The Blades to stick the knife in? Bolton v Sheffield Utd 12/9/17.

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Re: The Blades to stick the knife in? Bolton v Sheffield Utd 12/9/17.

Post by Dave Sutton's barnet » Tue Sep 12, 2017 11:47 am

Bruce Rioja wrote:
Mon Sep 11, 2017 11:04 am
We're playing a side that came up with us at home. We have to look for all three points here.
Agree, with some minor reservations. Allardyce would probably accept a point to end the run, but under him we were never quite as marooned (although we did have longer bad runs: 12 winless in 01/02, six straight losses in late 2004).

It comes down to maths. Over the past decade, the highest-placed relegated side has averaged 45.7pt, so we need to aim for 46 points – one per game. Where are we going to get those points? I’m not into all that Expected Goals stuff, but plainly there are some games we’re more likely to win than others, and it seems to me this highly stratified division can be split into three groups of roughly 8 teams each: contenders, drop-dodgers and those in the middle.

There’s obviously some fluidity between these groups but you can probably name the contenders, those whose financial plans are based on Premier League economics and would see finishing outside the play-offs as failure: Boro, Hull, Leeds, Sunderland, Wednesday, Villa, Wolves and Derby. There’s the bottom-feeders bunch - us, Millwall, Burton, Barnsley, Brentford, maybe a Graysonless Preston plus the inevitable couple of others who get dragged in. Then there’s those in the middle, teams like Fulham, QPR, Norwich, those who nobody really backed pre-season but you wouldn’t expect to be down amongst the dead men unless things go surprisingly awry. Pre-season, I would have expected Sheffield United to be in this group.

Which brings us to tonight’s game but also the big question: where do we get 46 points? If we won our mini-division, 14 games against the other seven Drop-Dodgers could have garnered a maximum of 42 points (now it’s 40, thanks to two points dropped against Millwall), but more realistically, winning at home and drawing away would get you 28 points, leaving 18 more to find. Any points against the Big Boys are gratefully received (so far we’ve got zero from 4 attempts) but realistically of the 16 games against them you’d be unwise to bank on anything more than say six or eight points – ground out hither and yon, probably more hither than yon (unless we rediscover our Parkinsonian defensive resoluteness and ramp it up for much, much better opponents).

A very optimistic 24pts against the drop-dodgers and a rather more humble 6pts against the big boys would still leave us seeking 16pts against the “middle eight” – more, if we don’t do enough in the relegation battles. The Blades have done very well indeed so far and personally I don’t mind them as a club, despite the odd knobhead in their support. But we can’t keep saying “oh, our next opponents are a much better/bigger/richer club”, even if it’s demonstrably true. At some point, we have to target wins, or we’re doing nothing but marking time. And I’m not going to resign myself to that in September.

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Re: The Blades to stick the knife in? Bolton v Sheffield Utd 12/9/17.

Post by DJBlu » Tue Sep 12, 2017 12:21 pm

They'll come here expecting to beat us 3-0 easily and will leave with their tails between their legs having lost 2-1.

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Re: The Blades to stick the knife in? Bolton v Sheffield Utd 12/9/17.

Post by TANGODANCER » Tue Sep 12, 2017 1:38 pm

TANGODANCER wrote:
Tue Sep 12, 2017 1:36 pm
I'm refusing to believe that Parky has just been sitting with his feet up listening to The Archers since Saturday and not had a few headaches about how to handle this one. We know Sheffield and have played them so Parky'll know as much as B.W.F.C Insane and Peter Thompson ( well, maybe not quite as much :wink: ) about what's in store. I'm not totally convinced there aren't some managerial mind games going on re injuries etc, and more worried about why we're not busting a gut to get onwards and upwards. Are we doing the " massive club, too cool for school" thing with the idea in mind that it'll be alright on the night attitude? In this morning's paper, Karl Heinze Rummenegge ( had to look that spelling up) gave Lewandowski a bolocking for his "high and mighty" attitude, to the tune of a very simple reminder " He is employed with us as a football player" which I thought right on the mark.

Even knowing our current wage limitations, players are still making very good money compared to your average nine-to-fiver and efforts and results are capable of seperate judgement. In short, if everybody pulls their tripes out and we lose, it won't seem half as bad as if they obviously don't (which seems from all sources to be the case). Talk of Neymar's half a million a week wages doesn't help anything at all, but this is Bolton le Moors, not Bayern Munich, Barcelona or Paris St Germaine. Maybe a kick up buttocks canyon or two occasionally might help along with the cuddles and teddy bears? Just saying like.... :oyea:
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Re: The Blades to stick the knife in? Bolton v Sheffield Utd 12/9/17.

Post by bristol_Wanderer3 » Tue Sep 12, 2017 1:42 pm

We have our 12th man. Storm Aileen is going to blow the numerous Sheffield United shots away from our goal, and blow one of Alnwick's long clearances into the Sheffield United net for a morale boosting 1-0 win despite 26% possession. YHIHF.

http://www.theboltonnews.co.uk/news/155 ... ef=mr&lp=6

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Re: The Blades to stick the knife in? Bolton v Sheffield Utd 12/9/17.

Post by Abdoulaye's Twin » Tue Sep 12, 2017 1:49 pm

TANGODANCER wrote:
Tue Sep 12, 2017 1:38 pm
TANGODANCER wrote:
Tue Sep 12, 2017 1:36 pm
I'm refusing to believe that Parky has just been sitting with his feet up listening to The Archers since Saturday and not had a few headaches about how to handle this one. We know Sheffield and have played them so Parky'll know as much as B.W.F.C Insane and Peter Thompson ( well, maybe not quite as much :wink: ) about what's in store. I'm not totally convinced there aren't some managerial mind games going on re injuries etc, and more worried about why we're not busting a gut to get onwards and upwards. Are we doing the " massive club, too cool for school" thing with the idea in mind that it'll be alright on the night attitude? In this morning's paper, Karl Heinze Rummenegge ( had to look that spelling up) gave Lewandowski a bolocking for his "high and mighty" attitude, to the tune of a very simple reminder " He is employed with us as a football player" which I thought right on the mark.

Even knowing our current wage limitations, players are still making very good money compared to your average nine-to-fiver and efforts and results are capable of seperate judgement. In short, if everybody pulls their tripes out and we lose, it won't seem half as bad as if they obviously don't (which seems from all sources to be the case). Talk of Neymar's half a million a week wages doesn't help anything at all, but this is Bolton le Moors, not Bayern Munich, Barcelona or Paris St Germaine. Maybe a kick up buttocks canyon or two occasionally might help along with the cuddles and teddy bears? Just saying like.... :oyea:
You trying to up your post count again? :P

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Re: The Blades to stick the knife in? Bolton v Sheffield Utd 12/9/17.

Post by Bruce Rioja » Tue Sep 12, 2017 2:33 pm

Here's a little food for thought.

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Re: The Blades to stick the knife in? Bolton v Sheffield Utd 12/9/17.

Post by BWFC_Insane » Tue Sep 12, 2017 3:05 pm

Bruce Rioja wrote:
Tue Sep 12, 2017 2:33 pm
Here's a little food for thought.

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Re: The Blades to stick the knife in? Bolton v Sheffield Utd 12/9/17.

Post by officer_dibble » Tue Sep 12, 2017 5:42 pm

Darby and Taylor doing a signing seasion pre game - assume both out.

As an aside I wonder if Burke could a job as holding midfielder?

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Re: The Blades to stick the knife in? Bolton v Sheffield Utd 12/9/17.

Post by bristol_Wanderer3 » Tue Sep 12, 2017 6:03 pm

officer_dibble wrote:
Tue Sep 12, 2017 5:42 pm
Darby and Taylor doing a signing seasion pre game - assume both out.

As an aside I wonder if Burke could a job as holding midfielder?
Yes, I have also wondered this too. Has to be worth a try. Cullen, Karacan and Pratley is such a terrible midifield, they all want to operate in the same area, and none of them want to defend.

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Re: The Blades to stick the knife in? Bolton v Sheffield Utd 12/9/17.

Post by Prufrock » Tue Sep 12, 2017 6:56 pm

Top work as ever from our club captain.
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That it's going to lose its mind
Be more kind, my friends, try to be more kind.

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Re: The Blades to stick the knife in? Bolton v Sheffield Utd 12/9/17.

Post by Little Green Man » Tue Sep 12, 2017 7:03 pm

Prufrock wrote:
Tue Sep 12, 2017 6:56 pm
Top work as ever from our club captain.
He's been dropped.

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Re: The Blades to stick the knife in? Bolton v Sheffield Utd 12/9/17.

Post by bristol_Wanderer3 » Tue Sep 12, 2017 7:08 pm

hmm either a 3-5-2 or he has put Burke in the holding role in a 4-5-1. If it is 3-5-2 with Cullen/Karacan/Buckley in the middle we might never see the ball all night..

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Re: The Blades to stick the knife in? Bolton v Sheffield Utd 12/9/17.

Post by bw@bw » Tue Sep 12, 2017 7:09 pm

Dave Sutton's barnet wrote:
Tue Sep 12, 2017 11:47 am
Bruce Rioja wrote:
Mon Sep 11, 2017 11:04 am
We're playing a side that came up with us at home. We have to look for all three points here.
Agree, with some minor reservations. Allardyce would probably accept a point to end the run, but under him we were never quite as marooned (although we did have longer bad runs: 12 winless in 01/02, six straight losses in late 2004).

It comes down to maths. Over the past decade, the highest-placed relegated side has averaged 45.7pt, so we need to aim for 46 points – one per game. Where are we going to get those points? I’m not into all that Expected Goals stuff, but plainly there are some games we’re more likely to win than others, and it seems to me this highly stratified division can be split into three groups of roughly 8 teams each: contenders, drop-dodgers and those in the middle.

There’s obviously some fluidity between these groups but you can probably name the contenders, those whose financial plans are based on Premier League economics and would see finishing outside the play-offs as failure: Boro, Hull, Leeds, Sunderland, Wednesday, Villa, Wolves and Derby. There’s the bottom-feeders bunch - us, Millwall, Burton, Barnsley, Brentford, maybe a Graysonless Preston plus the inevitable couple of others who get dragged in. Then there’s those in the middle, teams like Fulham, QPR, Norwich, those who nobody really backed pre-season but you wouldn’t expect to be down amongst the dead men unless things go surprisingly awry. Pre-season, I would have expected Sheffield United to be in this group.

Which brings us to tonight’s game but also the big question: where do we get 46 points? If we won our mini-division, 14 games against the other seven Drop-Dodgers could have garnered a maximum of 42 points (now it’s 40, thanks to two points dropped against Millwall), but more realistically, winning at home and drawing away would get you 28 points, leaving 18 more to find. Any points against the Big Boys are gratefully received (so far we’ve got zero from 4 attempts) but realistically of the 16 games against them you’d be unwise to bank on anything more than say six or eight points – ground out hither and yon, probably more hither than yon (unless we rediscover our Parkinsonian defensive resoluteness and ramp it up for much, much better opponents).

A very optimistic 24pts against the drop-dodgers and a rather more humble 6pts against the big boys would still leave us seeking 16pts against the “middle eight” – more, if we don’t do enough in the relegation battles. The Blades have done very well indeed so far and personally I don’t mind them as a club, despite the odd knobhead in their support. But we can’t keep saying “oh, our next opponents are a much better/bigger/richer club”, even if it’s demonstrably true. At some point, we have to target wins, or we’re doing nothing but marking time. And I’m not going to resignh myself to that in September.
That is pretty much how I see it
4 points each from the bottom group
2 points each from the middle group
and 1 point each from the top group

Which still may not be enough - but at least we will be in the fight right up to the end - unlike last time.
Having some close games with real fight would be a start
What goes around may still come around

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Re: The Blades to stick the knife in? Bolton v Sheffield Utd 12/9/17.

Post by BWFC_Insane » Tue Sep 12, 2017 7:10 pm

It's the right team for me. No way can Robinson defend well enough to play in a back four. But he might be a good wingback. I don't think the 4-5-1 works with current players.

I think it's close to what I'd have picked. Armstrong offers some pace which I think we need and Buckley should help get around the strikers more than Pratley. Not convinced Karacan and Cullen is strong enough but we lack options there as we know.

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Re: The Blades to stick the knife in? Bolton v Sheffield Utd 12/9/17.

Post by Jugs » Tue Sep 12, 2017 7:19 pm

I'm happy Buckley is starting. Hopefully he can have an impact.

Needs to be the right system tonight.

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Re: The Blades to stick the knife in? Bolton v Sheffield Utd 12/9/17.

Post by bristol_Wanderer3 » Tue Sep 12, 2017 7:23 pm

Have to say there is quite a lot of pace in our team, more than we have seen for a long time in a league game. Little, Robinson, Armstrong, Buckley are all in the "fast" category..

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Re: The Blades to stick the knife in? Bolton v Sheffield Utd 12/9/17.

Post by Dave Sutton's barnet » Tue Sep 12, 2017 7:26 pm

bristol_Wanderer3 wrote:
Tue Sep 12, 2017 7:23 pm
Have to say there is quite a lot of pace in our team, more than we have seen for a long time in a league game. Little, Robinson, Armstrong, Buckley are all in the "fast" category..
I was thinking quite a lot of youth too; with Cullen, Burke, Antonee and Arma, it could be close to PP's youngest-ever XI.

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Re: The Blades to stick the knife in? Bolton v Sheffield Utd 12/9/17.

Post by TANGODANCER » Tue Sep 12, 2017 7:58 pm

Well, we'll soon know. Jeeves duties over for tonight and deep breathing and walking on the spot completed. We go....

COME ON YOU WHITES...... :oyea: :oyea: :oyea:
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Re: The Blades to stick the knife in? Bolton v Sheffield Utd 12/9/17.

Post by TANGODANCER » Tue Sep 12, 2017 8:04 pm

We attack, lose out and they break. Throw us now and another moving up. Burke, and the Blkades gat a free kick. Here they come but we clear. Talk of some nice bits of passing from the visitors, then...we sally, they clear and come forth again. Cullen and Armstrong and.....ooohhh, Robinson's shot hits a defender and...we have a ping pong almost session but it ends in a goal kick.
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Re: The Blades to stick the knife in? Bolton v Sheffield Utd 12/9/17.

Post by Bruce Rioja » Tue Sep 12, 2017 8:06 pm

Has that storm pitched up yet?
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