Post by deadbat on May 20, 2023 3:14:11 GMT
2022/23 SUFC SEASON REVIEW / SCHOOL REPORT
Summary / Conclusions and Awards
We will not have many seasons where we get promoted and make the FA Cup semi-final. It just does not happen! We have had a great campaign with some impressive wins, goals and moments. Maybe it did not have the magic of the Wilder promotion/s and sometimes it was more workmanlike despite us maybe having better individuals than the ‘team’ of those other promotion sides. The likes of Ndiaye, McAtee and Berge have shown moments of flair and skill that have undoubtedly excited the fans. We began the season after a playoff final defeat and most thought we would be around the top 6 -if we kept our players but slowly it seemed us and Burnley were a class above the rest. Despite Boro and surprise package Luton coming on strong, the Blades stayed solid and kept their composure led superbly by Heckingbottom. The cup run sort of snowballed and after the Wrexham win, we then saw off Spurs and then the Blackburn game was memorable too and we had that day at Wembley – which was almost a promotion type celebration. The following week we sealed automatic promotion at the Lane and in the end, we went up quite easily.
Real credit to the manager and the senior players. The likes of Foderingham, Baldock, Robinson, Egan, Norwood and Sharp have led the way but we have seen improvements in the likes of Norrington Davies, Lowe, McBurnie and as the season went on Doyle and McAtee too. Ahmedhodzic was a real star signing and was better than any of us could have imagined. However, the trump card was Ndiaye. He had shown real promise but took things on to show he really could and should be a superstar and eventually way too good for the Blades – just hope we can keep him a bit longer.
We have done all this amidst all the uncertainty off the field with two botched takeovers, the transfer embargo and money issues meaning it has not helped at all. We still remain in limbo here as I type this and that is concerning as we may not have the resources to make a proper first of things in the top flight. We simply had to get up for financial reasons as much as the glory and prestige of being in the Premier League. We have a lot of work to do off the field and hope we are not playing catch up. We clearly need half a dozen quality players in order to compete and have a chance as a decent bulk of this squad are not the level of the highest league and the pace/athleticism and skill that it requires.
Overall though we can sit back and reflect on a superb season where we were entertained almost every week. The team won most of the time and we experienced the double joy of going up and playing at Wembley. Certainly, will take some topping as a season when we examine the success element in the two major competitions, in maybe all of United’s history.
Report Ratings
I have done the averages from all the match reports (basically add up all the marks and divide them by the games they played) – it is not totally accurate as likes of Clark, Coulibaly and Osula played a lot less games.
Player TOTAL No of games AVG
Foderingham 229.5 36 6.4
Davies 57 10 5.7
Egan 276.5 43 6.4
Ahmedhodzic 226 34 6.6
Robinson 179.5 30 6.0
Baldock 231 35 6.6
Lowe 147 26 5.7
Norrington D 72.5 10 7.3
Basham 114 21 5.4
Clark 44 7 6.3
Bogle 103 19 5.4
Stevens 44 9 4.9
Norwood 255 41 6.2
Berge 219.5 37 5.9
Fleck 101 18 5.6
Doyle 190.5 29 6.6
McAtee 184.5 32 5.8
Osborn 72.5 15 4.8
Coulibaly 13.5 2 6.8
Arblaster 5 1 5.0
Ndiaye 321 46 7.0
McBurnie 204 33 6.2
Sharp 147 27 5.4
Brewster 52 9 5.8
Jebbison 67.5 12 5.6
Khadra 35 6 5.8
Osula 7.5 1 7.5
H'bottom 279 45 6.2
Lester/McCall 20 4 5
Deadbat’s Awards for 2022/23
Player of the Season: Ndiaye (Last season – Gibbs White)
Runner up: Ahmedhodzic (Last season – Foderingham)
Third: Egan (Last season – Sharp)
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Honourable mention: Baldock, Doyle and Norwood (for 70% of the season)
Moment of the Season: West Brom at home – when those two goals went in and the noise on those and at full time (Last season beating Middlesbrough 4-1)
Goal of the Season: Ndiaye v Blackburn ahead of Doyle v Blackburn in the Cup (Last season Baldock v Reading)
Best individual display: Norwood v Burnley tied with Berge v West Brom (Last season Jagielka at Man Utd tied with Basham v West Brom home)
Best performance of the season: Burnley 5-2 ahead of Blackburn/Reading (Last season Middlesbrough/Fulham home joint)
Worst performance of the season: Luton (h) – we looked so flat and never thought we would go on the run we did after this performance and defeat (Last season Coventry away)
Pass of the season: Ndiaye – the run and then the composure to pick Berge out (Last season McGoldrick v Villa)
Save of the season: Davies v Wrexham home – without that we would not have gone on that run and got to Wembley (Last season Foderingham at home to Barnsley)
New category : Tackle of the season – Jack Robinson. Could be any of a number of Robinson’s crunching efforts but do recall one huge one at home early in the cup game against Spurs.
Most improved player: Ndiaye – honourable mention Norrington Davies (Last season Jack Robinson)
Unsung hero: Baldock (Last season Ben Osborn)
Biggest disappointment (player): Khadra tied with Brewster (Last season Oli McBurnie)
Best opponent (player) v United – Manuel Benson – Burnley (Last season Gyokeres – Coventry)
Worst opponent (player) v United: Hard one but some shocking keepers so take your pick from Lumley at Reading or Allsop for Cardiff (Last season Burke – Luton and Hughes – Preston)
Signing of the season: Ahmedhodzic (Last season Gibbs White) just ahead of Doyle/McAtee
Thanks for reading if you managed to stay with it!
See you next season!
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Up the Blades!
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