The contrast in mood from Tuesday to today is striking, which is not surprising given the apparent discrepancy in performance levels. When I think about my preferred sport of horseracing I tend to take the view that once a horse has shown you a certain level of form, it has demonstrated what it is capable of. The assumption is that given the right set of circumstances, the horse will repeat that level of performance or possibly even better. A poor performance under different circumstances does not demonstrate that the horse is no longer any use. So it is with today's performance at Bramall Lane. There are some who seem willing to write off a few of our squad because they didn't perform to their best today. I like to think that given the right circumstances they will prove capable of repeating their level of achievement against Forest (who, let it be noted beat Middlesbrough today). The squad is young, lacking in experience of Championship football, and still getting used to playing with each other. I find the comments on here in regard to such as Williams somewhat short-sighted. Here is a very highly-rated young prospect for whose signature several other clubs were in competition. The lad is learning. He is one of our very few (only?) defensive midfield operators at the present time. The other blindingly obvious proposition about the difference between Tuesday and today is that today's match came off of a huge effort against Forest, and one which could very easily have taken it's toll on such a young group of players. Today's game does not mean we should write them off - even though it was against a limited Sheffield United side. What they did against Forest, they remain capable of doing in other games given the right set of circumstances. There are other players due to figure who will improve the choices available to Hecky. Thiam, Cavare, Lindsey and McGeechan to name a few. But I wouldn't be writing off those to have carried the torch so far this season. They are a work in progress, as is the whole team. The experience of 2015-16 teaches us that this is way too soon to be forming firm conclusions.
Fair do's - especially if you went today. But we'd need a whole lot more games before we were mired like we were in the first four months of 205-16?
I thought I were an owd codger but tha goes back farther than me. Will be alreet we`re just seeing ar good Hecky is by stretching him.
3 defeats in 4. Needs to improve to avoid comparisons with that season We can only hope that the progress is quick enough to get enough points. The Forest game showed we can win games when the majority of players contribute as much as today showed we won't when the majority of players don't.
When Usain Bolt was in his prime, he could break the world record for 100 metres in a semi-final and break it again 2 days later in the final. But that is a distance of just 100 metres, and his recovery time cannot be a long one. The 10,000 metre runners do not have heats because the recovery period is much longer, but would it be reasonable to expect Mo Farah to run a quick 10,000 metres and run another three and a half days later. Some of those who played on Tuesday would have run more than 12,000 metres. OK, they had 90 minutes to do it, but it is all stop and start with lots of sprints involved. It was a game against a better side, with better organisation and the only way to beat them was to run hard in the first half and tough it out in the second. It was a win built on sheer effort. I did not go today, but when I saw the team sheet, I was surprised that we had kept the same team. In fact I said in Minority Report that I expected changes. Clearly I am not in any position to judge what has happened today, nor the reasons for it, but I will just say that I am not surprised. The level of Williams' effort on Tuesday can be judged from the fact that he was physically sick with 10 minutes to go, something else that was in Minority Report. The criticism of the player in such circumstances seems harsh. After all, his manager knew considerably more about his physical effort on Tuesday because the players all wear monitors. And yet he was still picked to play again less than 4 days later. I know the fans will be disappointed having shelled out all that cash on a visit to one of our biggest local rivals, but what depresses me is the reluctance to seek out logical explanations before conclusions are drawn, and the eagerness to point the finger of blame at individual players and the willingness to throw them on the scrap heap in the search for new scapegoats. It is almost as if they have never heard the word. PATIENCE.
Well, I've no interest in an argument with you. If you're only going to say it's patience then fair enough
Of course we we hope and believe with time we will improve. Unfortunately if we continue with this form over another 4 game period we will be playing catch up. The frustration comes for the fact that it is all self-inflicted.
The Vuelta a Espana started yesterday. It's 2,049 miles over 21 days with two days off. Professional footballers should be able to play Tuesday-Saturday every now and then and perform to the same level. If a player requires a recovery time of more than 72 hours they are not cut out for the game.
I think the 3 games in a week thing does make some sense for us. As mid week we had to put such a effort in to get a result because we were 2nd best for large parts of the game and only came out on top through sheer effort. Probably more mentally tired than anything. Yesterday wasn't a case of lack of effort or running it was a total lack of quality. Using energy wisely.
