Sheffield United 1 - West Bromwich Albion 1

Date:	Sunday 29th December 2024
Competition:	Sky Bet Championship
Sheff U: 6.2	(4-2-3-1) Cooper, Gilchrist, Ahmedhodzic, Robinson, Burrows, Davies, Peck (Brewster, 73), Brooks (McCallum, 90), O'Hare, Hamer, Moore Unused subs: Davies, Baptiste, Norrington-Davies, Marsh, Oné, Blacker, Colechin
WBA: 7.3	(4-2-3-1) Palmer 6.4, Furlong 5.9, Bartley 6.5, Heggem 7.5, Styles 6.8, Molumby 8.1, Diakité 6.1 (Swift, 81 5.1), Fellows 6.2 (Cole, 71 4.8), Grant 7.2 (Wallace, 66 5.8), Johnston 6.5 (Diangana, 71 5.5), Maja 6.2 (Dobbin, 81 4.2) Unused subs: Wildsmith, Racic, McNair, Frabotta Manager: Chris Brunt (c) 7.2
Scorers:	Brooks (23); Grant (45)
Referee:	Stuart Attwell (Warwickshire) 5.3
Attendance:	29,123 Home Fans 5.3 Away Fans 8.1

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Ratings submitted so far: 13

Brendan Clegg:

With Mowatt and Holgate out with knocks Brunty and co made a big call going with Diakite in the middle. Shows you that after the performance at Derby they probably don't trust Racic... obvious as it went on and we tired.

A thought it was a decent game that was refereed terribly... I'm not sure how Hamer stayed on the pitch and the drop ball he gave instead of a corner for us was laughable.

Over both halves I thought we shaded it and our single biggest issue was a total lack of composure in the box or in the final third when breaks were on.

That's not to say every player didn't give it everything and fight for everything because they did... but early on Styles broke through and had he kept his head he could've given Fellows a tap in but went for a shot off balance on his weaker foot, and be it Fellows missing a sitter, Grant trying first time passes as a link man or playing the wrong ball, Maja going backwards or late on Diangana, Swift and Dobbin rushing moments when we were in... it showed a team that just needs to relax a bit.

I thought Sheff Utd were generally quite average but they did have composure when it mattered... pouncing on our errors to score the goal and create chances. Their opener showed that... snapping on Diakite's poor control and then 2 passes later it was in the net through calm unselfish play.

We equalized through another bit of over-eager panic from Fellows but Grant finished it superbly and I thought we were again brave and brilliant in the opening 20 mins of the second half without finding that killer instinct.

After that we looked tired and credit to our stand-in coaches for their changes - I'm not sure I entirely agreed (other than Racic not getting on) with the subs but they get us over the line and we might have nicked it or lost in the end.

A result that demonstrated again the potential of this squad in the context of the league, not in comparison to previous sides of ours. The play-offs are not just achievable... they are winnable provided we can stay close enough to them until the new head coach is in and we can make a couple of tweaks to the fringe players.

Palmer - 6 A couple of poor kicks but commanding when we needed him.
Furlong - 7 Steady, strong, resolute.
Bartley - 7 Seemed to enjoy it and the battle. Headed loads away.
Heggem - 7 Pace when we needed it, never knows he's beaten.
Styles - 7 Plenty of energy and effort.
Fellows - 6 Looked tired but had a go and switched his game up quite well.
Molumby - 8 Held us together, flew into everything and made demands of others.
Diakite - 6 A big error and one or two other moments of worry but won plenty of tackles and showed drive and commitment. You'd like to see him again after 10 games, looks like he could be decent as long as he doesn't get asked to do things he can't do.
MJ - 6 Frustrating again.. a lot of the time he was deeper than Styles... I still think we should try him as a 10 so he can get running on the ball in central areas
Maja - 6 The odd good touch but looked knackered
Grant - 7 Good goal and ran around like mad but just a slight worry he's starting to think he's better than he is. Gave it away a lot, and we don't really want him facing his own goal or trying to do that.

Wallace - 6 Effort but no threat
Cole - 5 Half chances were there again
Diagana - 5 We needed him to do more on the ball when he got it and the game was stretched
Swift - 5 Didn't get into it
Dobbin - 4 Can still see he's got something but is not ready. Tackled himself once... showed great touch to take the ball out of the sky but then went for a shot that was never really on when we had bodies around him. Needs a season in League 1.

Kev Buckley:

Mowatt's absence from the defensive midfield options would have had most people imagining Molumby and Racic, yet, for only the second time this season, albeit, and read into this what you will, for the second time in Sheffield, Diakite started, whilst Heggem moved to the centre for Holgate, which saw Styles at left-back.

The first fifteen minutes of the reverse fixture were probably one of best performances under Corberan, pressing high from the off and looking dynamic when in possession, despite the Blades being on top of the league at the time, but there was little evidence of that level of the confidence to go forwards with such verve here.

Two minutes in and Molumby gave the ball away, leading to a cross that found Moore in the box but he mishit the shot; then two minutes later a weak Furlong backpass required Palmer to come out of the box to cover, before another ball worked into our right-back area saw a cross that found no-one, and, in the eight minute Palmer hammered a ball at Diakite that he couldn't control but the shot the home side manufactured went over the bar.

Ten minutes in and Styles had a run and shot that was saved and then Bartley went down injured for a worryingly long time, although he did continue after some treatment.

Midway through the first half, Diakite failed to control a dropping ball near the edge of our box, and the three Blades players pushed up onto our back line slickly moved the ball across our backline with a final backheel setting up a clear sight of goal for the shot that saw the home side take the lead.

Maybe going behind woke a few Albion players up, although the lack of finishing that's dogged us all season was still evident, first as Maja ended up falling as he got a shot off, and then, after some fine control and quick feet from Grant saw him create his own shooting chance, the save on the stretch from the keeper dropped to Fellows but he was unable to direct the ball on target.

Grant had clearly been playing up alongside Maja in a front two, but the problem with that, other than him creating chances for himself , is that when we play with one striker and aren't creating chances for that one player, there's only one player bot really affecting the game, whereas when we play with two up, if often feels as though we have two players not affecting it all that much.

Two of the players who have, on occasion, affected games would end up "combining" to set up Grant, in that left-winger Johnston's goalbound shot from the right centre edge of the box was inadvertently blocked by right-winger Fellows as he ran across it, only to fall perfectly for Grant, who drove it into the net from eighteen yards, as the half ended.

The start of the second half felt a little more even, albeit more in that neither side showed much composure on top of their effort than because both sides were creating much, although Grant did have another shooting chance, and a break down our right led to bit of chaos in the box that saw the ball bouncing around before being cleared.

My long-time reader will be surprised to hear to that I thought the replacement of Grant for Wallace, on 65, was the wrong call, in that Maja, who hadn't really benefitted from having a second striker up alongside him, should have been the one to make way, given that Grant had looked more likely to create something for himself than waiting for Maja to set him up.

As it was, Wallace only got five minutes alongside Maja before he'd move out to the right wing, with Cole coming on for Fellows, as part of the "Corberan Memorial Double Sub on Seventy" switch, wherein Grady also replaced Johnston.

Ten minutes of Cole and Maja up top came and went before, somewhat bizarrely, Dobbin came on for Maja, and Swift, not Racic, replaced Diakite.

With five to go, two Albion players seemed to leave it to each other on the edge of the area, which then allowed a Sheff U player to skip into the box, only to blaze the game's last decent opportunity over.

Both sides would force a couple of corners before the end, from which neither could fashion a clear chance, but the real moment of note, as the game wound down, was Styles picking up a fifth yellow, which means he'll miss the next one, which, given the re-emergence of the seemingly forgotten Diakite, must open up the possibility of Frabrotta, the last of the "summer signings" yet to be given a proper run out, being asked to start at left back, should Heggem need to continue to start in the centre.

Other results mean that Albion stay within a point of the playoff spots as 2024 ends, although should Watford and Blackburn win their games in hand, that could be pushed out to four.

All the best to all on the BOING list for 2025.