Sheffield United (H) | Post-Match Thread

[willipp]

I get that ! Perhaps its us City fans who dont like this parking the bus as we tend to watch it most games. That's why so many of us enjoyed the Cheltenham game.

Wet much this. We get it week in week out, even against most of the so called big sides. I know it’s a compliment to how good we are, but it makes watching our games really boring at times. I suppose teams just don’t want a 5/6 nil drubbing and are delighted to lose 1-0.

 

[Millwallawayveteran1988]

Drab game and one day one of these will bite us on the arse but job done, 3 points and another clean sheet.

 

[Bob Hope]

3 points that's all that matters.

 

[Bozzie]

It's crazy that any slight, incidental contact with a striker's lower half is a nailed-on penalty, but you can clearly and deliberately push a player in the back and it's "not enough".

But immediately following that, a similar push on the defender near the corner flag was given straight away.

 

[mancity1]

Solid performance , no passengers and restricting them to one shot on target onto Burnley.

 

[Dodge]

Game management at its finest.

Score within 10 mins, take the next 80 mins off, on to the next one.

Never in doubt.

 

[Manx Blue]

I was a little surprised that Laporte started ahead of Stones, maybe just for continuity and Familiarity purposes. But it looks as though the three, including Dias, can potentially play with each other comfortably, whichever pairing is selected.

 

[OrigamiNinja]

Well as bad as you think Walker was he still won the most tackles for us and completed 94.1% of his 101 passes; only Foden had better completion stats but made less than half the number of passes.

I also though his recovery pace was useful on occasion.

That foul was daft and he did play conservatively but I'm not sure he jammed Torres in: I think Torres did that himself and is still getting to grips with our positional play game whereas Walker knows it inside out.

Pretty sure he did create at least one thing on his side with a brilliant long ball that put Torres away.

Canelo is though a different proportion going forward but he still is not as good as Kyle defensively and our current success is built on our defence so I see Walker as remaining important to Pep; plus Cancelo can play on the left, where he and Zin must be ahead of Mendy.

Walker was doing his job as part of a back three today and I'm guessing Pep will have been quite happy with it.

Out of interest how many of those 101 passes were to Dias?

 

[Chi-town blues]

Good job Gabby . Well done. 3 fucking points .
Upwards

 

[OntarioBlue]

Here we go again setting records and ruining football

 

[oddfellows]

But immediately following that, a similar push on the defender near the corner flag was given straight away.

I thought exactly that too

 

[PragueBlue]

Out of interest how many of those 101 passes were to Dias?

Probably quite a lot, just as most of Dias's passes would have been to Walker and Laporte. Walker did play a couple of decent balls over the top for Torres to run onto (can't remember but think one of them might have been the one that should have been a penalty).

He isn't as good going forward as Cancelo but is better defensively and all players need a rest at some stage. Cancelo had his today.

 

[big gaz]

To be fair Rodri came on at 85 min because sheff we’re going route 1 with 3 strikers.
Pep obviously feels subs only when needed as I’m sure he feels it upsets the flow

Like the quarter final of the champs league then ;-)

 

[OrigamiNinja]

Walker was at the heart of everything we did bad today.

He never tried to create anything on his side and jammed in Torres, with only Bernie trying any form of penetration.

He gave away a stupid free kick at the end and was also at fault for the McBernie chance.

It is becoming increasingly clear that we don't need to rely on Walker's recovery pace anymore because of Dias' arrival and outstanding positional leadership.

That only exposes Walker's limitations, he can only pass inside, doesn't join up the midfield and is impetuous in tackle.

Cancelo clearly takes his position and our set-up to the next level, all the same, Pep should still be able to expect a top performance from Kyle against this standard of opponent?

Pep is obviously trying to keep players fresh but surprised he didn't bring Mahrez or Sterling on for Torres and switch the focal point of attack.

Kudos to Fern, Zin and Bernie today, they were only ones at it with Dias.

You would think after watching Cancelo in recent weeks, most fans would have little trouble in coming to the conclusion that he is a completely different level to Walker, and helps take the whole sides game to a different level. It seems plenty on here are still obsessed with having someone who is utterly pointless for 89 mins, on the basis that his pace might be required at some point.

If all we want is someone who is fast, stick a greyhound at RB, it will be quicker than Walker and probably better on the ball.

 

[Bill]

we were terrible .

 

[Heisenberg's Blue Sky]

sketchiest prem ref I've ever seen, truly suspect, stone faced corrupt mo fo

Agreed. Wouldn't go as far as say corrupt but was a very odd performance bordering on suspect ;)

 

[hilts]

Risky business playing that way at 1 0 but it worked this time round, glad we didn’t get burned by a worldwide a deflection or a ref cock up(he did look like he came straight from Sunday league).

 

[red 2 hats]

Didn't see the game, not the best by all accounts, but three points in the bag, happy days

 

[OB1]

Out of interest how many of those 101 passes were to Dias?

Don't know. Don't care.

 

[chedinho]

Surprised teams that like to park the bus dont get called out by the premier league etc. As this style of football can only damage the premier league selling point. Who wants to watch that ?!

And to think three points for a win was brought in to deter defending deep.