By Turfmanphil
December 15 2005

Turfmanphil reviews a few of the Sunday Papers following our disappointing defeat at Bramall Lane. The view of the author is that we were beaten by far the better team but what did the papers think?

What the Sunday Papers Say!

Blades 3:0 Clarets-10.12.05

Its always difficult reading papers following a defeat but the author had to brave this task in order to keep the series going. Returning with Dan from Sheffield after the defeat to Cambridgeshire meant a long day and even longer for Dan as he continued on down to Hampshire. Motivation to buy additional papers after a drubbing was not great the morning after so I am afraid this week you will again have to make do with my usual papers-Sunday Times,Independent on Sunday and Observer If anybody can scan the Match Reports from the Sunday Mirror,People, News of World, Mail on Sunday etc please do so and send them to thelongsider@yahoo.co.uk

I suppose one advantage of playing a club in the top two promotion places is that press reporters and editors may feel more inclined to write and include full match reports. This seemed to have partially worked this week with at least two of the papers reviewed here containing full match reports. However we still cant achieve a hat-trick with my papers at least and you always get the distinct impression these reports are not for the benefit of folk wanting to know about 'unfashionable' Burnley!

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Man of Match?

Very difficult to pick a man of the match from this game where quite frankly the team were outclassed. If you look at our Poll for MoM, McGreal seems to be shading it, with good responses for Beast and Dyer.

As you are now probably aware, I am a bit of a Dyer fan and again my vote would go to him because of the flashes of inspirational play and excitement he provided in this game where there was not too much to shout about if you were a Clarets fan. Mind you we may not have shouted with excitement but the crowd sung their hearts out even when we were 3-0 down. Thats one battle we won over the Blades that day and convincingly!

Anyway so what do the papers say?

 Players Ratings

Player	Sunday Times	Observer/IoS
Jensen	6	No ratings
Lowe	6	No ratings
Sinclair	7	No ratings
McGreal	7	No ratings
Duff	5	No ratings
J O’Connor	5	No ratings
Hyde	7	No ratings
Spicer	5	No ratings
Dyer	6	No ratings
G O’Connor	5	No ratings
Akinbiyi	6	No ratings
Noel-Williams	6	No ratings
Elliott	5	No ratings
Branch	6	No ratings

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

About the Clarets

Sunday Times: Blades keep leaders in sight: The cheers had barely died down [Blades first goal] before John McGreal's header following Nathan Dyer's corner forced Kenny into one his best saves,right on the goal line'

Independent on Sunday: United surge with Shipperly at helm: With Pericard about to return to Fratton Park, Warnock is in market for another forward' Akinbiyi is a potential target although he turned down a move to Bramall Lane in the summer.The striker advertised his talents again almost giving Burnley a 22nd minute lead with a low,well placed shot that was pushed wide by Kenny

Observer: Silly little column type thing summary with Manager's comments and some view from a Blades fan called Richard Batho. He said however quite positively 'A very good performance from the Blades but Burnley played their part' and' An energetic performance from Dyer also caught the eye'

The Positives

Sunday Times: The Blades fans were being treated to as good a feast of attacking football as The Lane had seen all season.[TMP comment: Thats OK then we played them on one of their better days..LOL]

Independent on Sunday: Nowt!

Observer: Pass!

The Negatives

Sunday Times: Burnley's vulnerability to the cross was shown when Nick Montgomery's [TMP Comment:We should have brought him to Turf!] effort found Short 10 yards out. The centre back's header drifted across the area,out of Jensen's range and into Webber's decisive run for United's second

Shipperly combined with Danny Webber to devastating effect, the pair gave every Burnley defender a restless afternoon

Independent on Sunday: The Lancashire side,previously beaten only once in seven outings,might have done better had they provided Akinbiyi with better service.he was manfully shouldering the responsibilities as the lone striker,but began to show his frustration as his midfield colleagues consistently failed to find him with their passes 

Observer: Nowt but only because they had very little to say about the game anyway!

Other Interesting Stuff

Sunday Times: Cotterill quote: 'I think Shipperley was head and shoulders above anyone else on the pitch today.He was a true leader and everything went through him.I would say he was the best centre forward we have had against us all this season' [TMP comment: Another guy linked to us at one point pre-season!]

Independent on Sunday: Nowt!

Observer: Cotterill quote: 'Overall they were the better team, we didnt maintain our first 20 minutes performance and that contributed to our downfall'

Watford Match Predictions?-Er No!

Just one prediction from Sunday Times and this is a right puzzler because its a prediction for our home game against Stoke on Boxing Day and away to Norwich on 28th! The good news is we are down for 6 points! No idea why they miss out Watford? You dont think they have made a mistake do you and put in next weeks by mistake? If they have it sums up the kidology involved with these predictions if they make them up so far in advance without taking into account current form!

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Comments by TMP

I want my mummy!

 

Reviewed by Turfmanphil