Don't care what anyone thinks, just HAVE to say it . . .

[enlightenment]

my lads are BRILLIANT today!

3-0 Blades over QPR and it ain't over yet!

COYRAWW!!!

[Mr Creosote]

1. Very pleased for you

we encountered QPR and their fans in our penultimate game last season. Their arrogant confidence that they would spend their way to Championship was extremely unpleasant.

[enlightenment]

2. Thank you. I won't post like that again - promise!

I just got over-excited . . . :)

I agree about QPR - and they just don't see to understand that money and size doesn't equal quality. Their manager's comments on yesterday's match:

"Our inability to defend set plays cost us dearly. We're one of the biggest teams on the planet, so it's bizarre.
"Although we pressed in the second half we fell to another set-piece, which really sticks in the throat.
"I think we've got enough ability to cope. We don't want to overreact because we've had a mad 20 minutes today."

What's bizarre is his belief that just because they're a big club they should be quality.

Ah well, the season just begins - good luck to yours Saturday next!

[Mr Creosote]

3. Big club

QPR isn't a big club - and it seems slightly odd that the self-styled "richest club in the world" should spend the whole summer arguing about signing Gorkss. Chelsea isn't a big club. Neither, and I'm trying to break this to you gently, are the Blades. Neither are Norwich City. There are only two "big" clubs in England: Manchester United and Liverpool.

And if I were a QPR fan I'd be asking myself what the real attraction of owning many acres of land in a residential area of west London is?

[enlightenment]

4. Shoot! I agree, the Blades aren't a big club - they're just

my club (and I'm not even British, which makes me sillier than most . . .)!

I suppose loyalty explains QPR's fans - sensibility has little or nothing to do with support, don't you think? That certainly doesn't explain the nonsense coming out the mouths of the owners/managers, though.

Bravado, maybe? Self-fulfilling prophecy? Hubris?

[T_i_B]

5. Don't care what anyone thinks, just HAVE to say it . . .

Sheffield Wednesday 1
Sheffield U****d 0

And all this in spite of the most useless referee this side of the Watford gap. (as I'm sure Unitedites will agree).

:bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce:

[enlightenment]

6. I'll agree with you on Dean -

who decided he was a good idea?

I can't say I'm ecstatic, but congratulations on your win. I wouldn't hold your breath on making it two for two, though! ;)

[Mr Creosote]

7. No cause for gloating

Even WE beat the Blades

http://www.pinkun.com/content/NCFC/Stats/2008-2009/matches/080920SheffUtd.aspx

[T_i_B]

8. Looking on the message boards

Hardly anyone (including most Wednesdayites) reckons Killa should have been sent off, and JJ's red card was a joke!

And that's just the tip of the bad refereeing iceberg here.

[enlightenment]

9. It does seem like the desire to rectify past abuses

on officials has swung the pendulum too far the other way. It astonishes me that a referee has control over players and managers literally until they drive off the stadium parking lot. I admit I'm not up on the history of abuses leveled at officials, but were there really incidences of referees being attacked by angry players in the parking lot after matches? Seems like over-kill . . .

Dean should back down on the card against Killa; he justified it by saying his foot was head-high (and deliberate). I appreciate that it may have seemed so at the time, from the angle, and based on the reaction of both McAllister and Laws, but there is plenty of photographic evidence to show Killa's foot wasn't head high and his eyes were clearly on the ball - not McAllister's back. Even Laws states that it shouldn't have been more than a yellow and he was standing right there. Dean would look a lot more thoughtful and professional if he would voluntarily reconsider his decision instead of trying to stick to his guns.

We'll see what comes from an appeal, assuming they ask for one.

As for Johnson - that made ZERO sense, coming four minutes after the substitution. Let the club handle it - or wait until after the match and level a charge then, but don't stop the play. Johnson deserves punishment; it may have been an empty plastic bottle, but that's hardly the point . . . still the method Dean chose was beyond bizarre.

Dean's grandstanding ruined a good derby match, and left that kernel of doubt about who should be holding the crown in the Steel City. The Owls have been playing well at home and they were playing well in the match before Killa was sent off. There's nothing to say that it would have turned out any differently had the Blades been able to keep eleven on the pitch. But we'll never know for sure.

[T_i_B]

10. The thing is...

The Blades played better once they were down to 10 men! Although they were a bit reliant on punting the ball up towards Beattie and Sharp where perhaps a bit more of a passing game would have had better results against Beevers and Wood.

But it does not help either side when the referee is attention seeking. There are a list of bad decisions against both sides as long as my arm. About the only thing the ref got right was the penalty and even then Paddy Kenny was way off his line before he saved it.

[enlightenment]

11. I agree. It often seems the case that a reduction

in force creates a more formidable foe! Unfortunately, they couldn't manage to put the ball in the back of the net. I'm not surprised they fell back on playing long ball; it's an old habit for them and seems directly proportional to the amount of strain they're feeling. Passion is a wonderful thing and I wouldn't want to see them become machines, but they do sometimes allow set-backs to disproportionately effect their play.

I'm never sure how to feel about Paddy. His concentration seems to ebb and flow in an alarming way. He does throw himself into things 100% when he's on . . . I'd have liked to see Kev put Bennett in the box today, but it doesn't look like he's going to do that.

Changes need to be made to officiating; no human is perfect, but the way the rules are set up suggests that the FA thinks officials are flawless - and that has created more than one petty despot on the pitch.

[T_i_B]

12. No, you could hardly have dropped Kenny

He was the one player in last year's Hillsborough fixture who played with any passion, and his commitment is just what's needed in a big derby match.

Mind you, I've been won over by our keeper Lee Grant this season. He's improved in a big way. (Now I've said that he'll go and commit a huge gaffe, just you wait!)