The Contrast of Four

Since the opening fixture The Blades have been involved in four competitive games, and at this early stage of the season instead of four separate match reports I thought it may be more constructive to look at the four results as one. A one nil victory in the League Cup over Mansfield, a one nil loss to Coventry, our first league victory away to Peterborough two goals to one, and finally yet another one nil result this time The Blades defeating Crawly. One loss in four fixtures, not a bad run on paper, but why are so many still so disgruntled?

The Mansfield game, expectations of a big win are always present in these early cup fixtures, many thought the starting eleven including Doyle, Collins and McNulty would be more stable than the one chosen for the opener against Bristol. What followed was a mundane, unorganized disappointing fixture, McNulty fought well for his winner but expectations fell well short in this game. Jamal Campble-Ryce, Marc McNulty and Neil Collins were the stand out performers and looked like front runners for the starting line up in our next fixture, of course this theory was put to pasture when against Coventry the starting eleven like in the opening game left many baffled. 

Alcock was back on center half duty with Davies filling in as right back. Ryan Flynn reclaimed his spot in the side, Louis Reed again featured whilst Higdon took McNulty's place up front. For the first twenty minutes we controlled the game, dominating the pitch and if not for a world class save from a close range Higdon header we would have been a goal up. But after that Coventry were the only team in  the game. United looked frail, weak and resorted to long balls towards Higdon, who despite his size is a ball on the deck player. The substitutions failed to change the inevitable and Coventry got their winner, Bob Harris completing a woeful start to the season by scoring an own goal. Disgruntled fans poured out of Sixfields, angry, disappointed and in a panic about how the early stages of the season have panned out, and with a tricky fixture approaching away at Peterborough many struggled to see where the first three points would come from.

A more straight forward line up took the field at London Road, Alcock at right back, new boy McEveley at left back, Collins and McGahey in the middle of defense. Davies was then in his more familiar role on the right hand side of midfield, McNulty was up front ahead of Higdon. The Blades like at Coventry started brightly, not showing the frailties of previous fixtures, clearly out to prove a point. United could have scored early on but failed to take advantage of some dangerous set pieces. A quarter of the way in The Blades scored a fortunate goal, Baxter slipped and miss hit his effort but it slid across the face of goal and into the back of the net, advantage Blades, but not for long. Some non existent marking allowed Posh to equalize after defender Brisley thundered in a header from his team mates near post corner. The game then went to stalemate mode, neither team able to break down the other, and certain negative tenancies which were familiar from previous games crept in. Higdon replaced McNulty and his late flick from a corner caused Posh to clear the ball wildly, it landed straight to the feet of Ben Davies who struck in from long range to grab the winner. Three points on the board and we have lift off. Not a classic performance but a vast improvement on previous outings. 

Crawly at home, surely a chance to carry on the momentum, one change with Higdon replacing McNulty. But what was to follow was truly awful, United looked lethargic, unable to really break their opponents down and again the frail back four, still ungeled, looked like they could be caught out at a moments notice. Higdon had a disappointing game, still not match fit and still being used as a target man despite that not being his style he failed to make any kind of lasting mark on the game, this being said he played a big part in the winning goal, and in the grand scheme of things, a bad game can be forgiven if you do one thing that leads to a win, and I think many Blades need to keep that in mind. A diagonal ball was chested down by Higdon well who played a calm ball to Basham, he then played it to Alcock who after a clever bit of vision he played off to Baxter, his shot was unstoppable, advantage Blades. The game however did not improve, United ground out the rest of the game and it felt to much like hard work, defending a one goal lead at home, it was a million miles away from the team of last season, three points, but still an obvious advertisement that this team is missing a great deal.

The defense, it looks unsettled, constant tinkering and a lack of real leadership is exposing its frailties, Clough needs to pick a back four and stick with it, and playing a creative winger at right back isn't helping matters. We need to buck our ideas up in midfield, at times we are not strong enough, some teams are to strong for us to be playing young lads like Reed as evident against Bristol and Coventry, this kind of player will be better suited against better footballing sides. Up front, Higdon is not yet fit, and the team haven't realized how best to utilize him, so instead of starting him unfit, isolated and ineffective and turning the more fickle fans against him, save him, get him fit, educate the team in training how best to set him up, then watch the work pay off as he nets goals, it is baffling how this has not been figured out yet. The potential is there, but we have just not completed the jigsaw yet. 

And So It Begins

Sheffield United 1
Bristol City 2
Bramall Lane
Attendance 19,889

After all the waiting, the worst part of the year for any football fan was finally at an end. It felt good to walk back up the stairs, to see the sights and sounds, the familiar faces, the music, it felt good to be home.

A pre season of optimism and an early kick off live for the world to see added to some fans expectations, and Nigel Clough marked the opening day by making a very brave set of choices in the Blades starting eleven. No Collins, no Butler, no Baxter and no Doyle. Alcock, McGahey, Basham and Higdon all made their league debut for us and seventeen year old Louis Reed made it into the starting line up. With the absence of Doyle Michael Higdon took the armband and lead us into the first battle of a long campaign.  

United started slowly and after the first Annie's Song of the season drifted into the afternoon air it became apparent Bristol were here to show that they should be bookies favorites this season not us. Bristol's Freeman used he ability to cause us problems, his set piece linking up well with Smith but his effort didn't hit the target. The feisty Higdon caused problems with his physical presence, both squads looked energetic but couldn't make the most of their attacking fortunes, the two sides continued to take turns testing the resolve of their defensive counterparts without really testing the goalkeepers. Twenty minutes in and the deadlock was broken, the few hundred traveling supporters filled the shocked stadium with an overjoyed cheer, Basham loosing possession to Freeman whose pass lead to an energetic run from the right flank and a rasping ball from Little found the powerful Wilbraham who powered his header home, and despite a faint touch by Howard there was no stopping the opener. 

Blades fans rose to their feet and despite a few doom and gloomer's that always find their way into the ground they got behind the team in the full voice, knowing that with plenty of football still to play it was far from over. An almost instant comeback was on but after Higdon's initial good work challenging the Bristol keeper for the cross whipped in by Harris Scougall's follow up was cleared off the line. Higdon then almost leveled after a cross from Davies was headed goal wards, but Fielding's hand came to the rescue as the ball was tipped over. All the pressure was now from United and Higdon fired the Blades level after finally taking advantage of a spell of dominance, Davies launched his free kick into a crowded penalty area where Higdon rose above the rest to nod calmly into the Bristol goal. We then went in for the kill, trying to force another goal that would give us the lead, Scougall headed over and Basham hit a volley wide of the target but we were on top. A pivotal moment approached after again putting Bristol under pressure the ball came to Little who shielded it on the touchline, he looked behind himself and saw Harris incoming before violently striking The Blades full back with his elbow clean in the face, Harris required lengthy treatment and was out cold, but Little not only escaped a red card, but escaped a yellow and was not even reprimanded, a joke of a call and despite the bravery shown by Harris to get up and play on he was not the same again, half time both teams level. 

The second half belonged to Bristol, they came out with a clear game plan, physically dominate and close us out of the game, and with the technical talent of Freeman and Wade Elliott always looking dangerous when given the ball we failed to cope. The larger stronger Bristol side controlled the play and caused our midfield and defense into a succession of errors. United's only attack of the opening of the second half saw the referee book Jamie Murphy for diving, but despite this Little after getting a yellow (despite already getting away with assault previously with no ramifications) was not given his second booking despite being caught diving in almost identical circumstances to Murphy. Howard did well to deny Wilbraham his second goal and like wise to deny Baldock, the pressure was mounting on The Blades who were having to hold on. Jamal Campbell-Ryce replaced Flynn, in a game I would have expected the pacey veteran to start he came on and looked like a man possessed, ever dangerous with the ball and with the talent to keep the ball and use trickery and pace to beat his man, but again the Blades couldn't take advantage of his hard work and put the ball into the goal. Harris's game had deteriorated and he never backed up Murphy when going forward, his distribution was poor and he was not marking well, it seems the first half incident had rattled him and he looked nothing like the calm, collected footballing full back we know he has been in the past. The last twenty minutes of the game just like the first twenty saw Bristol take the lead, a long ball saw a brilliant flick on from Bristol's goalscorer Wilbraham to old enemy of The Blades Wade Elliot who hot home the winning goal for the visitors. McNulty was brought on to Join Higdon upfront and just after a second Blade was booked for diving, this time it was Davies who had clearly dove in the box, not something I like to see from my own players. Bad luck saw us denied an equalizer as we finally took the game as our own and piled forward, Campbell-Ryce fired towards goal, it was then deflected into the path of Jamie Murphy who's clever effort hit the underside of the Bristol keeper before deflecting onto the post towards the back of the net, but dramatically defender Flint cleared off the line for an agonizing third time in this game. Baxter replaced Basham as we had one last throw of the dice, and despite throwing everything forward and having five minutes added time the game belonged to the away side who when the whistle went left with three valuable points, a first opening day loss since 2008 and Bristol's first win here since 1957.

Now since this game many people have panicked and gone into panic mode, I for one think this is unwarranted, yes today was not our day but there were to many positives to ignore, Higdon looks commanding up front, Reed oozes talent and we have the ability to cause a lot of problems, on this day what we did not have was luck. A few players had off games and to be honest the line up to me wasn't the way to approach a fixture like this, but I am not Nigel Clough, I don't see these players day in day out like he does, and I trust his judgment. We are short two fullbacks, one on each side as we have little to no cover, on the left we have no one else, and despite Harris being a good player he could have easily have had to be replaced in this game due to injury. It was not the start we wanted, but anyone panicking needs to calm down, stop believing rumors and being weighed down with the doom and gloom brigade and get behind the team, this was a battle not a war, and one battle loss does not a defeat in the long run make.

Jonathan Gascoigne

Tired Legs Lead to Ready Legs

One of the biggest differences I have noticed at the beginning of this pre season to any other is one word, fitness. Every interview the word fitness, every photo epitomizing the word fitness, I don't think I have seen a ball kicked. running, running, running more running. Anyone looking into one of the training sessions would be forgiven for not recognizing this is a football team that's training and mistaking us for a cross country team. But don't think that I am finding fault, I am happy to see this, in seasons gone by I don't remember seeing anything regarding training at this stage I was convinced that our players had extended holidays as The Blades pre-season never seemed to start until every other club was into week three of theirs.

But its a positive and another reminder that we now have a team in charge starting with Nigel Clough that understands what it takes to be ready for a successful campaign. Jose Baxter looks like he hasn't eaten since the end of last season, Chris Porter looks like his legs are on steroids, the squad looks like they could run through brick walls and not lose any momentum. Admittedly with our first friendly resulting in a loss to Burton a handful of Blades 'fans' went into panic meltdown, but still I don't remember any mention of a ball being kicked yet in training (not to mention two different squads in each half with minimal senior player involvement.) still the focus was, fitness. The coaching staff understand that United need to hit the ground running, we do not have a large squad, we cant have bit part players only good for half a match, we need everyone ready to run themselves into the ground and still have the capacity to get up and be ready for more. Even now after our 4-2 win over Dundee all the focus is on fitness and preparation for a long grueling campaign. When the attention turns to tactics, skills, set pieces and the rest the players will be shocked, every action will feel more fluid and players performances will hit a new peaks. I am thrilled that for once the club is finally showing these professional signs of improvement.

Harry Gate

So it looks apparent that Harry Maguire will be playing for Hull City when the season gets under way. In a bizarre day that has left many scratching their heads the bottom line is that Harry looks to have had a medical and will be announced as Steve Bruce's latest signing as early as tomorrow morning. Nothing looks like holding up the deal, Harry's brother a youngster at Chesterfield FC was quick to congratulate his sibling on Twitter, but what makes this whole thing so strange I hear you ask, well it is the bizarre chain of events. Early this morning Sheffield United released a statement, regretting to inform fans that Hull have made a new offer finaly meeting our valuation for Harry Maguire and the bid has been accepted. Blades fans were to be understandably unhappy but preparations to wish Harry well and thank him for his service began.

Almost one hour later, Hull City release their own statement.

"Sheffield United rejected an offer from the Club five days (Wednesday) ago for defender Harry Maguire. This was the Club’s final offer and we have since entered into discussions with other transfer targets.
In light of Sheffield United’s statement this morning the board will meet with manager Steve Bruce this afternoon to determine whether we now wish to pursue the transfer after the South Yorkshire club's apparent U-turn."

Now this raises the quandary, just what is going on? Who is telling pork pies and who is trying to save face?

Now many things could have happened and conspiracies will no doubt follow in the days to come, but in my mind there are two possibilities, the first and in my opinion the more likely are Hull have gone on the defensive. I mean how dare Sheffield United of League One stand their ground and demand more money from a Premiership side! We should jump through every hoop they have and offer players as sacrifice at the click of their fingers. So they are embarrassed that we set a price and they have had to meet our demands, and the danger in that is, what if they overpaid? What if Harry does a Slew instead of a Walker?

In saying that we pulled a U-turn and accepted an offer that was previously rejected it makes them look like they are the ones in charge, the ones pulling the strings and setting the prices and I do not believe that for a second. I personally would have canceled the whole deal had I been in a position at Bramall Lane to do so, I would not do deals with a club who are happy playing silly games.

Now can I guarantee this is the actual chain of events, can I say confidently that this theory of mine is the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth? No of course not, not at this stage, so it would be responsible for me to not mention other possibilities, so lets move on to theory two and no doubt the story conspiracy theorists will be clutching to, Harry has thrown his toys out of the pram. Harry did not feature in our last friendly and the reason given, he is unwell, it does not mean he is leaving was the message given by Nigel Clough. Now a few days later it looks as though Harry is on his way out. Now those that like a good conspiracy story will be ready to believe that harry refused to play, demanded that United revise their decision to reject a previous offer and sell him to Hull or face the reality they will have an unhappy player who will not put in one hundred percent in every game, cause problems to team harmony and so on. To me this is ludicrous, Harry has been a constant professional and wouldn't stoop to these silly games, plus if we let him sit on the bench or he purposely played badly or ruined the team then his reputation would be damaged beyond repair and any possible big money move would be off the table in the future for Harry.

Whatever your theory I think we have to accept Harry wanted to move to Hull, and will get his move sooner rather than later, now before we berate him and make him a pantomime villain lets remember all he has done for us,  I for one wish him all the luck in the world for the future, and I hope one day to see him back at Bramall Lane.

#BelieveInTheBlades

More info on #BelieveInTheBlades and how you can win next seasons home shirt will become available soon

The Shoreham View End Of Season Awards

Player Of The Season

This is self explanatory, twenty one years old, over a hundred first team games, always gives his all and so often delivers a powerhouse defensive performance, as well as being a good footballing defender.

Surprise Package Of The Season

Ryan Flynn wasn't expected to deliver much this season, to often we saw him as a defensive winger, no strength, no flair, no pace no skill, scared to go forward or attack. Then along with a new manager came a new Flynn, from goals against Villa to tearing apart full backs with a new found confidence Flynny put plenty of smiles on plenty of fans faces this season, and long may this continue. 

Unsung Hero Of The Season

Neil Collins, week in week out, alongside Harry this lad has worked his backside off. Despite taking a lot of flack from the crowd and having every mistake highly scrutinized Neil Collins gets on with it. And I feel this season he should have been the one wearing the armband. His level headed approach and the way he has adapted his game completely eclipses his limitations as a player. Without Neil Collins this season that rut that had us in second bottom, well it may not have been salvageable.  

Cult Hero Of The Season

FEAR THE BEARD!

Flop Of The Season

Fourteen games, no goals, two red cards, one verbal warning, missing the team bus, missing open nets, constantly on the floor and now transfer listed, need I say more??

Chant Of The Season

HE'S GUNNA BRAZIL, HE'S GUNNA BRAAAZIIIL, THAT LAD CHRIS PORTER, HE'S GUNNA BRAZIL!!!

So About Last Season

With last season firmly in the history books and the new season fast approaching we have a lot to reflect on.

First of all I think it only fair to apologise to you readers for my prolonged absence, my adventure in Greece at the end of the season and a very hectic work schedule before that writing became very difficult, after all I do this because I enjoy it, and there was not much enjoyment in sitting with matchsticks in my eyes trying to force my brain to force out ramblings that would have been as legible as a cat with a crayon.

But now thanks to a new chapter in my life I can return to enjoying what I do and putting my humble opinions about our club into words.

So after Wembley The Blades had the bittersweet task of returning to league football, five fixtures, three wins and two draws helped us finish in seventh, seven points away from the play offs. In a normal season we as Blades would see that as a failure. So why is it currently we as a fan base are full of optimism, counting down the days until we can get going again? One word, belief, belief that if a simple change of manager can guide us from second bottom to seventh in half a season, belief that if than same man can guide us past two Premiership sides, two Championship sides and reward us with three goals at Wembley in The FA Cup, belief that Nigel Clough can finally add stability and ambition into our football club.

When we look back to last year and we remember the belief we had when we destroyed Notts County on the opening day, and how quickly it faded with the sale of a key player along with the following plunge in moral and form is it dangerous to have belief? No is my answer, why is this? Nigel Clough, this man knows football, he knows what he wants, he knows what kind of players we need at this level, and he has the contacts and know how to properly do his job.

When I look back at last season I do not just see a season of two halves, I think there is more to it that that, I see a rebirth, a revival. Last season saw the arrival of 'individuals', and look what Clough thinks of individuals, Clough knows its about a team, not about a player. He quickly removed any players he saw as not being team players and brought in some shrewd loan signings to fill the gaps, what we ended up wit was a tight nit, small squad that played for each other, the simple theory of football should make this philosophy simple, but from Europes elite to teams at grass roots it so often gets over looked.

Here's to next season and the welcome arrival of belief.

#BelieveInTheBlades

-Jonathan Gascoigne