Sorry for the late report…was straight out on my work Xmas do after the game and been busy with various family stuff etc today…..
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United’s poor form against fellow sides occupying the top 6 places continued as they lost to West Brom on Friday evening. It is now only 1 win from 5 at Bramall Lane as well and no wins in the last 3 games on home territory. Ultimately it was the same old story as a decent start to the game and good, energetic football saw United take the game to the visitors but poor defending let the Baggies back in and after this there was only one winner as the Blades yet again ran out of steam.
Manager Wilder went back to his usual strongest eleven in many people eyes with Sharp and Duffy back in for Washington and Lundstram. Tyler Smith was on the bench after being recalled from Barrow in the week. West Brom had a star packed starting eleven featuring current and former internationals.
In bitterly cold weather conditions, the Blades started the brighter with Duffy influential early on. The midfielder hit a curling cross shot that Johnstone had to push around the post. Egan headed wide from the resultant corner. United kept pressing and Norwood’s range of passing was impressive again. United’s good start was rewarded when they took the lead. It came after West Brom threatened ton the break but Basham halted Barnes with a superb tackle. Norwood played it onto Duffy whose through ball was precise and beat the offside trap. MCGOLDRICK was onto it and held off Dawson before finishing coolly via the post. It was a big moment for the striker after missing so many chances in recent weeks.
United continued to impress and another smart move saw several passes before McGoldrick blazed high and wide. Duffy then nearly found Sharp after another good move. West Brom had not threatened but won a free kick but Barnes sent it over the top. From a corner Gayle had his effort blocked from O’Connell.
The Blades were back on the attack and more fluent football saw O’Connell advance and his cross was superb but evaded everyone and was cleared. The visitors had not really been in it but suddenly they were level. Norwood’s pass was straight to an opponent and as it came forward Barnes got down the left. His cross went through a sea of bodies and fell perfectly for the unmarked BARRY whose finish was superb, right into the top corner with his left foot giving Henderson no chance. Soon after the goalkeeper had to save from Phillips after Fleck had given it away. Norwood also made a mistake soon after and United threatened to unravel after such a solid start.
The second half saw the early stages with West Brom having much more of the ball and were winning the loose stuff too. They were also playing noticeably higher up the field. United were struggling to get a foothold and Rodriguez and Phillips were causing issues getting into little pockets. Barry was becoming more influential also and Fleck and Norwood were now not in the game. At the top of the field Sharp had barely had a kick. O’Connell tangled with Gayle and there were loud appeals for a penalty waved away.
Coutts came on for the disappointing Fleck as United tried to get on the ball more.
On the hour West Brom should have scored. Egan misjudged the ball on the bounce and actually handled it in an attempt to stop the attack but the referee wisely played on. The ball was played across to an unmarked Barnes but with just the keeper to beat Henderson managed to get enough on the shot to deflect it over.
West Brom continued to control things and Rodriguez then darted forward and shot wide with men over before Phillips fed Gayle and Basham had to make a last-ditch interception. With 14 minutes to go; West Brom were in front. A ball forward was chased down by Phillips and Egan could not handle his pace and he took the ball away from the defender who was grounded. The cross came over and once again the visitors had a number of men forward. Barnes cleverly flicked towards GIBBS who hit a superb low finish right into the corner.
Washington came on for Duffy as United tried to make something happen but were struggling to create much. However Sharp had a good chance when the ball came over and the skipper was well placed but blazed over. After this West Brom managed the game expertly as the game ticked into three minutes of stoppage time. United could not muster even an attack in this period as the visitors celebrated the come from behind win as the full time whistle went.
United – I came out feeling really flat last night. Maybe I should not and that is not that I am critical of the team or Wilder. Sure a few could have done better and Wilder could have reacted to the change of tactics maybe. We could have made changes (Sharp should have come off for Washington long before the 2nd goal) but the reality is these players and this manager are doing as well as they can do. We are a good side but not a great one and not a team that looks like it believes it can beat the better teams or get promoted.
We are getting the most out of the group. However, we are not quite good enough. We are bottom of the form guide out of the top 6 teams in terms of games against fellow contenders. People will say we beat Norwich but for me it is beating these teams when they are in the top 6 and are contenders with you that is the difference. We rarely did it last year and have not done it all this year. We have been unlucky in some games but when it matters, we have had big drop off in performances particularly in the second half of games against the likes of Derby, Leeds and West Brom. All three teams were there for the taking but we simply do not have enough quality at either end of the field to make it count. You sensed what would happen when they scored last night.
I am going to get slammed for this when we still sit in the top 6; but I came out sensing déjà vu from last season and cannot see us finishing much higher than the 10th we got last year. I think us being 3rd before last night will see a long time ago in a months’ time. I hope I am wrong but the body language of the players last night was almost an acceptance of they are not quite as good as their counterparts. That is a worry when we are so high up and concerns me.
I do not see the belief, mental strength and ability in this group to finish big games like the ones we have thrown away this season. They looked a beaten side last night even at 1-1 I felt. I did not sense they felt we could go on and win and it seemed inevitable they would get the winner After that I felt Wilder’s words summed things up when he said the players just looked like they then wanted to come off. Apart from the Sharp wild finish we never hurt them at all and second half did not have one shot on target or barely an effort on goal at all.
We have got the most we can out of these and I can only see us dropping down the league in future weeks. That is no knock on this group but they looked knackered last night and we are not even half way through the season. Keith Andrews on Sky summed it up. We start games well but cannot keep that intensity up and if we don’t finish teams off and we rarely do; teams then just pick us up and we look a tired group. Everyone keeps saying if we invest but we know now it is loans and I struggle to see how we can compete with fellow Championship teams for the decent Premier League loans we can get. They will blow us out of the water as they already have with the likes of Wilson, Mount, Abraham etc as Andrews said on Sky.
It is weird as we are still playing fairly well. It is good football and mostly decent to watch but we continually come up short when it counts. That means it is frustrating and you can sense that what happened last season is happening again. We will probably get a result at Ipswich but then play Derby and you sense the same thing will happen again; against a better team with quality to hurt us and we will dip out again.