Sheff special

Anything yellow and blue
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Kernow Yellow
Grumpy old git
Posts: 3075
Joined: Thu May 11, 2006 5:16 pm

Sheff special

Post by Kernow Yellow »

The forum's back! The weekend seems a long time ago now, but here goes:

Doing the double over a team that must have the biggest budget in the division is a fine achievement, but that was a strange game of football. We looked completely lost for the first quarter of the match - no discernible game plan, and individual errors aplenty. Wednesday, by contrast, were physical, incisive and had a clear strategy - close us down, pick us off, don't expend too much energy doing so. But after they took an early lead, everything lacked intensity, both on the pitch and in the stands. Why didn't the Owls try to kill us off? We were there for the taking - surely they knew we weren't likely to play that badly for 90 minutes? Instead they time-wasted their way through the rest of the first half, which meant that our equaliser was as satisfying as it was unexpected.

In the second half the game woke up, and in truth we rode our luck. The switch to three at the back created gaps for us to maraud into, but also meant our midfield looked out of shape when the visitors had the ball. Right to the end Wednesday had their chances, but for once we were more clinical and snuck the three points. Our desire to see it out was the most impressive aspect of the afternoon - despite finishing with neither of our first-choice centre backs on the pitch. And for me, the funniest thing was seeing Wednesday resort to their plan B after falling behind late on - which was basically bring on a fat lad with a long throw. Strange, as they were technically much better with the ball at their feet - their goals were both very well worked, and the second particularly had me purring.

A word for Mark Sykes, who was comfortably our best player. Taylor back to his poaching best, and a decent performance from Bodin given his lack of opportunities. Long did well after moving centrally, but full backs are an area of concern, as is squad depth generally given that we have a number of players taking up places that we don't seem to trust or are injured - Forde, Hanson, Agyei, Cooper, Gorrin, Mousinho.

The transfer window will be interesting. Hopefully we've moved on from rumours of a player coming in who I last saw play against us at the Manor!
slappy
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Re: Sheff special

Post by slappy »

A great result in front of our first 10K home crowd for a few years even if we didn't deserve to win.
Hopefully some of the extra fans will be tempted back for Portsmouth etc.

Regarding the Defoe speculation, it was tricky trying to phrase the question in the pub beforehand. Which professional footballer who is still playing now, scored at the Manor Ground? [technically out of contract now, not playing in English football]

Would we want him, he's now 39, would he want a huge way for four months? Might he just get a bit bored and end up being a bit like Dave Kitson, taking one last pay-cheque and not giving 100%.

Also Sam Winall has finally hit the net this season, OK it's just one, but might be a tough decision to shift him out on loan right now after that.
Kernow Yellow
Grumpy old git
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Re: Sheff special

Post by Kernow Yellow »

slappy wrote: Wed Jan 26, 2022 6:25 pm Also Sam Winall has finally hit the net this season, OK it's just one, but might be a tough decision to shift him out on loan right now after that.
Shortly after Winnall came on, I remarked that it was the first time I had seen him play where he had not given away a free-kick before touching the ball. This proved to be a good omen, as he scored an excellent goal. But he's had long enough to prove whether he can do that on a regular basis, hasn't he? If we don't get someone else in then he needs to stay as back-up, but I'm sure we can do better.

A couple of times he also, bizarrely, took up a position ten yards or more ahead of the Owls backline when we had a goal kick or free kick, and as the kick was taken he ran back to meet the ball in the air and flick it on, catching the defender by surprise. On neither occasion was he flagged offside. Very dozy linesman!
Dr Bob
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Location: Nottingham

Re: Sheff special

Post by Dr Bob »

I agree with everything said here about our performance overall, and befuddlement over how SWed failed to get anything from the game. But I'll take it. I do not normally pick up on little details, but I did spot Winnall having a quiet word with Bodin as he went over to take that corner. Winnall clearly has a good football brain, and with Bodin delivering a perfect corner, we scored from a set-piece! More of that please.

As for signings, would Defoe just be a sub to replace Taylor? Not kept track of his career, but as he has got older has he played in deeper roles, or indeed any position that would allow him and Taylor to play together? Would he really be happy just playing a supporting role? I also suspect that the other clubs linked with him would offer a better payday. I can still picture the goal he scored against us at The Manor whilst on loan at Bournemouth - one of the few goals scored by the away team that I recall being applauded by the home fans.
Isaac
Dashing young thing
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Joined: Thu May 18, 2006 9:32 am

Re: Sheff special

Post by Isaac »

Certainly were lucky, but Wednesday missed their chances and we got stronger as the game went on so at the same time it felt like we sort of deserved to win. I too saw the chat between Bodin and Winnall, although you'd hope a front post whipped in corner is not something they only come up with on the day.

Last few games I think we've looked vulnerable down the wings and then our centre backs get out of position. Whether this is because our full backs push up a lot (Seddon in particular) or because of a lack of a defensive midfielder I'm not sure, but the switch to 3-5-2 resolved it. Can't see us going for this very often though, given Robinson's love of wingers.

As for Defoe, it seems like a different life thinking back to those 2 goals against us, although like today there was a lot of discussion about a new stadium. That was a truly terrible Oxford team admittedly but he looked a completely different level to the other players that day. I'm not sure why we'd sign him now, at best you'd think he's going to be a sub for Taylor, when really we need someone who can give Taylor a proper rest occasionally. I look forward to being proven wrong! Apart from Taylor, the other positions I think we'd struggle to replace are left back and centre back. Especially now Thorniley has gone. I suspect we're looking for cover for positions rather than first choice options.
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