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!

Love and Haiti - Lescinel Jean-Francois

It was announced this morning that Danny Wilson had made his first signing as Sheffield United manager. Recent rumours were now confirmed, as Haitian international defender Lescinel Jean-Francois signed a two year deal with an option of a third. 

Defensive recruitment had to be a priority for Wilson; with no fit left backs at the club and central defence decidedly light, with Chris Morgan and Johnnie Ertl missing the start of the season - leaving the haphazard Neil Collins and youthful promise in Matt Lowton and Harry Maguire. Given the youthful look of the back four towards the end of the season, perhaps a more experienced signing might have been expected, and that may still happen, but for now it appears that United have continued their recent strategy of signing relatively young players who have shown promise.

As a fellow Blade (David Cooper) said to me on twitter this morning, "This is the pond we need to be fishing in. Young with potential to improve. We've spent too much on players who are not going to get any better". A sentiment I wholeheartedly agree with. So who have we signed? Are our assumptions correct? Ron - editor of Swindon Town site "The Wash Bag"  told me a bit more about our new signing.

"When Lescinel Jean-Francois (LJF) joined the club back in January 2009 it was expected that his short term deal would be only that. Danny Wilson was impressed enough, particularly with Lescinel’s performance in his second start at Peterborough on the final day, to offer him a new contract."

"2009/2010 saw LJF play more than a supporting role in our near promotion campaign. A regular starter at first, including a magnificent match at left back against Southampton in the August, he eventually lost out to Alan Sheehan (The ex-Leeds player has recently signed for Notts County)."

What worries me slightly is Ron's next comment. We've had enough scary moments this season, with Nyron Nosworthy and Neil Collins providing a near-weekly horror story, and maybe this suggests that he will be utilised at left back rather than centre back, particularly until Andy Taylor returns from injury.

"Thrust into the middle, a position he’s more than familiar with, hasn’t always worked out for the best. Whilst LJF is very competent on the ball, distributes well and isn’t bad at whipping in a cross from the wing, in the middle at the back there’s no space to hide from your mistakes. His concentration goes, however he does often have a knack for chasing back onto the striker and pulling off an excellent recovery."
"He’s often been unfairly singled out by some Town fans as contributing to our relegation, despite making only 18 appearances this season, however that just isn’t the case as I pointed out in a recent blog."

The blog is well worth a read as Ron looks at the impact on results and defensive performances with/without LJF.

Ron describes him as "A player that will ultimately divide opinion, however you just can’t fault his professionalism and attitude." We have known a few players like that at Bramall Lane over the years and the Blades support will always recognise a hard working committed player, despite their technical limitations. The danger is that his mistakes, particularly if costly, outweigh the positives.

"Nothing more demonstrates this than the tragedy that shook his home nation of Haiti in 2010 and playing for months knowing his sister was missing, somewhere in the rubble left by the earthquake. LJF only found out that her body had been recovered just before the second leg of the play-off semi-final and he was adamant he’d play the game. After returning home for the week before the Wembley final he played the whole ninety minutes and gave it his all in the toughest circumstances."

A situation that few ,if any, of us can imagine dealing with, yet he demonstrated a maturity and mental fortitude that suggests he is capable of dealing with the minor tribulations that football can bring.

So with a new contract in the offing at the County Ground, LJF has chosen to remain in League One with the Blades. But will he be missed by Town fans?

"For me, Swindon should’ve done everything to have kept LJF at Swindon, however I can think of no better place than Sheffield United and linking up with Wilson again to allow him to fulfil his real potential." Let's hope so!

So who next for the Blades, as Wilson continues to re-shape his squad? More Swindon Town links will inevitably be made. Last week the papers made great play of a move for John Paul McGovern, a winger Blades fans know a lot about from his loan spell 8 years ago. This was played down by local radio and I for one am relieved. Although width has been something the Blades have lacked for a couple of seasons and is a requirement acknowledged by Wilson, I would like to see pace in the wide positions, something JP cannot provide.

Further links with Billy Paynter (currently at Leeds) have emerged and I can see this as a real possibility, particularly with the potential loss of a combination (or all) of Henderson, Bogdanovic and Evans. A player to lead the line and have width and pace playing off him. He has scored goals in League One (including under Wilson in Swindon's play off season) and I can see how he would potentially fit in with our plans.

The one player, with a Swindon connection, that I would like to see the Blades move for is Danny Ward of Bolton Wanderers. Signed on loan in the Play Off final season, he contributed 9 goals in 31 games and, to me, looked equally comfortable out wide or down the middle. However, Ron tells me that down the middle was definitely his best position. Injury curtailed a loan at Coventry early last season and he finished the season on loan at Huddersfield where he scored 3 in 9 appearances, including a great finish against Bournemouth in the second leg of the Play Off semi-final. Still 20 and with great pace, he could give us something we have only sporadically had with the injury prone Jamie Ward.

Time will tell, who we next move for, but I cannot help feeling I might be asking for Ron's opinions again before pre-season is out. Until then I thank him for his help and here's hoping LJF makes as positive impact on Blades fans as he did on Ron.