Wednesday 19th September 2018
SkyBet EFL Championship
at Bramall Lane
Sheffield United 0
Birmingham City 0
Attendance 23,525 (inc. 988 in away end)
Sheffield United:
Dean Henderson, Jack O’Connell, Chris Basham, John Egan, George Baldock, Marvin Johnson, Oli Norwood, John Fleck, Mark Duffy (Ben Woodburn 77), Conor Washington (David McGoldrick 61), Leon Clarke (Billy Sharp 69)
Unused subs - Enda Stevens, John Lundstram, Richard Stearman, Simon Moore.
Birmingham City:
Lee Camp, Maxime Colin, Kristian Pedersen, Michael Morrison, Harlee Dean, Jota, Charlie Lakin (Was Harding 88), Gary Gardner, Lukas Jutkiewicz, Che Adams (Omar Bogle 69), Jacques Maghoma (Conner Mahoney 78)
Unused subs - Connal Trueman, Marc Roberts, Viv Solomon-Otabor, Beryly Lubala.
Saturday's 1-0 defeat at Bristol City saw the Blades slip to ninth place in the Championship, while the weekends other results, left Blues in twenty first place, just a point above bottom club Ipswich Town, following their 1-1 draw against West Brom on Friday night, a game that they ought to have won, but once again, a combination of having no luck whatsoever combined with the fact that they hadn't actually loaded any live rounds into their attacking arsenal, meant that they had to make do with a point. After tonight's goalless, but incident packed affair at Bramall Lane, Birmingham's season is rapidly becoming a football equivalent of 'Groundhog Day'.
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| Man Friday - Who doesn't like chips!? |
As stated by Garry Monk himself, in spite of the need to get a first win of the season under their belts, a point and a clean sheet at Bramall lane against an highly rated Sheffield United, would've been a desirable outcome if you'd been offered it prior to kick off, indeed stood talking in the club car park before the game, even I (AKA somebody who knows very little at all about football), had said that even though Blues had an urgent need to get any kind of win on board any time soon, a return of two points from the Yorkshire double they are embarking on over the space of four days (they also visit Elland Road to
take on table topping Leeds United on Saturday) would be a very healthy return, even if they had to grind out a couple of draws with ten men behind the ball. In the event, Monk's side are half way to achieving that tally, but credit where it's due, they definitely didn't turn up in South Yorkshire tonight looking to settle for a draw, in fact, if you didn't already know the two teams respective league positions, you would've been hard pushed to guess which side was in need of points to pull themselves away from the bottom end of the table and who was genuine play off contenders, particularly in the second half when Blues finished the game with the bit firmly between their teeth.
Chris Wilder, United's manager remarked, in the aftermath of the game, that Birmingham had travelled up to Sheffield and done a job on them (management speak for when their own team struggles, in the face of the opposition tweaking their tactics, in a horses for courses manner, which sees them end up having been the better side on the night), while an upbeat Monk looked suitably happy with how employing a good, old fashioned and no nonsense, four-four-two set up had given the Blades too many puzzles to solve as they drew a blank. 'Mike Bassett, England Manager', would've been proud.
Of course, certain sections of football fans being, well... football fans, they'll be getting on somebody else's back now that they've warmed to their recently signed custodian... and from what I've overheard and seen in the places that keyboard warriors visit to vent their spleen (it's called 'puffer fish syndrome' in the real world), it's a coin toss between Che Adams and Omar Bogle, as regards who the next 'heckle spite' victim will be, until they start banging a few goals in and the 'angry mob' look for a.n.other target. All clubs have these sort of fans, each to their own... at the end of the day, everybody cares, it's just that some people have got a freakin' odd way of showing it.
The realists that attend Blues matches (AKA the overriding vast majority of people) know, that besides the 'blue-chip signings' that were made before Garry Monk (or even his predecessor) arrived at the club, the current squad is basically, for want of a better expression: a make do and mend collective of players, with their obvious limitations and shortcomings. The wage ceiling implemented by the EFL, ruled out bringing in Lionel Messi, Sergio Agüero, Cameron Jerome and Cristiano Ronaldo this Summer, but the guys who have come in are busting a gut, running through walls (metaphorically speaking) and giving 100% for the cause, while Monk and his sidekicks are putting the required overtime in to getting them reading from the same hymn sheet.
And besides, at least three of those aforementioned footballers wouldn't get a look in at the moment, given the way that Gary Gardner, Michael Morrison and Harlee Dean have been playing.
Truth be told, Wilder's Blades probably had the better of the first half, maybe not in any 'crash, bang, wallop' kind of way that you could exactly call dominant, but in the main, they kept on chipping away at Blues back line, but had little to show for their efforts, because if there is one thing that the visitors can do, it is bolt their back doors firmly shut, soak up any attempts to overrun them and stifle the most apparently fluid passing of sides. Okay, maybe I 'accidentally' recorded over the last fifteen minutes of their game at Nottingham Forest, on my SkyPlus menu, but usually that sort of thing is the exception rather than the rule.
Camp didn't actually have a great deal to do, as the Blades vainglorious efforts failed to amount to very much in front of his goal, but Blues keeper did well to pull off a rare save, when Mark Duffy's deflected shot almost, but not quite, caught him out. You might remember Duffy and his goal celebration in front of the home fans when these two clubs last met at St. Andrew's, before goals from Marc Roberts and Jacques Maghoma overturned United's lead to claim three valuable points towards the hosts Championship survival, as they enjoyed a revival of fortunes since Monk took over the managerial reigns.
But it was Lukas Jutkiewicz who actually came closest to breaking the deadlock, when he powered forward, brushing aside two challenges before Dean Henderson got his fingertips onto the strikers thumping shot and helped it onto the upright.
Henderson, for the record, is an England U21 international who is currently on a season long loan from Manchester United. It must be said that there were certainly a few moments tonight, when it was completely understandable why the Old Trafford club wouldn't want to release his playing registration to any other club altogether.
Right at the start of the second half, Camp and Morrison, the latter of whom I didn't see put a foot wrong all night, ganged up on George Baldock , who had moved down the right on a forward mission from Oli Norwood's diagonal pass. It was a contest that the Blues duo won hands down and Wilder's side appeared to fade as Birmingham got the scent of a first win of the season n their nostrils.
Maxime Colin ventured forward on the right and delivered a dipping cross for Che Adams to run onto, but Henderson was well placed to cope with the former Blades player's diving header.
Jutkiewicz puts in so much unselfish work in and around the opposition area to set up chances for other players, it often goes unnoticed, or gets obscured by the statistics that show he gets a lot of touches but few goals... and when he put Jota's hanging cross back across Henderson's six yard box, it looked for all the world as if Bogle would score, despite having his back to goal and a defender breathing down his neck, but the former England C international hooked an overhead kick over the same crossbar that he was virtually stood under.
Jota ran sideways across the pitch, five yards away from the edge of the area and was chopped down... and the hosts had another let off, when Gardner's well struck free kick crashed back off of the right hand post.
The telephone vote by the home supporters decreed that Basham, a central defender, had been chosen as their man of the match, as he finished the game in a numberless shirt after his original one had become bloodstained as he put in a battling performance. Which probably said far more about the visitors application in attack tonight, than anything else.
Right at the death, the all action and live-wire Jota, who had either been given a free role in attack, or is employed to charge around in circles, at high speed, across the width of the pitch, released Connor Mahoney, whose angled shot glanced off Henderson and went wide of the left hand post.
FT: Sheffield United 0 v Birmingham City 0
Lee Camp, Blues experienced goalkeeper, has been singled out by a few fans of late, as a scapegoat for several of their results; but I would suggest, ever so politely of course, that apportioning blame in such a manner is way off of the mark; goals win games and neither goalkeeper that Monk has entrusted between the posts since August, have missed a shed-load of chances in front of the opposition goal... and before I stray too far from the current subject matter, Camp didn't do anything wrong tonight, did he!? And though the away support's chants of "England's number one!" were no doubt delivered in a possibly tongue in cheek fashion, with generous second helpings of irony, it was also nice to see (and hear) that the St. Andrew's faithful have actually accepted Camp as one of their own.
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| Photo courtesy of Mark Barton |
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| Fact. The richest man in any bookmakers is the one with his name above the door. |
Truth be told, Wilder's Blades probably had the better of the first half, maybe not in any 'crash, bang, wallop' kind of way that you could exactly call dominant, but in the main, they kept on chipping away at Blues back line, but had little to show for their efforts, because if there is one thing that the visitors can do, it is bolt their back doors firmly shut, soak up any attempts to overrun them and stifle the most apparently fluid passing of sides. Okay, maybe I 'accidentally' recorded over the last fifteen minutes of their game at Nottingham Forest, on my SkyPlus menu, but usually that sort of thing is the exception rather than the rule.
Henderson, for the record, is an England U21 international who is currently on a season long loan from Manchester United. It must be said that there were certainly a few moments tonight, when it was completely understandable why the Old Trafford club wouldn't want to release his playing registration to any other club altogether.
Teenager Charlie Lakin made his full first team debut for Birmingham tonight, in place of the injured Maikel Kieftenbeld... and the youngster fitted in seamlessly, no doubt benefiting from the guidance of Gardner, who he was playing alongside in midfield. Before the break he'd had the confidence to try his luck with a long range shot, that was blocked by Chris Basham... and after the interval he really grew in stature and put in an impressive eighty eight minutes tonight, before Wes Harding came on in his place, as extra defensive cover to guard against a late smash and grab raid by United, who had bolstered their attacking options by sending Billy Sharp on in place of Leon Clarke, while Ben Woodburn replaced the largely ineffective Duffy.
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| Oi! You lot, come back. There's still ten minutes left. |
Maxime Colin ventured forward on the right and delivered a dipping cross for Che Adams to run onto, but Henderson was well placed to cope with the former Blades player's diving header.
Jota ran sideways across the pitch, five yards away from the edge of the area and was chopped down... and the hosts had another let off, when Gardner's well struck free kick crashed back off of the right hand post.
Right at the death, the all action and live-wire Jota, who had either been given a free role in attack, or is employed to charge around in circles, at high speed, across the width of the pitch, released Connor Mahoney, whose angled shot glanced off Henderson and went wide of the left hand post.
FT: Sheffield United 0 v Birmingham City 0
Preston North End visit Bramall Lane on Saturday and the Blades will be looking to put two consecutive games without scoring behind them, even though tonight's point saw them leapfrog over Aston Villa to move into the top six, while it will be intriguing to see how Blues approach their trip to Leeds United at the weekend, in what will be the biggest test of their mettle so far this season... and in case you hadn't noticed it, Birmingham sneaked up one place in the table tonight, by virtue of having to settle for draw number six of the season.
