Aside from our absolute capitulation on set pieces that definitely looks the two best teams in the league. We needed bringing back down to earth a bit and I’m glad it was today and not next Sunday.

We’ve just gone 16 unbeaten and had an off day. Bring on the B******s.

Yer VK got it wrong at the back we could see there would be a problem but there you go .
Look it's a shock but win next week and nobody will be too worried

:It's been coming in my opinion. Second half defensively we were as bad as I can remember. Bur it doesnt help when your 6 foot 6 keeper is like a rabbit in the headlights for every set piece into the box. We move on.

Sheff Utd will be up there come May no doubt, but we made their task a damn sight easier 2nd half with some woeful defending.

Against many other sides we'll get away with it due to them missing chances and us being able to grab 2 or 3 ourselves, but today we were soundly beaten and can have no complaints whatsoever.

The key for me is how we respond to this setback, there was bound to be some rough patches over the course of a long campaign, so as long as we can recover next week we'll still be heading into the much needed WC break in a decent place.

That doesn't mean we don't have major problems at the back mind you, and for all our exciting attacking football we do need to toughen up at the back and learn to compete with the physical nature of this league.

I'm affraid if we don't sort the defence out and gk other teams know exactly what to do , today in the second half United were straight at us from the kick off. I think the back four that finished will start against Rovers.

Milltown1882 wrote: ↑

Sat Nov 05, 2022 2:28 pm

Aside from our absolute capitulation on set pieces that definitely looks the two best teams in the league. We needed bringing back down to earth a bit and I’m glad it was today and not next Sunday.

We’ve just gone 16 unbeaten and had an off day. Bring on the B******s.

Great post.

Clive 1960 wrote: ↑

Sat Nov 05, 2022 2:48 pm

I'm affraid if we don't sort the defence out and gk other teams know exactly what to do , today in the second half United were straight at us from the kick off. I think the back four that finished will start against Rovers.

Said that to my mates when the subs happened, looked like he was taking a look at that as a back four for next week. If that’s the case I hope all four start together against Crawley too.

They weren’t that good. Their second half pressing was excellent but for all that their first goal came from a corner that wasn’t, another was offside, add 2 more from corners and a gift from our midfield. They’ll still finish second to us but will come straight back down

I would say they are definitely the second best team in the league. A team full of big athletic players, they have some quality in key areas as well.

They physically dominated us, if anything it showed us the areas we need to improve upon in January and the summer if we are to be competitive in the prem.

Still think WBA were better on their showing against us - although by the looks of where they are, it must have been a one off.

Flying Without Ings wrote: ↑

Sat Nov 05, 2022 8:03 pm

Still think WBA were better on their showing against us - although by the looks of where they are, it must have been a one off.

I think they will start to move up now. Not a relegation prospect.

Aside from set pieces I thought they were pretty average, we were getting through them easily first half. They offered barely any threat from open play, but with Norwood's set piece delivery, those long throws, our lack of height and Muric's inability to command his 6 yard box, they only needed to stop us playing. Not sure how but they did that brilliantly second half, so fair play to them. Ahmedhodzic looked a great player. In a way I'm glad we've had a good beating, lessons learnt hopefully.

Clive 1960 wrote: ↑

Sat Nov 05, 2022 2:48 pm

I'm affraid if we don't sort the defence out and gk other teams know exactly what to do , today in the second half United were straight at us from the kick off. I think the back four that finished will start against Rovers.

It's not a secret that's suddenly been exposed, every team we've played so far will know our weakness and try to exploit it. Most have failed and most will fail.

KRBFC wrote: ↑

Sat Nov 05, 2022 8:56 pm

It's not a secret that's suddenly been exposed, every team we've played so far will know our weakness and try to exploit it. Most have failed and most will fail.

95% of teams in this league will fail to expose that weakness. It’s pretty clear at almost the halfway stage that the quality of the majority of teams in this league is incredibly poor.

Yeah, it's not some lightbulb moment for teams that our Achilles heel is direct punts into the box and set plays - that's been evident since day one. It's just teams haven't been good enough at effecting it due to their own lack of quality or our excellent possession play. It's worth noting that for all the hyperbole about how shambolic we are from corners (we evidently were today), we hadn't conceded from one since Bristol City (I think). That's pretty good. Today was the perfect storm of missing two physically capable players, choosing the wrong starting Xi and an opposition who were bang at it.

I think if we had jay and brownhill its another story, particularly second half. Bastien played really well but tired really quickly in the second half, and JBG was simply no just nor ornament in midfield. We lost the plot. Winning pretty much zero headers against such a tall side was never going to end well.
Why Costelloe isn't making the squad I've no idea as to me he seems very similar to jay in terms of runs and energy.

As others have said, a bad day at the office, we have to move on.

That second half we where shocking, I’m failing to see why everyone is Raving about sheff united, 90% of teams in the champ would of dealt with their set pieces today

Newcastleclaret93 wrote: ↑

Sat Nov 05, 2022 8:00 pm

I would say they are definitely the second best team in the league. A team full of big athletic players, they have some quality in key areas as well.

They physically dominated us, if anything it showed us the areas we need to improve upon in January and the summer if we are to be competitive in the prem.

They are also missing Berge, considered the best midfielder in the division.

Our quick press usually prevents our opponents from lobbing balls in from angles. Yesterday, we had no gas. We simply gave up possession more easily