Sheffield United 0-4 Birmingham City

United have no answer for superior Blues on a tough afternoon

I had this week’s edition of Women of Steel all ready to go, which included mention of the fact that manager Jonathan Morgan has been absent from the dugout in the last three games with no public reason or acknowledgement given by the club. As I was getting ready to send out this week’s edition, I saw that the Mail are reporting that “Sheffield United are investigating [...] Jonathan Morgan after a formal complaint was made about his alleged behaviour.”

The Mail also states that Morgan “has agreed to step away from matches and training while the club looks into issues raised over his conduct”. I expect we’ll see a statement from United shortly, but obviously this is a sensitive situation so forgive me if I have to take a bit of a hard line with the comment section on this one.

United were handed a lesson at the Lane on Sunday by a Birmingham side who belied their pre-match position of 9th in the Barclays’ Women’s Championship table, as the away side scored from their first corner and never loosened their grip on the game thereafter.

It underlined that the Blades are still a work-in-progress, being relatively new to a full-time model, whereas Birmingham have only recently dropped down from the elite of the women’s game. City were relegated from the WSL in 2022 and finished just one point off an immediate return last season, and it showed in their superior technique, tactical awareness and athleticism on Sunday.

I noted in the last newsletter that I wasn’t sure why Birmingham had had such a slow start to this campaign, which included being the only team that had failed to beat bottom-side Lewes up to that point. However, they had won 3-1 at league leaders Southampton in their previous away trip and looked a step above United in this one – expect them to climb that table accordingly.

Understandably, the Blades rolled with the same XI and formation that had excelled against London City Lionesses last week – a 4-2-3-1 with a pair of holding midfielders in Sophie Barker and Alanta Brown, with Ella Kinzett ahead of them as a number 8 and Bex Rayner and Ash Hodson out wide of Izzy Goodwin. In theory, having those three in the middle – Barker, Brown and Kinzett – should have provided plenty of protection for the defence, but in practice they were run through repeatedly and the back four was constantly exposed.

Could the Blades have done anything different? Honestly, I’m not sure it would have made much difference against a Blues side who always looked like they were seeing the game several passes in advance and ultimately just had more legs and speed. Potentially, they could have shifted into a flat three in midfield with Barker and Brown moving closer to Kinzett, to get more bodies around the excellent Lily Agg and hopefully close off some of the passing lanes into attack. But I have a feeling Birmingham would just have exposed the gaps left by such a shift.

In possession, United had no answer for the Blues’ aggressive press and on many occasions played right into their hands. Fran Stenson frequently tried to roll it out to a defender but all-too often this just put the Blades in a bad spot:

Here’s one example, but I could have picked four or five from the first 10 minutes alone – Stenson rolls out to Charlotte Newsham who is immediately pressurised by Libby Smith (9). Newsham’s only real option is out to Jodie Hutton on the touchline; she in turn comes under immediate pressure, so plays it inside to Alanta Brown who already has another player on her back. It ends up with three Blades players and three Blues all on the corner of the box, and Hutton’s eventual clearance ricochets inside for a Birmingham attack.

I can’t put any blame on Newsham or Hutton here given that their only alternative would have been an immediate hoof towards halfway, where – just out of shot – two more Blues are waiting unmarked to pick it off. But only last week United had success playing goalkicks over the opposition press, thanks to the extra bodies in midfield, and yet here we went away from it.

The game had barely begun before the Blades went behind: Tara Bourne was forced to clear the ball for a corner, Lucy Quinn swung it in and centre-back Gemma Lawley towered above Bourne to power in the header. United struggled repeatedly against corners last week so this was not exactly an inspiring start – Ellie Mason also powered a free header straight at Fran Stenson from another one five minutes later.

United had one good breakaway when Rayner released Goodwin who surged past Neve Herron into the box, but she slipped as she shot and it went straight at Lucy Thomas. Shortly after, it was 2-0.

This second goal was both a thing of beauty and pretty avoidable. Agg got forward on the right and sent in a decent cross that Stenson punched well clear, but Barker took way too long to orient herself in receiving possession and ran straight into a Birmingham player. The ball ricocheted free and right-back Martha Harris reacted first to absolutely obliterate a first-time 30-yarder over Stenson and into the back of the net. This is unapologetically a Sheffield United-focussed publication but that was, I have to say, a hell of a goal.

Jodie Hutton takes on Marth Harris, scorer of a stunning second for Birmingham.

The Blades just couldn’t get anything going, and shifted to 4-4-2 at the break. Hodson had barely touched the ball and was replaced by Jess Sigsworth to give United an out-and-out attacker alongside Goodwin. Alanta Brown was also replaced by centre-back Molly Graham, with Hutton moving to left midfield and Newsham going to left-back. 

Unfortunately, the changes seemed to contribute towards the game-ending goal a few minutes later, with the United defence seemingly discombobulated. There was minimal danger as Birmingham moved forward down their left, but Bourne stepped out and was bypassed by a through ball, with Graham and Newsham drifting all the way over to leave Quinn (17) with a freebie from eight yards which she finished neatly off the post:

Birmingham took this as a cue to withdraw some of their top performers, with former Blade Jade Pennock one of those introduced as part of five subs over the next fifteen minutes. The latter of which, Remi Allen, had only been on the pitch six minutes when she burst through the centre of the United defence and rolled in the fourth past Stenson. It looked like a pretty clear handball from Allen as she blocked Barker’s clearance, but play went on and United couldn’t have too many complaints about the scoreline beyond that moment.

Ouch! United just had no answer throughout, with Sigsworth barely touching the ball and the side’s only real effort of the second half coming after Goodwin blocked a clearance and set up Rachel Brown for a tame effort on the angle.

It was frustrating to watch, but I’ve got to hold my hands up and say that as poorly as United played, Birmingham were very, very good. I’ve watched every one of United’s six Championship games this season and Sunday’s showing from the Blues was streets ahead of every other team we’ve faced so far.

All the same, it’s fair to be disappointed that United didn’t shake things up a bit more. Apart from the half-time double-sub, no more changes were made. Would it have hurt to at least have given a run-out to a few more of the subs, particularly those who have yet to feature much like Juliet Adebowale-Arimoro? Or did we feel that would be a harmful move against superior opposition with the game up? Should we have withdrawn Goodwin, as the team’s leading light, regardless of who was coming on?

Regardless, United will hope that their next opponents are slightly more obliging, even though they currently sit higher in the table.

Reading (A), Sunday October 22nd, 12:00 kick-off

Reading were relegated from the WSL last season after eight years in the top tier and immediately announced that they were abandoning their full-time playing model to cut costs. That has naturally resulted in some squad turnover, although to the Royals’ credit they’ve had a respectable start to the season.

They have two defeats from their opening seven games, both of which have been to table-toppers Sunderland and Southampton. However, at home they’ve found goals hard to come by, with just two in three league games so far. 

It’s a chance for the Blades to bounce back from the Birmingham defeat, with another international break to follow before a tough trip to high-flying Southampton. Let’s hope United can put this defeat behind them and get a win that could take them into the top half of the table. Thanks for reading, see you next week.