Big win for Burnley at Bramall Lane.
The Sheffield United supporters refer to their home pitch as “Beautiful Downtown Bramall Lane,” but yesterday’s stunning 4-1 victory put the Clarets seven points ahead of the Blades.
They were superior in the first half of each half, so it was an odd type of game. However, after we got beyond those times, we found it rather easy to score goals against the weakest defense in the league, and I’m sure we could have scored even more if we had gone for it in the closing minutes.
Both Lyle Foster and Jacob Bruun Larsen scored, with Foster’s being his first goal of 2024. Lorenz Assignon also scored his first goal for Burnley, and Jóhann Berg scored his first goal of the season.Guðmundsson, who has helped Burnley reach double digits in the Premier League, joins a star-studded group of strikers that also includes Chris Wood, Ashley Barnes, Sam Vokes, Jay Roriguez, and Danny Ings.
For us, taking the train from Burnley to South Yorkshire was a departure from custom. There was some activity on the first train to Leeds, but the second train, which was going to Plymouth, was far calmer.It was a short walk from our New Zealand-style restaurant when we arrived in Sheffield to Bramall Lane, where I got into a fight with a traffic cone. I may appear to have taken a beating from a Sheffield United supporter or two today, but it actually When I heard the teams emerge, I was still in the medical room. Our squad had made two changes from the one that drew with the Wolves the previous week. After serving an unfair punishment for Hjalmar Ekdal, Dara O’Shea returned to the field. Vitinho moved to the right, forcing Charlie Taylor to revert to left defense, allowing Lyle Foster to play down the middle and David Datro Fofana to sit on the bench.
Annie’s Song was over, and the game had only been going for three minutes when I finally sat down to watch what was supposed to be either the Wood Spoon Derby or El Shitico. We didn’t have a great start, and we had to thank Aro Muric for three huge saves in the first thirty minutes. The greatest of them was undoubtedly the first one, where he denied Oli McBurnie with his feet, but he also made a nice save to block Ben Brereton’s angled shot and then again from McBurnie.
To be honest, we hadn’t shown much of an effort; the only noteworthy moment was when Foster parried a drive from Vitinho that was sent directly at their goalie, Ivo Grbić. Sheffield United may have felt they deserved to lead even if they didn’t appear especially strong. Chris Wilder, who was obviously extremely optimistic, even suggested they might have been three up.
Then everything worked out.
From our end it looked like inept goalkeeping initially but the deflection which deceived Grbić wasn’t clear. What was clear is that just over two minutes later we saw our lead doubled when we worked the ball from left to right to get it to Assignon, He moved into the box and breezed past Brereton before firing home. It’s not clear or not whether it took a slight deflection off Auston Trusty but it might just have gone through his legs.
We went into the break with a 2-0 lead and I stressed that we needed to keep that two goal advantage for at least the first ten to fifteen minutes of the second half to ensure we didn’t let them back into it. The last time I said that was at West Ham when they pulled one back within thirty seconds of the restart. I suppose you could say we did better this time; it took Sheffield United until the seventh minute of the half. Even before that, Muric was called into action again with another good save to keep out a James McAtee effort but when the goal did come, neither of our full backs covered themselves in glory. Taylor lost the ball and Assignon then allowed Gustavo Hamer to get past him before beating Muric who, in fairness, had looked almost unbeatable in the first half.
Muric had no chance with that goal but two minutes later it was his mistake that might have seen them draw level. Not for the only time in this game, his poor distribution saw us lose the ball but thankfully he redeemed himself in keeping our Brereton’s shot.
We needed to get ourselves back into the game and with former Blade Sander Berge pulling all the strings in a man of the match performance, we were always going to be a threat and it took us just six minutes to regain our two goal advantage. Bruun Larsen won the ball back for us in the left-back position and we worked the ball to Assignon on the right. This time he went on a terrific run down the flank, cut inside and found Foster with a perfect pass. Foster’s movement had won him space in the box which allowed him to sweep the ball into the corner of the net right in front of the Burnley fans.
Only once did they threaten a response. McBurnie shot wide but it came from an attack following a clear foul on Taylor that, someone strangely, Andy Madley, who generally had a fine game, didn’t give. It mattered not. Josh Brownhill had come on and he was then joined by Jóhann Berg Guðmundsson and what an impact our Iceland international had. Odobert got in on the left and played the ball into the box. Eventually Josh Cullen played it wide for JBG and his first involvement in the game saw him taking a couple of touches before placing a superb shot into the far corner of the net. He might have had a second too just minutes later when he latched on to a Taylor cross and volleyed against the near post.
Almost immediately referee Madley got his cards out for the first time, showing home player Ben Osborn a yellow. We’d no idea why but he’d had something to say over an incident on the touchline when Assignon appeared to elbow him. Had that been deemed worthy of a red, and it could so easily have been, then Assignon would have been out for the rest of the season before his return to France. Maybe there is some justice given that the red he did receive recently was downright ridiculous.
Sheffield United have apparently now taken their goals conceded in the last eight home games to 32, an astonishing figure. Had we gone for it, I’m sure that figure would have been even worse for them. But we played the game out without offering any further threat.
This was the third time we’ve scored four goals away in the Premier League. We did so in game 34 in 2009/10 when we won by that same 4-1 scoreline at Hull. The other occasion was at Wolves where we won 4-0 in 2020/21, that win coming one game earlier than the other two in game 33.Now, it seems beyond a shadow of a doubt that Sheffield United is heading backward. With five games remaining, and only eleven points separating them from safety, it would be the miracle of all miracles if they managed to stay up.
Since Everton defeated Nottingham Forest today—the Forest, who are reportedly the only team to have incorrect judgments made against them—you would think that two Forest teams—Luton and ours—would join Sheffield United. You would believe that Forest would have the best chance of winning because they had a game in hand, more points, and a superior goal differential.
