The verdict: Sheffield United 0, Newcastle United 8

The Star, Sheffield

Transcript

00:00 Well, good evening from Bramall Lane after a bitterly disappointing, chastening, embarrassing

00:08 afternoon for Sheffield United where they were beaten 8-0 on their home patch by Newcastle

00:14 United this afternoon. Whatever kind of words or descriptions that you want to put to that

00:20 defeat and that performance and that result, I think the bare facts of the scoreline tell

00:27 their own story in terms of the huge difference and the huge gap and the huge chasm between

00:32 these two sides that was on display at Bramall Lane this afternoon. We know of course that

00:37 there is a huge gap between the two sides in terms of their finances, in terms of the

00:41 quality of the players, but I think most disappointingly today for Sheffield United was the sort of

00:46 indeterminable qualities that they normally are not fan-wanting in, their desire and their

00:52 battling qualities that were not really on display this afternoon. They were out-battled

00:57 and out-fought as well by Newcastle, as well as out-played, of course on the way to a huge

01:03 defeat which had eight different scorers for Newcastle and I think it had everyone scratching

01:11 their heads trying to remember the last time that they were beaten by such a fine margin.

01:17 It's undoubtedly the lowest point of their season so far, undoubtedly the lowest point

01:21 of Paul Heckingbottom's reign in charge so far and as we say it's undoubtedly the lowest

01:25 point in terms of scoreline and just how they were out-battled and out-fought and out-performed

01:30 that many people can remember in their lifetime. So yes, really sort of down-to-earth defeat.

01:40 After last week, away at Spurs, this is a team that eight days ago were leading Spurs

01:44 at Spurs into the 98th minute of the game before two late goals sort of broke their

01:51 hearts last week and denied them that elusive first win of the season. Eight days on, this

01:55 team didn't look anything like that side that battled so hard at Spurs and almost came away

02:00 with a remarkable victory. Apart from a short spell early in the game where the spot started

02:07 relatively brightly, Luke Thomas had a couple of chances that he may feel he could have

02:11 done better with at least one of them. But apart from that, when Newcastle took charge

02:16 of the game from there it was completely one-way traffic. United 3-0 down at half-time from

02:22 some again really basic goals to concede. One from a corner, another one from across

02:30 from the Newcastle left and then another free kick into the box and another header and United

02:36 find themselves 3-0 down against a team that have established themselves as one of the

02:41 best in the country. From there it was an uphill battle to get anything from the game.

02:46 They were never going to get anything from the game from that perspective. But then the

02:50 way that in the second half they capitulated again and conceded five more goals in the

02:55 second half to sort of complete the embarrassment almost. We were discussing there in the press

03:01 room afterwards that if Newcastle had got ten, if they had got double figures in this

03:06 game, which is unheard of in Premier League history in the modern day, that wouldn't

03:11 have flattered them the one bit. You couldn't really from a United perspective have complained

03:16 about that. They were the architects of their own downfall in a few situations. They kept

03:20 giving the ball away in their own box with simple passes. Callum Wilson, he got on the

03:25 score sheet eventually but he should have scored early on from United giving the ball

03:30 away in poor areas cheaply. John Egan, Oliver Norwood, Wes Fodringham, they were all guilty

03:36 doing that early on. So the scoreline could have been far, far worse for Sheffield United

03:41 but obviously it's bad enough as it was. An 8-0 defeat which is Newcastle's Premier League

03:48 record victory after doing so against Wednesday back in 1999. As Sheffield United, their goal

03:54 difference has taken a battering. Their confidence will undoubtedly take a battering from this.

03:58 I suppose now the only way to look forward is to make sure this is a one-off, to make

04:03 sure this is as bad as it's going to get. Now, draw a line under it and go ahead and

04:11 bounce back really. In fairness to them, we all know the characters in that dressing room,

04:17 how tight they are as a squad. Touch wood, hopefully they can stick together from this

04:23 and make sure they move forward from it and make sure it's not repeated because they can't

04:30 afford many more repeats of this. Paul Heckingbottom can't afford many more repeats of this. There

04:35 was already talk in the week about his future, about his job. They came out of a national

04:41 media report last Saturday after Spurs, the Daily Mail that was back then reporting that

04:47 he was on the brink of being sacked, that Chris Wilder was being lined up for what would

04:53 be a sensational return to Bramble Lane. Really, the Mail put the thought into many fans' heads

05:00 that this might be the end of the road for Heckingbottom. We understand that was not

05:04 the case. We understand that this game has not altered that stance. Paul does still have

05:09 the support of the Bramble Lane hierarchy after the job he's done so far. But the bare

05:15 facts of the matter and the reality of football is that you cannot afford too many embarrassing

05:21 afternoons like this. That's what it was. No sugarcoating it. It was embarrassing in

05:25 terms of the scoreline and the result and the performance as well. You can't afford

05:30 too many of those and hope to keep the job. He'll know that, Paul will know that, the

05:34 players will know that. Hopefully they can draw a line under this and hope that this

05:39 is as bad as it gets. It can only be uphill from here. It was a bitterly disappointing

05:45 day and an emotional one really. It's hollowed out what's been a tough week for the club

05:51 as well of course. Really emotional and poignant tributes before the game paid to Maddie Cusack,

05:58 the Sheffield United women's midfielder and marketing executive at Sheffield United whose

06:04 tragic sad death was announced earlier this week at the age of just 27 years old. The

06:10 club did a really good job in fairness, paying tribute to Maddie with a range of tributes.

06:16 Before the game there were some wreaths and flowers and shirts and scarves and things

06:21 like that laid outside the ground by supporters and media. In fairness, a delegation from

06:27 Newcastle also laid some flowers in Maddie's memory which I thought was a really nice touch,

06:33 a really classy move from Amanda Staveley who represented Newcastle in that. Maddie's

06:38 face was on the front of the programme. Before the game her mum and her sister joined Sophie

06:46 Tabarka, the women's captain, and Tony Currie, of course the club legend, in walking out

06:50 to the centre circle and laying a wreath in Maddie's memory which I thought was a really

06:54 brave thing for them to do. Hopefully they felt the warmth of the tributes and the support

07:01 from a packed out Bramall Lane with 30,000 fans in there because it was a really poignant,

07:05 emotional moment to pay tribute to Maddie who was such a popular and well-loved figure

07:12 by everyone at Bramall Lane. I think the tributes that have been paid to her since her death

07:18 was announced on Thursday, which is still hard to believe and quite hard to comprehend

07:24 really, the tributes that have been paid to her since that horrible news was relayed,

07:31 I think kind of sums her up and is a lasting tribute to her memory because there's been

07:35 no negative thing that's been said about her, everything's been overwhelmingly positive.

07:44 In an industry like football, which is not always the case where you come across people

07:48 that no-one is usually universally liked in football, Maddie was one of the few that you

07:54 could say that about and quite rightly so. She'll be a huge miss to everyone at Bramall

07:58 Lane and as one of my colleagues put quite eloquently this afternoon, a light has gone

08:03 out at Bramall Lane and it's a hole that's been left that will be felt by a great amount

08:12 of people. United paid tribute to her before the game, the kind of players who played came

08:20 out with shirts with her name and number on them, there was a really poignant minute's

08:24 silence in her memory before the game. The defeat really capped off a very difficult

08:33 week for everyone connected with Sheffield United, so they'll be keen to bounce back

08:38 next weekend when they travel to West Ham. Our thoughts and prayers are with everyone

08:47 connected to Maddie and her family and I hope that they felt a little bit of comfort in

08:54 how many lives she's touched this afternoon and the reception that she received this afternoon

09:00 and the tributes that were paid. It's been a difficult week for everyone connected with

09:05 Sheffield United, on and off the pitch really and Paul Hickingbottom and his coaching staff

09:11 and his players will be hoping to right some wrongs from that defeat today, next week when

09:16 they travel to West Ham United looking for that elusive first win of the Premier League

09:22 campaign.

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