Pigs 2 Wednesday 4 - report from my sofa

[Deadbat_DB]

My thoughts albeit from the sofa….could not get a ticket or if I could I probably decided £42 was too much (kind of regret that now) so I sat and watched at home with the family.
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I woke up this morning quite nervous…probably more so than I had for a game for a long time including even some recent big game at the end of the last season and Playoff games. Maybe it was the wait between the last derby game; I don’t know but I was very apprehensive but also strangely confident all mixed into one. I just wanted us to play like we have the last 12 months and prove to them we were not a battling, scrapping in your face side but much more than that and a good footballing side, that played as a team but have some cracking individuals too.

I settled down and saw the team and was concerned. We could make the case we had 5 starters (Moore, Stearman, Freeman, Donaldson and Sharp missing) and I was not sure what would happen. I had no idea really and just hoped we would play like we can.

Well, the start was a dream. Brooks solo run and Fleck’s superb free kick sent our house into raptures and then we nearly had a second as Clarke got in. Soon after it was 2-0 with the Wednesday defence all over the place. We looked in complete control and we were in dreamland. After this we dominated and could have had more. Brooks was looking like he would run riot and Clarke was on the shoulders. Coutts and Fleck were dictating. They had a few moments but nothing major. We just had to see out the half but then a sloppy goal let in gave them hope.

They carried this momentum on after the break and you feared the worse as we sat back deeper and deeper and the lad Joao made a difference too. Hooper nearly got in and they had a few corners and we suddenly looked under pressure but Brooks broke out and nearly scored but blazed over. Duffy came on for Wright and we changed things around with Basham dropping back more. They then got back level when a decent move saw Reach cut through our defence and Joao smashed home. At this stage, I would have probably taken a draw in a game we had been far better but now as the home fans did that ridiculous bounce I was worried. I should not have doubted Wilder and the Red and White Wizards. Back up they went and Duffy turned his man inside out and smashed home in front of the Leppings Lane. The bounce killer. 3 and a half sides silenced instantly. Back in front!!!

After this Brooks showed some superb skill to beat both Hunt and then Reach in two separate incidents but Clarke fired over on the first and then Westwood saved from Brooks on the second. Bannan fired not far wide and you sensed the next goal was coming. The Blades got it. Brooks touched forward and poor defending saw Clarke steal in and dink the ball over Westwood and into the far corner via the post. Jubilation in the away end and in my lounge!!!

After this Wednesday heads dropped completely. Hooper had one header at Blackman but other than a few corners/free kicks the home side never looked like scoring again. Lundstram came on for the superb Brooks. The away fans sang ‘Sheffield Wednesday’s f****d it up again!’ and serenaded Chris Wilder with a ‘Happy Birthday!’ song. United saw time out rather comfortably and all that was left was for the final whistle to be greeted by large boos from the furious home fans….well those that were left. Many had long gone. Wilder gathered the players together in a post match huddle and then let them take the acclaim from the jubilant following from S2. Wilder’s punches to the air were each signalled by huge cheers from the Blades fans!

United – Excellent but used to saying this most weeks. Other than a bit of sloppy defending on half time and a 10 minutes spell after the break where we got too deep and stopped marking we were the better side from start to finish. Two big moments for me. The way we started the game was fantastic. A great goal from Fleck and then we kept attacking. We never stopped. We ought to have had them out of sight at the break and I was furious we had let them back in it. If they had not scored that it would have been comfortable for me. Second half they had a bit of a go and they pegged us back but the second big moment came after they got level and we went forward and attacked straight away and scored the goal of the game. Superb! After this we got some kind of control again and we had as many chances if not more. It could have been more again. The Clarke goal pretty much sealed it and we saw it out professionally after this.

So many great individual performances, Brooks, Fleck, Coutts, Clarke stood out but as a team we were together. We fought in packs, played nice football when we could and got rid of it when we had to. We won tackles, harried and then played it simple when we had to but let the flair players above cause problems. Wilder had us swarming all over them. They had no answer and had to make tactical and personnel changes to compete. All this with so many key players out! It was great to watch. So many big games we have not turned up over the years. Today we did and then some. It would have been a travesty if we had drawn or lost the game and the scoreline was about a fair reflection in the end. Love the way we kept attacking and with a bit more poise up top would have got more goals. As I say a few sloppy moments at the back apart; it was almost a perfect performance. So proud of the team and the manager! To go to your city rivals back yard and dump them 4-2 is tremendous. We have well and truly shut them up for a while. The phone ins, local press and social media will be superb the next few days; as will work tomorrow (although work with more Blades than Owls)

It is a result to saviour certainly and won that will not be forgotten for a long time as many make themselves Blades legends on that one game alone! We now have a few days break and hope we can use the euphoria and confidence to take on a very good Wolves side (will be a much better side than Wednesday – nothing arrogant about saying that) in the week. If we get a result there we can go to a poor Forest side and try and make it a great week and could even end for the International break on top! Dream stuff but main thing is we keep playing like we have done. If we do that and we get some players back fit we have nothing to fear and should be looking to finish a lot nearer the top than the bottom.



Wednesday – Already the message boards and radio phone ins are full of Owls saying it was them that were so bad and they never turned up and blaming tactics, formation etc. You know what, they were poor and looked slow but we made them look poor. Quite a lot seem unable to give us any credit. They started slow I agree but we were flying out of the blocks. They gave it away a lot but we pressed them all over the field. Their defence was awful but were under pressure. I agree they were ragged at times but we made them look ragged. This is a side that has not lost at home all season and barely conceded any goals and we went there and looked like scoring so many. We could easily have had 7 or 8 goals. United were as good as Wednesday were bad.

I keep hearing how much better their players are and granted they had a few out but we had more out! I am not so sure I agree at all after today. All this clap trap about how they would not swap any of our players for one of theirs and ours are all battling no marks who are lower league is tripe. Today has proved that. We have some good players and Coutts and Fleck proved how good they are. I also saw how slow they were. I often feel United’s lack of pace (running pace) is one area we are weak in but my word we were miles quicker than them to tackles, passes and basic stuff today. It shows it is not just about running past players or break neck speed.

Back to Wednesday and today proved they are probably a long way off promotion. I would say they have gone backwards in two years and for all the money they have spent I am not sure they will be anywhere near the top two. They will be in and around the top 6 I feel although I see around a dozen sides who could make the same claim (including us maybe). Many fans want the manager sacked which is ridiculous. He has spent some money but they have got to the playoffs two years and are not far off the top this year. They really are like spoilt children at times. He is one of the few who shows any dignity down there. He says some odd things and is a bit bizarre at times but actually is quite hard to hate. He is a fairly decent bloke (for an Owl). Still they seem to think he makes appalling tactical decisions and personnel choices and if they lose a few more in a row they will get their wish probably. He was out thought tactically and preparation wise today of course but Wilder is doing that routinely against other managers mot weeks so nothing to be ashamed of there.

Opposition Man of the Match: Not even close. Hooper was the only player who I really feared. Bannan did a few bits and pieces but Hooper was always a threat. Came off the front and got into good areas scored a decent goal and had a few other decent attempts. He is a really good player and to think they spent 10 million quid approx. on Rhodes when they did not need him. Joao who came on looked good running with the ball and scored, also had a trick or two. Aside from that I cannot recall many of their players playing that well – maybe Wallace showed a few flashes but some of their better players simply did not turn up or rather we made them look ordinary.

[Deadbat_DB]

Opposition Weak link: Take your pick from the hapless defence. The Dutch lad wins it though. Been told he was superb on the ball and a great defender but he was all over the place and beaten time after time. He looked abysmal. The lad at right back was not much better, Hunt, whom Brooks made look daft. To be fair he did the same to Reach a few times another player who cost a lot of money but looks very ordinary. Lees also struggled with Clarke all game and I felt the back two looked like conceding every time we went forward. The keeper Westwood is highly rated but has dropped some utter clangers this season and did not fill me with confidence today at all and was beaten quite easily on 4 goals. His communication with the defence was poor and they looked all at sea. They reminded me of the team we beat in 92 at their place when Shirtliff, Anderson and co played at the back. I like the lad Lee who gets in the box and can score goals but he was anonymous today as was the other lad Jones who went off. Wednesday would have a lot of 5/10 performance and lower if I rated all the players.

Blackman 7/10 – Fine again. His handling was sound, he came off the line well to take the ball and was calm in a cauldron of an atmosphere. Two goals not sure he had much His kicking is still poor out of his hands and one poor one saw them score 2nd not so soon after – a fair bit happened after it to be fair.

Baldock 7.5/10 – Played really well. Cannot recall him getting beat too much and he defended well and stuck to his task. Got forward when he could and involved in some decent attacks first half. Very quick and covers ground well. Going to be a real fight for that spot now Freeman has genuine competition.

Stevens 7/10 – Solid game. He had a poor spell just after half time when they got down that side a few times but he was sound enough

Wright 7/10 – Some good blocks and tackles and covered round the back. He saved one shot with a great header and made another tackle first half. He was slow to react on the first goal and went with his head when he should have got there a bit quicker and also gave away a few daft fouls. Started second half a bit sloppily but to be fair they pushed us back. Wilder took him off and went for it which showed positivity of United and the manager.

Carter Vickers 7/10 – Thought he did ok in general play and headed and cleared it when he had to and did well against Fletcher on a few aerial challenges. On the second goal, he seemed to be slow to react and completely missed the ball when maybe he could have done a bit better. After this he settled down again although Hooper kept coming off and that made it hard for him to pick him up.

O’Connell 7.5/10 – Mostly sound and won so many headers. Fletcher normally is a real aerial threat but I felt the two bigger lads bottled him up and they ended up taking him off. Won a few of his normal crunching tackles and also got forward well too. He ended up most advanced man twice. Not bad for a centre half. Only slight knock is first goal, could he have got more on the header or headed it out wide. He is very consistent at the moment.

Basham 7.5/10 – Played in midfield which I thought Wilder might do to give us more steel in there. It worked a treat as we won this area most of the game. He got his foot in, won the loose balls, headers and did all the bits and pieces. Nothing flash really. He did get forward a few times also but tends to get a nose bleed when he gets in the box. Missed a really good chance first half. A really steady performance from Bash again.

Fleck 8.5/10 – Rivalled Brooks for my man of the match – thought he was superb. The free kick fairly arrowed into the corner (that view from behind the goal!) and after this he got on the ball, moved it on, broke up play, showed skill and just proved how class he is. Showed up the so called superior Lee, Bannan and Jones in midfield. The couple of turns and jink always in the second half summed up his class.

Coutts 8/10 – As above very good; he got on the ball and made us tick. Showed his passing long and short and just oozes class on the ball. He did get a bit complacent and lost one second half that nearly put them in but he just rarely looks flustered to me. Whilst ever we have those two in the centre of the park we have a chance. They are that good and so consistent.

[Deadbat_DB]

Brooks 8.5/10 – A joy to watch. He started game running at them and got felled for a foul that led to the goal. Got away from them a few other times with some excellent skills and always on the front foot. He made a few poor decisions when he broke first half actually but it was him who got himself into this position. Second half he carried on his play with some impish skill and was taking the p**s with two bits of play. The one where he megged Hunt was tremendous. I think I said ‘Oh my gosh.’ I might have added a swear word. Total showboat and made the Pig look a right ****. He fed Clarke who should have scored. He blazed one over and then had another superb piece of skill when he nutmegged someone else (Reach) near the right and came in and had a shot tipped behind. He then made the fourth. They looked terrified of him. He is a special player. He still had things to work on (final ball/product) but players like that you just love to watch. He gets you excited and off your feet. Sadly he will be of course destined for the Premier League (love it to be with us!) but let’s forget January and the huge fee we would get if it came to that and just enjoy watching him play!

Clarke 8/10 – He has been very much a marmite player at the Lane but actually if you take away his poor start last season; you kind of forget he got injured and then he had a superb end to the season. He started this year well and was a key man in the wins until his daft red card. Today though he was excellent, leading the line and giving us a presence (everything we did not have last week). He missed some bad ones, two one on ones. One where he weakly hit it at the keeper and then blasted over after the Brooks skill. However, that is picking at him, outside of this he held it up, used his strength and was a real focal point. He caused them problems with his back to goal and running them down. Took his two goals very calmly and was a real talisman for us.


Subs:

Duffy 8/10 – Giving him a mark as he deserves one for that superb individual goal. The twist inside and smashed finish was sublime! After this he got on the ball and used it sensibly and he actually chased around a lot. He showed what a good footballer he is and just played some lovely little passes and flicks. However, it was all about THAT goal.

Lundstram – Came on at the end and won a few headers and knocked a few forward. Will hardly believe he has gone from playing in front of a few thousand at Oxford to this. Has to do what Brooks and Baldock have done and force his way in.

Manager: Wilde 9.5/10 – I keep praising him and he keeps doing even more superb things. It really is phenomenal what he has done at the Lane. Today we went there and beat them and beat them well. We were better man for man and as a collective. Maybe loses half a mark just for the spell before and after half time! We were superb. We flew out of the blocks. He did not have a full set of cards to play with and still got it spot on tactically, motivationally and personnel (that he had available). Cannot say any more. What a job he has done with SUFC. The man is a legend and deserves to have as many beers as he wants tonight!

Officials – Ref. Simon Hooper. He had a very good game overall. I actually felt he gave them a few 50-50’s but overall he kept it flowing and not sure there were many bad decisions he got wrong. Most of the free kicks on the edge of the boxes were fouls. Basham and Fleck were booked for us rightly. Wright got away with one actually whilst Bannan got booked for them for maybe the poorest tackle of the game. There was an odd foul on Fleck near the end when he got fouled but they gave the free kick to them!

Crowd – We completely shut them up with the early goal and then after that all you could hear were Blades. They came to life just before the break when they scored and then go behind them for a spell and it was horrible watching them jump up and down with that ridiculous bounce song (do they only do it against us?!) but it was just as sweet when Duffy ended it instantly. After this the noise was back with the Blades again! The final whistle seeing the Leppings Lane end so jubilant was superb to see.

This afternoon I wandered into Woodseats and the Big Tree was jumping (saw some of the scenes on London Road). Kind of sad I was not there but hope those that went had an amazing time! Great to hear and see (not getting into their loyalty points argument!) so many ex Blades/United links in the away end from Kell Brook to Harry Maguire to Michael Doyle and Marc McNulty.

What a great day and night. Shame it is a work night or I might have had a few more beers. The City is ours.

I’ll end with the two overriding thoughts in chant.
‘One Chrissy Wilder….theres only one Chrissy Wilder!’ and ‘Yeah United we love you, we love United we do, yeah United we love you!’
UTB

[BlockD]

Superb reading that DB,a great big grin on my face reading your post,plus immense pride

Not a bad day to be a Unitedite,Sunday 24th September 2017

[GrayBlade]

I’ve just watched the whole game through again. I gave the Pork way too much credit by saying they had the first 20 minutes after the break. We had two or three decent chances. The only thing that Blackman had to do the whole game was pick the ball out of the net twice. It really was a massacre and they got off lightly.

[Ayamonteblade]

cheers db a cracking read and so many valid points. ..and particularly the fact that we finally turned up for a big match I would even put a bet on us in the play offs these days err maybe 😉

[almostsignedmaradona]

cheers db a cracking read and so many valid points. ..and particularly the fact that we finally turned up for a big match I would even put a bet on us in the play offs these days err maybe ��

Actually Wilder has a 100% record at making sure we turn up for big games.

Last season at home to S****horpe was a massive match against a promotion rival. We often lost these types of games but in the 1st half we blew them away, should have been 4-0 at half time. I know we only drew 1-1 but we were superb.

The week after the pressure was on against Bolton, another promotion rival and as the match wore on we dominated more and more and comfortably won 2-0.

[mahatmafoot]

Can't see why you deducted .5% from Tufty, please explain. Highlight for me was the nutmegging of Hunt by Brooksie. Have to agree the bouncing was totally pathetic just like their support for 90% of the game.