Sheffield United 5-0 Post Match Thread

[HighPeakFox]

6 minutes ago, sacreblueits442 said:

...without the plethora of injuries, we will have a squad to legitimately rotate!!!

  The injuries were the problem, not the run of games.

Correct. And said plethora of injuries is less likely when the season is less condensed next time out.

[whoareyaaa]

15 hours ago, Col city fan said:

We took some time to break them down but once we scored the first we were always going to get more

Makes us 8 clear of 5th place I think?

Anyone know when Maddison will be back in the frame again?

Iheanacho was lethal today, Perez was superb and Vardy was his usual energetic self. 
I’m not of the mind he’s scoring days are gone. On another day he’d have had a brace today and I think he’ll get his shooting boots back on soon

I think having Kel up there with Vardy and with Kel also banging them in it takes some pressure and burden off Vardy and will probably allow him more time on the pitch, he can't do what he did a couple of years ago leading the line on his own and scoring all the time he has to adapt his game if we want him around for as long as possible.. 2 up top seems to be the way to go.. fair play to the Brendan

[David Hankey]

Nice to see Leicester City bring their tally to over 50 goals scored so far this season.

 

Ironically the Blades have now conceded 50. What amazes me is given yesterday's performance how on earth have they amassed 14 points?!!

[Iran]

 

Edited 15 March 2021 by Iran

[sacreblueits442]

9 hours ago, Deeg67 said:

I still hate the back 5. 

 

Obviously a superb 2nd half but I don’t think one should ignore the level of competition - they were beaten dogs.  As dominant as we were Ricardo and Timmy were pretty anonymous for the most part - you can see they don’t thrive in the wing back role.  It’s a conundrum admittedly, because the easiest way to get Kelechi on the pitch with Vardy is using that formation.  But against a decent side I don’t think it’s a good option.

...a 4-4-2, serves just as well!!!

It all turned out well, we are not the best at playing with a back three, we have a tendency to push the Wingbacks up the pitch and the left and right sided Centre Halfs especially Soyuncu tend not to want to come wide and engage the attacker and would rather hold their position centrally. We played with a high line and against Sheffield you can get away with it but better teams would use the space vacated by our Wingbacks and pull us apart. Brighton forced the Centre Halfs  to come wider than they wanted to creating a chasm to drive through.

[An Away Move]

Just how good were Fofana, Evans and Cags yesterday? It’s gone under the radar a touch. A lot of teams would look at the back three with envy. We’re blessed at fullback too. Happy days. 

[leicesterseddon]

10 hours ago, Deeg67 said:

I still hate the back 5. 

 

Obviously a superb 2nd half but I don’t think one should ignore the level of competition - they were beaten dogs.  As dominant as we were Ricardo and Timmy were pretty anonymous for the most part - you can see they don’t thrive in the wing back role.  It’s a conundrum admittedly, because the easiest way to get Kelechi on the pitch with Vardy is using that formation.  But against a decent side I don’t think it’s a good option.

I feel the same really. I like two up front, but still not convinced a back three is best for us. 
 

At the risk of sounding like Mike Bassett, maybe we should play 4-4-2? Or at least, 4-4-2 in some games?

 

To be fair, the ‘diamond’ has served us well in some games...

[HighPeakFox]

7 minutes ago, leicesterseddon said:

I feel the same really. I like two up front, but still not convinced a back three is best for us. 
 

At the risk of sounding like Mike Bassett, maybe we should play 4-4-2? Or at least, 4-4-2 in some games?

 

To be fair, the ‘diamond’ has served us well in some games...

I think the fairest thing to do is see what is done when we have the full compliment back fit.

[Deeg67]

10 minutes ago, leicesterseddon said:

I feel the same really. I like two up front, but still not convinced a back three is best for us. 
 

At the risk of sounding like Mike Bassett, maybe we should play 4-4-2? Or at least, 4-4-2 in some games?

 

To be fair, the ‘diamond’ has served us well in some games...

Some sort of 4-4-2 or diamond can work once we have Praet back and ready to go for an hour or more.  And I would like that better than 5 at the back for sure.

[Finnegan]

10 hours ago, Deeg67 said:

I still hate the back 5. 

 

Obviously a superb 2nd half but I don’t think one should ignore the level of competition - they were beaten dogs.  As dominant as we were Ricardo and Timmy were pretty anonymous for the most part - you can see they don’t thrive in the wing back role.  It’s a conundrum admittedly, because the easiest way to get Kelechi on the pitch with Vardy is using that formation.  But against a decent side I don’t think it’s a good option.

 

It's a system that doesn't lend itself to creative, possession based attacking football. There's a reason Pep has near exclusively favoured four at the back consistently throughout his career and equally a reason that pragmatic managers like Conte and Allegri like 352.

 

But even I've got to admit it's the best use of our squad at the moment. 

 

We shouldn't get complacent about it because Sheffield United are shit but for my money, any time Vards and Nacho have started with Perez behind them it's looked OK. Nacho is best with Vards as a partner and Perez is best when he's central behind a striker or two. 

 

It's currently the formation that lets us play our best available players all together, I think we need to persist with it until Madders and Barnes are back at least. 

 

What we do then will be a real challenge for Rodgers with Nacho in this form. But I think that's what we call a good problem. 

[Deeg67]

A midfield four of Praet, Perez, Tielemans and Ndidi with two strikers can work, whether it's a diamond with Perez at the point or Perez and Praet playing next to each other below the strikers.  In that kind of formation Castagne and Pereira will be able to provide decent width.

Edited 15 March 2021 by Deeg67

[Scotch]

2 minutes ago, Finnegan said:

 

It's a system that doesn't lend itself to creative, possession based attacking football. There's a reason Pep has near exclusively favoured four at the back consistently throughout his career and equally a reason that pragmatic managers like Conte and Allegri like 352.

 

But even I've got to admit it's the best use of our squad at the moment. 

 

We shouldn't get complacent about it because Sheffield United are shit but for my money, any time Vards and Nacho have started with Perez behind them it's looked OK. Nacho is best with Vards as a partner and Perez is best when he's central behind a striker or two. 

 

It's currently the formation that lets us play our best available players all together, I think we need to persist with it until Madders and Barnes are back at least. 

 

What we do then will be a real challenge for Rodgers with Nacho in this form. But I think that's what we call a good problem. 

I think it CAN be a creative system with the right players in place. 

 

Ricky and Tim have both struggled since returning from injury. Neither has been on the top of their game but WHEN they get back to that level, they are both good attacking outlets. Youri in a deep lying playmaker role controls the game. Maddison in the form he's been in before injury behind the front two of Kel and Vardy in the kind of form they showed yesterday and that's 6 top quality attacking players. 

 

Not to say that I think that is the formation for us but I think it COULD be an attacking system with a fully fit squad at the peak of their ability. 

[Lionator]

22 minutes ago, SydenhamFox said:

Just how good were Fofana, Evans and Cags yesterday? It’s gone under the radar a touch. A lot of teams would look at the back three with envy. We’re blessed at fullback too. Happy days. 

I think me, you and a tottering Prince Phillip would look good as a back three against Billy Sharp and that Sheffield United attack.

 

Not to take anything away from those three though, as a three I'm not sure it gets much better in the league.

[Deeg67]

4 minutes ago, Lionator said:

I think me, you and a tottering Prince Phillip would look good as a back three against Billy Sharp and that Sheffield United attack.

 

Not to take anything away from those three though, as a three I'm not sure it gets much better in the league.

Yes, really their only duty all day was to try to help in the attack.  I thought Fofana was actually more of a threat going forward than Ricardo.

[Dorkingfox]

4 minutes ago, Deeg67 said:

Yes, really their only duty all day was to try to help in the attack.  I thought Fofana was actually more of a threat going forward than Ricardo.

Problem was Ricardo had a tight groin, so they took him off.

[Finnegan]

5 minutes ago, Foxy_Bear said:

think it CAN be a creative system with the right players in place. 

 

You can play almost any type of football in almost any formation. Man City HAVE played 352 a couple of times, I'm not suggesting it can't be done at all.

 

But it's not ideal. 

 

An important component of playing possession football is stretching the pitch, and thus the area the defence has to cover, as wide as possible. 

 

4231/433 has the wingers and full backs both dragging the defence and midfield width ways, Vardy pushing up dragging the centre halfs back towards their own goal. This then creates a massive amount of space in the middle of the park for Tielemans and Maddison to work in and run the game. 

 

You don't really get the same with only wing backs out in those wide spaces, especially if the opposition essentially call your bluff and play with very advanced wide players than pin your wing backs back in to playing like full backs. 

 

Plus there's the simple fact that one extra player you have on the pitch is a centre back. What we tend to do then is still play Wilf to protect them, so you've sacrificed four players to all be defensive central players which could have been an extra attacker or creative midfielder. These players don't get in to the final third and really contribute like a modern full back would have. 

 

These are all things a team with world class players can still over come but I'm not sure we're dominant enough to pull it off against a better side than Sheffield United. 

 

But, again, right now it probably is our best bet. 

[SpacedX]

24 minutes ago, Finnegan said:

We shouldn't get complacent about it because Sheffield United are shit

No idea why I found this so amusing. 

[Finnegan]

2 minutes ago, Line-X said:

No idea why I found this so amusing. 

 

 

[Deeg67]

9 minutes ago, Dorkingfox said:

Problem was Ricardo had a tight groin, so they took him off.

Except he's been no threat in any of the games he started as a wingback/winger.  He's a right back and that's where he needs to play.

Edited 15 March 2021 by Deeg67

[tickler28]

18 hours ago, Super_horns said:

All you need is Spurs not to win and West Ham lose and be a perfect weekend 

Can I be greedy and hope that Liverpool don't win tonight just to top off a mint weekend of results?

[Scotch]

11 minutes ago, Finnegan said:

 

You can play almost any type of football in almost any formation. Man City HAVE played 352 a couple of times, I'm not suggesting it can't be done at all.

 

But it's not ideal. 

 

An important component of playing possession football is stretching the pitch, and thus the area the defence has to cover, as wide as possible. 

 

4231/433 has the wingers and full backs both dragging the defence and midfield width ways, Vardy pushing up dragging the centre halfs back towards their own goal. This then creates a massive amount of space in the middle of the park for Tielemans and Maddison to work in and run the game. 

 

You don't really get the same with only wing backs out in those wide spaces, especially if the opposition essentially call your bluff and play with very advanced wide players than pin your wing backs back in to playing like full backs. 

 

Plus there's the simple fact that one extra player you have on the pitch is a centre back. What we tend to do then is still play Wilf to protect them, so you've sacrificed four players to all be defensive central players which could have been an extra attacker or creative midfielder. These players don't get in to the final third and really contribute like a modern full back would have. 

 

These are all things a team with world class players can still over come but I'm not sure we're dominant enough to pull it off against a better side than Sheffield United. 

 

But, again, right now it probably is our best bet. 

I think that is why we saw Vardy drift left alot yesterday. I also spotted a fair few times when Nacho came deep, Perez drifted into the space he vacated. 

 

One of the benefits to having that spare CB though is that, if its someone like Fofana who is good on the ball, when he carries the ball put of defense, it makes the opposition make a decision on who closes him down. One of the midfielders has to go to him which creates a gap behind them. Or alternatively, a wide player tucks in to put the pressure on him, creating that space on the wing for our WB. 

[AKCJ]

Until Maddison and Barnes are back, I think this has to be the team.

 

The 3-4-1-2 gets the most players into their most preferred positions. Perez is a completely different animal when playing behind the strikers in that role he played yezsterday.

 

Iheanacho's form makes him undroppable, Vardy is undroppable because he's Vardy and we don't have enough quality wingers to play the 3-4-3 or the 4-3-3 right now.

 

KASPER

FOFANA EVANS SOYUNCU

RICARDI NDIDI TIELEMANS CASTAGNE
PEREZ
IHEANACHO VARDY

 

[AKCJ]

44 minutes ago, Finnegan said:

 

It's a system that doesn't lend itself to creative, possession based attacking football. There's a reason Pep has near exclusively favoured four at the back consistently throughout his career and equally a reason that pragmatic managers like Conte and Allegri like 352.

 

But even I've got to admit it's the best use of our squad at the moment. 

 

We shouldn't get complacent about it because Sheffield United are shit but for my money, any time Vards and Nacho have started with Perez behind them it's looked OK. Nacho is best with Vards as a partner and Perez is best when he's central behind a striker or two. 

 

It's currently the formation that lets us play our best available players all together, I think we need to persist with it until Madders and Barnes are back at least. 

 

What we do then will be a real challenge for Rodgers with Nacho in this form. But I think that's what we call a good problem. 

I honestly think Sheffield United performed worse than Southampton did in the game we won 9-0. They were unbelievably bad. 

[Finnegan]

7 minutes ago, Foxy_Bear said:

One of the benefits to having that spare CB though is that, if its someone like Fofana who is good on the ball, when he carries the ball put of defense, it makes the opposition make a decision on who closes him down.

 

Sure. There's always pros and cons. 

 

Unfortunately, the pro of just having really good width from really good wide players (as opposed to auxiliary options from your strikers drifting wide or wing backs etc) is just such an important one to making our brand of football consistently successful. It's why we routinely struggle to break teams down playing with 5atb.

 

Again, unless they can't defend for fvck, a la Sheff U yesterday. 

[Finnegan]

3 minutes ago, AKCJ said:

I honestly think Sheffield United performed worse than Southampton did in the game we won 9-0. They were unbelievably bad. 

 

The defending for Nacho's third wasn't just bad, it didn't exist. 

 

I'm pretty sure defenders were running AWAY from him