Football News: Sheffield United v Nottingham Forest 19 April 2019

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At the risk of repeating myself another odd looking Nottingham Forest team against Sheffield United with the continued use of Colback at left back and the reintroduction to the match day squad of Yacob starting , Milosovic back on the bench and Robinson nowhere in sight but the experiments would appear to continue.

A first half where some on here and in the media reports say that we held our own for the first 45 minutes and although we went in at the break all square for me it was more of a case of United not finding their feet as we were subjected to a barrage of high balls from all parts of the pitch without ever really looking in any danger from them irrespective of the fact that most of the headers were won by the opposition, as for the most part were the second balls, and I was left wondering how on earth United were challenging for second spot but without their talisman Billy Sharp and obviously under great pressure to get the points may have been guilty of trying too hard.

Mention must be made of the incident leading to the booking of Colback which happened at the far end of the ground live but on watching the sky replay for me he was extremely unlucky to have been found guilty of a dive and in fact on another day may have been awarded a foul against him but these are the vagaries of football and as much as it leaves a bitter taste we have to move on and credit to Colback for not reacting to it.

To be honest the cynic in me was fully expecting him to be awarded a yellow card insofar as his season is now over and he can return to the Northeast and " await further developements " as it were.

Mr O;neill said that the game hinged on the sending off and I am in complete agreement with him on that but again it happened at the far end of the pitch and I once again viewed it on the TV.

Pele was far too casual in midfield in the first instance giving the ball away leading to the chance for Mcgoldrick but what
my eyes see after SEVERAL views is not a violent and dangerous lunging tackle but a stupid, reckless and irresponsible one and personally I can have no complaints at the outcome and had situations been reversed and it was Grabban or Lolley on the receiiving end I think we would all have demanded and expected the same result.

It is a part of Benalouanes game that has been highlighted by the manger and something that he seems unable to change and is a worrying part to his make up but I feel that he has always looked more at ease alongside Milosovic but patently this cannot be held up as an excuse for his actions.

For me the sending off had a twofold effect with the obvious introduction of Milosovic and an oddly galvanising effect on the side who appeared to become a little tighter in the face of some severe pressure from United who themselves seemed to have released the pressure and began to play some more enterprising football against the 10 men.

They expoited the situation and began to rain crosses in which for the most part were dealt with if not well then at least reasonably efficiently.

This led to , in my opinion , a really quite decent 15 minutes or so for us with some decent passing moves although I must stress that it never really looked like leading to anything but after some of the recent horrors it showed that at least we can play football with Grabban looking quite lively.

The second goal late on effectively finshed the game and I doubt any of the travelling contingent were not relieved to hear the whistle.

I have alluded to what I thought was a decent little spell from Forest because I think credit should be given when its due BUT it cannot disguise what was for the most part a torrid affair and one shot on target is quite simply unacceptable at this level as is the appalling quality of the final ball which has been evident for some time now.

Once again few players really came out of the game with much kudos although I thought Yacob carried on where he left off and Mliosovic when called upon did what he had to do,
Lolley continues to be a pale imitation of the player he was but this may well be reflected in where he is being played or what he is being asked to do.
Cash must realise that everything does not have to be done at 100 mph and to look up occasionally before delivering the ball.

On the whole another pretty humdrum day in Sheffield and no one can doubt that our fall from a potential,albeit slight, play off place to where we are now has not been pleasant viewing at all from a tired looking underperforming and dare I say lost at times group of players.

In closing let me congratulate the " supporters " who had a jolly time pulling tissue dispensers from the toliet walls, filling the toilets with tissues , toilet rolls and Heineken bottles , pulling off doors and openly urinating on the floor.
Gentlemen I trust you are happy with your endeavours and if the expected huge ground improvements take place just think of the fun you can have then.

SO Boro on Monday to try and rescue some pride this season and

As always and forever

COYR

Written by creepy1 April 20 2019 18:15:44