Pigs 2 Wednesday 4 - report from my sofa

[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