Sheff Utd Match Reaction

[Ricey]

I'm left feeling gutted and angered after watching that.

First half we played very well and were the better side, we played some good stuff and created chances. Then Rab ****s things up by making a half hearted attempt to get the ball and bringing Ifill down.

Second half we started well which resulted in the goal, after that we carried on pressing. However it went dead fpr awhile and in typical Leicester fashion we fell asleep. The ref then baffles everyone when he awards a penalty for the ball youching Nissas chest. 2-1, heads down.

Defensively after their 2nd goal we were appauling, why was Gillespie left totally free on that right side to swing in a cross for Ifill. Then Rab does exactly the same ****ing thing! He comes out, hesitates and just stands there with his arms out letting them score. What an awful debut.

Our full backs seemed to give their wingers (and their full backs from corners) no end of room, we never learn.

Miserable start, after all the optimism we are now left with negativity.

We have to beat Stoke.

[Mark]

The difference was the reinforcements Sheff United had. For backup strikers, they had Kabba who is a quality player, and would walk into our line up, we have Hammond who hasn't yet scored a goal. De Vries does well at holding up the ball but what else? Fair play to him working hard in training to sort his fitness out but we cannot stick by him for half the season when he's holding us back, the season will be over. We could have won easily today if he took his chances.

Overall though for 75 minutes, we were by far the better side, created so many chances for De Vries to not take advantage of. To think how the game could have gone if we had a striker to partner Connolly. Douglas had a nightmare game, but we was warned about that.

Williams was the best player out there today, but will he keep that up?

[Knighton Matt]

I'm left feeling gutted and angered after watching that.

First half we played very well and were the better side, we played some good stuff and created chances. Then Rab ****s things up by making a half hearted attempt to get the ball and bringing Ifill down.

Second half we started well which resulted in the goal, after that we carried on pressing. However it went dead fpr awhile and in typical Leicester fashion we fell asleep. The ref then baffles everyone when he awards a penalty for the ball youching Nissas chest. 2-1, heads down.

Defensively after their 2nd goal we were appauling, why was Gillespie left totally free on that right side to swing in a cross for Ifill. Then Rab does exactly the same ****ing thing! He comes out, hesitates and just stands there with his arms out letting them score. What an awful debut.

Our full backs seemed to give their wingers (and their full backs from corners) no end of room, we never learn.

Miserable start, after all the optimism we are now left with negativity.

We have to beat Stoke.

151138[/snapback]

Largely agree up to 2-1. Unfortunately after that I fainted on seeing Gillespie deliver his first decent cross in 3 years so I can't comment on the rest...

[Fox 4 Life]

Hopefully he will, with Hughes back and Jason "long ball" Wilcox off the pitch I think we will be ok!

[BMR]

The difference was the reinforcements Sheff United had. For backup strikers, they had Kabba who is a quality player, and would walk into our line up, we have Hammond who hasn't yet scored a goal. De Vries does well at holding up the ball but what else? Fair play to him working hard in training to sort his fitness out but we cannot stick by him for half the season when he's holding us back, the season will be over. We could have won easily today if he took his chances.

Overall though for 75 minutes, we were by far the better side, created so many chances for De Vries to not take advantage of. To think how the game could have gone if we had a striker to partner Connolly. Douglas had a nightmare game, but we was warned about that.

Williams was the best player out there today, but will he keep that up?

151142[/snapback]

Mark, i think you are spot on, we desperately need more back up, money is the problem there, but more importantly as you said we need a partner for Connoly, i'm convinced Connolly is good enough, we just need someone with him other than scaredy cat depp freeze, although it was an improvement today, i loathe to blame refs but appalling decision for a pivotal moment, oh well, onwards and upwards

[Ricey]

The difference was the reinforcements Sheff United had. For backup strikers, they had Kabba who is a quality player, and would walk into our line up, we have Hammond who hasn't yet scored a goal. De Vries does well at holding up the ball but what else? Fair play to him working hard in training to sort his fitness out but we cannot stick by him for half the season when he's holding us back, the season will be over. We could have won easily today if he took his chances.

Overall though for 75 minutes, we were by far the better side, created so many chances for De Vries to not take advantage of. To think how the game could have gone if we had a striker to partner Connolly. Douglas had a nightmare game, but we was warned about that.

Williams was the best player out there today, but will he keep that up?

151142[/snapback]

Agreed, de Vries was awful today. He did little wrong but he did not nearly enough right.

Williams looked good, as did Joey I thought.

[Libertine]

Absolutely gutted. We were by far the better team for 75 mins, then the peno was given, and after that we completely collapsed.

We didn't deserve to lose, especially not by that margin.

Didn't think De Vries was as bad as people are saying, he didn't take his chances well but he had some good play.

Williams was very good, Dc was good, and Sylla was good apart from some crosses.

[davieG]

All this talk of Connolly, Devries, clinical finisihing, back up strikers is missing the point, everyone was saying that our strength was in our defence - sorry I didn't see that today, Maybury should never play right back again, not that he improved when he moved to the left. Johansson was beaten several times in the air, McCarthy has sooooooooo much to learn and Rab Douglas what a nightmare, only Stearman earned any credibility from that game.

A draw and a Connolly goal would have been fine for an opening away game of the season.

Wake up folks we let in 4 goals

We BOTTLED it big time.

Come on Craig kick some arse.

[davieG]

Absolutely gutted. We were by far the better team for 75 mins, then the peno was given, and after that we completely collapsed.

We didn't deserve to lose, especially not by that margin.

Didn't think De Vries was as bad as people are saying, he didn't take his chances well but he had some good play.

Williams was very good, Dc was good, and Sylla was good apart from some crosses.

151156[/snapback]

Of course we deserved to lose, the game lasts 90 minutes and referee decisions are always going to go against you we conceded 3 very bad goals. We got what we deserved FA

[BMR]

All this talk of Connolly, Devries, clinical finisihing, back up strikers is missing the point, everyone was saying that our strength was in our defence - sorry I didn't see that today, Maybury should never play right back again, not that he improved when he moved to the left. Johansson was beaten several times in the air, McCarthy has sooooooooo much to learn and Rab Douglas what a nightmare, only Stearman earned any credibility from that game.

A draw and a Connolly goal would have been fine for an opening away game of the season.

Wake up folks we let in 4 goals

We BOTTLED it big time.

Come on Craig kick some arse.

151157[/snapback]

harsh maybe but we are upset, I think Maybury and Sylla will be good on the right, we did look good for long periods, sadly as has been our downfall we have to accept a game lasts 90 minutes!, all has not yet come together but it will soon I'm sure. Or can we have a bad as season as last, if we do then questions have to be asked, its Leveins team now so lets see it do the talking first. (oh and i have downed a bottle of vodka already so ignore me )

[Knighton Matt]

All this talk of Connolly, Devries, clinical finisihing, back up strikers is missing the point, everyone was saying that our strength was in our defence - sorry I didn't see that today, Maybury should never play right back again, not that he improved when he moved to the left. Johansson was beaten several times in the air, McCarthy has sooooooooo much to learn and Rab Douglas what a nightmare, only Stearman earned any credibility from that game.

A draw and a Connolly goal would have been fine for an opening away game of the season.

Wake up folks we let in 4 goals

We BOTTLED it big time.

Come on Craig kick some arse.

151157[/snapback]

Agreed. For me he's not a first team player he's far too rash and his positioning can sometimes be poor. His tackling is also wild to say the least...

[davieG]

harsh maybe but we are upset, I think Maybury and Sylla will be good on the right, we did look good for long periods, sadly as has been our downfall we have to accept a game lasts 90 minutes!, all has not yet come together but it will soon I'm sure. Or can we have a bad as season as last, if we do then questions have to be asked, its Leveins team now so lets see it do the talking first. (oh and i have downed a bottle of vodka already so ignore me )

151164[/snapback]

Nothing wrong with that post pissed or not

[Muz]

I thought Joey had the best game he has had in a Leicester shirt today , he never gave up and set up Conners for our goal.

Williams looked very good aswell very creative.

Nalis did frig all today except foul

[Parsons]

are strong point was definatly the midfield, i think when we have hughes and kisnorbo back we wil be a force to be reckoned with.

we just have to take are chances, before their second penalty we must of had around six good chaces to score but.... we f****d up.....again..

Sylla will be a very important player for us this season, and i hope Rab can sort him self out.

[Thracian]

Agreed. For me he's not a first team player he's far too rash and his positioning can sometimes be poor. His tackling is also wild to say the least...

151166[/snapback]

Just a question cos I haven't seen him play yet. But is Gerrbrand worse than McCarthy.

If he is why did we sign him?. If he isn't why didn't we play him? That defence of ours needs an organiser and needs one quick.

[Bilko]

Said it all along...DOUGLAS IS CRAP....period. Two of their goals were down to him today. He will continue to cost us...GET RID! Williams outstanding, we weren't worth that result.

[Durnerz]

Just to put a perspective on things, we were playing a side today who have not lost an opening home game for 8 years and have made some quality signings over the summer, that aside we played some brilliant football and deserved more but didnt get it. If Rab Douglas isnt the first man out on that training pitch Monday morning i'll be very surprised, he was awful today and to some extent cost us the game along with the referee's decision to penalise Johansson for chesting the ball. The third could have been avoided had wilcox not gone walkabout and left Gilbert 2 on 1.

On a brighter note our next game isnt far away and the players will be riled up for that one to make a difference, if they're not I don't think they are fit to play for our club.

[filbertway]

Well i didn't expect to come back to all of this . Just me who wasn't too dissapointed with today.

On a lighter note, well played the referee, excellent closing down and played a big part in the goal.

[cisono]

Very demoralising today, agreed.

Trying to focus on the positive side of things, I was impressed with Stearman and, obviously, Connolly. I also liked Wilcox. We did go forward a lot and keep possession.

Our defence, admittedly, was somewhat lacking. Rab was definitely the one that let me down: that foul was really stupid... I somehow expected much more maturity from him. That early episode marked the whole match for sure.... I thought Maybury did well in the first half. I also thought he was supposed to organise the defence (captain and all)? Paddy, oh dear Paddy, I feel for you, mate - you were so close to stopping that goal from happening and you probably could have avoided picking up that yellow card. Pity about that header too: it would have been great if it had been on target! [You're still my favourite player btw]

As to the front, DeVries was certainly stuttering with his feet today. Hope that is not a trend.

I guess the team morale was one of tension and nervousness today. And that is what showed. That second penalty - dubious at the very least - really shook the team's confidence and they failed to react positively in an organised way. The defence looked like a real mess towards the end.

What is perhaps more worrying is that Levein was shell-shocked. If he has no idea why this happened, how is he going to fix it. I hope he figures it out soon... I am not going to second-guess him, as I still haven't seen so many of the players in action.

My wish is for them to pick themselves up asap and do a much better job from now on!

[Thracian]

Very demoralising today, agreed.

Trying to focus on the positive side of things, I was impressed with Stearman and, obviously, Connolly. I also liked Wilcox. We did go forward a lot and keep possession.

Our defence, admittedly, was somewhat lacking. Rab was definitely the one that let me down: that foul was really stupid... I somehow expected much more maturity from him. That early episode marked the whole match for sure.... I thought Maybury did well in the first half. I also thought he was supposed to organise the defence (captain and all)? Paddy, oh dear Paddy, I feel for you, mate - you were so close to stopping that goal from happening and you probably could have avoided picking up that yellow card. Pity about that header too: it would have been great if it had been on target! [You're still my favourite player btw]

As to the front, DeVries was certainly stuttering with his feet today. Hope that is not a trend.

I guess the team morale was one of tension and nervousness today. And that is what showed. That second penalty - dubious at the very least - really shook the team's confidence and they failed to react positively in an organised way. The defence looked like a real mess towards the end.

What is perhaps more worrying is that Levein was shell-shocked. If he has no idea why this happened, how is he going to fix it. I hope he figures it out soon... I am not going to second-guess him, as I still haven't seen so many of the players in action.

My wish is for them to pick themselves up asap and do a much better job from now on!

151233[/snapback]

Me too because I feel like I've been kicked in the b......s and it hurts.

[Anish]

Well i didn't expect to come back to all of this . Just me who wasn't too dissapointed with today.

On a lighter note, well played the referee, excellent closing down and played a big part in the goal.

151217[/snapback]

I agree with you.

It seems that those people who didn't go to the game are quick to express their anger at certain players.

I was at Bramall Lane and I thought we played some cracking stuff for most of the game - until their 2nd goal. I was on the opposite side of the ground so I didn't see the 'handball' clearly, although my mate was in the Sheff Utd Kop and he said it was a handball. Without the benefit of seeing a replay I can't comment, but we all felt it was extremely harsh considering the way the game was balanced.

Anyway, we created numerous chances and carved open their defence really well. There was a lot to be positive about and we looked very good going forward. Shame about the finishing, but I was very happy with most of what I saw.

Their second penalty deflated everyone, the fans included, and we just collapsed. I'm not going to blame anyone for their 3rd or 4th goals (although obviously the defence didn't defend well enough) because I think our whole team was devastated by the penalty. It is a natural reaction to lose your heads when a game that we dominated and played really well in goes against you.

Having said that, I thought Douglas should have done a lot better for the first goal. He should have been in command of his area and he should have been first to the ball well before Ifil. You cannot hesitate in situations like that - he had to be confident and aggressive but he was anything but.

As for De Vries, the first half he wans't great. However, he improved so much in the second half and I was impressed overall. He held the ball well, passed it nicely, and perhaps could have done better with a couple of chances but hey, he did cause their defence a lot of problems.

Joey was also excellent today, showed great commitment and battle. I have to disagree about Williams - he did play some fantastic passes but what the TV cameras wouldn't have showed you was his reluctance to dominate midfield. He did hide on a few occasions and was anonymous for periods without any influence.

[Louise]

Maybury should never play right back again, not that he improved when he moved to the left.

151157[/snapback]

Wasn't Maybury on the left then switched to the right?

There is no use complaining about the penalties given, these things happen in football. We had a lot awarded against us last season under Levein as well, something he might like to look at. We played well for most of the game but with no finishing touch, something most of us have pointed out as a problem since the start of last season. Some of the periods of passing we're truely wonderful after the last few seasons, ten passes together in a row, who would have thought it? Some players showed improved performances on last season (Williams, Gudjonsson, Wilcox) but lets not forget it was the opening game of the season and all three have other players threatening to take their places when fit.

Our set pieces were also poor, we had so many corners but only about two connected with a Leicester player and that was only briefly. And we've still got gaps when we're defending them...

I was willing to give Douglas a chance but he was really awful today, he reminded me a bit of Pressman but even Pressman could make a fantastic save now and again. He is certainly not just as good as Walker as we were told when he was brought in (he's no where near as fit for a start - athletically speaking Cobbo) and apart from the two goals that were his fault (the first pen and the last goal) he also kept confusing the defence by coming out then going back in again, and whenever he was under the slightest bit of pressure with a back-pass he just stuck it out of play (again, not something Walker would do). I'd say bring on Henderson but from what I saw against Inter he's not really that much better, although he does have age on his side a little more.

Even half-fit Connolly was his usual self and I worry that he'll be gone at the end of this season if we don't give him a proper strike partner, it can't be easy knowing you would do better (and getting a certain amount of stick from the fans because of it) just because you don't have someone good enough playing beside yoy. I'm glad he got a goal today instead of having to wait, hopefully for him at least this game will signal a better season. Sylla was good as well.

Obviously after one game league positions don't matter but the fact of it is that we're bottom of the league and we need a win against Stoke not only to stop the fans from turning but to give our side some confidence.

Now that I've explained and ranted fairly rationally, I'd just like to say:

OH MY GOD WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT?!?!?!?!?!?

Thank you.

[Tommy]

Personally, I am not going to let months of waiting and optimism to be destroyed by a poor opening game to the season. I shall wait before I pass my judgement.

It goes to show that you can't judge a team or a season for that matter by the first game when Luton beat Palace 2-1, I have money riding on the fact that they are more pissed than us tonight.

[lush]

Maybury should never play right back again

151157[/snapback]

Can i have some of what your smoking

[lush]

It goes to show that you can't judge a team or a season for that matter by the first game when Luton beat Palace 2-1, I have money riding on the fact that they are more pissed than us tonight.

151272[/snapback]

First game of season is always upredictable, 0-5 bolton, luton, coventry, brighton f****t, crewe and plymouth. maybe ours will seem odd in 10 games time?

I have luton in the handicap E/W, 24 point start 18/1