Sheffield United 3 Ipswich Town 3

[S36Reject]

Date: 29th September 2009

Venue: Bramall Lane

Attendance: 28366

Referee: E.Ilderton (6/10)

Man Of The First Half: Darius Henderson

Man Of The Second Half: Glenn Little

Man Of The Match: Nick Montgomery

Blades Line-Up:
Bunn, Walker, Morgan, Kilgallon, Taylor, Cotterill, Montgomery, Harper, Quinn, Evans, Henderson

Subs:
Bennett, Little, Davies, Stewart, Fortune, Cresswell, Reid

First Half:
Sheffield United new loan signing starts on the bench as United make 1 Change to the side that lost to Swansea last time out, Evans coming in for the Injured Treacy
After a Bright start by The Visitors, it was the Hosts who took a Surprise lead on 9 minutes, Henderson heading in from short range after appearing to foul the Keeper, Replays showed that The goal was genuine when it showed the Defender actually bundled his own keeper over.
1-0 HENDERSON(9)
Ipswich wasn't phased and continued in the ascendancy showing United that they were no push overs when Walters equalised on 24, A rash challenge from Stephen Quinn saw the Ipswich winger get clear before finding WALTERS with a great Cross, he saw his flicked shot go in off a Post
1-1 WALTERS (24)
United's poor evening continued with a Wasted Free Kick sent the Visitors into the lead. Leadbetter running through many United Challenges before dispatching a Grass Cutter shot which the Poor Bunn saw bump over his left hand and into the net
1-2 LEADBETTER (34)
Kilgallon limped off before the restart, being replaced by Davies (34)
United unconvincingly appealled for a Penalty after Rosenior Bundled over Henderson, but The Referee waved play on, just beore half time. Former United midfielder Alan Quinn ballooning his shot with an open net gaping 6 yards in front of him

HT 1-2 (45+2) Henderson : Walters, Leadbetter

Second Half:
Ipswich continued Dominating at Bramall Lane, Coming out Brighter and forcing the first Shot on Goal. Bunn Saving Comfortably United pressed themselves but with no real Conviction, Chasing shadows as more United players were booked for rash challenges. Another Former United Player comes on on 58, and immediately making the difference, United Pressing, Cotterill being the most Threatening, But Is taken off to the displeasure of the United Faithful as Boo's rang out throughout the stadium, Little his Replacement (63) United fans then gasped just 7 minutes later as Ipswich extended their lead United untidy and shell shocked missed McAuleys run from an Outswinging Leadbetter Corner and Headed the Visitors 3rd goal in front of their own fans
1-3 McAULEY (70)
This sparked Little into life and United from here on in Dominated and created chance after chance, but leaving huge holes in the back that Ipswiches forward line were unable capitalise on.
Little beat his man on 77 and found HENDERSON, who spun round and Fired into the net
2-3 HENDERSON (77)
Kevin Blackwell then threw Caution to the wind. replacing a lack lustre Taylor with Cresswell, The United Faithful surprisingly Booing the arrival of the debutant
Cresswell making and winning the Decisive Corner, Little crossed from the Left, Wright spilled into the path of Morgan who slotted home
3-3 MORGAN (90+2)
With just 1 minute left, United had 1 last attack, Cresswell making a nuisense of himself, headed towards Harper who's Half volley flew just wide
FT 3-3 (90+4) Henderson 2, Morgan : Walters, Leadbetter, McAuley

I don't think we'll get loads of goals tonight,we haven't got them in us,but i do expect to win.

hmmmmm

Trouble is we can't afford any more injuries now up front and KB has to get his finger out and get it sorted.Trialists are all very well but history tells us we don't sign many and he should have been looking else where whilst these players were on trial.I thought we had a deal with Spurs to take players on loan from them if we wanted? Why haven't we gone for that Danny Rose as cover? Not done any homework on him,it's just a name we've been linked with in the summer. Fact is we are desperate and it's going to have a bearing on the season eventually.

hmmmmmm

Well KB stuffed you on both of those Stabo. Have to agree with Pastit - WE were lucky!!!

Ipswich looked by far the better side tonight and certainly not like the side that's been struggling in the league.

Our first - bugger me, Hendo wasn't penalised for something (when he probably should have been - how that wasn't a foul on the keeper I'll never know but it makes up for one of the 2 perfectly legit goals he's scored and had ruled out this season!)

Their 1st - completely down to Quinn - no danger in the middle and what does he do - goes to ground, sliding in like a headless chicken giving their winger acres of room to pick his spot - pressure on our defence - some keystone cop defending and it trickles in.

Their 2nd - looked to me as though Bunn should have had that covered - poor defending in the middle of the parl though (was it Harper?) - Oh and why wasn't their goal scorer booked for inciting the crowd?

Their 3rd - bad defending - absolutely no one picked his run up for a free header

Good to see Hendo get 2 tonight - he took his 2nd really well.

Only 2 other players for me that deserve any praise are Monty and Morgan. Maybe a little mention for LIttle - looked useful when he came on apart from his first free kick which was totally wasted.

Can't believe it took the crowd to embarrass the team into playing football - the Ipswich fans must have been pissing themselves!! We started cheering a simple pass to feet - but boy did it work and how much more dangerous did we look when we did get it down and play it. We have a team of players who can do that now so why not stick to it KB. Bunn had great distribution when he forst came - now everything is boot it - That HAS to be be coming from KB - I said a s much to the bloke sat next to me tonight and he said he'd spotted that Bunn was going for the throw out to Cotts - he'd looked at KB - hesitated and then gone for the usual long ball hoof.........

Ash - Harper could have won it at the end for us but it was by no means a clear cut chance - he took a strike from outside the area which for me looked all the way in - will be interested to see how far wide it was cos difficult to tell from my angle. For me though it would have been so undeserved.

Has Blackwell totally lost the plot?

How can he keep on telling the fans they don't know what they're talking about and then send out a team to play with one single tactic in mind, i.e. belt it at the big daft bugger and then try and get summat when (if?) the ball comes down? Absolute bullshit football.

I thought Ipswich were nervous and there to be hammered, but we kept hitting the hoof and then waiting for it to come back, so they just grew in confidence as the game went on.

As Vamps says, we had to embarrass the players into passing the ball, with loud ironic cheers ringing around the ground each time a pass was completed. The players heard it and started playing and then, each time they passed and moved we created a chance, and each time we lumped it long the ball just came right back. Will KB learn? NO - he'll drop any player who doesn't do as he's told.

Make no mistake, we were rubbish. Cotts was having a good game and was taken off. Surely, the way things were he should have moved Cotts to the left, moved Quinn inside and taken Harper off? Little DID play well when he came on though - well done to him for breathing a spark into our play.

All in all, another game we should have walked, but didn't because of some comedy football and schoolboy defensive errors (they must have had more attempts on goal against us than in the rest of their season put together?). We could have lost that game 5-2 but somehow nicked a point and YES, even could have won it with a super shot from Harper that I still believe went through a hole in the netting! Blimey that was close to being the unlikeliest winning goal of the season.

We must improve (1 point from games against Ipswich, Coventry and Swansea FFS?) otherwise we're just another team in the mix. Other results say we got away with it. I believe if we'd been on our game lately we could have been at the top of the table. Donny, my friends, will pose a sterner test than Ipswich!

Without doubt, the worse performance since Blackie took over. Our opening goal should never have been allowed. Hendo fouled the keeper and knocked in the rebound. Everyone was expecting a whistle, but the referree was obviously watching our new big telly instead.

Then we have 3 goals from Ipswich, all of which are preventable The 1st one comes from the Ipswich right where Quinny goes to ground far too early...misses the tackle and the lad is free to put in a cross unchallenged. Goal number 2 sees Harper standing watching as his man runs away from him in the middle, our centre halves part like the Red sea, and a shot from 20 yards trickles along the grass and Bunn has the reactions of a dead cat. Aweful, just aweful!! 3rd goal is from a corner, and although the Ipswich lad attacked it well, I still think he had too much space.

Creswell comes on to a repturous chorus of boos and plays on the left hand side Why not give Kyel reid a chance ffs ?
Our best player of the night only plays the last 10 minutes, and thats Glen (tommy Cooper) Little. He played more quality balls in the last 10 minutes than the rest of the team did all night.

We didn't deserve a draw, it was very poor and the result papers over the cracks of some real problems.
The only players to come out of tonight with an ounce of credibility are Morgs, Monty, Quinn (even tho he was at fault for 1 of the goals) and maybe Hendo. We are carrying Harper in the middle. Walker had a stinker as did Taylor, and Evans was ineffective. Cotts worked hard but his final delivery was poor.

Some serious work needs doing before saturday, cos Donny are a far better side than Ipswich.

Totally pissed off with tonights performance...and have to put in a night shift to boot

Gannon - when he knows it's all gone Pete Tong, he always sends Ellis out. I think he thinks it makes fans think he's in the back giving the players a rollicking, but in reality I expect he's sat there wondering why his tactical masterplan didn't work.

I don't realistically think we were playing 4-5-1 with Evans in midfield - I think it was a pretty orthodox 4-4-2 and Evans just didn't shift much. He's starting to look a bad buy to be honest. I'd accept him being a bit lazy if he was at least scoring a few goals. But he isn't. Hendo's got more in the net than him. I've got a mate trying to tell me that he does a lot on the pitch, but I've not seen it yet. I think the lad needs benching, and not just because he's tired or it's tactical. Buck your ideas up sunshine! He's not even setting that many up, and he doesn't take risks. I can think of a few occasions last night where Hendo won the ball, knocked it down into space with Evans five yards away, and Evens hadn't even registered the ball was won, let alone made a move for it.

As for the tactics - well - they were poor, no doubt. Vamps/lings/et al are right - it HAS to be coming from KB as I refuse to believe that with the players at our disposal, their default setting when it's not working is 'hoof it long and hoof it hard!' If that IS the default setting, what the hell are they doing in the team!

Thought Cresswell did well when he came on, and was a bit unlucky to pick up the booking. Kyel Reid must be kicking himself for coming here - why warm our bench when he could have been warming West Hams? Harper was mostly poor, but there were one or two occasions where he decided to take the ball at his feet and run with it, and he instantly looked dangerous and competent. It's starting to look like the comments made by Howard when he left weren't entirely unfounded. Cotts was having a bad game and his end product seems to have dried up again. He wasn't getting much from the left-back, and didn't seem to be that quick on the ball.

As has been pointed out, 7 points from the last five games isn't promotion form, and more worrying, conceding 10 goals in the last five games isn't great either.

Well I just couldn't bring myself to post last night cos i was just too angry.
But i've slept on it and allowed the head to clear this morning.

I had a mate with me last night who i brought along to see what i thought was going to be a messy win. instead it was a lesson in how NOT to play football. i couldn't bring myself to make him pay for his ticket. not after that performance.

Firstly the positives from the evening.

It was an absolute pleasure to meet lings and vintage for the first time. can't believe it had taken this long.
Also good to see Bobbooker, YouFums, Dane and the other lads.

I thought Morgan got stuck in well tonight and Killa and Davies both looked good. Slightly disappointed we didn't win more arial balls and i thought they won alot more headers than us on the night. we barely challenged for alot of headers.
(Sorry. this is the positives bit. must.... stay.... positive....)!

Quinn worked his arse off! lost his head a few times, barely put a ball in from the left all night, but covered alot of ground.

Monty seemed to have his hands full doing both CM roles. He was mopping up after Harper alot!

Cotterill showed amazing pace and put in alot of crosses. he even got back to cover Walker's mistakes. I was convinced the booing was for taking him off.

Little. Not a huge fan of his because all i see is an ageing winger who has no pace but last night he was sensational! one or two bad delieveries but quite a few dangerous crosses. he dragged their midfielders about allowing space for walker to overlap, passed the ball very well and got us playing proper football for a period. easily the best player of the night.

the grumble part?
Harper was terrible. he made a couple of simple passes that linked up play but then so could legsowood, lee satsuma hendrie, and my nan. he was a statue when defending and contributed nothing to our attacking play. useless.

Bunn was disappointing. at times he made confident claims and saved a couple of long shots but he could have thrown his hat, pants and woolly jumper on the second goal. his distribution was simply shocking.

The defense needs to cut out the soft goals. every goal we concede these days is a pile of sloppy smelly soft one!

Evans. nuff said.


Blackwell. why on earth does he still insist on hoofball? even with speed as a coach he's still beyond hope. and why reid isn't playing i don't know. the damage we did tonight was from:
hendo getting stuck in - thats fine. at least blackies got that part sussed.
little's passing and movement - then why insist on starting static harper? as YouFums suggested in the Moorfoot: Little at CM?
Cotterill's pace - so why take him off? and why not play reid who is the fastest man at the club? whats the point of having a speedy, tricky impact player who is never played?

and why does it take till the 75th/80th minute for blackwell to make substitutions he should be making 5, 10, 15 minutes earlier. our subs are happening too late!


Like lings said. i was expecting 4-2 at the end. we could have been destroyed last night. and they were there for the taking.

Afternoon Fellas,

Couple of quick ones I heard on RS last night: Richard Cresswell is on a 3 Month Initial Loan Deal, And he signs Permanently on 1st January on a 2 Year Deal! The Deal has already been agreed, it just needs signing and Sealing when the window opens He's also been told he'll be playing Wide Left, NOT as a Striker Square Peg Springs to mind!!!

Last Night, Q? Why are we shipping Goals for fun? Because Montgomery is playing in a more Advanced role, He's out on the wings and in the Box! Not in front of the defence where he's supposed to be Q? Why can't we Score Goals? Because we are 1 Man Team, Without Ward, we are rubbish!! He should have started with Cotterill and Henderson up Front Last Night, Little on the Right, Reid on the Left, Harper in the middle with Montgomery! We Robbed Ipswich last night and I Apologised to the Away Fans as I Passed them! Embarrassing performance. Booing Cresswell on was an Embarrassment on the Fans Part and even tho I didn't do it, I agree with the Fans Booing the Tactics of KB!!
I don't have a Problem with KB, he's doing the best he can with the tools at his Disposal and I don't have a problem with any of the playing staff, They are just doing what they are told to do. I have Issue with the People who are supplying the WRONG Tools for the job needed, eg. TR and JR are signing the wrong players, and are NOT covering the positions and pocketing the profit made by the club for players! It's embarrassing to know that we Could be a Top 2 Side, But the Board room are crippling the Playing side! Which poses the question, Why Extend the Ground when next year we won't fill it?

Finally, The TV Anyone notice that as soon as they start winning it just goes to the Fixture badges Pointless getting it.

Some great stuff being posted on here today following last nights poor performance. Whereas the last match was disappointing,I think we went through the whole range of emotions last night.
I`m just bloody annoyed by what I saw because all the ingredients were there to put right a few wrongs of recent games. Big crowd, home advantage, a virtually full strength team against the current whipping boys of the division.
Instead we get out of Crappity Smackin jail with an equaliser in added time.

We looked shaky in defence yet again, the midfield got dragged all over the place by a team intent on playing decent football, and we only had one up front again in Hendo. There was a rumour that Evans was out there somewhere but perhaps someone was taking the piss.
It speaks for itself when the man of the match (in my opinion anyway) plays only 15-20 minutes and turns the game.
The Blades will match anyone when they play to feet and pass the Crappity Smackin ball, what we saw last night was utter pants and frankly an embarrassment.
I hate saying this but we`re gonna get a hammering from someone soon if Blackwell doesn`t change the way we play.
Ok it worked last season but we`ve become so predictable now, teams dont have to work hard to dominate us anymore.
SORT IT OUT BLACKWELL FFS.


Apologies for doing this lads but an old mate of mine, John Betts, died today. RIP mate

Ok, Rate 'em:

Bunn
Walker
Morgan
Kilgallon(33)
Taylor(76)
Cotterill(63)
Montgomery
Harper
Quinn
Evans
Henderson
Davies(33)
Little(63)
Cresswell(76)

[S36Reject]

Bunn............. 6
Walker.......... 6
Morgan.......... 7
Kilgallon(33).... 5
Taylor(76)...... 5
Cotterill(63).... 7
Montgomery.... 9
Harper.......... 7
Quinn........... 7
Evans........... 5
Henderson..... 8
Davies(33)..... 7
Little(63)....... 8
Cresswell(76).. 8

[sotonexiledblade]

Bunn............. 4
Walker.......... 6
Morgan.......... 8
Kilgallon(33).... 5
Taylor(76)...... 5
Cotterill(63).... 7
Montgomery.... 8
Harper.......... 5
Quinn........... 6
Evans........... 5
Henderson..... 8
Davies(33)..... 6
Little(63)....... 6
Cresswell 4

[philblade]

Bunn 5
Walker 6
Morgan 7
Kilgallon(33) 6
Taylor(76) 6
Cotterill(63) 8
Montgomery 7
Harper 5
Quinn 6
Evans 5
Henderson 7
Davies(33) 6
Little(63) 8
Cresswell(76) 6

[Pastitblade]

Bunn............. 5 Massive ricket for the second......again
Walker.......... 5 Poor
Morgan.......... 7 Best defender by a country mile
Kilgallon(33).... 5 Playing injured? Well that's my excuse
Taylor(76)...... 5 stinker
Cotterill(63).... 5 runs....jinks.....loses the ball
Montgomery.... 7 everywhere in midfield no support from those around him
Harper.......... 5 who?
Quinn........... 6 not bad.....Not good
Evans........... 5 come lad you're better than this!
Henderson..... 7 only forward of note bagged himself a brace the second was class (My MOTM)
Davies(33)..... 6 OK ....just.
Little(63)....... 7 Hallelujah someone who could hold the ball up in midfield!!
Cresswell Not on long enough to score anyone who booed him on hang your heads in shame.

[HSBCBLADE]

Good match report as ever from S36.
From Row J on the Kop, it looked like his:

Bunn - 5 - Should have stopped the second on Saturday, same story on Tuesday.
Walker - 5 - Worst game i`ve seen him play for the Blades.
Taylor - 6 - Steady performance again.
Morgs - 8 - We`d be Crappity Smacked without him sometimes. Inspirational.
Killa - 6 - never looked comfortable and still suffering from being ill IMO.
Cotts - 7 - the only midfielder who looked like doing owt.
Monty - 6 - Lack of pace evident for their second goal while trying to cover for Harper.
Harper - 6 - the jury`s still out.
Quinn - 6 - bad error for their equaliser.
Hendo - 8 - after the stick he`s had from refs and defenders recently, he deserved a bit of luck for his first goal, great finish for his second.
Ched - 5 - racking my brains for any positives.

Little - 8 - Turned the game by playing FOOTBALL.
Davies - 7 - didnt do owt wrong and did a capable job.
Cresswell - 7 - a couple of nice touches when he got involved.

[YouFUMS]

It looked like this from H46 on John street...

Bunn............. 5 those long range goals are becoming a bad habit
Walker.......... 5 Poor. Also embarrassing himself with a dive early in the 1st half
Morgan.......... 7 One of the few able to look himself in the mirror....but then again
Kilgallon(33).... 5 looks disinterested. he WILL be gone in january
Taylor(76)...... 6 got exposed on the 2nd goal. needs to keep it simple
Cotterill(63).... 6 What happened to the cotteril we had on loan 2 seasons ago?
Montgomery.... 6 I think he's playing a bit further up the field than normal. needs to be a bit deeper with our current goals against average.
Harper.......... 4 Drop him! play Little in the middle with Monty
Quinn........... 7 never stopped running. 9 for effort, 5 for quality..hence a 7
Evans........... 6 needs to be playing on the last defender, not out wide or coming in late from CM
Henderson..... 7 Was our best player. BUT...is he the reason we play long ball?
Davies(33)..... 6 steady
Little(63)....... 7 Did everything when he came on. Every free kick, every corner, every quality ball into the box. Play him in CM
Cresswell......6 Another target man! and he played wide left when he came on.

[Halfvampire Halfman]

Bunn............. 5 Wasn't helped by Harper offering an open invite but really should have saved the second.
Walker.......... 6 Is his head at Spurs? That wasn't great from Walker
Morgan.......... 7 One of the few to comeout with his head held high.
Kilgallon(33).... 6 Didn't do anything wrong whilst he was on but didn't look great either. Was he injured from the start? If so risks like that will come back to bite us.
Taylor(76)...... 5 still don't like him - get's turned far to easily.
Cotterill(63).... 6 runs....jinks.....loses the ball - looks dangerous until he has to put the cross in......then it all goes horribly wrong.
Montgomery.... 7 Good performance from Monty. Has come on in leaps and bounds since Speed arrived - and he can cross a ball with his left peg!!
Harper.......... 5 Poor game - What does KB do to these good midfielders?
Quinn........... 6 not bad.....Not good - should have been Reid. Dived in for their first goal which made it all too easy - stay on your feet boy!
Evans........... 5 come lad you're better than this!
Henderson..... 7 Played well and bagged a couple to boot. Second was really well taken and shows he can do it given the chances.
Davies(33)..... 6 OK. Did what he needed to but he's no Killgallon. Give him a bit more time maybe.
Little(63)....... 7 Looked a class above everyone else on the pitch when he came on.
Cresswell........7 Looked comfortable on the ball when he came on. Don't agree with the booing. Why played wide left though? Was that supposed to be 3-4-3?

[S36Reject]

Average Ratings for this Match:

1, Henderson....... 7.4
2, Morgan........... 7.3
2, Little............. 7.3
4, Montgomery..... 7.1
5, Cotterill.......... 6.6
6, Quinn............. 6.3
6, Davies............ 6.3
6, Cresswell......... 6.3
9, Walker............ 5.6
10, Taylor........... 5.4
10, Kilgallon........ 5.4
12, Harper.......... 5.3
13, Evans........... 5.1
14, Bunn............ 5