Match Day Thread Sheffield Utd v Bristol City

Wow, I agree with most of that!!!

 

It's why I say that Massengo should be given a free role in the middle,,,,,,The amount of times he puts a foot in the break up the oppositions play, you would have to be blind not to see it.....He's a worker and should be used as one.
I still am struggling to see what NP's style is......5 mins of pressing and then back off.....To me, he's not setting the tactics right......IMO it's all over the place

 

Because it's all true.

I have never been convinced by ODowda but even I can see he is putting in effort in an alien position, in the Stoke game in the first half you could see the indecision about "should I go forward" but up until Williams got injured in the 2nd half he had obviously been told to get forward more and it showed. Losing Williams changed the whole aspect of that game and to be fair Williams was not at his best.

Even Vyner has been better but really needs to improve his closing down, he allows far too many crosses into our box.

Weimann needs a spell on the bench.

Bakinson needs a good kick up his lazy arse, maybe the triggering of the 1 year extension was 6 months too early.

Wells truly needs to step up to the plate, as I said him, ODowda and Scott need to be stronger.

Massengo has most of the attributes needed for a midfielder but his long passing is poor, at times like all of the team his decision making is poor and no goals or assists shows his best assets are as a defensive midfielder, the term I kept hearing from Chris Honor yesterday was 'we are attempting too many world cup passes', the whole team need to keep it simple.

 

I am struggling as well, but I suspect in training Vyner closes his man down as one would expect, ODowda gets in great crosses, Massengo probably even scores and assists, Weimann and Wells score great goals and Bakinson looks as though he is fully awake and not still in a dream. And then we play for real and none of the above happens and this has been the case (with very few exceptions) for 2 years now. How many times have we heard LJ, Holden, Pearson, Fleming and all of our coaches past and present say how well training went? I will ask the question once more do we need the appointment and failure of yet another manager to realise that the problem is and has been for 2 years with certain misfiring mainly senior players, for the penny to finally drop.

 

might be!

 

You keep mentioning players over 2 years ago.....we do have players that were not involved then.
My point is, with the current players we send out on the field so far this season, I don't believe the tactics given by NP, are the right ones...unless the players are totally ignoring him!!
IMO, I really don't know how NP wants them to play, it's a mish mash as I see it, so it's no wonder the players aren't consistent. I see spells when we press and close down quickly, short one/two touch passing......again IMO when we do that, those spells look really good. But within a short period of time, we revert to long hopeful passing and sitting deep.........Like I said, either it's instructions from the dugout or the players are doing their own thing....
Football, generally is easy, playing to your strengths with the players you have should be the way to go.....
I'm sure you will bring up LJ & DH again, but we supposed to have moved on with a so say better manager.....I'm struggling to see it...I'm wondering if NP is a bit of a one trick pony.....I hope not, but not really shown ways of changing things around....again it IMO..

 

is it because we have 2 staunch defenders in charge? and they are lacking in knowledgeof how midfield /attack is supposed to perfom/ line up?

 

I keep mentioning 2 years because again it's true, all of our on field woes can be traced back to that time.

I keep bringing up LJ and Holden because again it's relevant it just doesn't suit your agenda.

What has been happening is a mirror image of what has been happening for 2 years. We start off with a high press game and it brings success until it no longer works, panic sets in so a long ball game is adopted, players are played out of position in a vain attempt to improve things, it's exactly the same roundabout and the only constant is the same old inconsistent players playing in the same old inconsistent way.

But please feel free to tell us all when the so called senior players in our squad were really consistent in the past 2 years (and I mean consistent).
And be honest do you honestly believe a new man could turn this squad into a consistent squad? where others have failed and when the new guy fails, where do we go to next?.

One other question do you believe that Pearson instructs Vyner to stand so far off a player he is meant to be marking or not stopping enough crosses? or instructs Bakinson to be so lazy and lacking in effort?, I will excuse Odowda at the moment because he is being played out of position but putting effort in.

 

I see your points Jiffie; however, the criticism of LJ and DH was their lack of experience and they didn't know what they were doing or deserved their chance at a club like ours. Whereas NP is the opposite, a vastly experienced manager who should know what to do, and has done at a higher level and arguably bigger clubs than City. Yet, to your point t, it's the same issues, so why can't he coach/manage the players to be doing better than LJ or DH? I 100% agree that they have not been consistent for many years; however, until last season and this, they were never consistently this bad. At least under LJ there were good spells and bad spells, under NP it's all bad spells at the moment.

 

Good points well put.

My response is simple on 2 fronts and again my apologies for the cancer analogy but undiagnosed and untreated it spreads and gets worse over time, if Pearson is sacked and a new man is brought in and the core of this squad is kept, I will bet you nothing will change certainly in the long term and then maybe the penny will drop.

Part of me wants him to be sacked to not only put the poor bloke out of his misery but also to be able to say I told you so.

So moving on who do you honestly believe could polish these turds? because I cannot think of anybody, my belief is that too many are well beyond that point, for me the interesting time will be January and the summer when players like Wells and ODowda so called match winners should be attracting bids from teams in the championship vying for promotion.

 

Your first question is tricky IMO as the starting line up yesterday didn't contain that many players that started in the side 2 years ago or part of a consistent line up over the last 2 years. The likes of Bentley, Kalas, Massengo, Baker, O'Dowda (when used), Weimann seem fairly consistent to me.. New players have been added, but not sure we have improved.......but could be down to the tactics implemented.....It's how I see it..
Second question, is to do with individual players and individual performances..which I agree, but could be improved or directed better.......but not to do with my point regarding style of play.. I'm desperately wanting NP to try different things....instruct them to press high, shut down quickly and keep possession better, using 1 and 2 touch quick move and pass........I'm not calling for NP's head, unless he's hell bent on keeping with the same format which isn't working..

 

Well if that is your idea of consistency we are f*****. Here is part of my problem Bentley is considered one of the best keepers in our division and Kalas had a great Euros but neither seem to have had interest from bigger clubs, pro football is a small world, maybe they know something that we do not? yes they have been ok, Massengo needs to improve his long passing, assists and a few goals would help, Baker has generally been good this season, ODowda needs to prove that he is a match winner doing it around a year ago at QPR is not good enough and Weimann needs dropping he is not and will never be consistent and when his standards drop so should he, I am as you know not a great lover of Wells, he has been a failure, but over the past 3 games I am amazed that Weimann is still being picked over him.

We don't have the players fit enough to maintain a high press, that should be obvious, IMHO we need fully fit Williams and James in their to achieve that with Scott and Massengo.

The only change I can see with what we have available at present is either width with Semenyo and ODowda, or even Semenyo or ODowda up front with Martin.

 

We do have the players for high press and I've seen on occasions when we close down and I've seen us, touch and move.....The problem is, it's in short bursts and then we revert back to sitting back and playing long... Either it's instructions from NP or the players themselves are doing their own thing....my money is on the instructions from the dugout...

 

Yes when either James or Williams are playing, my money is on players not being able to sustain it, I cannot believe for 1 minute that Pearson would want that, James and Williams are usually blowing out of their arses by around the hour mark, because neither are fully fit Williams we know about but I reckon James has been carry an injury for a very long time, Scott is the same but that is down to his age, recently even Massengo and Weimann have been struggling to maintain their normal all action displays.

 

You watch different to me then....Weimann and Massengo especially, never stop running

 

The 3 players you pick out are players with flair and need like minded players around them to get the full potential.
As for Palmer, it seems he’s not part of NP’s style of football…whatever that might be..

 

Tbf
Palmer has been to enough clubs and players to question your theory.

 

Maybe not the right ones!!

 

I think it will be a yardstick of how interested (or otherwise) Lansdown is in the football club come the January window, and how much, if any, monies are allowed to be spent.
It may also depend on how long the likes of Baker and co will be out for.

 

Yet again economical with the truth and reality, Palmer was not part of LJ's, Holden's or Steve Cooper's style of football.