Doesn't help when your "game changing subs" come on and hardly have a kick

I'll excuse Smith because he was thrown into the mayhem at the back and didn't do much wrong, or right, or anything really. I was predicting that change though because the only good things John did were when he went forward so it seemed logical to put Smith at the back and John further forward. Unfortunately it didn't work.

Jennings - did he have a kick? Can't remember one and he certainly didn't terrorise them down the wing did he, like he did to (ahem) Chester in the replay. Time to move on Dale. Thanks for one or two stunning goals.

Hemmings - why, just why? He has already proved time and time again this season that he is well out of his depth so why did our manager think throwing him on in a game like today was going to change that pattern? Sorry Kane, I'm sure you're an honest lad and pulled up lots of trees in the Scottish amateur leagues last season, but you have to go. Please don't even consider signing another contract, if one is offered.

When you are losing the secret of good management is to spot the weaknesses and replace with stronger players. He didn't do that today. I'm not going to get on Johnson's back. He has done nothing wrong so far, but today was a different test altogether. Let's face it, poor as Sheffield United were, they were still far too good for us. We just didn't seem able to respond to the big crowd. I can't think of one good move with a shot at the end of it.

We've had a good run - nearly two months without defeat - but it was bound to happen some time soon. What a shame it was today. Once again we have repeated history. Get a few extra thousand in on the back of a decent run of form, and let us all down. It has happened time and time again over the years. They just didn't play today, with one or two exceptions where our usual pair (Scowen and Pearson) got stuck in whenever they could. Without them we have no midfield. Hourihane today was a long way from his best. That pathetic free kick straight at the wall set the tone for him. All downhill from then on.

Ah well, on to the next one. A 3-0 win on Monday night and things will look so much better again. Today it just looks like the possibility of a top six place just disappeared, not with a bang but a whimper (but unlike in the poem, this is not the way the world ends!).

 

Whilst I agree with most of this, I think you're being a bit harsh on Hemmings and Hourihane. As soon as Hourihane went off we lost our numbers in midfeild and couldn't get a kick as a result, Kane was simply required to chase around trying to get it back. And in regards to Conor, i feel he'll always be criticised because he isn't as noticeable as Pearson and Scowen, although his set pieces were poor today. He combined very well with Ben for that short period when we decided to actually play footy in the second half. The major problem was they could only pass to each other as there was no movement in front of them from Winnall (unfamiliar in his role) and Stewart (seemingly unfamiliar in the enitre concept of football). Also, John was the only player really willing to stretch the play as we were far too narrow today.

 

Didn't really have any other option's on the bench

 

I wasn't being deliberately harsh on CH but he did have a poor game today, by his high standards as shown earlier in the season. You've not seen his gradual decline; from being a top player destined to be our usual January sale item he has gone downhill since before Christmas. I have wondered for some time if losing Winnall when we did affected his play because neither have been up to the mark in recent months, apart from the odd flash or two. Winnall is not the player he was since coming back - it will come, but maybe not this season. Same with CH - he'll come good again but I didn't see anything from him today, from my perch on the half way line (ESL).

It was an all round bad day today and the huge gaps in the stands towards the end told its own story. Not seen that for a while.

 

Well I thought it looked a bit odd when I saw it to be honest. Too defensive and no "impact" players there. Jennings could be and should be, but he isn't.

 

Do we have any impact players

 

Jabo might have filled that role. Shame Waring didn't start and rough them up a bit. Mind you, having said that, it would have probably been the other way round. They haven't paid a million quid for Brayford for nothing - he's an experienced player in any position so would have probably given George nothing.

Just one of those days but oh what a bad day to pick with that shower crowing for ninety minutes in the north stand.

 

Yeah I haven't seen enough of Conor to properly comment, although even today he showed signs of a quality player in there, just needed more movement ahead of him and more outballs, there's only him and Ben which seem to be aware of the spaces around them. Two other things that were pointed out to me were that earlier in the season he drove forwards a lot more, and also that today he was very quick in releasing the ball. Whilst the latter is good to an extent, it never let us get a grip of the game. The best thing about Pearson is that when he receives it he waits for a closing midfielder before playing it on and therefore drags their line out of shape, Conor didn't do this and it made them look better than they were.

 

We have a habit of glorifying individuals if they seem to have a good game, or run of games. Such are football fans.

Winnall was average for a while when he turned up. He is average now. He stood out for a while inbetween.

Hourihane stood out early season. He has been less than average for some time.

Both remain hard to fit into a team which accentuates their positives.

 

People seem quick to criticise Hourihane but Winnall seems to avoid any criticism.

 

Hourihane is more elegant and sort of glides through games, whereas Sam runs around a lot making his desire more noticeable. When the teams playing poorly, the best players always seem to be the ones that are running, even if it's after hopeless causes or invovlves them getting dragged out of position.

To a more exaggerated extent, look at Mesut Ozil at Arsenal. The lad is amazing but gets criticised because he's not as visible as players like Welbeck or Coquelin.

 

To be fair to Jennings he spent most of the time helping out Holgate, he received no ball at all at the opposite end of the pitch.

 

Jennings and Smith came on just before they scored their second. Completely deflated us. The ball only went through our left after that so Jennings never stood a chance.

Very harsh to criticise him on that. He looked like he's lost weight to me too