A win is a win, particularly in a cup competition. And as it turns out it was a good job we did play a strong side because Sheffield United put up a dogged battle in a tight formation.
Here are my ratings:
Schmeichel: 7 - The set pieces still look pretty terrible but he looked a lot better again today. I continue to wonder whether the captaincy distracts him.
Simpson: 5 - Not his best game defensively with a bad defensive header that should have cost us and getting caught out of position a couple of times. This was also a match the highlighted the issue with not having an option of a more attacking full back as he was never able to use the space in front of him in the first half.
Morgan: 7 - Looked solidly and unspectacularly decent on his return.
Maguire: 7 - Displayed his capability on the ball again and made an excellent block but still looks a bit panicked in the penalty area.
Chilwell: 7 - Some excellent forward runs but fraught with danger when trying to drift past people in his own half. What he does looks great when Man City do it but get it wrong and it costs you goals, like it did with him at Everton. Taking too many risks in bad positions for my liking.
Mahrez: 8 - Took a while to get into the game, and it was hard to tell from where I was which fans exactly were booing. I sit in J2 and there were definitely murmurs from my right, but I couldn't tell whether it L1 or the Blades fans. However, for most of the match he looked by far the most likely to open up a tough defence and so it proved. My choice for our MOTM.
Ndidi: 8 - Becoming a real force in midfield - winning tackles, being tough to dispossess and spotting mistakes before they've been made. There are still things for him to learn and improve on, but he dug his teammates out of trouble time and again.
Iborra: 6 - A good base for possession football when it was working but made a lot of mistakes as well, particularly in the second half.
Gray: 6 - Lively and tricky, but his final ball continues to let him down. Drew a good save later on.
Iheanacho: 6 - No faulting his effort and looks a much keener partner for Vardy than Slimani, but he can be so erratic. Sometimes looks sublime, sometimes looks terrible, and continues to look poor until he bags a goal or an assist. There definitely looks to be something to work with though.
Vardy: 7 - Far from his best match and he missed a couple of chances but still got the winner eventually.
Albrighton: 6 - Made some keen contributions but didn't shine.
James: n/a
A bit more on the set pieces: It's worth noting that we changed these up this week, binned man marking and went zonal instead. The results were... well, no better frankly. Opponents were getting a run on the ball, defenders weren't attacking the crosses well enough and it was mostly through luck that the ball was scrambled away each time. There was neither confidence nor domination in the box and Schmeichel found himself blocked by two big Sheffield United forwards each time. If this is the answer then it needs a lot, lot more work and practise because it's an accident waiting to happen.
Player ratings vs. Sheffield Utd (FA Cup)
posted on 17/2/18
I agree in terms of linesman/people and wasn’t annoyed when I say the replay, it was extremely close (although I’m pretty sure several refs have said the advantage in those situations should be the to the attacker) it was more that it stirred up some discontent in me about pundits and how many times you hear them say ‘ooo, I think his arm is just offside’ !
posted on 17/2/18
Kasper was an 8 just for that one save, good job CP didn't pick Hamer it would have been a draw....
posted on 17/2/18
Man... Kasper 8 then take 2 points off him for the punch when he was alone and you are right Yoguartship not Hammer but dropping Kasper would of done his confidence.
posted on 17/2/18
I'm on the positive side of things today so Dunge/KTF rather than TB.
It's not surprising that Ibora didn't play brilliantly, he looked rusty after his lay off.
All had their contributions against a defensively well drilled and organised opponent who came for a draw.
Kasper was back to normal, a brilliant save mixed in with the usual appalling 'dealing' with balls in the air.
Quite happy that we've negotiated that potential banana skin and are only one win away from Wembley.
posted on 17/2/18
Excellent analysis from Dunge as always.
Major concern is definitely RB - Simpson must have had his worst game for a long while - never thought I'd be saying this but, Amartey would be my preference
Never been a fan of zonal marking - it's man for man for me.
posted on 17/2/18
Definitely with the KTF and Dungeon camp on this one.
Thought we played well against a well-drilled 10-men-behind-the-ball Sheffield United. We had to be patient and work hard for the openings and overall thoroughly deserved the win. Everyone around me in H2 block seemed similarly impressed.
Tought Puel got the team and the tactics spot on again.
Unlucky with the second 'goal' which would have put a more deserved reflection on the scoreline.
I felt Chilwell had a great game and was a constant menace to Unt. sometimes you need to run at defences when they are packed in their onw half and he was clearly under instruction to do this, and did it well.
Agree on Kasper - worldie of a save but poor on crosses - again.
posted on 17/2/18
Kasper never was or ever will be dominant with crosses he just isn't tall enough, so if he feels he needs to punch then so what, it clears the area, he isn't the only one either more and more keepers are punching its the modern way just get it out of the area. Also in the old days when Nev was goalkeeping if you punched the ball it would break your wrist so you had to catch it,
posted on 17/2/18
Good analysis as usual Dunge.
At the end of the day its a win in the cup and
we are in the Quarter Finals.
It needed a class player to unlock a stubborn defence
step forward Rithad Mahrez ( and of course that
confirmed Wednesdayite Jamie Vardy ). Now for
a home draw against Brighton (Leo scored), saints,
or sheff Wed/ Swansea.
UTF
posted on 17/2/18
Unfortunately we could of only got one of them
Teams if we were a top 4 team, part of the hidden
seeding process to get top teams to the Final.
posted on 18/2/18
comment by True Blue (U9486)
posted 13 hours, 25 minutes ago
Unfortunately we could of only got one of them
Teams if we were a top 4 team, part of the hidden
seeding process to get top teams to the Final.
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That hidden seeding process that saw Man Utd drawing Man City in Round 3/4 a couple of years back. The hidden seeding process that saw Wigan win it....yep it’s all a fix just to screw little old Leicester over
Moronic