This Is Not The Battle We Wanted

West Ham, the name still drys my mouth and makes my blood boil. The arrogance of this club, the sheer audacity of their actions past and present, the fans who somehow think we are the villains for taking their money and can not see what their club did wrong. The loud mouth manager, the West Ham FA mafia, I cant find one thing I like about this club. And for years I have dreamed of us pulling their name out of the hat and drawing them in the cup, a match eight years in the making, so why is it that I am so underwhelmed by Tuesdays game against this enemy? Well it's simple, this is not the game we wanted, this is not the right stage for this battle. The victory at Villa away last season sparked the club into reviving a season, and I have heard it mentioned this game has the potential to do the same, but I don't think that is the case. Yes knocking them out of the cup would give us all a great feeling of justice, but the circumstances have downplayed this fixture. Instead of it being on a Saturday where thousands of Blades could invade London and make their loud and proud voices heard, filling their ground with noise we have a Tuesday night, many who want to go to the game will be unable to due to work commitments, family commitments and whilst I am in no doubt we will take a good following we were never going to need further allocation like we would have done in lets say an FA Cup game. Even in the second round of the League Cup if this fixture had been at The Lane I feel comfortable saying with no exaggeration it would have been a sell out, at least for the home side. The Lane would have been rocking, that is the kind of stage this long awaited fixture deserves, instead we have this underwhelming feeling of it just being another game.

The exact moment that Tevez scored at Old Trafford, that cemented all that was wrong with football, an illegal signing scoring the goal to save a side from relegation and by doing so dooming another to that fate, ever since then animosity between the two teams has built to a level of hatred of which there is no coming back from. And whilst I am not expecting Tuesdays game to be anything other than a personal battle I believe this fixture deserves a better platform to be played upon.

The West Ham fans have been planning among themselves, talks of Tevez masks and taunting chants have been their main focus, but I think their main focus first of all should be selling out their tickets, already lowering their prices to just a tenner I cant see them selling out, I would love it if they did, I would love the chance to see over thirty thousand Eastenders with tears pouring out of their cheap cardboard Tevez masks. Nigel Clough has been fairly quiet in regards to this fixture, and sensibly so, the last thing we need is our management drawing battle lines, whilst to the fans this is more than just a game we want our leaders calm, focused on the game at hand and ready to try and win a game of football. In contrast Sam Allardyce has already been mouthing off to the press, claiming the West Ham fans were the ones who felt injustice, claiming he will do all he can to beat us and make his fans happy. Well Sam at if there is any justice in the world after ninety minutes you will be eating your words. Their was only one team that felt injustice, and no compensation payments will ever make up for that. Tuesday will be a battle, it will be a cauldron of passion and both teams will want to make their fans happy after all they have waited so long for this game, and whilst it may not be under the circumstances we wanted, one thing is clear this match will be personal.

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