With all the talk of refereeing inexperience and bully boy tactics anyone not at theSheffield derby on Sunday could be forgiven for thinking that the Blades were robbed of all three points by the Owls late salvo.
In actual fact this couldn’t be further from the truth. While possession stats for the game may have been even (Utd holding the slight upper hand with 51%) the majority of the key action occurred around the home sides penalty area with the visitors creating plenty of chances. Despite being 2 goals down for a long period of the game the Wednesday faithful stayed behind their team and got their just rewards in the final stages as Megson’s side finally managed to convert some of their chances.
Generally in football unless there is an obvious disparity between the quality of the two teams, say promotion favourites facing relegation fodder, then the onus is usually on the home side to take the game to the opposition. This clearly wasn’t the case in this Sheffield derby as the Owls created 18 scoring opportunities to their hosts 6. Many of Wednesday’s chances were good opportunities and the likes of O’Connor, O’Grady, Batth and Jones would all most probably hold their hands up and say they should have done better with the chances that came their way. United’s keeper Simonsen may have resembled Dracula in his adversity to crosses but he did produce a fine save to deny Marshall while his opposite number Bywater went largely untroubled aside from the two goals.
Danny Wilson’s comments that Reda Johnson “wipes the keeper out” in the midst of Wednesday’s equaliser beggars belief. Really Danny? Really?
To imply that the game was too big for referee Michael Oliver due to his inexperience is harsh on an official who has overseen plenty of high profile top flight games. Oliver probably hasn’t witnessed an atmosphere as intense as the steel city derby but there has to be a first time for him to do so at some stage, why not now? It could be argued that the easy way out decision at that time would have been to blow for a foul in favour of the home side.
This reaction simply gives the impression that the former Wednesday midfielder should change his grocer as that bunch of grapes he’s got at the moment must taste sour.
The whole debate has managed to deflect attention away from the fact that the away side in the derby managed to create three times as many chances as the home side that rarely looked like adding to their tally.
I have read reports from the red and white side describing Wednesday as a long-ball team that are awful to watch, reliant on set pieces. Remind me again of the free flowing football that led to United’s goals? The first resulting from a long-ball up field and the second from a free-kick crossed into the penalty area.
As often as not Bywater would look to bowl the ball out rather than kick it and Wednesday’s play went through Jose Semedo in the middle of the park. Semedo often looked to Ben Marshall who ran with the ball an offered a greater threat than any other player on the field. These runs often led to corners, free-kicks and throw-ins in the final third. It is from these situations that the Owls then looked to take advantage of their superior height and the frailty of the opposition goalkeeper by getting the ball into the box, the last time I looked there was nothing in the rule book to prohibit this.
One report on a blades fans website described Owls captain Rob Jones as a pub player, Danny Bath as lower league standard and Reda Johnson as woefully immobile and clumsy!
Surely if this was the case then their silky brand of football with such a creative midfield and experienced pro Cresswell alongside multi-million pound striker Evans would have shown them up?