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Match Report: City snowmen meet Sheff Utd snow plow


Olé

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City's mini revival - and by revival I mean we won one football match - collapsed cheaply in the snow at Sheffield as the Blades under new management but with the same record as us, found it breathtakingly easy to carve open and outplay us for a comfortable 2-0 win that could really have been much more.

Rhian Brewster was repeatedly given room to get in behind a young, largely anonymous City midfield and no surprise when he gave the hosts a deserved lead before the break - and even less surprise when Billy Sharp at the third or fourth time of asking converted for his usual goal against us, off the bench.

Played in increasingly heavy snow - difficult conditions for the final half hour - Pearson's side showed absolutely no control or threat and were indebted to their central defenders who provided the only fight in a one sided fixture where City were often overrun, losing Nathan Baker to serious injury in a long delay.

Sheffield United were all over City right from the start, finding it far too easy to move into space behind the visitors midfield and drive crosses into the box, from which Egan and Basham went close. The away side didn't lay a glove on their hosts, Gibbs White megging Bakinson outside the box and firing over.

Past 10 Brewster looked suspiciously offside breaking from the right but both Hourihane and then the ex Liverpool striker would both get a chance to test Bentley as City offered little response, the latter firing wide. After 18 they bypassed midfield altogether Stevens clear on the left crossing for Bogle to head over.

City had a rare spell to threaten that began as keeper Foderingham miskicked the ball to Benarous who worked hard to find a shot before laying off to Bakinson whose strike was deflected wide. From Scott's resultant right wing corner Martin drew a point blank save - as improbably City could go in front.

They would win a couple of corners after a dangerous deep Scott free kick, but in truth it was a rare moment outside City's own half and inside 35 Massengo, part of a woefully porous midfield, lost the ball in the channel, then twice let his runner go as Utd threatened.

Inside 40 minutes Weimann finally had the chance to open out his legs but his through ball to Martin in acres of space found the anonymous striker offside - and then a third City player to be booked for kicking the ball away in his frustration. It was comically bad and now heavy snow was starting to settle.

So no surprise that Sheffield United went in front - yet again far far too easy playing the ball in behind our midfield and wingbacks, as the abysmal Bakinson, fresh from a new contract extension, offered no press and the easy square ball from Stevens to Brewster allowed the latter to swivel and slam home. 

The first "highlight" of a bitterly cold second half in Sheffield was fulltime clown part time ref Geoff Eltringham waving away demands for a yellow as United kicked the ball away at a throw in inside the first minute, a same offence he issued three yellows to City for just minutes earlier. Comically bad officiating.

Then a huge injury delay as Nathan Baker went down in midfield fighting for a header - something our actual midfield was opting out of - and after nearly ten minutes he was stretchered off in not only a brace but also a series of blankets (reminiscent of shooting lame horses at Aintree) as the snow settled. 

The Blades were all over City from then on as the away side looked uncomfortable with the snow - though their best chance arrived inside 70 as Weimann finally got to run into space on the break, drawing defenders and centering for Bakinson's tame low shot on target that Foderingham held at the second attempt.

Despite Wells being on it was a rare moment of purpose when at the other end perennially difficult opponent in Billy Sharp had also joined the action, inevitably setup easily to force a save, then after Norwood teed off on us from distance, Sharp's overhead kick was tipped over as we kept giving it back to them. 

City's last of a pathetic number of serious attacks saw Wells run the channel and turn on the keeper but rather than shoot he underhit a square ball to Weimann that was intercepted, while next O'Dowda, who did nothing all game, got into similar space on the left but his low cross deflected straight to the keeper.

The pitch was turning white in now driving snow as Semenyo, on as sub, tried to offer a threat no other City players looked close to offering - but he also looked reluctant in the weather and having failed to challenge for a Bentley goal kick to him, Utd broke, spread it right, and McGoldrick crossed for Sharp to turn in.

In front of 25,000 supporters the hosts had enjoyed acres of space getting behind City's young midfield and predictably non existent O'Dowda - and they saw out the game with chances to add several more, though Wells did stab wide from a Kalas cross after good hold up play from sub Atkinson near the end.

There was a sense after clinging on against Stoke midweek that City had turned a vital corner but the reality is that when they do win - like then or at Peterborough - they are often second best, whereas when they lose, it could often be by much more. It's odd to say but City's league position flatters them.

 

Bentley 6

Kalas 6

Vyner 7

Baker 5

O'Dowda 4

Scott 6

Bakinson 3

Massengo 4

Benarous 4

Weimann 5

Martin 4

 

Atkinson 6

Wells 5

Semenyo 5

Edited by Olé
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5 minutes ago, And Its Smith said:

Massengo wasn’t a 4, playing on his own in midfield.  Agree with the rest though.  Almost impossible for Massengo today In an overrun midfield.  Bakinson offered no support.  

I think he was based on his contribution today - he was next to anonymous. Remember he was covering for JW and I think showed why he’s no longer a regular starter.

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14 minutes ago, Dullmoan Tone said:

I think he was based on his contribution today - he was next to anonymous. Remember he was covering for JW and I think showed why he’s no longer a regular starter.

Cant agree at all.  Made more tackles and ball recoveries than anyone else I think.  Barely gave the ball away. Covered more ground than anyone. 

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2 minutes ago, Super said:

I don't think they are very good tbh.

You are correct. Better squad than ours but it isn’t a particularly good one. 

 

13 hours ago, And Its Smith said:

Cant agree at all.  Made more tackles and ball recoveries than anyone else I think.  Barely gave the ball away. Covered more ground than anyone. 

Covered more ground. Possibly because he chases the ball around and has no discipline. See Bakinson get slagged off constantly(he bottles every challenge so isn’t blameless) but he was in there on his own. Benarous wasn’t as useful helping defend and Massengo was everywhere except the middle of the pitch. As someone else said, you can see why he loses out to Williams when fit. He needs a lot more discipline. 

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11 minutes ago, JoeAman08 said:

You are correct. Better squad than ours but it isn’t a particularly good one. 

 

Covered more ground. Possibly because he chases the ball around and has no discipline. See Bakinson get slagged off constantly(he bottles every challenge so isn’t blameless) but he was in there on his own. Benarous wasn’t as useful helping defend and Massengo was everywhere except the middle of the pitch. As someone else said, you can see why he loses out to Williams when fit. He needs a lot more discipline. 

Is he being asked to do that though? You are assuming not. Massengo praises him and talks about how he is always studying the game. Strikes me as someone who would follow instructions 

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14 minutes ago, Super said:

I don't think they are very good tbh.

They were way better than us yesterday though and are in a false position. If it were some of the other clubs in and around us beating us so easily I would be concerned.

I wouldn’t say losing to them and being outplayed was a huge concern though in isolation. With the exception of their keeper all of their team have played in the Prem. Take their midfield 3 for example yesterday against ours, just a no contest. They are far superior to us and still had a 16million pound centre mid to come off the bench. I think they can easily come in the top 6 with that squad and I expect them to kick on now.

I am worried about our current situation, but not based off that yesterday when trying to compare with them.

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14 hours ago, And Its Smith said:

Massengo wasn’t a 4, playing on his own in midfield.  Agree with the rest though.  Almost impossible for Massengo today In an overrun midfield.  Bakinson offered no support.  

I am afraid with Bakinson, he was anonymous, he often resembles a headless chicken (even when he has a good game), and he did again today, you need more then high energy, tempo and hair to be a good midfielder. HNM lacks guile, positional sense, a quality pass, goals and ball watched far too much yesterday. With him and the clueless Bakinson together, we have absolutely no shape and the defense was cruelly exposed time and time again.

Both have their attributes, but they have to play alongside an experienced pro who can guide them. 

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42 minutes ago, Taylor10 said:

They were way better than us yesterday though and are in a false position. If it were some of the other clubs in and around us beating us so easily I would be concerned.

I wouldn’t say losing to them and being outplayed was a huge concern though in isolation. With the exception of their keeper all of their team have played in the Prem. Take their midfield 3 for example yesterday against ours, just a no contest. They are far superior to us and still had a 16million pound centre mid to come off the bench. I think they can easily come in the top 6 with that squad and I expect them to kick on now.

I am worried about our current situation, but not based off that yesterday when trying to compare with them.

I do get that they will finish above us etc but surely we should expect more and not just roll over. We were beyond pathetic and that's another team we have pretty much let walk all over us. This is without doubt the lowest City team in quality i can remember some of these players can't even complete 5 yard passes ffs. 

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14 hours ago, Olé said:

 

So no surprise that Sheffield United went in front - yet again far far too easy playing the ball in behind our midfield and wingbacks, as the abysmal Bakinson, fresh from a new contract extension, offered no press and the easy square ball from Stevens to Brewster allowed the latter to swivel and slam home. 

 

Not sure why you singled out Bakinson for the goal, would have been slightly more objective to pick up on Kallas & Bakers horrendous positioning su1.JPG.a26caae5925c2243619a6f689b11f223.JPGsu2.JPG.e77700adea70ba3e307e97e55b393b00.JPGsu3.JPG.9537ddcbf8e7180f2d07ceb109e3ea6f.JPG

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17 minutes ago, Super said:

I do get that they will finish above us etc but surely we should expect more and not just roll over. We were beyond pathetic and that's another team we have pretty much let walk all over us. This is without doubt the lowest City team in quality i can remember some of these players can't even complete 5 yard passes ffs. 

I think you have hit the nail on the head with the quality. We have so little quality it’s frightening but then that was the main issue for me yesterday. I thought we worked hard and defended well at times, admittedly from our own doing but we couldn’t keep hold of the ball. That was the problem and we didn’t have one single player that could keep it to take the pressure off.

Decision making was abysmal too but when you combine that with inexperience and zero quality, sides like Sheff U will more often than not come out on top against us very easily.

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3 hours ago, And Its Smith said:

Is he being asked to do that though? You are assuming not. Massengo praises him and talks about how he is always studying the game. Strikes me as someone who would follow instructions 

I wouldn’t see why he was asked to do that but Williams wasn’t. We looked a lot more secure with Williams and Bakinson both holding their central positions more often than not and both running the game from there. Massengo will get praise because he is committed to the cause. 
 

And my defence of Bakinson isn’t praise. I just see a lot of what is Massengo supposed to do with Bakinson and Benarous in there with him, when I think it is more accurate to ask what is Bakinson to do with HNM running about everywhere and Benarous not offering near as much as the other night defensively. It was often just TB on his own against Norwood, Gibbs-White, McGoldrick and Hourihane. 
 

I think they both had their flaws exposed against a very good side. Bakinson usually second to everything and not putting his body on the line ever. I get he wants to be a playmaker and reader of the game but there will be times he needs to make a tackle, win an aerial battle or take a hard yellow for the team. He doesn’t do any of that at the minute. And Massengo maybe has the feel of he has to do a lot on his own but stretches himself too thin. A lot of that is coaching for me. We aren’t really a team that can sacrifice shape at the minute. As much as Massengo is well intentioned, I feel he hurt the cause yesterday. It was an imperfect game from everyone though so he isn’t a scapegoat just feel like can still question his contribution even though committed. 

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