, who is Poxfords goalkeeping coach and banana supplier in chief. Olympic stomach of the finest proportions, Jessica Ennis, Sky Sports News presenter, Alex Hammond, former managers, Neil Warnock and Mickey Adams and Red Hot Chilli Peppers Bassist, Michael ‘Flea’ Balzary, who declared his love for them at The Reading Festival in 2007. Sheffield have a rich music history, with artists such as The Arctic Monkies, Pulp, Moloko, The Longpigs and Def Leppard hailing from The Steel City. Other  Sheffielders include David Blunkett, Peter  Stringfellow, Naseem Hamed and the legend that is Gordon Banks.

Today’s Sheffield Telegraph talks about the mother of missing Ben Needham saying she will never give up, Sheffield’s own Xfactor sicknote, Lucy Spraggan on dominating the world, and my personal favourite, Jessica Ennis confessing she nearly bought a portion of chips just before the Olympics, but bottled it when she saw a poster of herself advertising Powerade just outside the shop.

What are they saying about us? –  “Ill be there on tuesday with a couple of mates, one whom lives in Swindon and has a few connections with the club, Di Canio has been on a mump for a while,bemoaning his lack of funds for players,some relationships are strained by all accounts,lets hope we can take advantage"

http://boards.footymad.net/forum.php?tno=463&fid=221&sty=2&act=1&mid=2113835647

“Di Canio a character?
No.
Characters that the game actually needs are the likes of Warnock and Holloway, great football managers with passion and personality. Di Canio is an arrogant, self-centered, egotistcal arse hole. I can barely understand what he says half the time. How long has he lived/worked in this country and his English is still fuucking shiite? Do not like him one bit”

http://boards.footymad.net/forum.php?tno=463&fid=221&sty=2&act=1&mid=2113840670

Sheffield United Last 6 – DWWWWW (Unbeaten so far this season)

The Threat – So far this season the main man for Sheffield United has been Nick Blackman scoring 9 goals in all competitions, and I would imagine the County Ground faithful giving a warm welcome to Dave Kitson.

The irrelevant stats – The blades are now unbeaten in 20 league games, Huddersfield came to the CG last year and soon found out records don’t stand for much, if the right Swindon turn up.  So far this season in 8 away games they have scored 11 times and conceded 8. Of the 11 games they have scored first, they have won 7 and drawn 4, so getting an early goal could prove to be massive.

A warm welcome too –  Danny Wilson. Never really had any problem with him, he seemed a nice guy and always had time to talk. Things could have been so different if it was not for a bobble on a shit Wembley surface but League 1 does really seem to be his level. He may well never lose the tag of being a manager that normally has 1 good season followed by a dreadful one, but as a man, he always seemed to come across as a gentleman. LJF, I really did like Lecsy, when a few fans in the Town End showered him in praise you could see the difference it made to his game. If ever there was a confidence player it was him, and he is one of those players you just can’t help but wish all the best.

The Odds –  Swindon 11/10    Draw 12/5  Sheffield United 12/5 (Odds from SkyBet)
First Goalscorer - Collins 6/1, Blackman 6/1, Rooney 13/2, Williams 13/2, Benson 13/2, Kitson 15/2, Storey 8/1, Ferry 18/1, TAH 40/1 a massive 40/1. Someone has to beat United eventually, a 3-0 thrashing will get you 20-1 or if you feel a bit more pessimistic, 5/1 on the 1-1 Draw.

Sid Says – The not so trusty and not the slightest bit mystic sticked one seemed to dump himself on 1-1, although he did deliberate between this and 0-1, so make of it what you will.

The Prediction – Keeping in tradition with my current positivity, this will be a 2-1 victory to Town, 1st goal from TAH (40/1 remember) and a late late winner from Andy Williams, sending the majority of the 9’487 frozen fans home happy and Paolo telling Wilson and 940 Blades that we are going up, and they are going nowhere.

And Finally –  A recent survey showed people in Sheffield have the worst teeth in Britain. They may bristle, but will have to brace themselves to the facts: Sheffielders were found to have on average more fillings, more missing teeth, and to brush for a shorter time, than anyone else in the land. The best teeth in Britain?......... Brighton

COYR

Brave move Rosso, you've still got my backing as I'm enjoying the trivia & stats.
Been thinking about this game and can't decide if we are going to hammer someone at home or be hammered ourselves, with that in mind I'll sit on the fence and go for 2-2. We really could do with a home win right now so hope I'm wrong gong with a draw.

Good preview Shaw Rosso! I think Kitson is out for 3 weeks for them with a hamstring tear so they will be missing a few key players!

I think we'll struggle but I can see us sneaking a 1-0 win in front of 9238 with 434 visitors! Andy Williams scoring!

Why are you still doing the matchday threads? Your record is appalling, defeat.

They will bring at least 1200.

It will all come good in time, and whilst we wait, you can learn many things you never wished to know :)

Cheers Notts, I hope i provide you with many future answers to pub quizzes :)

The trivia is good, but the results aren't. I'd be happy for Shaw Rosso to be assistant thread starter.

The results will arrive, I went to see a clairvoyant yesterday, she may end up a regular contributor if she proves to be the powerful one. She makes Derek Acorah look like Mystic Meg.

Doesn't matter who starts the threads, so long as someone does.

Can't help feeling we will lose this one. 2-0 loss.

Yep. 2-0 loss.

2-0 defeat

3-1 defeat

Hmmmm....I give up......is that good or bad? :hmmm:

2-0 Williams, Ritchie.

I thought kitson was injured?

1-1 draw and me to freeze my tits off

Not sure about this, will it be Jekyll or Hyde that turn up tonight? If we play as well as we did at Stevenage we can beat them, but i'll go 1-1 as they must be unbeaten for a reason, and we can't be as bad again as Saturday.

If we are as bad as saturday again i am going in to hiding.

Its a good thing, you should see her (crystal) balls

Matchday thread starting has been taken to a new level (and impressively timed at 8 secs past midnight) - so I can only assume that Paolo and the troops will respond in kind.  Feeling confident.

4-1 blades. They sang the most monotonous song during the prem season  "oh when the blades" (a slow version for about 80 minutes)   :suicide:

Any score prediction Ardiles?

Will it be fucking freezing tonight?

A tad chilly, 4 degrees

I never predict a score.  An admission of confidence is as far as I'll ever go.

I've got a good feeling about this.  2-1 Swindon COYR

2-1 defeat.

12/5 on Shef Utd too good to turn down with our injury woes in midfield. Hopefully I'm wrong.

Fair play to those who brave the cold tonight.

I'm going back to:

I've got a bad feeling about this. 2-1 defeat.

But, I actually think we will get totally dicked!

They are excellent away and we are crap at home so 2-1 to the Blades

A shit 0-2 without any positives.

0-2. Blackman will score a penalty.

Might need to get some lucky wine in tonight as it 'kind of' worked against Villa.

just have double what you had last time, we are bound to win then :)

This game has a pre-Stevenage feel to it, lots of predictions of defeat which can only mean a spanking for the blades

We haven't got a prayer tonight - loads of injuries, terrible home form against a good away side, Shaw Rosso starting the thread.....  :)

2-1 to the blunts

So our line up will be something on the lines of
Fod
Mcevely
Ward
Devera/Oakley
Thompson, N.
Ritchie
Ferry
Thompson, L.
Roberts
Williams
Collins

Can't see us getting anything with that in all honesty.

We can't go wrong :)

Our 2 supposed star strikers, lg 2 player of the year, Ferry pulling the strings, Roberts finds his form, the youth click and Ward uses his vast experience to lead the back line. We cant lose :)

The only possible saving grace for tonight is that we seem to do better when the expectations are low.

And with our current home form, and the injuries/suspensions we have in centre mid & defence & the fact that they haven't yet lost this season the expectations can't be much lower.

Expect a defeat tonight. 1-3

Thats the spirit! On paper we can win this

Met Office now saying 8 degrees with the chance of light rain

Sheff U haven't been playing very well by all accounts. I think there is more chance of a home win than some would believe.

My cousin is a Wednesday fan and he said pretty much the same, which is what gave me some optimism. Although he is a Wednesday fan...

Even United fans have been saying they haven't actually been that good this season. They've just defended well and kept things tight and have managed to get some 1 goal wins.

I actually fancy us to win this more than I did against Villa but everyone seemed to think we were going to win that one.

Feeling more confident about this today, had a shitty day at work yesterday but buzzing for tonight! We are Wilsons Paolo's Red and White Army!  :D

Sounds like we need to throw everything at them, they aint won a game from going behind but have drew from going a goal behind. I never think of a strong defensive team with any Danny Wilson set up and although Paolo says the thing with him and Wilson is history, I bet that isn't how he really feels

Did we ever do We are Wilsons Red and White Army between the Town End and The South Stand? Seems like ages ago

Yeah that happened.

Warnock being a character the game needs as opposed to Di Canio. I appreciate you expect opposing fans to have the rose tinted glasses on but that's borderline insanity. 

One things for sure, we never did a Paul Hart's Red and White Army!

Now that i can remember, I think Andrew Fittons Red and White Army was the alternative

Loads of times. My kids still sing "Danny Wilson's fluffy pyjamas" at random (usually inappropriate and not at football) moments to this day

Unfortunately I can only see a heavy defeat maybe 1 - 3 in front of a 8,743 crowd

Do we all think Wilson will get a decent reception?

I know we were AWFUL in his last season with us but he did also keep us up and take us to a play off final. I certainly have nothing against him.

Agreed, with Paolo you either love him or hate him. With Warnock you either hate him or hate him, unless you are a blade

Rosso, you are very much a cup half full man. I like it.

A tight game with me gaining back some of the money I lost on Saturday, 3-1.

I have no problem with him, just a shame he was let down by so many players that season.

Your continued positivity is to be applauded Azza :)

My lad is only 7, he is obviously aware of swearing etc but when we sing an oxford fan on a piece of string, he goes on to sing "and told me to lick his funky chicken", as every song he learns at football is repeated to his mum who is parked outside the cg hotel waiting for us :)

Ha ha, much like we sang at Villa "2-0 and you mucked it up". I was unable to persuade them, though, that since the financial crisis members of the banking profession were persona non grata and that was why the Town End were calling Agbonlahor a "Banker" as a really bad insult.

Briiliant :) I will drum that into him! He thinks i dont notice him giving wanker gestures to the away fans :)

Whenever we're not optimistic of a win we normally win, so I'm gonna revise my prediction and go 2-0 us.

the perfect example of a catch 22...

I'm not optimistic but we'll win.

cant go tonight due to not being well, but will listen on the wireless! Im going for 3-2 swindon after going 2-0 down!

Sheffield United are 11-5 with Corals.

I'm having some on that ..... Hope my betting jinx hits them!!

11/5 is a hell of a price all things considering, Skybet was 12/5

Bet 365 was 9/4 earlier.

We will lose 3-1.

Did you have the 9/4?

3-2 Town. Storey will get all 3 in the final ten, after being two down again.

I'm at the Cotswold water park with work this week.
Good opportunity to sneak out of a stuffy meal tonight and go to the match.

Dont suppose anyone lives nearby, is going to the match and has a spare seat ?

It's worth a pint (or two !) ???

Oh.........and is it all-ticket ?

I think eaither we will win 2 or 3 nil or they will cant see it being a draw both managers want to prove they are the best. 2-0 Swindon. Coyr

Fans phone in with Patey just about to start of Wiltshire spun for anyone interested.

The Embargo has been lifted!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Embargo lifted and arrangements in place to bring in loan players.

My thread starting power is responsible for this  :)

Let us never talk of this matter again.

Fuck off. It is clearly as a result of my embargo bingo thread!

Team effort?

60-40 in my favour.

If you know what's good for you you'll take it and run.  Deal?

Patey reads the town end haha

Hello sir william

SWP reads the TEF :) who said he lookd like a mafia boss?

50-50 and i will buy you some brie sometime

Why the fuck would he read this forum?

I hope he has learnt something about Norway courtesy of my babbling

I can't be bothered to go to this. Not for reasons of apathy, it's just cold and my desire to leave the warmth of my flat is nil.

But you have just described apathy

Board have discussed a code of conduct at the board meeting today. Sounds like it involves paolo talking about football affairs only.

 :Ride On Fatbury's Lovestick:

Normal service returns tonight with a close win.....cant decide on 2-1 or 1-0. But keep the faith..... :pint:

Can't see beyond a defeat today. Bad day at work and probably a bad evening. And Shaw Rosso is a cunt for starting the thread- fucking jinx bastard.

Fear a defeat because a) they're on fire and b) we will be very lightweight in the centre mid.

Here's hoping I am completely wrong.

I got the embargo lifted, what more do you want?

a win tonight.

Town: Foderingham; Thompson N, Devera, Ward, McEveley; Ritchie, Ferry(capt), Thompson L, Roberts; Collins, Williams

subs: Bedwell(GK), Archibald-Henville, Benson, De Vita, Rooney A, Oakley, Storey

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cec1JInytH0

Louie, Louis, close enough.

Can see us loosing this one our centre midfield looks too weak. Believe this is where we will lose this one. I did predicted a hard game against Stevenage and look how that panned out. I'm happy to be proved wrong of course.

One thing at a time :)

Bollocks to all this negativity - looks a decent line up to me

3-0

Oh, the irony. :)

http://thetownend.com/index.php?topic=49728.msg1132058#msg1132058

3-1

oooh, no defensive midfielder, plus youngster making first start, plus off form winger....

yes middle of the park is difficult... bench full of strikers too...

ferry may have to play deeper than is best for him to hold it all together...

maybe the only way to win this is to outscore them (yes i know !) in the 2nd half...

ie 'hell for leather' pressure and take the chance of it paying off, as sitting back with that
midfield wont work....

too bad macca injured, wud love to see him in that midfield role tonite...,


anyway, onwards, upwards and all that   :)

That was future negativity  :D

I think, Wes and Bostock apart, any loanees that have come in have been utter crap

People betting against our own team, shame on you! I'm going for a 5-0 defeat.

Mod's could you merge threads, or lock one?

This is fucking confusing.

How have we started?

Sounding pretty lively, better than Saturday on the radio at least!

Ritchie has hit the bar.

The annoying Irish guy on sky says we have started well.

Ritchie hit the bar also one shot has gone just wide

Not keen on the negative posts about this game. We nearly always perform in the big games!

COYR!!!

excellent football from town at the moment

this ref aint helping

Pox 1 down.

Pox 1-0 down

N.Thompson just sent one of theirs a good 2ft in the air :)

Town totally dominated this half, we deserve a goal

Probably be punished for not being clinical!

good 1st half, only one team in it so far. Wilsons lot do seem dirty bastards though. A chorus of Wilson is a wednesday fan made me chuckle too :)

Much better performance than Saturday, although that wouldn't be difficult.

Just worry that we haven't taken advantage of being on top.

Louis has played well so far, hasn't looked out of place

We've had a few chances, but failed to convert.  It's not exactly been a great spectacle from two of the supposedly better teams in League 1.

Williams has won virtually nothing and looks a shade of the player he was prior to getting injured.  Collins working hard, but with little result.  Roberts disappointing yet again.  Ritchie looks our best chance of scoring.

 Paolo needs to gee them up a bit for the second half.

Oh and another pathetic referee.

utd fans just held a big banner what would appear to be slagging paolo off, couldnt read it from here!

the town end has woke up :)

Hit the post, ggggrrrrrrr....

Evening chaps - Did we just hit the post ?

Pox have never lost to Dagenham apparently. 0-2 :)

8,300 tonight. Good crowd.

RDV coming on...Roberts off

players not working now

PDC wont be happy with that.

Rovers 3 -1 down to Southend. Could they do an Oxford this season and vanish through the trap door?

Oh, and Storey is coming on. Collins off.

Storey our own David Fairclough / Ole Gunner Solskjaer

No fucking pressure then

Yeeeeeeeeeesssssssssssssssssssssssss
































I have access to the TEF again

Thought both they and we would bring a few more tbh.

:)

You are such a cunt.

Twwwwwwwwwwwwatttttttttttttttt

This sounds pretty dire

Austin scores again!

Goooooooal. For Charlie Austin v Leeds.

Sounds like a decent game from Sheffield commentary

TAH for Louis T

0-0 FT

Ah well we didn't lose. Not taking these chances is killing us.

Shots 11 V 5
On target 3 V 3
Corners  9 V 1

We have everything but a goalscorer !

And Sheff Utd go top with that.

And a decent thread-starter!

The positives: we didn't lose, or concede to a team in form, with a number of key players out. The back four rarely looked in trouble, other than the scramble at the end. Louis Thompson did ok all things considered, using the ball well on occasion without really making his mark.

The negatives: There were distinct similarities to the  dismal performance at home to Colchester. Long ball after aimless long ball, blind hooks to nowhere. Key culprits were Ward (who was otherwise very good) and Devera, but I'm not sure anyone other than Ferry is exempt. I'm baffled that we try it over and over again against two big centre backs. If that's tactical genius then any of us can manage professionally. Oh, and Gary Roberts. I am really not sure its the same one who I saw play for Huddersfield and shred us to pieces. And I had to laugh when TAH tried to turn at the end. He may still be out there mid pirouette.

Next...

PDC:
- We deserved to win from 1st half performance
- Second half was more bam bam! (End to end, from context)
- Physically they were big, strong and direct
- The lads worked very hard and I'm very happy

........Then my feed died !!!!

The only thing worth listening to in the last hour and a half, and Player cuts off. Shite

What sort of reception did Wilson get? A decent one I hope.

He didn't get one. It was one of the worst atmospheres I've ever witnessed at a football ground.

We played to their strengths (long/high balls up to our front two which their big strong centre halfs were always going to win in the air) far too much, if we'd played a bit more football might have opened them up. But they're a strong and effective, if not attractive, side and that's a decent point in the circumstances. Pleased for the Thompson Twins (yes I know they're not actually twins), they both gave a good account of themselves.

how many did Sheff utd bring??

840ish I think they said.

Sheffield Utd - Hoofball merchants. No wonder they don't lose if that's the kind of biased refereeing they get. They were timewasting from the first minute to the last. I cannot remember our strikers getting one freekick against their big central defenders all game.

I thought Harry Bassett was their manager, because that football took me back to the late 80's/early 90's. Hoof !!

Wasn't too bad... could have scored a couple, could have conceded during that mad scramble near the end.

Positives: N. Thompson is a little gem (my MotM)... love how he flies into tackles and gives his winger no time on the ball; could see a few cards, however. His brother also had a decent full debut - played it simple, put tackles in, and put in a great cross/long-ball for Collins(?) which could/should have been put away. He should always start at CM ahead of Troy (who put in another terrible cameo, that experiment has to end). Defence looked quite solid, and Ferry was everywhere again.

Roberts is really below par... really off form. I wouldn't start him the next game, he can't seem to do anything right. Our strikers don't look like scoring either, which is a bit for a worry. Too much HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOF.

No reception. Didn't get booed or applauded.

Tricky home game out of the way, looking forward to seeing an 8-0 win at walsall saturday now.

Either PdC or our defence are pretty thick. After 15 minutes of hoofing the ball to Collins and Williams and them not winning a single header you would think we would change our approach but no, we then had to endure a further 75 minutes of aimless booting the ball to their defence and it coming straight back again...again...time after time...after time...after time.

I thought Devera was solid and did very well and Ward was his usual self, pointless hoofs but did ok. I like N.Thompson a lot and gets stuck in. He totally wiped out their guy in the first half and if we had the same ref that sent Flint off he would have walked but it was just a mis-timed challenge.

Jay is getting back to his old self but seems to be afraid to cross the halfway line, again solid enough.

The midfield did well and whether it's my heart speaking but L.Thompson was great, getting stuck in and passing the ball short and simple, great stuff. Ferry was up, down, left and right but hits the ball on the strike like its a cannon ball, given MoM and whilst there were others more deserving in my view Ferry seems to get it anyway if no-one on the panel can decide otherwise.

I don't see what Roberts offers and would rather see De Vita play, he's slow, wanders off position and generally loses the ball with no final ball ever. He did hit the post though but should have gone across the keeper.

The top 2 didn't really get in the game tonight and whilst the service wasn't great they play in each others pockets and at times go for the same ball and offer no channel play at all.

Whilst it's a bit of a piss and whinge we've just played the only unbeaten team in the FL and haven't lost and compared to the debacle of Saturday it's a good point.

Paolo on the radio praised players and the team which is good and has some targets in mind which given some players tonight we need. Although we do have injuries I cannot see how any of those injured (with the exception of Alan Mac) could add qwality to our team right now.

I'm not unhappy with that but could be happier if we'd have taken a couple of clear chances (Ritchie hitting the bar and there was another chance from someone else off the post). We need to cut this hoofball out as it simply doesn't work against a pair of big, bustling centre backs! A solid performance though and looking forward ahead to Saturday, really enjoy the trips to Walsall! Embargo lifted so won't be surprised if we have a couple of new faces in!

Arse

That just about sums it up quite nicely, plenty of positives to take from this evening

Apart from your thread starting abilities.  ;D

Well, the form turned today  :) If the Ritchie thunderbolt in the first half went in it would have been another story. Got a cracker lined up for Walsall too  :D I deserve a thread now the embargo has been lifted, the first time in my days of thread starting, and all these injuries never help

I must have been at a different game to most as I thought Sheff Utd were ordinary and were there for the taking but we were too shit to do so. Thier back 4 were good and the keepr was Ok but their midfield and front men did nothing. As much as Collins and Williams were in their centre halves pockets so were their front 2.
Louie, I thought played it simple and put in one cracking cross. Like his brother he's not afraid of a tackle. i thought Ferry as MOM was a joke as it was on Saturday. On Sat he was made to look very ordinary by a hobbit, today I didn't really notice him. I thought Louie had a much better game. Ritchie had a decent 1st half but not 2nd. Roberts was complete and utter shite and when he hit the post should have scored but delayed his shot too long.Collins and Williams were also dogshit.
Tactically we were totally inept hoofing it long time after fucking time.
I probably would have given Ward MOM - if only he could pass.

For a 0-0 it wasn't a bad game.  We didn't seem to be playing with any confidence at all, partly due - in my opinion - of the way they are treated at tiems by PDC! The ref was a complete one-sided tosser - must have thought that Blades were really Man U at Old Trafford.  Louis T. had a very promising game, his brother settling down well at right back.  Sadly there is now a contagious disease ripping through our dressing room . . . it's called the Jay McCeveley virus and it's seems easy to catch.  Easy to diagnose, "oh look there's the ball, let's see how high I can kick it and trust to luck"!!  Having said that I thought Jay's defensive performance was much better tonight.

Based on the number of chances, we should have won that.  I can only assume that Sheff Utd had an off day, because they offered bugger all considering their current position and the fact they're unbeaten.  However, we could so easily have lost it in the dying minutes were it not for some resolute defending. Am I right in thinking that the free kick that caused the melee was another combined joke of a decision by the referee and linesman?  Some of the fouls given/not given in the second half were utterly laughable.

Disappointed that we seem unable to play football at home anymore and continually resort to hoofing it long upfield.  Utterly pointless when the defenders are the size of Sheff Utd's and crap to watch.  I really don't want to spend 90 minutes watching that.

Not taking chances is costing us points. I no longer get excited if we get a corner.  Apparently we've had 119 this season and scored from one of them!

Sheffield were not the team I thought they would be, you can see why they don't concede but also why they don't score either.

Pretty dour game, against dire opposition, with a dreadful referee (how can a player catch the ball in plain view of the referee and linesman and win a free kick?) Not a game that will live long in the memory, but still happy with a point considering how many first-teamers we had missing. Also, I thought Sheffield United were supposed to be a footballing team? One of the most negative teams i've seen at the CG.

Wish our strikers could control the ball on their chests like Di Canio. Nothing sticking up front today. Williams looks a long way off his best.

I stopped getting excited at corners when I found out only one in 50 get put away. It doesn't stop me getting nervous defending them.

I assume our new loanees will be a central midfielder and a left winger?

Surprised to being saying it for a danny wilson side but Sheffield United were a generic moderately thuggish northern side. They offered not much going forward but their defence ( especially the hulking centre half maguire) were excellent.

As for us, much like the orient and Colchester games we were forced into hoofball by the oppositions pressing.As much as I rate storey I've no idea why he came instead of benson when we were cryimng out for someone to win something in the air

Oh and the ref was a clueless cunt too

Like others have said United came for a point and got it. The ref was inept and played straight into their hands by continuously given them soft free kick and us hardly anything. The Lino on the Arkells side wasn't much better either. I'm not overly disappointed with a point and our first half display was so much better than Saturday. Sheffield were a side that tried to bully us and fair play to our lot especially the Thompsons who gave a bit back as well.

At least the toothless northerners appreciate me....

"Now that's a match day post, think you need to pull your finger out NAC!"

"The opening post in that thread's quality! Well worth a read!"

"Great little insight into tonight's game from oppo territory, that."

"Opening post in that thread is really good read."

"We could do with stealing their tagline, seems relevant for this board:

'25% football, 80% bollocks'"

@nathan_t23: One of the proudest days today, lining up alongside my little bro. Thank you for all the messages. #proudbigbro

ahhhh

You after a transfer? Sounds like it to me.

Oh yes please

Make it so number 1

not like you to contribute fred?

they could never afford me :)

Had enough of you blowing smoke up your own arse really, this whole MDT thing has got a bit of a joke

your use of quotations is fabulous :)

I can only apologise for trying to provide a bit of light hearted trivial bollocks, just trying to live up to the 80% bollocks bit. I can only hope the smoke isn't passive

Nah, don't worry

Maybe I should stop living in the past

Obviously the definition of bollocks has changed a lot in the last 8 years.

Either that or I am getting way too old and sensible for this place

I Like them Shaw, and i was going to say fred is a miserable old cunt, but he beat me to it...

Cheers, it must be because we share the same initials. Just out of curiosity SR, when you give people your postcode over the phone, do they say "SN?" to you?

They used to, but have got used to me now.

We need a MDT and in all seriousness there are some who rely on it for genuine updates. It's the challenging of the starter that's got silly and having 2 or 3 threads is pointless. If Rosso is prepared to put his time into to some stats and trivia then fair play to him. Just a tip though Rosso, we don't need reminding how wonderful you are  :)

I will do my best to keep the trumpet blowing to a minimum in the future, point taken, although god help this place when we win on Saturday  ;)

One thing I know is I ain't wonderful, just ask my wife  :) I am yet to win a game so I am about as wonderful as a case of Malaria at the moment. Perhaps its lost in translation somewhere as I only learned to read and write 2 years ago.

Simon Ferry's family need to stop going to game in the VIP Lounge. Baffled as to how he got MOTM again?!

Louis Thompson was MOTM for me tonight.

Bearing in mind he was making his debut we all thought the same too

There's 7 of us, and we all agreed. We all joked how it would probably be Ferry again. Couldn't stop laughing when it was announced.

For that reason I agree about Louis but for me Ferry just shaded it.

Ferry had a good game, solid, the applause seemed a little muted when his name was callled out. I had Louis down as MOM with ferry not far behind, just a shame we chose to hoof it over them  for large parts as ritchie was being doubled up on more often than not and roberts didn't really seem in the game

he is getting plenty of game time at the moment which seems to be benefiting his form, not sure that miller or navarro offer anything that he doesn't already offer us. I hope when we have a full compliment of midfielders to choose from Ferry's name is still a regular on thw team sheet

Quite a quiet MD thread...thought the game was a 'better 0-0' if there is such a thing! could have been even quieter if Shaw Rosso wasn't replying to most beefing up the discussion :D Hope there isn't some form of boycott going on?

Just seen the SSN highlights, and they decided to pick Ferry's tame effort in the first half! Could have picked Ritchie's crossbar effort or Roberts post effort!

You are an old bugger and that has been the case since birth, but too sensible, no - total nutcase, yes.


If we had a striker who knows how to find the back of the net we would piss this league, unfortuately we do not have one, que Storey to start against Walsall, the only hope  is to become one and quickly.
A point with the side we put out is not a bad result either.

I enjoy reading SR's opening post on these but I too have to admit this whole MDT stuff is beginning to get pretty boring. As for the other bloke start another thread, ffs what's that all about. What a bellend.

I disagree - given that over 800 were away fans, and it was a 'top of the table' type game. And yes, I'm aware that we've had three home games in 8 days, but two were at reduced prices.

Not sure why that would be a surprise? Isn't that what Wilson did to us? We didn't score many goals until Austin came along. He scored a bucket full and dragged defenders away to free up Barndoor-Billy to notch a load.

Haha. I was trying to get SR to stop sucking his own dick. I appear to have failed.

But by starting another thread, you forced SR into a position where he felt he had to defend his.

Note for Saturday.  One match day thread.  SR starts it.  We go from there.

I demand more trivia!

You did not fail Dave, i spent most the night trying to reach

No, he's been seeking compliments and praise for ages.

I don't actually mind the trivia and pre-match analysis he puts into it, it's all the bullshit which goes along with it which he perpetuates.

No mention yet of the banner displayed at half-time and again at full-time calling PDC a facist by the away supporters.  Have I got this wrong or is that not racist?  I thought it was disgraceful and showed what a load of twats they were!!  Had we been giving it big to one of their cooured players with monkey chants etc the police would have been in the crowd making arrests, yet just one steward proceeded to go to their supporters and rip the banner away at the end.

Racist?

How?

It was mentioned here at half time, it came out at the end of the match too

You are also forgetting we have been playing horrendously at home so far this season.

The bullshit you mention is self defence, as Ardiles mentioned. I spend a bit of time putting it together, mainly as i genuinely enjoy it and if people are constantly picking its a natural reaction to try and turn it in to banter which invariably involves blowing ones own trumpet. i aint fishing for compliments, i seriously couldn't give a fuck who does and dont like it, of course its nice to be appreciated but I would rather a town win and 3 points in the bag. As i said last night, i will keep my trumpet blowing under cover, i take your point.

The irony of it being Sheffield United fans taking the moral high ground was not lost on me. The darling of Bramall Lane being Ched Evans not too long ago.

People in glass houses etc etc...

The same United fans that started a Ched is innocent twitter page!

Fair play, it's not just you, this tedium about thread starters has been going on for at least a year. Maybe I'm just getting old

We all are :) I will focus on 25% trivia and 80% football on Saturday and now on, love Walsall away and a win is a must

All things considered this has to be a good result, with the players available. Shows what you can achieve with the players we have already.....how many will come in on loan is anyone`s guess. At one time I would be excited by the prospect but now think ` not another load of one game wonders.....

Some nice comments from Sheff utd fans about last night.


 ::)

Back to where we belong? Historically aren't we already 'where we belong'?

We've not been as dominant as last year, but there have been a number of good performances - last Tuesday for instance, then Brighton, Crawley and Bournemouth. Admittedly, Orient, Colchester and Macclesfield were dire. We're in or around play off positions. Attendance still below reasonable expectations, in my opinion

Something of a fair point really regarding the singing. For every 1 chant for any of our players get there are probably 5 for Paolo.  There was a short Devera chant last night and that was it pretty much it in terms of the players.

We've been like that for a while now though, when Wilson was here the Wilson's Red and White Army chant was by far the most dominant. The only real exception was during Malpas' time when the chant was for Fitton instead.

Seemed to me that half of their chants were directed at Paolo too.

At least we have an excuse, he is OUR manager.

What do you realistically think a good crowd would have been last night out of interest 10k +?

No, I'd have settled for 9500+, so roughly 1000  more Home fans. Bearing in mind we've got nearly 6k season ticket holders (I believe), the 'occasional' turnout isn't great

And this from a club who employed the universally hated Warnock as manager and pledged support for a convicted rapist.

Pot. Kettle. Black

Aren't they Wednesday's reserve team?

Big physical side who stick to the task and try and take what ever comes their way.

Not nice to watch but gets results and i will be surprised if they dont go up.

If only Wilson had made us like that, instead of a load of bottlers.

Ref was shit (again) but we got away with a cert RED IMO early doors.

Forced us into playing it long at times and they were stronger in the air.....Benson would of been a better bet last night.

Point gained as far as im concerned as they nearly snatched it at the end.

I liked the banner going up...shall we do a Ched Evans one for Bramall Lane?

As an aside, I was looking at the league table today. It feels to me like we have had a bit of a dubious start defensively, but looking at the goals against column we are actually doing OK.

Our away form is keeping us up there.

Most clubs seem to win at home and pick up points away to gain promotion. It would seem PDC has other ideas.

It's a real shame this wasn't a Saturday fixture, was expecting 1k + from them regardless. It was one of our higher profile home games so under 9 thousand may of disappointed the club a little. If we can keep the attendances above the 8 thousand mark it won't be a bad average.

Eh, we did that last year. Got to mix it up a bit this season to keep things fresh.

A handful of points-

1) Keep the fucking ball on the ground!
2) Ritchie's sublime shot early in the first half would have been a Goal of the Season contender if it had dipped an inch or two. An absolute screamer.
3) Keep the fucking ball on the ground!
4) I think we have a pair of real prospects in Thompson N and Thompson L.
5) Keep the fucking ball on the ground M'kay?

I'm totally confused. I thought the game was dire last night. They were the bigger side and we kept hitting the ball in the air. When the ball was played on the ground it was usually them. Then DiCanio after the game praised our players. I just don't get it.

We are better when we play it on the ground and that just did not happen last night.

This more direct style that we seem to be playing at the moment, do you think this is tactical or actually opponents stopping us from playing football.

It is clear as day from the comments on here that we don't have the players to play hoofball so why do we continue to try and do it? Are the players afraid to try and play football now in case they make a mistake which leads to a goal?

Can't agree with that, Almost everything they hit was either long direct or long diagonal, They were playing to their strengths and looking for soft free kicks and the ref seemed to be doing his best to assist them.

It seems to vary from week to week. It's only a few games ago we took Stevenage apart without looking troubled and played some good football doing it. Not like we played it long all night against Villa either. Maybe they are setting up in a specific way for certain sides and it's just not the right call? Maybe it depends on personnel? Haven't looked at the differences between lineups for the varied performances.

We have been a bit Jekyll and Hyde all season though.

Meh.

Fucking dingles.

Hope they made it back in time to start work down't mine this morning

Thought Sheff Utd were very average, solid but never attempted to play anything even slightly resembling football.

We dominated most of the game but just lacked the final ball at times.

Also, did anyone have any idea what the fuck the Sheff U fans were singing most of the game, couldn't understand most of it, bloody northerners.

Oh, and the ref was a cunt.

Sheffield united sing the greasy chip butty song, which is one of the best songs in English football.

I can't youtube at work, but look it up.

has anyone else noticed that we always turn out hopelessly shit performances every time that we get turned around at the start of the home games. unless we shoot towards the TE in the second half were fucked. maybe the oppo are getting wise to that and that is why we sometimes get turned round.
FWIW, i thought the game was fairy flat last night, having watched gary roberts all season, anyone know why he has started playing so badly, he seems half asleep these days. jay is begining to piss me off too now that he seems to have lost the ability to cross a decent ball. He now has the crossing ability of alan o'brian. nathan at right back is fast becoming one of my favourites to watch, developing into a really good player now. Interesting how no-one is missing caddis these days. TAH in midfield, well he is bloody catastrophic. iv never seen anyone look so out of place before. as a defender i like him but as a midfielder he makes me look like pele. roll on saturday and spank warsaw :pint: :pint:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2S-1VqZwa5g

I agree, that is quite good.

MOTM just thought I'd let you know about MOTM as I wangled my way into hospitality last night.
It was Excalibur's MOTM but they let the fans decide on facebook & twitter. So the fans voted for Ferry. I don't do FB or Twit but I would have voted for Louis.
However when the presentations were done Louis T was there too. He might have been voted for by the members suite, so both he & Ferry gave out the cakes & champers & posed for photos.

Oh and the chant from the Sheff Utd fans was: "Sheffield United" over and over and over again.
awful
But at least they didn't have a drum like the Wednesday lot.

Ta.

Your right the majority of the game they did hit it long especially from their left back to the strikers.  I was just left frustrated that at the very few times some thing was played on the floor it seemed to be them doing it. I wanted us to be making the effort to get the ball down but there was none. Their tactic was definitely hoof ball but we played it more than them. We have the team to play it and play it well on ground.

Ok we did play a bit too much hoofball for my liking too but if it was mainly us why is there a debate between our two diminutive ball playing midfielders for MOTM?

That's thrown 'em...

Went to see united v Burnley playoff a few years ago and it was great on the tube.

Agree, and I'd be surprised if they thought their midfielders were their best players last night. They had three great hulks right through the spine of their team so anything in the air must suit their style of play.
On a side issue, itv west news showed the Ritchie shot from last night, great strike and just needed it to dip a second earlier.

Honest thought we played poorly yesterday. Defensively looked alright but going forward was not very good.

Why PDC now has the team playing hoofball most of the time i've got no idea, especially when he leaves benson (the best in the air) out of the team?! Why are we not trying to play football? Last year we played more football than this with worse players.

To be 7th having just got promoted is great. But we have a strong squad and we've dropped lots of points (especially at home) and it drives me mad that we're not playing to our strengths this season.

That appears to be norm.  I'm bored stiff of hearing the 'Fuck off Di Canio' chant that literally every single set of away supporters sings.  Hardly imaginative.

Because our defenders kept hitting it long and the strikers didn't win any headers, the only winner therefore was midfield.

Agreed Riddick, we've dropped a lot of points at home and could easily be top of the pile looking at the league against supposed 'lesser' teams who on paper we should have beaten! The world of football and to be an STFC fan! Still 7th gives us something to build upon and hopefully once we're over our injury patch of the season coupled with a couple of new faces joining we'll be back firing on all cylinders at home!

This is right, Paolos name is mostly sung by us in response to " fuck off Di Canio " apart from Evans I can't remember us chanting/ singing about other managers. I can only put it down to envy why opponents fans concentrate on Paolo so much.

...and also make shitty paper banners.

They could have used a decent marker pen, rather than a HB pencil

I'm surprised they didn't use charcoal  ;D

We should do a 'Fuck off Di Canio' bingo for what minute the opposition first sing it.

Just saw something like that on Twitter, think last night it was just over 19 minutes which is a poor effort by united in comparison to most !

Haha I usually keep track of when it occurs, don't have anything down to draw comparisons though! They took longer than Villa. I almost started to think hey up we may see a first here... Fuck off Di.... oh maybe not.

I listened to the Utd. commentary.

Their commentators were very biased, sneery and seemed to have a bit of a superiority complex. Most are quite decent but not this lot. They mentioned that we kept on singing about Di Canio and that it seemed to be the only song we had and that we and the press kept banging on about him........

No prizes for guessing their main topic of conversation

Danny Wilson?

No, not that lying cunt  ;)

Whereas "Paolo Di Canio" screams imagination and ingenuity :)

They are right though. We are known as "Di Canio's Swindon Town" for a reason - no egoman bigger than the club?

Maybe we are.  But I can live with it, I think.  Small price to pay for having ended the malaise we were suffering under Wilson and then Hart.  One day PDC will leave and we'll be 'Swindon Town' again.  Even though we get fed up with it from time to time, I think we'll miss the circus when it's gone.

Totally agree Ardiles. We were also know as Glenn Hoddle's Swindon Town at some point in the past too. Didn't seem to do us too much harm then either.


Like many football chants, it's hardly Shakespearean but as stated before, he is OUR manager so it's allowed.

And wherever he goes it will be the same.

Much the same as

Chris Wilder's heap of shite

"Who needs Di Canio- we've got Mourinho!" ?

 :D

Just saw the highlights on Player.

Fuck me Thompson was lucky not to see red.

 :nod:

I found it funny that after Thomson took out that guy, the DRS then proceeded to boo the Sheff Utd player when he touched the ball as if he had done something wrong!

Bad tackle it certainly was and we were lucky not to be down to 10 men. The booing was more about his play acting afterwards. If you're that injured you don't carry on playing after the physio kisses it better, you're hobbling off the pitch in agony.
It's a bug bear of mine that almost all players will act like their leg's broken, only to come back on the pitch and carry on as though nothing happened. Tbh a few of united's players did the same thing. One went down like he'd been shot in the centre circle, stayed down until he realised the ref was ignoring him, then leapt up and carried on.

I think it was when we beat Southampton 1 nil at our place that one of their players rolled around as if he'd been amputated below the knee from a fair challenge, the ref didn't blow up, he rolled some more to try and stop us attacking, ball broke up field and he jumped up and raced after it like Ben Johnson on more speed than usual.

I was with my eldest for her first game then and had to explain why daddy was shouting and swearing so much.