Deadbat doesn’t hold back in his report on Saturday’s disappointing defeat. New Manager. Same old Rubbish. Sheffield United may have dispensed with the services of Bryan Robson after the debacle against Scunthorpe United, but fast forward less than a month and United put in a performance equally as bad at home to Charlton Athletic. The accusations of no skill, no passing, no chances, no passion, no heart, no fight and no idea, that were labelled to the team under the guidance of messrs Robson and Kidd, could be equally apportioned to the new management team. The playoff hopes are now a distant memory and United now face a titanic struggle to retain their Championship status, unbelievably only a year after unluckily losing their Premiership place. Faced with two tough away games in a week and a team that`s confidence shows no sign of improving, United could be right in the proverbial sticky stuff in no time at all. Manager Kevin Blackwell stated that the performance was ‘unacceptable` and ‘insipid`. The reality was he was being kind.
Blackwell was searching for his first victory since taking over from Bryan Robson and handed starts to Chris Armstrong and Wigan loanee David Cotterill at the expense of Jon Stead and Gary Naysmith. Charlton boss Alan Pardew had new signing, loanee Chelsea winger Scott Sinclair on the bench. The Addicks were without recently signed former United striker Andy Gray.
United began the game well and did forced two early corners but could not threaten Charlton`s Sheffield born keeper Nicky Weaver. Charlton started to get a grip of the game and Kenny had to deny Varney`s fierce drive. Holland then fired an effort on target but Kenny was again on hand to deny the visitors before Zheng Zhi also failed to beat the Blades stopper. After Quinn has been the latest player to give up possession all too easily, Kenny had to deny Ambrose strike. United had two half chances as Sharp turned well but his shot trickled wide and then Speed`s rising dive failed to trouble Weaver. Charlton were soon back on the ascendancy and they deservedly went in front albeit late in the first half. With the referee signalling two minutes of stoppage time, Halford launched another long throw into the box. United failed to win the first ball yet again and as the ball landed IWELUMO steered a low shot past the motionless Kenny. The goal happened almost in slow motion with United`s defence frankly nothing short of pub league.
The Blades failed to produce a response in the opening to the second half. Tonge tried to get United moving but they failed to create a chance of note. Another Halford long throw caused an almighty scramble and Thomas almost converted before the ball was somehow cleared. United had their best chance of the game as Cotterill`s cross was flicked into the path of Sharp but from only 8 yards out, he headed the ball straight into the arms of keeper Weaver when he should have scored. It was more of a backpass than an attempt on goal. Iwelumo should also have done better with a header on the hour but it sailed over Kenny`s bar. Kenny was called into action again shortly after the hour mark as he denied Chinese international midfielder Zheng again.
Blackwell then made changes as he brought on winger Keith Gillespie and striker Jonathan Stead for the disappointing Sharp and Cotterill. Sinclair was introduced into the action for the Addicks before Hulse then came on for the totally ineffective Beattie as United tried to somehow create a chance of note. However, it was the visitors continued to look the more likely to score as Ambrose fired over the bar. The corner was met on the full by SODJE, who leapt high to beat Hulse far too easily and planted the ball high past Kenny into the net and to effectively seal the game. This was the signal for large portions of the home support to leave in their droves and as the final minutes ticked away there were large banks of red seats around Bramall Lane. United forced a corner not long after but this came to nothing and the youngster Sinclair then attempted to add to the host’s misery with a debut goal but his effort went wide of the before Sodje headed wide as the game was now up for the home side with many of the home players visibly having their heads down by this stage in the game. The Blades’ dismal afternoon was compounded when Quinn was sent off in injury time for a late foul on Jose Semedo.
Player Ratings
Kenny 7/10
Got some criticism from fans in the week, myself included but played really well today and made some good saves. He was a little slow to react on the fist goal but in reality would still not have saved it. He kept the score respectable today and got absolutely no protection.
Geary 3.5/10
Very poor. He offered nothing going forward which is usually his strongest quality but defensively he was as bad as he has ever been in a United shirt. He got beat by his man consistently and many of the attacks came down his side.
Armstrong 4/10
Armstrong 4/10 – Glad he was picked instead of Naysmith but in truth he was not much better. That says it all really about how bad Naysmith is that people are crying out for stretch to be back in. Once again I include myself and he gets picked and fares just as badly. Got beat by his winger a far bit and did not offer anything going forward. Another players that probably needs a fresh start somewhere else.
Kilgallon 5/10
Pretty average. Nowhere near his standards of recent games and he too got outmuscled many times on set plays or the high ball. His actual awareness and covering was not up to his recent games either.
Morgan 3/10
Got completely outmuscled and outworked by Iwelumo. I have never seen Morgan lose so many (most if not all) headers in one game. He really was outplayed from start to finish and this was one of our main problems. Regardless of the fact we could not pass the ball or create, the ball was always in our last third due to the defence not being able to win or clear the ball.
Tonge 5/10
He did try and pass the ball and had a good spell for 10 minutes in the second half when we had a few semi attacks of note in the opening to the half. He has not really improved his performances dramatically since Blackwell came but the fact is he has been one of the better players in recent times and he has been poor. What that says about the rest of the team I do not know.
Speed 4.5/10
Has not really improved matters in the central midfield. He does not really offer much energy and rarely moves from 10-15 yard area in general play. McCall showed far more guile than him too but he seems incapable of making decent or clever passes. His only real ability it`s the odd flick on or header from goal kicks. It seems a lot of money is being paid for a midfielder than effectively just flicks the ball on.
Quinn 4/10
Poor. Ran around like a headless chicken. Reminiscent of his brother actually, but probably with not as much skill. He is not really up to it at this level in my opinion as he gives the ball away too much and physically cannot cope with many of his opponents in terms of 50/50 challenges although by the sounds of it he went too far with one challenge at the end. Must admit cannot really comment on the sending off as I had left the ground.
Cotterill 4/10
Started fairly lively and liked the fact he always wanted to get on the ball but his performance deteriorated as the game went on and he offered nothing at all. Like Martin, I have not seen anything that adds to the team we have. In fact he fits right into the dross the current players are serving up.
Sharp 2/10
Read my comments from every game he has played this season. Tried hard, he`s a Blade, never looks like scoring, no speed, no strength, so skill, no idea, not good enough. Period. Offload in the summer if someone will be daft enough offer us a couple of hundred grand. After today at least Blackwell will probably not play him again.
Beattie 2/10
After his heroic tackle in the week and an improved performance from the poor ones he has put in recently he was back to his ‘can`t be bothered` self today. He did not win a ball in the air or on the floor, had no chances and looked completely immobile. Another one that has to be moved on in the summer as his attitude on the whole stinks. He clearly thinks he is superior to the rest of the team judging by his reactions to being subbed the last two weeks but is failing to prove it on the field. Daft thing is without his goals earlier in the season we may even be down already.
Gillespie
Poor. He at least stayed close to the touchline in an attempt to try and give us width but he did not get a cross in of note and he also managed to throw the ball straight to the feet and head of their defender in two throws in quick succession.
Stead
Looked as bad as the rest. One ball just rolled down his shin. He made another two or three botched passes and generally was not a threat. Would like him to have a run of 4 or 5 games up front. He surely cannot do as bad as the others.
Crowd
Did nothing once again and was his man on the second goal. Hard thing to say but he probably does not even deserve a place on the bench at the moment, as his displays when he has come on have not been good enough. He just does not look the same player as last season. He does not win headers and like Beattie, looks totally immobile.
United
A guy on the steps of the Kop coming out summed it up. In more colourful language than this, he stated: ‘Robson got us into this mess and this guy cannot get us out of it.` That sums it up as United offered a frankly dismal performance and were soundly beaten both collectively and individual. United lost all the battles all over the field and were beaten in the physical elements of the game and the footballing elements. United never really looked like creating a chance and certainly never looked like scoring. They could still be playing now and would not have scored. The method of the tactics and the way they deployed them was baffling as we continued to punt long balls to Beattie and Sharp and then hope somehow they would win a header and find a player 20-30 yards away from them. Players who have been fairly dependable like Morgan and Geary had wretched games and were badly outplayed. Morgan also revealed there had been a frank exchange of views after the game between the players. Well, Chris I fail to see what the argument could have been about as there was nothing to argue about. The whole team was garbage with only Paddy Kenny escaping any blame. The club has changed managers and whilst Blackwell’s appointment may not be universally acclaimed it is still early days. I am not for one minute saying if we were poor under Robson it was down to him and now is not down to the manager as Blackwell has to be held accountable. A few more of those and he will not be at the club at the end of the season, relegation or not. What I am saying is that the kind of performance and attitude of the players shows that there is several of them that need to take a long, hard look at themselves and decide whether they actually want to be a top level player, by that I mean top two divisions, or whether they want to just drop down the leagues as there is not one player, aside from maybe Beattie (for goals earlier in season) and Kilgallon that teams would be interested in. If we go down, they go with us. Be a bit embarrassing for a few of them playing in league one but I look at a lot of them and they probably do not even care. Whatever happens the rest of the season we need a massive and I mean massive clearout at the end of the season. We need some players who actually want to fight for the cause but we need some players who also actually use their brain and have the intelligence and ability to keep the football. At the moment it is hot potato stuff down at the Lane. We look a wretched footballing side and show no signs of any fluidity. I cannot remember the last time we played a passing move of more than say 4 or 5 passes.
Charlton
Do not think they quite realised how bad we were as they started slowly but then gradually got on top and started to create chances. They deservedly won the game and could have run out winners by even more then the two-goal margin they ended up with. They were different to Charlton teams of the past who usually always tried to play good football. This team did pass it around but also had a heavy emphasis on the physical nature of the game and the team was full of imposing six footers. Halford the right back caused many problems with his long throws and the likes of Sodje, Iwelumo won everything in the air. Thomas was a major threat all game and caused both full backs (switched wings) many problems and Zhi and Ambrose were clever enough and skilfull enough to be able to pass the ball around their slow and pedestrian counterparts. The left back Youga was very good and gave us problems going forward too. Charlton will get in the playoffs I feel but I do not think they will go up
Crowd
Blackwell is right, if that had been a few weeks ago, the crowd would have been booing but of course the new manager gets a period of grace, rightly so. If we play like that again, he will get similar criticism of the performance from the stands as Robson got, as fans will not stand another performance like that. The last two league games have been as bad a duo of performances I have seen in the last 20 years at Bramall Lane. The crowd tried to get behind them in small sections of the ground but it was quiet for the most part as they watched in silence, as the team beneath contrived to frustrate them once again with another lifeless and pathetic performance.