Down for T'Cup

Sheffield United 1 v Leicester City 4

EFL Cup Round 2

Tuesday 22 August 2017

SUFC 2017/18 Game 19

Twitter @ball_sup

That crowd tonight is an insight into where football has gone & how far. Just 11,280 in tonight. 2,264 of those from Leicester. You see, nominally, that is a Championship club up against a top flight Premier League side. Indeed Premier League Champions in 2015-16. A team who got to the Champions League QF last season. Giants to be killed. Scalps to be scalped.

Absolutely fair play to the Leicester fans. They brought a load. The bottom tier looked full & busy. And, they made a load of noise. They’re a proper club. With both an old school, we’ve seen the lot, fanbase. And, a new school, ooohhh they’ve won something, fanbase. I would imagine they see success in the EFL Cup as well within their reach. If you’re from Leicester, or otherwise a Leicester fan, you’d want to be at games.

But, at our level, you just can’t create a buzz for this cup. Reflected in the crowd. Despite it only costing me £12 for a belting seat in the South Stand. You’re just thinking, weakened side v weakened side. The real money is in cementing your position in whatever league you are in. In our case, getting a foothold in The Championship. And, in today’s game, it’s real money or Saudi money (replace with your own choice of despotic owners). Still, fair play to the Leicester fans for turning up. They saw their team being very worthy winners. Not completely dominant. And maybe somewhat flattered by the scoreline. But, worthy winners.

Right, what have we learned?

We’re still better as a Square Peg, Square Hole team. Freeman set up as one of a back three is Round.

We’re very reliant on Coutts & Fleck. The midfield of Lundstram, Carruthers & Brooks was underpowered. And, indeed, overrun in a 15 minute period in which Leicester scored three. On the night, I didn’t think Lundstram had a game at all. He looked off the pace. Had his moments, but he needs to show more for me to get near the starting XI. The higher the leagues you climb, the better teams are at moving the ball & attacking with pace. I suppose you could call it counter attacking. But, it’s just getting the ball & moving it quickly & accurately. I’ll say it again, midfielders need to track their men. Because if they don’t, the back three are susceptible to the old backpedal. Little choice. Men bombing at you. Runners running. Backpedal becomes default.

We looked immediately better once Coutts came on. Not least because the reshuffle allowed Brooks a bit more freedom & opportunity. Part of me says - if you can get Brooks in, get him in. But, his style means he is sometimes going to get robbed in possession. And, it won’t be easy for him to track from there. And the then midfield two are liable to be overrun/bypassed. Brooks skills can hurt teams. But, we need to be shored up properly. When the music stops, I’d like him to be ahead of a midfield three (Coutts, Fleck, Duffy, for eg), but behind a front one. I’m way out of my depth here, as to who would be best as that front one. But, it won’t be Clarke while he serves his suspension. So, that does open the door a bit for Brooks starting in the league.

Brooks won the sponsors Man Of The Match. Fair enough. I didn’t think he was outstanding. But, he’s always lively. There’s always something happening.

That can’t have been easy for Eastwood. Young keepers thrive on confidence. And, four goals ain’t boosting that. I going to say, I feel he’ll be disappointed. It’s not on to say the goals were his fault. But, he might have done a bit better with some of them. The first in particular went through him. It’s a harsh game up here at this level. That said. He pulled off one superb save & was confident on most crosses & balls pumped in. His kicking is good. You could tell that the back three trusted him as an outlet if it came on top for them. I thought I noticed the bench urging him to get the ball out quicker at times. But, I may have misread that.

The Lord Nelson (Fannys). Milestone, Lions Pride on cask at 3.8%

521/1099