Promising signs for the Blades

Yesterday I got my first look at Danny Wilson's Blades. Unusually, I haven't seen one minute of pre-season through work commitments and then a family holiday and I was quite looking forward to it.

Despite my reservations about Danny Wilson, I am firmly in the everyone should be given a chance camp. I was reasonably happy with his work in the transfer market over the Summer and a 2-0 away victory at Oldham was a good start to the season. Arriving at the turnstile at about 2:40pm via The Earl I was in good spirits, then it all went temporarily awry as this other post explains.

So when I did eventually get into Bramall Lane, what did I make of the Blades and the opposition provided by the Bees? Here are my post-match reflections.......

 

I thought the Blades opened up smartly and at a good tempo, with the freshly signed (that morning) Kevin McDonald making an instant impression in midfield. Making himself available and keeping play moving, maintaining possession. Composed on the ball, keeping it simple and providing much needed height in a midfield that seems to have comprised dwarfs for far too many years.

Playing one natural winger in Nathaniel Mendez-Laing, it was disappointing to see so little of the ball played down his side. Even temporary switches to the left wing saw the ball follow Stephen Quinn to the side of the pitch Mendez-Laing had previously been patrolling. As the game developed he started to see more and more of the ball and displayed a willingness to run at the Brentford defence that was always going to get the Blades fans quickly on his side. 

In fact, I would say he was having his most productive spell, just as he was substituted and taking both him and Slew off, immediately stripped United of pace and an element of unpredictably that the Bees defence were finding it increasingly difficult to handle. There was much praise of his performance on twitter afterwards, although I feel that the level of praise was perhaps somewhat heightened by the fact he could be name-checked with an @MendezLaing and the fact he has interacted with the fans on there quite a lot in the last week or so.

He certainly has talent and raw pace. Rather like forward Jordan Slew, I think he has much more to offer than we saw on Saturday. Fast running at defenders, with the quick feet to beat them, excited the crowd, but we need to see it more frequently and consistently, both throughout the match and from match to match. There also needs to be an end product more frequently and some of that can be put down to naivety that will hopefully be eradicated with experience.

For instance, Slew ran in from the left wing first half and took on a shot from a narrow angle when teammates were better placed. Having said that, what I really like about Slew is his willingness to turn/roll his defender and shoot and he took the goal well, although there was a deflection.

Of the other young prospects; academy graduate Harry Maguire continues to grow with experience and at times showed more composure than experienced colleague Neil Collins, who looked much more comfortable in a lower division. Matt Lowton looked better going forward than in his defensive duties and I can't help feeling he would be better deployed in midfield, but then who would play right back?

Understandably Wilson is playing experienced players ahead of youth where he can and seems content to rotate the bench each week. Of those yet to start, I would like to see more of David McAllister (who impressed greatly on debut last season) and, given the lack of contribution of Daniel Bogdanovic from the bench, I think Danny Philliskirk could offer something up front.

The final new boy to comment on is Lescinel Jean-Francois, who showed some nice touches but also a lack of concentration that could have left him exposed by better right wingers. He has clearly ingratiated himself to the fans and on one of his forays forward he demonstrated he has one hell of a shot on him. He just needs to lock on to his target!

Getting back to the match, after the bright first 15/20 minutes the Blades seemed to lose a bit of drive and were drawn into a scrappy midfield tussle. We saw this last season, where we don't profit from these spells of dominance, then pay the price. It didn't happen yesterday, but it could have.

Brentford battled hard in midfield, with Jonathan Douglas the main driving force, although an increasingly vocal and frustrated one as the match wore on. Yet they created little, one effort just over the bar, until an opening for Niall McGinn who curled a shot within a whisker of Simonsen's far post. That could have so easily been the punishment for our profligacy. Despite possession, Richard Lee was rarely tested until the final seconds of the half, when a great save led to pinball in the Bees' box. 

That aside, Brentford offered little and the substitution of the busy McGinn (always wanting the ball for the Bees) and the surprisingly ineffective Clayton Donaldson, did little to change things in the second half. It felt like the match would either drift towards a draw, or the Blades would have to up the ante around the box and pick up a win. The fact that there was neat and quick inter play leading to both goals, showed what was required and what we will need to break down teams this season.

It was hard to judge Brentford. I think they set up as many will at Bramall Lane this season. Keep it solid, work hard and look for a draw, or steal a winner. Few players stood out and Uwe Rosler said post-match that his players perhaps froze a little. I think they did as well.  

The Blades showed in long spells a willingness to keep the ball on the deck and play out from the keeper, although that did provide some hairy moments. I can see a style of play developing and it will be interesting to see how the team settles down, particularly after the transfer window closes. Nick Montgomery and Stephen Quinn were integral to the win yesterday, yet both could be gone in weeks as the wage billis slashed. Certainly replacements will be sought and on current form I would be more concerned about the loss of Quinn.

Montgomery has a ready made replacement in Michael Doyle, you could even argue that McAllister could/should also come in. I think given the youngsters peppering the squad an experienced central/left sided midfielder will be on Wilson's list.

The other factor that might affect how we settle down is the willingness of the manager to chop and change.  He certainly set up the side differently away at Oldham and maybe we will see a grafting central midfield partnership away, with creativity applied at home. Who knows?

What I do know is that the signs are promising. There is still plenty that can be improved upon, but that will be the same across the country two games in. Most Blades fans would happily accept two 2-0 victories to start the season. Now can we back the manager, continue to back the team and build on it? Please!

Blocked!

Full of excitement and optimism, my Blades watching season kicked off yesterday but I nearly missed kick off thanks to farcical problems at the ground. Arriving at the Kop turnstiles at the top of Shoreham Street at about 2:40pm, my 6 year old son tried his season card in the turnstile. It didn't work. I tried it for him. Red light, no entry.

I tried my card, green light and he pushed his way through. Now he was in the ground and I wasn't. I called out to my mate Steve who came and collected him the other side of the wall. I sought assistance from a steward so I could get into the ground. Two female stewards, right outside the gate explained that a lot of cards were not working then directed me to a senior steward with some sort of scanning machine who had 5 or 6 people gathered round him. I explained that my 6 year old son was in the ground, but they said the fact that he was with my mate was fine. Well he knows Steve, but as a nervous boy he will be wondering where his Dad is and what is going on?

I finally spoke to our harrassed man in the illuminous yellow jacket who informed me that the card was "blocked" and I would have to go to the ticket office to sort it out. Now I understand, these people were doing their jobs, they have processes to follow. After all, what is to stop someone turning up with a non-renewed card (there are plenty of them this season) and claiming they should be let in. But they are also unable to exercise any sensible discretion or common sense.

I set off round to Cherry Street, to be faced with two long queues stretching along the car park from both ticket office and promotions office. I rang Steve, my son was okay, but wanted me. They were heading up to the seats to see if my Dad and brother were in the ground.

I spoke to a steward, I told him my predicament and he headed over to speak to a steward and security outside the Promotions Office. The queues contained a lot of hot and angry people. Those trying to collect tickets, those trying to buy (including Brentford fans) and a lot of people with £300+ of season ticket blocked, including one father I spoke to in the same predicament as me, with a young son in the ground and him locked out.   

A steward got me to the head of the queue in the Promotions Office and a security lady called Tracey said to speak to her when I had got my ticket sorted and she would speed up my entry to the ground. Whilst waiting for my card to be investigated, I received a text from Steve. "Worse still, someone has a proper ticket for your seat!" Insult added to injury.

After a few minutes the member of staff came back and told me I couldn't use my son's card from last season. I said that mine automatically renews on the same card and, in the absence of any advice to the contrary when they were renewed, I thought the junior ticket would be the same. I was then told in an accusatory tone "Well you should have a new one". I said "I haven't received one", to which the telling reply was "Well you should have,if you haven't you might get it Monday"!! Was that an admittance that they had been sent out late? I was told I would have to come down and sort it out Monday. They were unable to explain how my seats had been sold to someone else. 

Paper ticket in hand I sought out Tracey and she took me through the South Stand turnstile gates, through the stand, around the pitch and to the Kop Supervisor who would sort out the duplicate ticket issue. As I wandered up to my seat, supervisor in tow, I saw a very relieved little boy and an empty seat. My Dad had explained that they were season ticket seats and after remaining in situ for a short while they eventually moved to other seats. The teams came out and I picked up my boy and held him up to watch, just in time. 

I've heard of problems in prior seasons, but to be caught up in it was a stressful and upsetting start to the afternoon, even before I have to watch Neil Collins try and defend. What bothered me more was the club's inability to cope with the situation. I was lucky I was moved through the queue quickly. Others, like the other Dad seperated from his son were less fortunate. 

Thanks Tracey, if only more people used the common sense and understanding approach as you. If you hadn't, I would have had a very upset son and missed a large proportion of the first half.

Knowing it was a reasonably widespread problem, I expected at least an acknowledgement on the club website. An apology to those inconvenienced through no fault of their own. It is 11:45, Sunday night. Nothing.

So tomorrow, whilst at work, I will have to ring up to sort out the blocked season ticket and make sure they haven't sold my seat to someone else for Tuesday night's game against Walsall. God help them, if they ask me to go down and sort it out in person.  

United have lost around 5,000 season ticket holders from last season. Maybe they want to treat those still around a little better.