Thetownend.com

The Opponent: Sheffield United

So what have we learned this week? Belford could be handy at some point in the future? The striker everyone thought was a twat, and then had a change of heart, is actually a twat after all? Both points have validity of some form but the latter seems more relevant at the moment.  I think the point has been well made by several people all ready, get shot and do everything possible to sign Nicky Ajose. The lad played the waiting game here and has taken his chances well, along with Dany N’Guessan. I’m guessing Ranger doesn’t work for peanuts so let’s put the cash elsewhere. Its quite a trek up to Sheffield today, think I will be giving it a miss, various excuses can be applied but the thought of being sat on my arse for 8 hours just ain’t doing it for me for some reason. I don’t suppose we will take masses to this game, although no doubt we will be well represented by various northern reds. Safe journey to all today.

You would imagine Sheffield to consist of mostly steel and concrete but you may be surprised to know that Sheffield has the highest number of trees per person for any city in The UK, there is an estimated 2 million of the buggers. Sheffield has a long football heritage. In 1857 a collective of cricketers formed the world's first-ever official football club, Sheffield F.C. and the world's second-ever, Hallam F.C. who also play at the world's oldest football ground in the suburb of Crosspool. Sheffield and Hallam are today Sheffield's two major non-league sides, although Sheffield now play just outside the city in nearby Dronfield, Derbyshire. If anyone has a bit of time spare then a visit to the Silver Hill Larder is a must. It is Sheffield's top specialist cheese shop with a wide range of English farmhouse and continental cheeses.  Cheese wedding cakes are a speciality.  They also stock a good range of jams, chutneys and freshly ground coffee from Taylors of Harrogate.  

Where the opposition gather –  


http://www.s24su.com/forum/index.php?forums/general-blades-chat.5/

Last 6 – WLLWDD (Currently 20th on 17 points. New boss Nigel Clough has improved form recently but still a long way off where The Blades fans expect themselves to be).

They have served us both – Herbert Chapman, Danny Wilson, Vincent Pericard (The bloke that used to play for Juventus), Brian Howard, John Paul McGovern, Chris Kamara, JFL, Frank Talia, Grant Smith, Paul Crichton, Jan-Age Fjortoft, Tommy Mooney, Darius Henderson, David Munks, Neil Logan, Brian Marwood, Steve Foley.

The Odds -  Sheffield United 11/8 Draw 12/5  Swindon 9/4   No idea why but I fancy a bit of us at 9/4. Marlon King is as short as 9/2 to score first with Bet 365, personally I will take Ladbrokes 8/1 on Nicky Ajose to lead the way.

The Son Says –  He scored 5 goals at football last night so the confidence is flowing. 2-1 Town win.

The Prediction –  After a slightly difficult Paint Pot victory on Tuesday night I still think we will have plenty in the tank and will leave South Yorkshire 3-1 winners with an Ajose double and a late Pritchard screamer to round things off nicely. 16’433 in attendance with 715 Swindon braves.

And Finally –  Sheffield holds the record for the longest continuously visible rainbow at 6hrs on the 14th March 1994.

COYR COYR COYR

You forgot JFL

I fear a dicking.

No idea what you mean.

Fucker you edited it :D

2-1 town & i am going to my first away game this season.

Cant much remember us ever getting much there. 1-2 defeat.

Best I've seen there was a 2-2 draw under Colin Todd and last years game was the most embarrassing display. I'll be happy with a draw but fear the worst and think we'll lose 2-0.

I gotta bad feeling about this.

(http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_Hu-JgV3j-SA/SZ_-O5_HJiI/AAAAAAAABVE/DtOg0uTd1xU/s400/bollo.jpg)

2-0 loss. 696 Reds attending.

I'd forgotten they had Marlon King....

Wouldn't catching us signing someone like that!!

Nu-uh, no way!  ;D

Good one Rosso as usual...on our way and a win today for me...reckon we will sneak it 2-1

We have only won there once in the league ever back in 1970 and the only other time was in 1908 in the FA cup.

1 wins 2 draws and 10 defeats is our record up there in the league, I can only see it being 11 defeats TBH.

Are people forgetting they are 5th from BOTTOM!

Any other side in that position would have you all predicting a STFC win, so why not against this lot.

1-3 for me and I look forward to shoving it back down your throats at 5pm!!!

Fuck me, you'd think it was us on the brink for the relegation zone and them fighting for the play offs.

You going Benny?

Ill take a draw today. Would be happy with that. Start of a really tough run of games for us.

Nah I'm at work. Last time I went was our last game in division 1 and Graz scored a brace to get us a draw.

Same here (work), went last season though....that wasn't fun.

Utd 1 Town 3

Not at all, some grounds or teams are bogey teams no matter where they are in the table....Cheltenham for us springs to mind, but we are also a bogey team for Port Vale who no matter how well they are doing seem to concede 5 goals at the CG.

Its one of footballs unexplained mysteries.

Sometimes league position and form seem to be irrelevant.

Don't forget Macclesfield. We seem to have a lot of bogey teams

Wish I was going today. Going to be a tough one, I'd be happy with a point.

Be interesting to see if we go with none up front formation again.

Wish I was going today.  I've only been once to Bramall Lane - for our first Premiership game - just over 20 years ago now, and I was impressed with the place even back then.  Think we have every chance of getting a result today.  Don't understand the doom & gloom, to be honest.

I wouldn't necessarily say Sheff U are a bogey team. Rather they are just generally a bigger club than we are so they tend to have a better squad. This may not be the case today.

Pessimistic today, the Ranger thing I think could affect the dressing room. Hope I'm wrong.

2-0 blades

Not too bad a trip for me this one.  Horrible place Bramall Lane, especially the away end, hoping for a decent performance, expecting a draw, which I'll be happy with! 2-2.

Nah. This Ranger thing is hardly new and we've been doing fine.

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

More like Town to stuff the bogeys back up their noses.

3-0 to Town

2 away wins in the league this season? New(ish) manager for the blades, ropey as fuck defence, Luongo and Kasim underperforming, I think it's a nailed on away win. 1-2.

Agree with this entirely. Was looking forward to going to Bramall Lane today but recent events ruined that. I doubt it's as nice as Hillsborough anyway. I wouldn't be surprised to see us try the 4-6-0 again today, at least initially, but would prefer to see a little more positivity‎. I was surprised at how we persevered with Ajose as the central man on Tuesday night when N'Guessan is probably the closest we have to an aerial target and he ended up battling to win headers from Belford's kicks on the touchline.

My preferred line-up would be:


p.s. cheese wedding cakes are the bomb

Ive missed where cheese wedding cakes comes into this, but I had cheddar cheese ice cream on an air phillipines flight.  It was, erm, odd.

That's Filipino for shmeggy (aka knob-cheese) 

And there was me thinking everybody read my waffle word for word  :)

TOWN v Sheff Utd: Foderingham; N Thompson, Hall, Ward, McEveley; Kasim; Luongo, Mason, L Thompson, Pritchard; Ajose

subs: Belford, Byrne, Branco, Gladwin, Harley, El Gabas, N'Guessan

We're playing a Paul Hart 4-3-3 then

Done us well for the last 2 away games

I had baked bean ice cream in the Penruddock Arms at Dinton-surprisingly good! 1-1 today with Mason on the mark

It's LJF.

Jean-Francois Lescinel

Not actually.

Frog Red

It seems to be take yer choice on which round it goes.

Fucked if I know!

Mexican re - fried ice cream is pretty amazing stuff.

Stuck in Christmas shopping hell. How's it sounding?

Sheffield United in the acendancy apparently.

Our usual first 20 minutes away, then

Yawn.

Is that the incredibly bad John Sutton scoring for Motherwell?

He's quite good in Scottish football isn't he? Couldn't make the step up

Doing better than James Collins.

See Shitty's new manager is doing well

 :blowup:

Shitty can't get any lower ha ha

 :clap:

We had a shot. Yay!

Thought they were in Yorkshire?

come on then pritch

2 good chances for Town, Pritchard free kick and Hall overhead kick just over.

Morshead

Oh great. Are refs genuinely worse this season than ever? I know moaning at the ref is as old as football, but I can't remember hearing such frequent complaints about them. Is that just my failing memory, or if it's true, do people have a theory why?

Or is Morshead just more whingy than past reporters?

15,430 (551). Poor turnout.

Poor is slightly harsh, a Northern trip just before Christmas was never going to see thousands travel.

We're doing well at the moment, one of the better away days.

Also didn't help that it was all-ticket for Town fans, but less that I thought we make take.

Sounds like we are under a bit of pressure

This is what I was thinking. It genuinely seems the refs this season are shitter than ever before.

Shit, Porter misses from 5 yards.....we are under the cosh. Good block by Hall apparently.

Personally, the standard is getting worse. Not just refs but the linos.

I thought the ref we had against Carlisle was one of the best this season though.

1-0

Bollocks, its been on the cards for ages.

Fuck it

Poor.

Hopefully this will mean we will try to attack now!

Completely.  Sounds just like the second half of Tuesday's game.

Given them far too much respect with the formation, they are in the bottom 4 for a reason.

Right. Let's go for it now. Is n'guessen on bench?

Let's hope so. Listening to this game is more painful than my hernia surgery yesterday (not true,  actually).

Lets have a go now for fucks sake nothing to lose

Seems like we set up for a point and were timewasting early doors.

Lets get at them, they are struggling for a reason.

This is really frustrating. How can we sound so good one week and so poor the next?

Because we have a team of pampered midgets who don't like playing away from home. We're good at home though.  :)

Crap result, but not altogether unexpected. Sound like we didn't really give it a go from what I've heard.  Will have to see what those that went say..

It would appear that the pre match negativity was perfectly justified by the sound of the lacklustre performance today.

Pretty pathetic to not even have a go, got a feeling the fans who went aren't going to be too happy on here later...

If only we had a quality target man.....

It's easy to forget that this is a work in progress though, we're 7th so no disaster.

Can i have my money back please  :)

To be fair, I think Sheffield United are one of many sides that Cooper wants out of the league before we are able to mount any sort of challenge. With that in mind, I don't think today's performance is all too surprising.

I believe Reg alluded to it the other day, but with the reduced budget we are going to have to prepare for a battle to remain in the league for the foreseeable future. With a bit of luck, Power's contacts will net us the odd decent transfer fee along the line and we can see where that takes us.

I don't get it... are you suggesting we deliberately didn't bother in order to aid Sheff U's non-existent promotion push?

I think he was being sar-car-stick.

Unless you are trying to out sarcasm him in a sarcasmoff

:no:

The play for a point set up and timewasting against a side who have languished around the relegation zone all season is what I can't understand. Far too much respect shown.

but there was no respect shown to the fans who have payed a lot of money to watch that. We were awful.

Yeah but setting up like that worked once, so it'll work every time won't it!

In fairness to Cooper, I can see why he wanted us to be harder to break down away from home.

My main issue is when it clearly isn't working, or when we go 1-0 late on without creating much before, then why don't we stick 2 up top, sacrifice a bit of possession and give it a go. It may cost us another goal, but you don't come back without trying.

They'd better get used to it or stop going as this is the way we will be playing for all our away games.

Setting up defensively, hitting teams on the break using small pacey players rather than a target man. Very few chances and shots on target. We don't even seem to change pattern when will fall behind.

Win at home lose away, it's just like the team of 70's

My expectations have been adjusted accordingly in recent weeks and I hope the majority of fans have or will do the same.

I am looking forward to January.

My expectations have stayed the same, we need to get to 52 points asap.  The danger lurks in the fact we've only played 4 of the top 12 at the CG and only beaten 1.  Given the likely outflow of players in January, McMahon style second half of season collapse is still a distinct possibilty.

That's you, DRS, and someone else suggesting big budget cuts. Who was it said ...to "pre Wise/Sturrock levels" (the  Iffy year).

On way back completely deflated after one of the most frustrating away days I can remember.
Sheffield were shit & there for the taking but we weren't interested, much to the anger of the travelling
Town fans. Horrible day rounded off with town fans getting nasty amongst themselves,  cooper has got to find
A way to play away from home, the negativity today was shocking. Mason was awful, kasim also not great.
Can't think of anything to add, gutted!

THIS IS WHAT HAPPENS WHEN SOMEONE SPELLS THE MATCH DAY THREAD WRONG.

BRING BACK KING OF TONGA

Tough December ahead and if we played that negative away v the 5th from bottom team how the hell are we gonna manage against 3rd place Brentford or 7th Bradford. Let alone at home to cov who have a very potent strikeforce indeed.
It doesnt strike me that we have a plan b which is worrying

Wasnt there today which am glad about if the reports have seen so far are the norm

On with Reg and I WAS there today.

Negative formation with hit on the break tactics did not work in the first minute....or the 40th...or the 93rd.

Awful

Oh well. Glad I couldn't go in the end and don't feel sorry for anyone who chose to go.

We'll still do alright this season. We'll probably sell our best players in January. What exactly makes this season any different to the last 10 seasons?

Everyone always seems so surprised by it all.

I can't remember a time we've ever beaten Sheffield United, one of our bogey teams and sounds like we don't turn up against them at all - today being no exception judging by comments/match report. Big few games coming up now, need to win a couple over the Xmas/NY period.

Pritchard should get a special mention also. Dire.

TBF, The Blades record at the CG is only marginally better than our dire record at Bramall Lane.

Didn't really expect anything today, but to give it a bit of a go would have been nice.  Disappointing yet again for those who've travelled.

Cooper's inability to change things when it's not working is a concern.  I didn't hear his interview after the game, but apparently he got quite ratty with the questions about formation?

Too many players off form as well, Thompson and Kasim have been rubbish for weeks.  Doesn't sound like today was any improvement?

I thought Kasim was ok. Ward and Hall looked reasonably comfortable at the back. Ajose looked lively once or twice. Everyone else poor. Mason and Pritchard looked disinterested at times imo.

Hang about a minute, weren't you the one that has stated "hopefully the happy to stay up brigade will shut the fuck up now?" and play offs is the minimum that is acceptable otherwise Cooper will lose his job?

Nothing has changed from the start of the season with regards to the budget etc. we all knew that it was being reduced to maximum £2.3m, but those of us saying mid table would be a good season were being scoffed at.  You thoughts about STFC seem to be a bit bipolar to me..

Oh, was going on the radio saying that Kasim was off colour and his first touch was consistently poor.

Another prediction league banker.... Need to start putting money on my genius. DMR take note ;)

Never went, so cannot really comment but the underlying fact appears to be we were too negative, hoping for a 0-0, yet listening to Thompson and Ward being interviewed you would have thought we were extremely unlucky not to win!!  Didn't hear the Cooper interview - did he think we were unlucky not to win as well?

Yeah I remember him giving it away poorly once or twice. But not the worst on the park by any means.

Kasim has been crap since he got that contract extension.

Who was it on here who predicted that his form would go down the swanny after he signed that!?

Well that was ninety minutes of my life wasted.What a tedious match in which Thompson and Kasim were poor,Mason spent most of the match arguing with the ref and our tactics seemed to be play the ball amongst the back four as long as we could and only push forward as a last resort.Louis Thompson had a decent game but otherwise very disappointing

Just got back home.  Was one of the "poor turnout ".  Fucking cheek!  Did you make the effort?

I think I must have missed the club announcement during the week. I thought I was shelling out to travel and watch a competitive league match today.  When did they cancel that and decide to replace it with a practice match-cum-Saturday-afternoon-kickabout?

I really don't mind them losing if they are actually trying to win, but there was precious little effort there today.  It looked like they were just trying not to lose and they are not good enough to do that.  Even poor sides like Sheffield United will score against us, if we let them have possession, time and space.  It really was a poor show again today.  And embarrassing that our fans were taking the piss out of our own team!

Love to come on with some positives...the only positive is that i am back home in the warm.
A grim matchday experience and the players and management need to take a check because the actual effort put in was a kin to a practice match.
I agree that there are matches where things just dont work out but this wasn't one of those times...it was poor and the management have to take it on the chin and sort it.
Nice to see Donkey and have some passionate discussion about Paolo....how i would have liked to seen his(PDC) outlook on the effort put in by todays players >:( >:( >:( >:(

On the plus side i got some nice photos of some Sheffield graffiti if you are interested. :D

I was one of the 551 today, very disappointing especially in 2nd half where we dropped deeper and invited pressure......... very few positives, ajose put in a shift but had such poor service and Hall played better. However Nathan Thompson poor out of position, Kasim lost possession often, Mason moaned at the ref all game and didnt put in a shift in. We didnt move the ball quick enough to catch Sheff Utd out and then after playing defensive most of the game struggled to change when we inevitably went behind.

Why is N'Guessan rotated so much, we could have done with his physicality today?

Hmmm not impressed recently with the effort of some of the players plus there are a fair few who are pulling out of challenges. I really rate Mason but not been impressed since he has come back from his injury.

I cannot see us making play offs despite our current league position although hopefully we will kick on at some stage and everything will pull together and click  :pint:

I'm pretty sure it was me FCB, but can't be 100% sure! Hopefully he'll pick up again!

Well I'm just slipping under the duvet. Will read back in a minute.

A real fucking let down today.

Blades were shit and there for the taking.

The 6:4 formation wasn't really needed as Blades did fuck all....the match just went to pish and never really improved.

We ran around a lot  ....hit a couple of long rangers (where was he?) but never really looked like scoring and on that note we matched the Blades.

After half time it turned into a next goal wins contest and some how they managed it..

Cooper decides to change and switches midfield??? masterstroke?  
Danny comes on (too late IMO) and seems to play out wide? WTF?!

By then the crowd turned and piss take songs rang out annoying the hardy bunch of Swindon til we die Lads. Some disagreements started from what I could see ref how the team/club should be supported.

My view is that if you've paid your money....you do what you want....if you want to boo and get on people's tits with negative comments or scream Swindon til I die as Cooper does a Paul Hart impression with his tactics ....then so be it.  Never believe that 'my way is the right way'.....it takes all sorts.

There was something that could not be argued with ...... Today didn't work and if Cooper didn't see that, I fear for us.

Our season is on a knife edge.

Players going, Ranger gone and Cooper continuing with shit set ups like this then we are in trouble and 52 points need to be bagged ASAP.

A blades fan on the way back to the car:

" I thought both teams were poor and dished up a poor game, we were fearful of Swindon and were surprised you never really had a go at us. We are desperate for points so we will take em when we can"

Now I will read back through and wind myself up...

it was nice to catch up with you Lee after the game, that was the only bright spark of a really bad day, i don't know what the commentary said today but we were awful. The fans that were singing that all we wanted was a shot on goal went home disappointed cos we were shit. There were no positives today apart from the fact that the stewards were really switched on.

"Number one is in defence, number two is in defence... All we want is a fuc*ing shot on goal..."

Despite the result, bloody good day out. Met some Yeovil fans (on the lash - lads) back in Derby who were annoyed by only getting a point from Barnsley. Would like to have felt similar. Rubbish from us, no ambition at all. Highlight was the infighting in the stand.

Glad it was only 20 mins on the train. Happily back to my armchair.

Maybe some payers know they are off in January and don't want to risk getting injured.

There were few challenges in the Stevenage game, too

I'm not sure there necessarily has to anything too sinister in the non performance, beyond being a norvern game in windy December, therefore we'll tend to lose. I wonder if the new austerity regime stretches to an overnight stop for a game like this?

Well, something has changed.

The vibrant football from earlier in the season is only now seen in short spells. It seems we can play a bit in the first half of games then are fucking awful in the 2nd. Certainly seems to be a trend.

Apart from Walsall and Lorient where we were fucking awful in both halves.

This month or so will show us all where we are going this season

Playing 0 up front is an embarrassment and if anyone thinks a team that plays half theirs fixtures with such a setup can be playoff contenders then they are retarded.

I've read through this thread, gents, I was there yesterday, it was as bad as I've seen.  Not because we played badly, or didn't try, but because we never wanted to win!  We were time wasting in the 1st half ffs.

I was convinced that at half time Cooper would have changed tact when he realised how bad Sheffield were, but no, we continued to defend deep and protect a 0-0.  Inevitably even a poor side was going to get a breakthrough.  I would have been happy with a point tbf, but with a performance that at least demonstrated a bit of intent.

Some poor individual performances only added to the fans frustrations & 20 minutes of ridicule songs summed it up.  Although we did have some fans desperately trying to lift the team (good on them), but the frustrations had boiled over & unfortunately they were berated and scuffles pursued.  Not good!

I'm convinced the players were following instructions to the letter, the delay in decision making highlighted their confusion in what they were supposed to do, ultimately giving the ball away and leaving gaping holes across the midfield.

I was planning on going to Bradford, but I'm not sure I could endure that kind of tactic again, I'm also unsure about Peterborough away in the 1st leg, our outset will be obvious.

On a positive note, Hall, Ward & Jay were OK (haven't seen the goal yet!).

for once i agree with you. Playing 0 upfront assumes we're fucking 4th bottom not Sheff UTD

Even Calvin Andrew upfront on his own is a step up from this.

I cant fathom why anyone would even consider it.

Because Tim Sherwood told them too

Slightly concerned that we're likelier to find ourselves down in 10th than closer to the play-offs as the festive period progresses. No issue with the formation as it worked well at Col U (as many on here alluded to) but a lack of fight seems to let us down.

I've said it before and I'll say it again: the worst thing Jed ever did was send that open letter.

As cringey as the letter was, it doesn't explain the baffling tactics and inferiority complex the manager seems to have installed in recent weeks?

Yep it worked but only cos Col Utd were piss poor
N'Guessan is no target man and he was lucky that day that the defender opposite him was dog shite.
Furthest man up the field in the 2nd half for a long time was L Thompson.
Somehow we managed to break forward with purpose and scored 2 could have had more.

Same formation struggled to break down Crawley ffs but again luckily for us Crawley were also poor and clueless hence the sacking of their manager very soon after.

Too much respect for poor teams IMHO

I was at Crawley and to play 0 up front there against a frail side lacking confidence I thought was a mistake. Granted we were a lick of paint away from taking all 3 points but to go so defensively against poor sides towards teams nearer the bottom is a tad worrying on what MC sees as the ability of our team.

Going to Wolves and outplaying them should surely show what we are capable of, they are league leaders for heaven's sake!

He who dares wins, we don't dare.

This formation has bought a negative attitude to our play.

Think you've hit the nail on the head.

I thought he was sacked because he applied for the Portsmouth job.

I agree with you though.

Someone pointed out once before that the problem with our management team is that they try a formation/tactic for the first time and it works but they then repeat it for the next 5 or 6 games when it's lost the element of surprise and clearly doesn't work. Look at the shambles that was 3-5-2. I think most fans would rather see us get beat 3-1 or 4-2 but really give it a go than lose 1-0 or 2-0 without having a shot at goal. We're constantly being told that we have the most talented team in the league, and on occasions it appears to be true. But the vast majority of the good performances have been at home against teams down the bottom of the league. However, the worst performances have also been against teams near the bottom (or not even in the league....) and most have been when playing these crappy formations. Or, against better teams (Orient and Walsall) that sussed us out early on and taught us how the game should be played. If the players are as good as we're told they are then let them play how they should be playing, home and away. I don't think anyone seriously thinks we are candidates for promotion and this was always going to be a transition/avoid relegation season. I don't think relegation is a serious threat so let the players just go out and entertain - like we were told they were going to do at the start of the season. Not just at home, but away too.

The fans were much happier with the team at the start of the season when we were winning at home and losing away but playing the same style of football than they are now when the team is playing away from home with such a negative attitude. What's more, I think they players were performing with more confidence too. Players and fans know that if they are playing well but losing it will eventually click. Play poorly and lose and everybody is depressed.

What always irritates me is when a manager says before a game that the players have been warned about the dangers of the opposition and how we shouldn't underestimate them. We invariably lose these games. That and when a player has been playing really shit and then comes out and says that he knows he's playing shit and he's going to make amends for it in the next game. You know he'll have the worst game of his life.......

Bobs post covers most of it.

Only thing I would query is the sentence "If the players are as good as we are told they are . . . . " - personally at times I think the players have been told how good they are so some of them don't bother too much, especcially away from home!

Kasim's poor form has also coincided with the teams apparent change away from the free flowing stuff of early season.

It is obvious that he is only decent when playing in a ''stylish' side - hence he couldn't get a game for Macclesfield or Luton.

It is pointless having players who can be Spurs-lite and then trying to play like Stoke.

Bob nailed it. No matter how many (usually sideways) passes we make, or possession percentage  we have. Even after we are told we have the best from Spurs and that we play 'the right way'. These boys appear not to be able to beat less skillful men. Power's system is flawed from the off as we''ll never have a settled side. Though at least Sherwood must be happy getting his players sold for actual money (unless he sells for us on a 50p down payment with high, press reported figure, payable when sold on). No one believes in Cooper as they all know he is a show pony and this filters down. On paper the plan looks ok. But the reality is that as this 'sustainable' club we are not going anywhere fast. Sustainable is a fear word to avoid us taking the odd risk. Like a safe bet girlfriend you chose as you didn't have the balls to ask the fit girl out. Wage cap the same. We've sustained ourselves one way or another for over 100 years so I am not buying that. If creating youth was a target then why did we put the youth cat 3 audit off? Because we wouldnt pay the staff to get it through the hoops. Hence why they want a Voluntary performance analyst for the academy when one was lined up to do it full time and a phase coach is still to be appointed. All the coaches have been mugged off all summer for contracts. But that's okay as we can use Spurs for the best of their lot. That is the reality. PDC made them change in a small room but the reality is he got Storey, Thompson and Bedwell actually playing the game. At least he called it as it was. We have no scouting network other than Spurs now and they favour Spurs youngsters that may make them money rather than a punt on our talent. I'm all for an owner with contacts but this doesn't sit we'll. To stay up is fine this year so I am not worried but this insistance we are this great passing team going places is premature. I'd rather a nice community club, that pays local workers and develops local talent than this Lee Power Saviour rubbish. Club is always first but it needs to be right from the top down. If Cooper is here next season I would be surprised. He's got less passion than Hart and Malpas and only learned how to get a side to pass the ball after being taught this season. Hopefully Power realises he's in a bigger boat now than that non league nonsense and he needs to deliver. Still, still in reach of play offs and JPT is the holy grail.

Evening Jed

Dont think anyone can justifiably criticise the contribution that Pritchard and Mason have made this season

Mason has been injured a lot of it and Pritchard is inconsistent. There you go :)

Honestly, Mason plays the ball beautifully. But he and Luongo strolled through Tuesdays game in terms of effort. Hope he wasn't the same yesterday.

When Pritchard is on form he can unlock/damage the opposition like noone else. When he isn't on form (or is played out of position as an orthodox wide man) he is a bit of a passenger.

I think they are justifiable (constructive) criticisms. They should be quite something in a year or three, though I do wonder a bit about Pritchards physique/lack of pace.

No one has...but there wasn't a lot yesterday for sure,both were awfull.

I don't live in the UK at the moment.

At the end of the day I think we've overachieved so far, and people need to adjust their expectations. It's a new squad, new board, new manager, and all with half the budget. With that much upheaval staying up is good enough this season.

Oh and Sheffield United's form under Clough really isn't that bad, they're better than their position suggests.

Sorry mate, disagree with this, based on their performance yesterday their league position is quite accurate.  They were there for the taking, we just didn't want it........

And when you consider the quality of players that we have we are also better than our position suggests. What a lot of fans don't understand is why we go away from home to try to win a point (and more often than not failing miserably) when we could and should be going to win. Sheffield United were piss poor and we could have, and should have, easily won the game.

We don't have the players to sit back and let the opposition come at us. We will always concede goals with that mentality.

And if we don't play with strikers we won't score goals either.

This.

They were a really bad side. Absolutely no quality and their win was more down to us not being ambitious rather than any of their own quality. If we'd gone for it, I'm fairly confident we would have gotten something. Before the goal we sat deep and made no attempt to challenge them at all. Their centre half, who thankfully was utter garbage, ran accross the pitch unchallenged about three times in as many minutes. You could see the goal coming.

We have to be more ambitious. I'd rather see us go down fighting like we did at Peterborough, Wolves rather than the timid & cautious approach we had yesterday. Utterly wrong tactics from start to finish.

We have a technical side, but no grit for League One.

As I said yesterday, I can sort of understand Cooper wanting to make it tough to beat us. Because a few weeks ago we were quite rightly moaning we were too easy to pick off away form home.

Its the total lack of changing things when the tactic isn't working I don't understand. Sometimes, and particularly without "heads gone" being available for selection, we don't even trouble defences. When 1-0 down why can't we stick 2 up top when we need to ?

With the 'grit' comment above, yes we have no McCormack/(good) Douglas steel in the team. I think Cooper has recognised this, at least I assume that's why Marlow man has been brought in?

He isn't that type of player unfortunately

Bah.

Plan B then, I'm crafting a radioactive spider and training it to bite one of them.

Well, he didn't look that sort of player on Tuesday night and by his own words he's more of an attacking midfielder. Kasim offered enough 'steel' earlier in the season but in a far more subtle way. His form has fallen apart and so have we.

Vincelot at Orient was excellent against us playing in exactly the sort of role we desperately need.

Wrong tactics throughout and no change made.

You can't get everything right but you should be able to change it when you don't.

This is no surprise, we have been saying this since pre-season and have signed only one player to improve us with this aspect and he isn't playing.

I am surprised by those that are surprised by things like this.  It was said numerous times in the summer that as soon as we get into the ugly stuff in winter that we would struggle, well guess what?  It's winter, it's ugly and we are struggling.

A decent start to the season and suddenly play offs is a minimum we should expect.  Barmy.  We have got a team full of kids in a big boys league, there was no way that we were going to sustain the start we had, it seems that some are finally realising this now.

Sums it up perfectly for me. Very frustrating day from a football perspective.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nrRFX_reU50 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nrRFX_reU50)

We murdered 'em.

You'd end up with Junior Lewis then....

Look at the formation and the way we was playing when Kassim was having his good spell, he was the holding midfielder in front of the defence. A lot of the game went through him, it was always said it would be interesting to see if he could adapt his game when formations changed, and of course it has and unfortunetly it looks like he is struggling with it at the moment.

I think we also need to remember that a lot of these players are only playing their first full season at this sort of level, and, they have very little experience around them, maybe when things get tough they retreat as they dont have anyone to guide them though the game to offer words of encouragment and to help them with their positioning.

Was there a strong wind ? All the highlights until the last 30 seconds are at the same end (all us attacking first half, them second half)

Good post.

Nice highlights but no replay of the professional foul just before half time......would like to see that again.

Second thoughts.....I don't want to watch any of that game again.