Post by deadbat on Aug 25, 2019 13:20:56 GMT
Report below…..and brief Podcast review here too
soundcloud.com/tufty-club/tufty-club-reaction-leicester-home
United suffered their first defeat back in the Premier League when they were beaten by Leicester City thanks to Harvey Barnes wonder strike. Olly McBurnie had equalised at the Kop End for his first United goal after Jamie Vardy had opened the scoring for the Foxes. The Blades were always in the game and it was a game that could have gone either way but Barnes moment of magic settled things in favour of Brendan Rodgers team.
Manager Wilder made just one change with Luke Freeman in for the injured John Fleck and Ravel Morrison on the bench. Leicester started with a front three of Vardy, Maddison and Perez.
Leicester began the more settled side and Praet had an early shot blocked by his own man. Maddison was busy and nearly threaded in Vardy before United finally got up the other end winning an early corner. Tielemans then dragged a shot wide as Leicester continued to look more fluent. Choudhury was breaking up the play and allowing the talented attacking players in front to probe. They won a free kick with Fuchs sent off target before Vardy glanced wide. United were careless with the ball and twice gave it away leading to half chances.
A rare break saw Lundstram fire well off target before Vardy again playing on the shoulder nearly combined with Perez. United had a good effort when the ball dropped to Baldock whose volleyed effort went straight into Schmeichel’s hands – a few yards either side and it would have been a goal.
On the 38th minute, a mistake from Basham saw him disposed and Maddison played a ball over the top and VARDY was in. He cut in and rifled past Henderson. His Wednesday connections saw him celebrate the goal by cupping his ears to the Kop drawing the ire of the Blades fans. Leicester had been the better side and probably deserved the lead.
United won a corner just before half time but O’Connell, well placed headed well-off target.
After the break, Freeman seemed to be playing higher up the field but Leicester had the first chance when a break saw Perez in but Egan made the block as Leicester looked to get the killer second goal. Wilder opted to change his front two and both Sharp and McBurnie came on for the ineffectual Robinson and McGoldrick on 54 minutes. Lundstram was booked for a late foul as United looked to take up the intensity.
Straight away the new boys linked and led to a corner. McBurnie was holding it up and Sharp was running the channels. Leicester were now getting pinned back and a few balls were coming in with Baldock getting deep into the visiting territory. This tactic worked when just over the hour, Baldock whipped in a cross and MCBURNIE got up and powered his header into the far corner past the flailing Schmeichel. It was his first goal for the Blades and he celebrated in front of the Kop as the noise levels went through the roof.
Buoyed by this, United came again and another cross from Baldock saw Schmeichel put under pressure but the ball was cleared. United now were going for it but Leicester nearly got through on the counter attack. Freeman then had a chance but dithered and was robbed. The ball was transferred over the other way and Leicester won a corner. United cleared the first but could not get out to the second when it was cleared. Fuchs sent over a cross that fell to the edge of the box and BARNES hit an unstoppable half volley giving Henderson no chance at all.
United tried to respond and Schmeichel made a stunning save from Lundstram although the flag went up. Morrison came on for Basham as United sent United kept trying to work it for the crossing opportunity and McBurnie was winning the headers but they could not get another chance. There was four minutes of stoppage time allotted to be played. United won a free kick on the edge of the box when Lundstram was fouled but Norwood’s free kick clipped the wall on the way to going out for a corner. The corner was cleared and United could not fashion another opening before the final whistle came.
United – Mixed for me. A lot are praising us and saying we maybe deserved a draw but I think the score was about right. We played ok and were in the game for all of it but only played well for one half and in the end the bits of quality for them coupled with a mistake led to the goals. At this level you will see quality like the 2nd in most teams and the first was a poor mistake. In a game of few chances that decided the game really. Outside of this I felt they showed most of the technical quality on display but created little. They then got rattled but a bit of an old-fashioned approach from United second half where they got the ball forward quickly and into the box from wide.
They had most of the first half, scored and had nearly all the ball. We were sloppy, gave it away and did not get up the field. Wilder was right – we were very slow and pedestrian in everything we did and kept giving it away. The goal was so poor from Basham but Norwood, O’Connell and others had made mistakes also in the first half giving the ball up. The three up top pinned us back and made sure the centre backs could not push on as they would break on us with the pace. This 3 up top has caused us problems before (recall Bristol City doing it well at the Lane)
We made it easy for them and had no real attacking threat. They probably thought it was going to be a much harder game visiting team. First half we did not really threaten at all and you worried where the chances would come from. You do realise you will only get maybe 2 or 3 chances at this level and you have to take good ones. Today we did not miss any outside of the Lundstram one but Vardy showed the level of clinical play at this level. We made a mistake and they were in.
Then after the break we made changes and it was a different game. We had more intensity and got up the pitch and the strikers made a difference. We got level and then you thought who knows what could happen now. The goal was a great shot and even though Freeman lost the ball, we maybe could have got out to the cross or even the shot, sometimes you just accept it was a great strike. I could live with that more than the opening goal. After this we had a go but we did not get any clear chances outside of the Lundstram one that was offside. Still if we had nicked a point you would not have been surprised. 2-1 was about right. We did not disgrace ourselves and were in the game but it was a bit huffy and puffy rather than real quality from us that got us back in the game. I don’t think we really controlled the game at any point and the midfield were sloppy all game. Still Leicester also were not causing us tons of issues and we did some really good things in terms of the 2nd half in terms of effort, desire and pinning them back.
We moved it quicker and got good balls into the box. I will say that we did not see the team we have seen the last few years in terms of defenders bombing on or interchanging, neat football. We struggled to show much creativity at all and did not play though the lines. It was a lot of old fashioned get it wide and get it into the box that caused the problems and Baldock’s supply was the big threat second half. We played quite a direct style in that sense at times and I did feel creatively there was not much else other than get the ball into the box from out wide. Nothing wrong with that at times but we do need to mix it up. Teams will just sit in and we have to then go wide and cross. We need to maybe at times be a bit cuter. For all the positive improvements, we also did not create that much in the way of chances. You could say neither did they but always felt they looked the more dangerous of the teams going forward even second half we looked at full stretch at times defensively when they broke. Still at 1-1 you felt we may get another headed chance or a ball may drop from a cross again.
For me 2nd half we played better and tried hard but you can clearly see the step up in quality and we have to do better than that to get results over the course of a game. Leicester will be in the top half but it is the sort of game you probably need to take something from really when you consider the likelihood that the top 6 x 2 is 12 games you may not get anything from. It leaves you with 26 games and 13 at home. Those 13 are quite key to your survival hopes really. People may scoff and say we did well but like Wilder said we have to play better than that at this level to pick up points as the game played out in the end. I don’t buy all this talk of if we play like that (basically did not play for 50-55 minutes) we will be ok as if we play like that, we will lose most weeks in this league. A gutsy one-half performance will yield lots of ‘tried hard in defeat’ type shows. That is how high the standards are. Leicester were not amazing but those moments of quality will happen most games at this level where there are players like Vardy, Maddison and Barnes in every team.
As I say a bit like Wilder said, we have to improve and be better in our passing, bravery and pace of play. I think it becomes dangerous to have the mentality if we had played like that, we would beat a lot of other teams. It does not work like that. Villa beat Everton, a team pegged to finish similar to Leicester, and at home I think we need to be on the front foot and show more offensive play than we did for large parts of the game. Next week is a tough game but I don’t want us to have the mentality we had under Warnock where we went away and got done easily at Spurs, Everton, Chelsea, Man Utd, Liverpool etc the last time we were up there. Most of those games we sat back and were beat before we started, often going a few goals behind early on. We can’t be gung-ho but need to be better with the ball and the front two (McBurnie starting surely) have to hold it up more. We also need to make sure we do not make silly mistakes. In a strange way it may suit us playing a team expected to beat us easily and coming at us more.
Ratings:
Henderson 6.5/10 – Actually did not have a lot to do today really with a few efforts going wide or over. On the goals, I may get called for this but I felt he went down too early on the Vardy goal. He needs to cover more of that side too. Great strike but he left all that side and went to ground. As I say that is ultra-critical. He had no chance on the winner. It was hit with such power and meant it did not even need to be right in the corner. His kicking was poor again I felt – you look at the difference between him and Schmeichel in distribution and it is night and day. He started several counter attacks for them with throws and kicks. It is one area of his game he needs to work on.
Baldock 7.5/10 – Excellent and my man of the match. He defended well, got his foot in and won many duels. Going forward he was our main threat with our best effort outside of the goal (shot that could have gone in but unlike the Barnes one was straight at the keeper) and his crossing was gulp…excellent! He has hopefully worked at this aspect of his game. He put 2 or 3 really good ones in and of course one led to the equaliser. He was a constant threat down that side and our main outlet as they stopped us penetrating through the middle. Been our best player this season along with Lundstram.
Basham 5/10 – I love Bash but today we saw his limitations and the concerns we had about him at this level came to the fore. He gave it away a few times in the first few games but got away with it (recall a crossfield ball putting Palace in last week) but today he did not get away with it. He lost the ball in a stupid area and you cannot do that at this level. One great ball a second later and they are in and score. It was entirely on him sadly. He was sloppy throughout and I felt defensively did not react quick enough a few times. He barely went forward after the mistake and his confidence seemed to take a knock. It’s one game and hope he can respond next week but he has to do better than he did today.
O’Connell 6/10 – Thought he as ok defensively and grew into the game but his passing at times when coming out was sloppy. He was careless with the ball and overpassed it several times. He did try and get forward but the two wide lads for Leicester worked hard to get back and stop the centre backs. We did not really show this side of our game much at all as tactically they had those 3 up top who kept our players back and occupied. He was steady but forced to play mostly in his own half.
Egan 6.5/10 – At times you saw the level today with the pace that had us at full stretch at times especially first half but he stuck at it and was able to keep with Vardy for the most part losing him once at a crucial time but would not have expected us to lose the ball and maybe was out of position. Second half he was better and I felt won some headers and key interceptions. He was another that was just a bit sloppy with the ball though as well. We saw that technically the three centre backs will not have the same time and pressed with pace, they will have to be better all round in that side. Defensively they were all ok really.
Stevens 6.5/10 – Not as good as he has been in the first two games. He barely got forward to hurt Leicester and when he did, he was pressed/harried out of it or sent inside. They realised quite quickly that he has no right foot and constantly sent him onto this side and he showed this is a huge weakness of his game – he simply will not trust his right foot. It was not great to see him pirouetting around to get it back on his left foot when he could just play a simple ball with his right.
Norwood 6/10 – Played a few lovely passes but he also gave it away a lot and Leicester were very tight on him first half. He showed when under pressure he struggles and I felt he tried to go long too often early on. He gave it away several times in the first half hour and they nearly got in a few times. Had a better 2nd half and was able to keep the ball coming to the right as he did on the goal but misses having attacking threats in front – as Freeman was not playing as a 10 until later in the game and Lundstram is more defensive and cannot run with the ball like Fleck. Mobility wise they ran past him a few times also first half but as I say I felt he kept his position and was more disciplined after the break. Not sure he has created many clear chances for us though for all his passing skills. Had a good free kick opportunity at the end but clipped the wall – that was a good chance and he has to try and make the keeper work.
Lundstram 7/10 – Thought he was decent again today. He was one of the few who pressed and got in to them first half when we have them too much respect. He kicked Maddison and rightly got booked but we kind of needed more of that – not the bookings but to get into them. We were 5-10 yards off them all over the pitch first half and the team sat too deep. Lundstram was neat and tidy with the ball and gave it away less than Norwood. Second half he kept plugging away and had the chance at point blank range (which Schmeichel saved albeit offside) although he maybe faded a bit towards the end but he does look the fittest he has ever been in his time at the club.
Freeman 7/10 – First half he was kind of in a flat three and not really getting forward as we defended most of the half and they had most of the ball. He showed some neat touches and tried to get involved but it was hard for him. Second half when we made the striking change; he played a lot further forward and got on the ball and started to run at them. He showed his quick feet and ability to dribble with the ball. He was involved in some of our better attacks. Has to take some blame for the winner as odd as that sounds as he had a chance running through and completely fluffed it losing the ball and they went on the attack won a corner and they scored from the second one. Lot happened after it but still like the first goal you cannot give the ball away so cheaply against teams that break.
McGoldrick 6/10 – Thought the front two were completely ineffectual. They did not have much service at all but both had to be better. They did not hold it when it came to them and did not link at all. They were too far up the pitch and both kept coming deep. He won a few flicks but they came to nothing as Robinson was not close enough. Not sure those two work together as they both seem to come off and look for the ball. I felt Robinson was not running into space and kept coming into the same areas as Didzy. He did ok at times with some link play but did not feel he saw much of the ball and his lack of pace means that teams can play higher up the field, especially if both come deep. I thought effort wise he needed to do more and they brought the ball out with no pressure at all on the defenders.
Robinson 5/10 – Thought he did well against Bournemouth and was ok last week but did not have the same impact. Today he was poor. Again, he had very limited service and was looking for it but not sure he has quite worked out his role in the team yet. We don’t play the ball over the top for runners to chase – we never have done under Wilder so his pace is kind of redundant although so far not sure he is quite as fast as we were led to believe. He was sloppy when he had the ball though and I thought needed to secure possession more in terms of hold up. It just kept going off him. He did not really contribute anything of note and was not surprised he got hooked as he was just getting brushed aside and not even offering a nuisance value. I would have done it at half time. Think he will be on the bench now for the next few as the last two games he has not really looked like scoring and his contribution has not been quite good enough.
Subs –
Sharp 7/10 – Thought he was busy and a nuisance. He actually held it up really well and got into the channels and helped work it wide leading to opportunities. He did not give them a moment and they went from strolling around to knowing they were in a game. He was a threat. I am not sure he will start many games for us and feel his impact coming on and nicking a goal or harrying defenders may be his role this season. I feel it will be Didzy (who has to play better but offers more to the team than Robinson) and McBurnie at Chelsea.
McBurnie 7.5/10 – Really good. He held it up and made sure that the ball stayed in their last third. He got it, played it wide and then got in the box and won numerous headers. He scored a great headed goal and actually had a few other attempts too. He has a decent first touch and makes sure we keep the ball. He has good movement when the ball comes into the box and you can see why he has scored a lot of goals. Will surely now start next week.
Morrison – Given over 10 minutes. He did not make much impact in the time he was on and his touch was a bit off but did look to be positive and had one shot blocked. Hopefully he will be drip fed into things and can be a positive player for us and hope he gets a start on Tuesday night.
Manager Wilder 7/10 – Thought that Leicester caused us problems as they played high up the field and had three up top stopping the centre backs coming forward. They pressed Norwood and we coughed up possession a lot but sometimes even under no pressure. However, they were on top and looked more like the home team in the first half albeit not creating much. I think we gave them to much respect and not playing with a 10 was made even worse as both front two came two deep. The whole team started to play higher up the field and Freeman was definitely playing further forward. The two changes up top gave us new life and we started to worry them. We scored but then after this I did not agree with Wilder when he said we should have done more and forced them back. I felt for the next 5 minutes we had a real go and they had a few breaks from our more carefree style – it became a bit basketbally for a period and you felt a goal coming one way due to this. We had a few half chances just before they broke for the corner and then scored a great goal. After this they sat in and we huffed and puffed but did not create too many clear chances. I had no real problems with the way we played though after we scored – it was the first half I had issue with where we sat back, did not attack and conceded possession too much. This meant we were chasing the game.
Leicester – They looked a decent side at times as they attacked with pace and skill but actually did not create that much and I felt outside of the two moments of quality (Maddison pass to Vardy and Barnes goal) they did not have any real chances. I thought they pressed and harried us well though and won the midfield battle which was key to the game. First half they were in complete control and other than the one Baldock shot; we barely had any real attacks of note. They would have felt it was going to be a routine win after they scored. 2nd half was different as we pressed them more, played higher up and they started to worry more about us. They could not handle the new front two and McBurnie was causing all sort of problems. After it got level – you felt the game could go either way but they still looked dangerous breaking. It was a great goal by Barnes though and not even a half chance. They defended after this but it was not comfortable and they were hanging on a bit at the end. You could see the reaction on full time what it meant to them as their first win and a really hard fought one.
They have some decent player and Vardy will always score goals. They have more pace to help him this year with Perez and Maddison will always create things and is arguably their best player and may go on to a bigger club next summer. I expect they will be around 6th-9th this season. Oddly I think they may be better away from home due to their system and the players they have at the top of the pitch.
Opponent Man of the Match – Maddison was good at times drifting into pockets and a sublime pass for the goal. He goes to ground so much though and like Zaha last week it is so annoying when he is so talented. If you get legitimately kicked then fair enough (Lundstram one) but so many were minimal contact. Refs seem to just give them. Vardy did not really do much but got one chance and scored. I would have done the same if I had scored at Hillsborough. No problem with him or that celebration/tweet. The Wednesday fans dining out on this is embarrassing especially as they deemed him not good enough and released him. Tielemans is a good player and showed some nice touches and passing range but the best player was Choudhury. He was excellent. He broke up play and won numerous tackles. I felt he covered a lot of ground and looked an excellent athlete. Would not be surprised if he is pushed into the full England squad at some point if he carries on his performances that he has to start the season.
Opponent Weaklink – They are missing Chilwell and you could see a downgrade in this area. Fuchs did ok going forward but I felt we caused problems down this side and constantly attacked him the second half and caused problems. He did not get tight enough or stop the crosses coming in. The Leicester fans were all singing about the lad who has replaced Maguire, Soyuncu but I felt when we put him under pressure second half he struggled and McBurnie really gave him a bit of a torrid time and he struggled with this extra movement and physicality.
Referee/Officials/VAR – We have still not seen any VAR stuff really in our games so far that have led to different decisions. All three goals today there was no question of anything being controversial or that could have led to one being disallowed. Outside of this I felt Madley was fine and even though he gave a few fouls on Maddison that looked very soft; he was ok. Not sure many really poor decisions were given. He rightly booked Lundstram for a late one. Interesting that he only gave 4 minutes stoppage time after the 7 last week – there were a similar number of subs and stoppages so it is odd the discrepancy. Leicester were also taking their time over things quite a bit.
Crowd/Atmosphere etc – 30,079. A 100 down on last week – that is with Leicester selling out too. There were big gaps in the Bramall Lane Upper tier which was disappointing. Even though the ticket prices are expensive; I do feel if they got rid of the restrictions – they would have sold at least a few more hundred tickets. It is poor from the club that we are not selling out as we were doing that last time, we were up in the top flight I believe. They should have sold more season tickets and should have an easier way of fans obtaining tickets. There seems to be demand there but we are not selling them. Either that or maybe we don’t have the numbers of fans we thought – even floating fans? Certainly, makes you wonder about the talk of extending the ground as at the moment the club/fans cannot fill it.
I thought that the crowd were really appreciative. Interesting to hear Wilder remarking about the applause saying he did not feel it was merited. Usually it has been the other way around with fans booing at the Lane and the manager getting irked by that! I like how Wilder has high standards – although if we lose say 3 or 4 on the bounce playing in a similar fashion not sure what he says then? The Lane was supportive and loud and the noise when the goal went in again was something else. Shame they scored quite quick after it as you would have felt at 1-1 with 10 minutes to go, we may have been able to really up the noise even more and contribute to a win.
The Leicester fans made a fair bit of noise but a lot were very drunk. Nothing wrong with having a beer but they were giving it the ‘big un’ all over town and on Bramall Lane as they arrived. Same after the game. Seemed to be a lot of 18-25 age group that the beer/sun had gone to their head. Amusing they sung about Sheffield being a ‘s**hole’ – having lived in Leicester for three years, I know which city has more going for it and by some way.
soundcloud.com/tufty-club/tufty-club-reaction-leicester-home
United suffered their first defeat back in the Premier League when they were beaten by Leicester City thanks to Harvey Barnes wonder strike. Olly McBurnie had equalised at the Kop End for his first United goal after Jamie Vardy had opened the scoring for the Foxes. The Blades were always in the game and it was a game that could have gone either way but Barnes moment of magic settled things in favour of Brendan Rodgers team.
Manager Wilder made just one change with Luke Freeman in for the injured John Fleck and Ravel Morrison on the bench. Leicester started with a front three of Vardy, Maddison and Perez.
Leicester began the more settled side and Praet had an early shot blocked by his own man. Maddison was busy and nearly threaded in Vardy before United finally got up the other end winning an early corner. Tielemans then dragged a shot wide as Leicester continued to look more fluent. Choudhury was breaking up the play and allowing the talented attacking players in front to probe. They won a free kick with Fuchs sent off target before Vardy glanced wide. United were careless with the ball and twice gave it away leading to half chances.
A rare break saw Lundstram fire well off target before Vardy again playing on the shoulder nearly combined with Perez. United had a good effort when the ball dropped to Baldock whose volleyed effort went straight into Schmeichel’s hands – a few yards either side and it would have been a goal.
On the 38th minute, a mistake from Basham saw him disposed and Maddison played a ball over the top and VARDY was in. He cut in and rifled past Henderson. His Wednesday connections saw him celebrate the goal by cupping his ears to the Kop drawing the ire of the Blades fans. Leicester had been the better side and probably deserved the lead.
United won a corner just before half time but O’Connell, well placed headed well-off target.
After the break, Freeman seemed to be playing higher up the field but Leicester had the first chance when a break saw Perez in but Egan made the block as Leicester looked to get the killer second goal. Wilder opted to change his front two and both Sharp and McBurnie came on for the ineffectual Robinson and McGoldrick on 54 minutes. Lundstram was booked for a late foul as United looked to take up the intensity.
Straight away the new boys linked and led to a corner. McBurnie was holding it up and Sharp was running the channels. Leicester were now getting pinned back and a few balls were coming in with Baldock getting deep into the visiting territory. This tactic worked when just over the hour, Baldock whipped in a cross and MCBURNIE got up and powered his header into the far corner past the flailing Schmeichel. It was his first goal for the Blades and he celebrated in front of the Kop as the noise levels went through the roof.
Buoyed by this, United came again and another cross from Baldock saw Schmeichel put under pressure but the ball was cleared. United now were going for it but Leicester nearly got through on the counter attack. Freeman then had a chance but dithered and was robbed. The ball was transferred over the other way and Leicester won a corner. United cleared the first but could not get out to the second when it was cleared. Fuchs sent over a cross that fell to the edge of the box and BARNES hit an unstoppable half volley giving Henderson no chance at all.
United tried to respond and Schmeichel made a stunning save from Lundstram although the flag went up. Morrison came on for Basham as United sent United kept trying to work it for the crossing opportunity and McBurnie was winning the headers but they could not get another chance. There was four minutes of stoppage time allotted to be played. United won a free kick on the edge of the box when Lundstram was fouled but Norwood’s free kick clipped the wall on the way to going out for a corner. The corner was cleared and United could not fashion another opening before the final whistle came.
United – Mixed for me. A lot are praising us and saying we maybe deserved a draw but I think the score was about right. We played ok and were in the game for all of it but only played well for one half and in the end the bits of quality for them coupled with a mistake led to the goals. At this level you will see quality like the 2nd in most teams and the first was a poor mistake. In a game of few chances that decided the game really. Outside of this I felt they showed most of the technical quality on display but created little. They then got rattled but a bit of an old-fashioned approach from United second half where they got the ball forward quickly and into the box from wide.
They had most of the first half, scored and had nearly all the ball. We were sloppy, gave it away and did not get up the field. Wilder was right – we were very slow and pedestrian in everything we did and kept giving it away. The goal was so poor from Basham but Norwood, O’Connell and others had made mistakes also in the first half giving the ball up. The three up top pinned us back and made sure the centre backs could not push on as they would break on us with the pace. This 3 up top has caused us problems before (recall Bristol City doing it well at the Lane)
We made it easy for them and had no real attacking threat. They probably thought it was going to be a much harder game visiting team. First half we did not really threaten at all and you worried where the chances would come from. You do realise you will only get maybe 2 or 3 chances at this level and you have to take good ones. Today we did not miss any outside of the Lundstram one but Vardy showed the level of clinical play at this level. We made a mistake and they were in.
Then after the break we made changes and it was a different game. We had more intensity and got up the pitch and the strikers made a difference. We got level and then you thought who knows what could happen now. The goal was a great shot and even though Freeman lost the ball, we maybe could have got out to the cross or even the shot, sometimes you just accept it was a great strike. I could live with that more than the opening goal. After this we had a go but we did not get any clear chances outside of the Lundstram one that was offside. Still if we had nicked a point you would not have been surprised. 2-1 was about right. We did not disgrace ourselves and were in the game but it was a bit huffy and puffy rather than real quality from us that got us back in the game. I don’t think we really controlled the game at any point and the midfield were sloppy all game. Still Leicester also were not causing us tons of issues and we did some really good things in terms of the 2nd half in terms of effort, desire and pinning them back.
We moved it quicker and got good balls into the box. I will say that we did not see the team we have seen the last few years in terms of defenders bombing on or interchanging, neat football. We struggled to show much creativity at all and did not play though the lines. It was a lot of old fashioned get it wide and get it into the box that caused the problems and Baldock’s supply was the big threat second half. We played quite a direct style in that sense at times and I did feel creatively there was not much else other than get the ball into the box from out wide. Nothing wrong with that at times but we do need to mix it up. Teams will just sit in and we have to then go wide and cross. We need to maybe at times be a bit cuter. For all the positive improvements, we also did not create that much in the way of chances. You could say neither did they but always felt they looked the more dangerous of the teams going forward even second half we looked at full stretch at times defensively when they broke. Still at 1-1 you felt we may get another headed chance or a ball may drop from a cross again.
For me 2nd half we played better and tried hard but you can clearly see the step up in quality and we have to do better than that to get results over the course of a game. Leicester will be in the top half but it is the sort of game you probably need to take something from really when you consider the likelihood that the top 6 x 2 is 12 games you may not get anything from. It leaves you with 26 games and 13 at home. Those 13 are quite key to your survival hopes really. People may scoff and say we did well but like Wilder said we have to play better than that at this level to pick up points as the game played out in the end. I don’t buy all this talk of if we play like that (basically did not play for 50-55 minutes) we will be ok as if we play like that, we will lose most weeks in this league. A gutsy one-half performance will yield lots of ‘tried hard in defeat’ type shows. That is how high the standards are. Leicester were not amazing but those moments of quality will happen most games at this level where there are players like Vardy, Maddison and Barnes in every team.
As I say a bit like Wilder said, we have to improve and be better in our passing, bravery and pace of play. I think it becomes dangerous to have the mentality if we had played like that, we would beat a lot of other teams. It does not work like that. Villa beat Everton, a team pegged to finish similar to Leicester, and at home I think we need to be on the front foot and show more offensive play than we did for large parts of the game. Next week is a tough game but I don’t want us to have the mentality we had under Warnock where we went away and got done easily at Spurs, Everton, Chelsea, Man Utd, Liverpool etc the last time we were up there. Most of those games we sat back and were beat before we started, often going a few goals behind early on. We can’t be gung-ho but need to be better with the ball and the front two (McBurnie starting surely) have to hold it up more. We also need to make sure we do not make silly mistakes. In a strange way it may suit us playing a team expected to beat us easily and coming at us more.
Ratings:
Henderson 6.5/10 – Actually did not have a lot to do today really with a few efforts going wide or over. On the goals, I may get called for this but I felt he went down too early on the Vardy goal. He needs to cover more of that side too. Great strike but he left all that side and went to ground. As I say that is ultra-critical. He had no chance on the winner. It was hit with such power and meant it did not even need to be right in the corner. His kicking was poor again I felt – you look at the difference between him and Schmeichel in distribution and it is night and day. He started several counter attacks for them with throws and kicks. It is one area of his game he needs to work on.
Baldock 7.5/10 – Excellent and my man of the match. He defended well, got his foot in and won many duels. Going forward he was our main threat with our best effort outside of the goal (shot that could have gone in but unlike the Barnes one was straight at the keeper) and his crossing was gulp…excellent! He has hopefully worked at this aspect of his game. He put 2 or 3 really good ones in and of course one led to the equaliser. He was a constant threat down that side and our main outlet as they stopped us penetrating through the middle. Been our best player this season along with Lundstram.
Basham 5/10 – I love Bash but today we saw his limitations and the concerns we had about him at this level came to the fore. He gave it away a few times in the first few games but got away with it (recall a crossfield ball putting Palace in last week) but today he did not get away with it. He lost the ball in a stupid area and you cannot do that at this level. One great ball a second later and they are in and score. It was entirely on him sadly. He was sloppy throughout and I felt defensively did not react quick enough a few times. He barely went forward after the mistake and his confidence seemed to take a knock. It’s one game and hope he can respond next week but he has to do better than he did today.
O’Connell 6/10 – Thought he as ok defensively and grew into the game but his passing at times when coming out was sloppy. He was careless with the ball and overpassed it several times. He did try and get forward but the two wide lads for Leicester worked hard to get back and stop the centre backs. We did not really show this side of our game much at all as tactically they had those 3 up top who kept our players back and occupied. He was steady but forced to play mostly in his own half.
Egan 6.5/10 – At times you saw the level today with the pace that had us at full stretch at times especially first half but he stuck at it and was able to keep with Vardy for the most part losing him once at a crucial time but would not have expected us to lose the ball and maybe was out of position. Second half he was better and I felt won some headers and key interceptions. He was another that was just a bit sloppy with the ball though as well. We saw that technically the three centre backs will not have the same time and pressed with pace, they will have to be better all round in that side. Defensively they were all ok really.
Stevens 6.5/10 – Not as good as he has been in the first two games. He barely got forward to hurt Leicester and when he did, he was pressed/harried out of it or sent inside. They realised quite quickly that he has no right foot and constantly sent him onto this side and he showed this is a huge weakness of his game – he simply will not trust his right foot. It was not great to see him pirouetting around to get it back on his left foot when he could just play a simple ball with his right.
Norwood 6/10 – Played a few lovely passes but he also gave it away a lot and Leicester were very tight on him first half. He showed when under pressure he struggles and I felt he tried to go long too often early on. He gave it away several times in the first half hour and they nearly got in a few times. Had a better 2nd half and was able to keep the ball coming to the right as he did on the goal but misses having attacking threats in front – as Freeman was not playing as a 10 until later in the game and Lundstram is more defensive and cannot run with the ball like Fleck. Mobility wise they ran past him a few times also first half but as I say I felt he kept his position and was more disciplined after the break. Not sure he has created many clear chances for us though for all his passing skills. Had a good free kick opportunity at the end but clipped the wall – that was a good chance and he has to try and make the keeper work.
Lundstram 7/10 – Thought he was decent again today. He was one of the few who pressed and got in to them first half when we have them too much respect. He kicked Maddison and rightly got booked but we kind of needed more of that – not the bookings but to get into them. We were 5-10 yards off them all over the pitch first half and the team sat too deep. Lundstram was neat and tidy with the ball and gave it away less than Norwood. Second half he kept plugging away and had the chance at point blank range (which Schmeichel saved albeit offside) although he maybe faded a bit towards the end but he does look the fittest he has ever been in his time at the club.
Freeman 7/10 – First half he was kind of in a flat three and not really getting forward as we defended most of the half and they had most of the ball. He showed some neat touches and tried to get involved but it was hard for him. Second half when we made the striking change; he played a lot further forward and got on the ball and started to run at them. He showed his quick feet and ability to dribble with the ball. He was involved in some of our better attacks. Has to take some blame for the winner as odd as that sounds as he had a chance running through and completely fluffed it losing the ball and they went on the attack won a corner and they scored from the second one. Lot happened after it but still like the first goal you cannot give the ball away so cheaply against teams that break.
McGoldrick 6/10 – Thought the front two were completely ineffectual. They did not have much service at all but both had to be better. They did not hold it when it came to them and did not link at all. They were too far up the pitch and both kept coming deep. He won a few flicks but they came to nothing as Robinson was not close enough. Not sure those two work together as they both seem to come off and look for the ball. I felt Robinson was not running into space and kept coming into the same areas as Didzy. He did ok at times with some link play but did not feel he saw much of the ball and his lack of pace means that teams can play higher up the field, especially if both come deep. I thought effort wise he needed to do more and they brought the ball out with no pressure at all on the defenders.
Robinson 5/10 – Thought he did well against Bournemouth and was ok last week but did not have the same impact. Today he was poor. Again, he had very limited service and was looking for it but not sure he has quite worked out his role in the team yet. We don’t play the ball over the top for runners to chase – we never have done under Wilder so his pace is kind of redundant although so far not sure he is quite as fast as we were led to believe. He was sloppy when he had the ball though and I thought needed to secure possession more in terms of hold up. It just kept going off him. He did not really contribute anything of note and was not surprised he got hooked as he was just getting brushed aside and not even offering a nuisance value. I would have done it at half time. Think he will be on the bench now for the next few as the last two games he has not really looked like scoring and his contribution has not been quite good enough.
Subs –
Sharp 7/10 – Thought he was busy and a nuisance. He actually held it up really well and got into the channels and helped work it wide leading to opportunities. He did not give them a moment and they went from strolling around to knowing they were in a game. He was a threat. I am not sure he will start many games for us and feel his impact coming on and nicking a goal or harrying defenders may be his role this season. I feel it will be Didzy (who has to play better but offers more to the team than Robinson) and McBurnie at Chelsea.
McBurnie 7.5/10 – Really good. He held it up and made sure that the ball stayed in their last third. He got it, played it wide and then got in the box and won numerous headers. He scored a great headed goal and actually had a few other attempts too. He has a decent first touch and makes sure we keep the ball. He has good movement when the ball comes into the box and you can see why he has scored a lot of goals. Will surely now start next week.
Morrison – Given over 10 minutes. He did not make much impact in the time he was on and his touch was a bit off but did look to be positive and had one shot blocked. Hopefully he will be drip fed into things and can be a positive player for us and hope he gets a start on Tuesday night.
Manager Wilder 7/10 – Thought that Leicester caused us problems as they played high up the field and had three up top stopping the centre backs coming forward. They pressed Norwood and we coughed up possession a lot but sometimes even under no pressure. However, they were on top and looked more like the home team in the first half albeit not creating much. I think we gave them to much respect and not playing with a 10 was made even worse as both front two came two deep. The whole team started to play higher up the field and Freeman was definitely playing further forward. The two changes up top gave us new life and we started to worry them. We scored but then after this I did not agree with Wilder when he said we should have done more and forced them back. I felt for the next 5 minutes we had a real go and they had a few breaks from our more carefree style – it became a bit basketbally for a period and you felt a goal coming one way due to this. We had a few half chances just before they broke for the corner and then scored a great goal. After this they sat in and we huffed and puffed but did not create too many clear chances. I had no real problems with the way we played though after we scored – it was the first half I had issue with where we sat back, did not attack and conceded possession too much. This meant we were chasing the game.
Leicester – They looked a decent side at times as they attacked with pace and skill but actually did not create that much and I felt outside of the two moments of quality (Maddison pass to Vardy and Barnes goal) they did not have any real chances. I thought they pressed and harried us well though and won the midfield battle which was key to the game. First half they were in complete control and other than the one Baldock shot; we barely had any real attacks of note. They would have felt it was going to be a routine win after they scored. 2nd half was different as we pressed them more, played higher up and they started to worry more about us. They could not handle the new front two and McBurnie was causing all sort of problems. After it got level – you felt the game could go either way but they still looked dangerous breaking. It was a great goal by Barnes though and not even a half chance. They defended after this but it was not comfortable and they were hanging on a bit at the end. You could see the reaction on full time what it meant to them as their first win and a really hard fought one.
They have some decent player and Vardy will always score goals. They have more pace to help him this year with Perez and Maddison will always create things and is arguably their best player and may go on to a bigger club next summer. I expect they will be around 6th-9th this season. Oddly I think they may be better away from home due to their system and the players they have at the top of the pitch.
Opponent Man of the Match – Maddison was good at times drifting into pockets and a sublime pass for the goal. He goes to ground so much though and like Zaha last week it is so annoying when he is so talented. If you get legitimately kicked then fair enough (Lundstram one) but so many were minimal contact. Refs seem to just give them. Vardy did not really do much but got one chance and scored. I would have done the same if I had scored at Hillsborough. No problem with him or that celebration/tweet. The Wednesday fans dining out on this is embarrassing especially as they deemed him not good enough and released him. Tielemans is a good player and showed some nice touches and passing range but the best player was Choudhury. He was excellent. He broke up play and won numerous tackles. I felt he covered a lot of ground and looked an excellent athlete. Would not be surprised if he is pushed into the full England squad at some point if he carries on his performances that he has to start the season.
Opponent Weaklink – They are missing Chilwell and you could see a downgrade in this area. Fuchs did ok going forward but I felt we caused problems down this side and constantly attacked him the second half and caused problems. He did not get tight enough or stop the crosses coming in. The Leicester fans were all singing about the lad who has replaced Maguire, Soyuncu but I felt when we put him under pressure second half he struggled and McBurnie really gave him a bit of a torrid time and he struggled with this extra movement and physicality.
Referee/Officials/VAR – We have still not seen any VAR stuff really in our games so far that have led to different decisions. All three goals today there was no question of anything being controversial or that could have led to one being disallowed. Outside of this I felt Madley was fine and even though he gave a few fouls on Maddison that looked very soft; he was ok. Not sure many really poor decisions were given. He rightly booked Lundstram for a late one. Interesting that he only gave 4 minutes stoppage time after the 7 last week – there were a similar number of subs and stoppages so it is odd the discrepancy. Leicester were also taking their time over things quite a bit.
Crowd/Atmosphere etc – 30,079. A 100 down on last week – that is with Leicester selling out too. There were big gaps in the Bramall Lane Upper tier which was disappointing. Even though the ticket prices are expensive; I do feel if they got rid of the restrictions – they would have sold at least a few more hundred tickets. It is poor from the club that we are not selling out as we were doing that last time, we were up in the top flight I believe. They should have sold more season tickets and should have an easier way of fans obtaining tickets. There seems to be demand there but we are not selling them. Either that or maybe we don’t have the numbers of fans we thought – even floating fans? Certainly, makes you wonder about the talk of extending the ground as at the moment the club/fans cannot fill it.
I thought that the crowd were really appreciative. Interesting to hear Wilder remarking about the applause saying he did not feel it was merited. Usually it has been the other way around with fans booing at the Lane and the manager getting irked by that! I like how Wilder has high standards – although if we lose say 3 or 4 on the bounce playing in a similar fashion not sure what he says then? The Lane was supportive and loud and the noise when the goal went in again was something else. Shame they scored quite quick after it as you would have felt at 1-1 with 10 minutes to go, we may have been able to really up the noise even more and contribute to a win.
The Leicester fans made a fair bit of noise but a lot were very drunk. Nothing wrong with having a beer but they were giving it the ‘big un’ all over town and on Bramall Lane as they arrived. Same after the game. Seemed to be a lot of 18-25 age group that the beer/sun had gone to their head. Amusing they sung about Sheffield being a ‘s**hole’ – having lived in Leicester for three years, I know which city has more going for it and by some way.
