Sheffield United 0 Liverpool 2 (Dec 6 2023)

[tlw content]

 

Sheffield United are as bad a Premier League as we’ve seen and this performance was barely good enough to beat them. Wretched, worse than the Luton game, because Luton are much better than these. I didn't enjoy a single minute of this game, it was awful.

 

But we won and we’re in great shape when you look at the table. I do feel a little uneasy about us after this though, particularly after what happened at Luton. Our away form hasn’t been too impressive so far and this was a good opportunity to rack up a comfortable win and bang in a few goals. I’d have felt more confident about us moving forward if we’d done that, but after seeing this I still have that nagging doubt about us in games like this. You can’t drop points to shite because there are enough decent sides that will take points from you. Look at Fulham at the weekend, they played really well and we almost came unstuck.

 

I said after that game I didn’t think we played as badly as a lot of other people did. Sometimes when you’re just a bit off and the opponent plays well, it can be trouble. That was what happened on Sunday. This wasn’t that. Sheffield United are genuinely terrible and we made really hard work of it. You can’t just put this down to “one of those nights” because our overall body of work against the body teams these last couple of years points to a trend. We don’t perform against them.

 

Some will put that down to complacency, but it can’t be. After dropping points at Luton there’s no way we were taking the Blades lightly. So why did we look so impotent? To me it has to be tactical. I don’t know what the fuck we were even trying to do.

 

I’m not going to make this about Trent and the inverted full back thing. It isn’t specifically that, although that’s part of it and it’s fair to wonder whether it’s something that helps us against shite. We’ve been the best team in the league since that switch was made for that Arsenal game last season, and that record speaks for itself I guess. 

 

And Trent played well in this game. It’s not about him, or about where he plays. But if you’re going to do that and you have Joe Gomez on the left, then most of the play is coming down the middle. Chris Wilder knew that and he’ll have been delighted by it. Just as Luton were. It’s easier to play against us when the width isn’t there. The space is down the sides and we ignored it for most of the game. It’s a regular thing and it’s frustrating.

 

But we won, and we’re second in the table and the only reason we aren’t top is because of what happened at Spurs, so it seems somewhat churlish complaining about it. I just think it’s a problem that might bite us in the arse again and with every point likely to be crucial, I want to see us adapt our tactics when we face shite, especially away from home.

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[bossy]

I’ve been saying for a while now that while I know what we want to do - win, I don’t anlways understand how we are going about it tactically. If we are playing well, quick passes to feet and smart movement, it doesn’t matter as we have fantastic individual footballers, but then we have these games where we pass it about at the back endlessly, seemingly scared to progress the ball forward. What are we expecting to happen, that the opposition will let us play through them without challenge? It’s weird. 
Anyway, a win is worth two in the hand and all that, so not unhappy overall.

[TheSire]

I think we're intimidated by the noise at these tighter grounds when we're away against shite. We seem jittery at times and loom uncomfortable and a bit awkward in our play. It's definitely mental as we're so hard to beat at home.

[Judge]

Spot on, Dave.

 

We enter a very tough period. By not being able to control games better, our key players have to run more and be on the pitch longer than what is ideal. It will effect us in the long run.

 

The only players performing to a high standard these days are IMO 

Virgil, Trent, Szloboszlai, and, to some extent; Darwin.

 

Middle standard: 

Allison, Gomez, Tsimikas, Konate, McAllister, Jones, Gravenberch, Elliot, Gakpo, Endo

 

Way below expected standard: 

Salah, Diaz and Kelleher

 

In other words: most of our players have to sharpen their performances if we are talking about a title challenge.

 

[Red_or_Dead]

Mo has been poor for a few weeks but was consistently pretty good in the early part of the season.

 

Diaz is a big worry though.

 

 

[DaveT]

They did a half decent job of dragging us down to their level, adopting the role of lower division team, working hard, febrile crowd behind them and not shy to stick a foot in, making it a scrappy horrible spectacle.  Couldn’t believe they only had 12 fouls given against them, there must have been 5 in the first 15 minutes. Amazing that the x-rated foul on Mac Allister was brushed over.
Too many brain farts from us for comfort. Trent is a joy to watch on the ball but he sometimes looks like he’s never had any basic defensive coaching. Keown saying they should have had a penalty for Konate’s gentle push, but of course no mention of Virg nearly being de-shirted. 

As for Darwin, irresponsibly any direct goal involvements, we are FAR more dangerous with him on the pitch than not. I keep leaving him in my fantasy team because it feels like he’s about to start banging them in any time now. Come on, Darwin, prove me right.

[Supremolad]

We've always had more than a few of this type of away games even at our absolute peak. Even when we had width with fullbacks bombing on, we didnt comfortably beat teams away from home everytime. In fact in the title winning season, didn't we just manage to sneak a lucky one nil win at Sheffield Utd through a goalkeeping howler?

 

It's true we didnt play well but I believe it is being overblown here. Just because they are crap doesnt mean they would always roll over. City only managed a late winner there. Spurs and Utd only managed tight wins over them too. And we simply cant discount that those players yesterday were all giving extra effort because of their new manager.

[Le Duan]

Maybe we need an “Away Game Coach”? We seem to have a coach for every other aspect

[aws]

The reason we struggle against poor teams away is usually more a reflection of their performance than any arrogance or tactical weakness on our part. They set up to make it like a FA Cup tie against a really big scalp, are very happy to sit deep and wait for a breakaway or set-piece,  put maximum effort in and get very physical (usually aided and abetted by a ref keen to “let the game flow “ ). If we don’t score early, they draw strength from that as the crowd gets even more excited.  
 

To them it’s a cup final, to us it’s three points. It’s not unusual to see them crash back to their usual level in the next game. 

[Reckoner]

Diaz might still be suffering from the impact of his dad being kidnapped. Trauma like that probably doesn’t just heal straight away. It would be emotionally exhausting.

We were fucking awful.

[dave u]

22 minutes ago, Reckoner said:

Diaz might still be suffering from the impact of his dad being kidnapped. Trauma like that probably doesn’t just heal straight away. It would be emotionally exhausting.

We were fucking awful.

 

He's playing exactly the way he was before that though. He got some goals which kind of masked the fact he wasn't playing to his usual level.

[Reckoner]

33 minutes ago, dave u said:

 

He's playing exactly the way he was before that though. He got some goals which kind of masked the fact he wasn't playing to his usual level.

That’s true but he was returning from an injury. He looked boss when he first came back, I hope he’s not totally fucked his knee up as he looks jaded.

[Bobby Hundreds]

I just don't like the way we play, I think it's largely dull and regardless of how superior we are its like we level the playing field as much as we can ourselves. Often it feels like we are playing 2 4 4 with the front 8  of our players crammed amongst 11 of there's and we keep so much possession just struggling to make space and shit bricks if we missplace a pass. Nunez couldn't finish a chocolate button but he adds spark to the team.

 

I'm a broken record I just don't know what we are. I dont like watching us. We have these players with unique brilliant attributes but we don't want to get the best of those attributes or we don't know how like the idea on the whiteboard and tactics have consumed everything else. Don't get me wrong I'd take the grim performances for the 3 points, I'm more of an opinion though that the points will eventually reflect the performances, hopefully it clicks.

 

I think my opinion is just tainted by football overall. We've been amazing and walked away with nothing because of cheating. City have made it because of cheating that you need to be almost flawless and its created false expectations. Then there's VAR and all the bullshit. Fucking just weary of it. Its like a sibling that grinds on you, you can't walk away but sometimes you think see you later rather than sooner.

 

We've the bones of a great side, I still think we fell short in the summer transfer window. We need an ambitious push for players in positions we need. Like Arsenal having the bollocks to just go big on Rice because the was the man who would best improve them in that position, like we did in the past with Alisson and VVD no compromise we mean business there's leagues to be won.

 

Like I said false expectations. Weve signed really good players. 

[Supremolad]

It's a big reactionary shout for a fan to say they don't like watching these Reds play in a season which has been miles better than what was offered last season.

 

In a season with new exciting players contributing to some excellent performances and great wins despite the amount of outrageous shite thrown their way like 4 red cards within the first 7 games, bullshit decisions like an extra game ban for the captain, a blatant robbery at Spurs in addition to other dodgy decisons in other games. Add injuries to 1st choice goalie, 1st choice LB, 2nd choice CB out for the season, our 2nd top scorer injured, a player having his father kidnapped etc.

 

All of that and we are a win away from being top of the league on Saturday afternoon. Won the Europa group and also have a league cup qfinal. If all of this with the context applied isnt enough to elicit some happiness, then I guess it's truly time to just pack it in watching Liverpool and football.

[Bobby Hundreds]

Controversy has happened to every single club this season, as have injuries, City and Arsenal missing massive players. We are grinding our results which is great especially compared to last season. It is a transition season and that's mostly because we don't improve our team when we should, we go windows doing nothing even if we are crying out for something. The position we are in I'm made up with as if we click then with the players we have the sky is the limit but it's if we click. I dont like how we play, I can't change that opinion because we sit second in the table. You can show me stats showing how dominant in games we are but it still doesnt change what i see when i watch us. I dont get the massive risk reward way we play against 90 percent of the teams in this league, when most the teams in this league are happy for you to condense their half of the pitch and leave acres of space for them to hit balls into. Weve turned our defending into just being a race as soon as we lose that foot race a couple of times in a row we begin to look all over the place. Those foot races can't be good for our defenders injury levels especially on the right. 

 

This can also change in an instant I'm talking of how we play mostly so far, every game from today until the end of the season could change that view. We've seen it before with Klopp when the side just starts purring. The risk reward tactics may seem more palatable if our players could be more clinical especially at vital times. I dont know I just think we give dogshit teams an outlet they basically live for.

 

[Creator Supreme]

It all feels very much like watching a Houllier team at the moment, with a Rodgers defensive set up. Like we're trying to play on the break but we don't have the defensive players to do it properly.

 

Could it be down to injuries and trying to build a new squad? Probably.

 

We don't blow teams away anymore, and that excitement isn't there at the moment so we aren't very good to watch.

 

Winning papers over the cracks, and as long as that continues we'll be OK. When it stops......I remember 2002/03, it was fucking painful.

[sir roger]

30 minutes ago, Creator Supreme said:

It all feels very much like watching a Houllier team at the moment, with a Rodgers defensive set up. Like we're trying to play on the break but we don't have the defensive players to do it properly.

 

Don't see that at all. 

 

[aws]

12 minutes ago, sir roger said:

 

Don't see that at all. 

 

Looks like the complete opposite to me. 

[dave u]

I take back what I said about this game.

 

Today is somehow even worse so far!

[Supremolad]

1 hour ago, dave u said:

I take back what I said about this game.

 

Today is somehow even worse so far!

And still ended with 3 pts and top of the league. 

[Supremolad]

Some really short memories here. "We don't blow teams away anymore", "we are not playing great", "our style is like Houllier era". Fucking hell.

 

We won 10 straight home games with a mimimum two goal margin for the first time ever in our history. Had a few 3 goal and 4 goal winning margin this season in various games. In a 38 game season, we aren't going to blow teams away every week. Even financially doped City often have more than a few single goal wins. Check their results in title winning seasons.

 

Anyway, paraphrasing Shankly "here we are with massive problems at the top of the league". I'll take that.

[aws]

On 08/12/2023 at 13:41, aws said:

The reason we struggle against poor teams away is usually more a reflection of their performance than any arrogance or tactical weakness on our part. They set up to make it like a FA Cup tie against a really big scalp, are very happy to sit deep and wait for a breakaway or set-piece,  put maximum effort in and get very physical (usually aided and abetted by a ref keen to “let the game flow “ ). If we don’t score early, they draw strength from that as the crowd gets even more excited.  
 

To them it’s a cup final, to us it’s three points. It’s not unusual to see them crash back to their usual level in the next game. 

Groundhog Day.