They lost 1-0, as they have done 11 times in 2020-21 against teams as good as champions Manchester City and as bad as West Bromwich Albion.
They had a chance to win, not a barrel load, but enough, and they couldn’t take it. Newcastle United only turned him on for a quarter of the game, the second, but that was enough.
“We started very well and created chances that we didn’t take advantage of and then they punished us at the end of the half. That has been the story of the season, “lamented interim manager Paul Heckingbottom, showing a precision with which his players could have done it.
The Blades are now guaranteed to finish last in the Premier League. They have lost 29 times, more than any other team in the competition’s history. Once is bad luck, twice is bad but 29 it does not happen by chance.
David McGoldrick missed a good opportunity in the early stages as the Blades continued the momentum of Sunday’s victory at Goodison Park and while their 77th minute opportunity was much tougher, more ambitious and closer, the result followed. being the same.
“There was no lack of effort and those 15 minutes where we weren’t that good, we concede a header that puts us back, Rammers (Aaron Ramsdale) makes a great save,” commented Heckingbottom.
“We puffed and puffed in the second half, we threw everything, we had a lot of ball and we were vulnerable to counterattacks throwing so many men forward, but you have to.”
The effort is fine, but in the best national league in world football, you need a little more.
Perhaps it’s rude to be overly critical of McGoldrick, who has 37 percent of his team’s league goals this season, particularly after such a difficult 2019-20 in front of goal, but failing to take advantage of his chances has been one. several. of the reasons the Blades are destined for the championship.
Over the course of the game, Newcastle were the better team, overcoming a slow start for more chances. But that is not the point. Premier League football isn’t always fair, it helps those who help themselves. Once again, the Blades failed to keep a clean sheet, although that had nothing to do with the quality of their goalkeeper, but it did with some of the attacking players they faced.
Seven minutes in Ben Osborn picked up the ball from the left and passed it to full-back Enda Stevens, who had appeared in the center-forward position. He passed it to McGoldrick, who had started on the left of a Blades three.
With the goal at his mercy, McGoldrick fired wide.
With fans behind them for the first time since February, Newcastle was always bound to get into it at some point and it was clear where their inspiration would come from. The first time Allan Saint-Maximin had the ball at his feet, the crowd roared to cheer him on and he licked it up. When Jack Robinson didn’t block Joelinton and Paul Dummett didn’t head a free throw, the Blades had an outstanding goalie.
Ramsdale’s weight was perhaps going a little the other way when Jonjo Shelvey fired a header at the goalkeeper in the 27th minute, but the goalkeeper threw his right hand to make a tremendous save.
The fact that his stop in the third additional minute, running to deny Joe Willock, was deemed irrelevant by an offside flag, did not diminish it.
However, a goal was looming. In the fourth minute added, Saint-Maximin played the ball for former Sheffield Wednesday loan officer Jacob Murphy and Willock headed the cross.
It was his sixth game in which Willock had scored. How the Blades would love such a clinical forward, much less a midfielder.
Despite a string of opportunities on both ends to restart the game, Ramsdale’s only difficult save in the second half came, unsurprisingly, from Saint-Maximin. Even without the fluorescent barrier in the way, you would have had trouble finding the net from the narrow angle. McGoldrick cut the crossbar of his half chance. One bright spot was the late debut of 18-year-old Oluwafemi Seriki, as Daniel Jebbison had another 90 minutes under his belt.
Their children give the Blades some hope for the future, but they will need to be sharper to make the most of it.
Newcastle United: Dubravka; Murphy, Krafth, Fernández, Dummett, Ritchie; Willock (Carroll 85), Shelvey, Almiron; Saint-Maximin (S Longstaff 71), Joelinton (Gayle 46). Unused substitutes: Clark, M Longstaff, Lewis, Hendrick, Manquillo, Gillespie.
Sheffield Utd: Ramsdale; Basham, Egan, …
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Source: www.yorkshirepost.co.uk
This notice was published: 2021-05-19 21:53:57
