Sheffield United fans made their feelings clear after their side's poor display in their 3-1 defeat to relegation rivals Bournemouth on Saturday.
Billed as a good opportunity for United to cut the gap between themselves and the Cherries before kick-off, instead it highlighted the gulf between the two sides as the Blades fell four points behind fourth-bottom Luton Town in the race for survival. A chorus of boos rang around Bramall Lane at the final whistle and were fully justified on an afternoon to forget for all involved.
United must pick themselves up quickly ahead of another seismic clash against bottom club Burnley at Turf Moor next weekend, where another poor performance or negative result will only increase the pressure on boss Paul Heckingbottom. Here are eight things we learned from the Bournemouth defeat...
5. Another unconvincing display
Midfielder Vini Souza was withdrawn at half-time and although Heckingbottom may say it was a tactical decision, aimed at getting Anel Ahmedhodzic and Oli McBurnie on the pitch, the Brazilian midfielder could have no complaints. Signed as United's midfield enforcer in the summer, the Blades were too easy to play through against Bournemouth as their pace, movement and crisp passing caused all manner of problems for the home side and Souza in particular struggled to cope. For Bournemouth's first goal, he barely moved as Tavernier opened the scoring. In contrast Ollie Norwood's first involvement in the game was a crunching tackle that left him hobbling and although the midfielder sometimes frustrates the crowd with a wayward pass, he never hides and always offers more than his fair share of defensive protection. United need a way to get McBurnie into the side alongside Cameron Archer and, for me, there is still a question mark over whether Gus Hamer and James McAtee can line up together in the same side. One potential solution is utilising Hamer a little deeper alongside Norwood and freeing up McAtee and Archer to support McBurnie. Is Souza doing enough to command his place?
Despite the disappointment it was hard not to feel on a personal level for Wes Foderingham, who will have wanted the Bramall Lane turf to swallow him up after his error on the stroke of half-time saw Bournemouth go 2-0 up and essentially ended the game as a contest. If you ran that scenario another thousand times, Foderingham would deal with that ball as he planned, United would go in 1-0 down at the break and potentially follow the blueprint they set at Brighton to get back in the game. Instead he got the ball caught up under his feet and Justin Kluivert took full advantage. There was a rare show of emotion as Foderingham threw down his water bottle afterwards and when the whistle went, he will have felt the full force of the Kop's wrath as he collected his towel. But he began his road to redemption with at least two excellent saves in the second half to keep the scoreline down and just a few hours later, former teammate Aaron Ramsdale made a similar error in Arsenal's game at Brentford. He was bailed out by Declan Rice on the line and Arsenal won 1-0 with an 89th-minute goal. As the commentator said: "Sometimes your luck is in..."
It's one of the marked differences between the Championship and the Premier League and while United are struggling to find it, Bournemouth had it in spades. The lively Tavernier was a constant threat with his pace and trickery and on another day could have had at least three goals; Justin Kluivert was dangerous and United simply didn't have an answer to Antoine Semenyo as he teased their defence time and time again. At the other end James McAtee, Cameron Archer and Gus Hamer were hardly in the game and were dealt with all-too comfortably by the Bournemouth defence.
United overcame ponderous starts against Wolves and Brighton to pick up points but that outcome will be the exception rather than the norm if they cannot find a way to shake the habit, starting this weekend against Vincent Kompany's side. United face the rare prospect of playing a side in worse form than them - the Clarets losing their last seven games in all competitions after losing to West Ham on Saturday - and must seize the opportunity to exploit that, as so many teams have done to them so far. A quick start will hopefully see United impose themselves on the game and quell any hopes of Burnley growing into the game. What do the Blades have to lose? Almost the entire football world expected them to go down anyway; after Bournemouth, a growing portion of their own fanbase would agree. What they now want to see is a Blades side that has a real go, playing the type of football that would make life difficult for most sides in this league on their day. Another tepid, insipid and pedestrian display will only increase the frustration amongst supporters.
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