Billy Sharp

[BillyStubbsTears]

If there was one worrying thing last night, apart from Hayter's injury, it was Sharp's form. he picked up where he left off against Barnsley, looking well out of sorts. There was little of the movement that we expect from him and he was all too easiliy contained by the defenders. And the one really good chance that came his way, in the melee just before half time, led to a pretty weak shot.

He's spent the last couple of weeks spouting off in public about the quality of the side. I don't know if he has talked himself into believing that we are no good, but he needs to take a big deep breath and get back on track. The rest of the team put in a performance last night, but by his (high) standards, he did not.

[smitiai]

I agree to some extent. The team as a whole did play well.. Thought Keegan in the first half controlled the holding midfield.. Sam Hird was quality..

As for the second half Oster and Billy went ALOW and almost gave up i thought..
Chambers to me looked good going forward be shakey at the back... Friend just seems to not fit into the squad..

The lup who came on for us at half time (Brooker) was quality ran his socks off and i really hope he starts with Billy and Brooker on Saturday.

Shame we didnt see what Woods could do between the sticks and not much goal mouth action..

Overall enjoyed the match.. Burnley was always there for the taking.!

[goalkick]

burnleys no 5 had an excellent game contained billy very well.billy went in very well when the own goal went in. thought the ref was a bit soft with the burnley defenders, they were climbing on billy and getting away with it.good game though.

[scuzzer]

Agreed BST, he's chucked a bit of a mardy strop the past few weeks and needs a bit of a whack back into line. He was having a right moan towards the bench just before HT after the missed opportunity and needs to channel the energy into running defenders ragged as before.

Hird's properly been on the receiving end from him in recent weeks and last night was excellent, needs a bit of a bonding mission to get it sorted.

[rtid88]

I said this last nite when I was at the game! Spitting his dummy out every 2 seconds having a rant at everyone if he was not getting the ball and just basically acting like a big baby!! The way he played and his attitude did seem to improve in the 2nd half. But his behaviour and attitude in the 1st half was embarrasing and not what I want to be seeing from a player that is idolised by his fellow team mates and fans.

[VikingJames]

I was amazed to see his reaction to that missed chance just before half time. Couldn't see exactly what happened in the scramble, but Copps shot, and it rebounded across goal and then I think it was cleared off the line.

Sharp turned round immediately and started giving somebody a right earful. Not sure whether he was having a go at Copps for not squaring it, but it did look like a bit of an overreaction. It's a bit worrying when you get the sense that he's not happy - it looked like that at the start of the season when he had a lean spell, but his season turned around the \"Fat lad from Sheffield\" jibe. I hope he gets back on track because he's very important to us, even when he's not scoring goals every week.

[stoxy001]

billy was just well looked after by clarke carlisle last night, got frustrated. i thought he did okay as the game got stretched in the second half. i think we can cut him a bit of slack, he's top scorer and he'll have a smile on his face once things start going our way again.

[RedJ]

Agreed, even the very best have dry spells.

[DonnyBazR0ver]

You do notice the tantrums and we know he feels he's been let down over the last few weeks. He's a winner and can't understand why everyone else can't play up to his standards and work rate.

Sure, it's not good to see sometimes however, he perked up a bit in the second half when we started putting some tackles in.

[RedJ]

Some of the combinations with Stevie looked excellent last night. I reckon with a confident Billy and a fit Stevie we've got our back up strike force, if he can keep it up.

[big fat yorkshire pudding]

Personally I think it's good.  We need some fire in the team and whilst Sharp had 0 chances really last night, he battled his socks off.  Noticeable that he got a major bollocking from Keegan and SOD when he didn't track back in the last 10, then he did and played a major part.

We saw last night the effect of defending like a team, not just defence but midfield and forwards alike.  The defence ultimately gets the blame but if you stop the ball coming into the box 20 and it only comes in 10 then you've a lot less chance of conceeding.

It's amazing how good a strong midfield can make a defence look.  It really is a big thing.

Has Billy ever been any different in the last 2 years?  No, he does exactly the same win, lose or draw.  He's driven, petulant and a little t**t really.  But that's part of his game, the same goes for many good players.

[Jonathan]

My personal assumption is that BST has never particularly liked Sharp simply because he isn't Heffernan.

Sharp seemed to be carrying an injury last night, definitely wasn't moving freely and was holding his right hamstring several times. That said, I'm totally perplexed by any suggestion he didn't put in a shift, it's absurd! We all know he is a natural penalty box player but he finished the evening practically playing at left back for the good of the team.

[grayx]

Billys a winner and gets frustrated when he/his team are under-performing. I know he looks like a bit of a mardy,moaning twot at times,but its because he wants to win. I like to see that.

[Branton Rover]

Me too & hopefully he'll be smiling again soon now we've got Mr Keegan protecting the back-line this will mean more of Billy's goals resulting in wins rather than frustrating losses

[BillyStubbsTears]

Jonathan wrote:

My personal assumption is that BST has never particularly liked Sharp simply because he isn't Heffernan.

Sharp seemed to be carrying an injury last night, definitely wasn't moving freely and was holding his right hamstring several times. That said, I'm totally perplexed by any suggestion he didn't put in a shift, it's absurd! We all know he is a natural penalty box player but he finished the evening practically playing at left back for the good of the team.

Grow up Jonathan.

I've been fulsome in praise of Sharp. He is clearly a better player than Heffernan. It'd take an idiot to argue otherwise and I have never done so. It's also take an idiot to suggest that other people might think so, and there are a few on here who fall into that category. You want to go through that argument again, be my guest, but for now, let's stick to what I said.

What I have said over the last week is that Sharp has shown a side of himself over the last month or so that is unprofessional and frankly very immature. A bit like your posts every once in a while when we get onto this topic.

He started it with the silly behaviour after he scored at Bramall Lane. He'll have to deal with that every time he sets foot in Sheffield for the rest of his life. He followed it up with the cardinal sin of professional football at Wolves - giving a gobful to the fans who pay his wages. He followed that up by public critising his team mates not once but twice. He then gave a cringingly embarrassing interview on Radio Sheffield before the Barnsley match, and made himself look a dick when Shackell had him in his pocket for 90 minutes.

Last night, I'll agree that he worked when we were one up, but in the first half, he was anonymous. His movement in the first half was non-existent and he made marking him a doddle. He gave every impression of believing his own mouthings off about the quality of the side. In fact, the rest of the side were performing very, very well, Sharp still had to have a go at them. The only times he came to life in the first half were when he was giving the rest of the team a bollocking. In particular after he himself had missed the best chance of the half. Hayter did his usual job of being the human punchbag for the side, but Sharp was rarely making the moves that we expect in order to pick up the pieces.

He is a superb player, without question. The best centre forward I have seen in nigh on 40 years as a fan. But as I said last week, we could do with an Alan Warboys type senior pro to take him on one side and tell him to concentrate on his own game and cut out the Billy Big b*llocks crap. It's unnecessary, unprofessional and counter-productive.

EDIT: Just for the record, having seen the video of the game, it was obviously Hayter who missed that chance just before half time, not Sharp.

[Lesonthewest]

BillyStubbsTears wrote:

Jonathan wrote:

My personal assumption is that BST has never particularly liked Sharp simply because he isn't Heffernan.

Sharp seemed to be carrying an injury last night, definitely wasn't moving freely and was holding his right hamstring several times. That said, I'm totally perplexed by any suggestion he didn't put in a shift, it's absurd! We all know he is a natural penalty box player but he finished the evening practically playing at left back for the good of the team.

Grow up Jonathan.

I've been fulsome in praise of Sharp. He is clearly a better player than Heffernan. It'd take an idiot to argue otherwise and I have never done so. It's also take an idiot to suggest that other people might think so, and there are a few on here who fall into that category. You want to go through that argument again, be my guest, but for now, let's stick to what I said.



What I have said over the last week is that Sharp has shown a side of himself over the last month or so that is unprofessional and frankly very immature. A bit like your posts every once in a while when we get onto this topic.

He started it with the silly behaviour after he scored at Bramall Lane. He'll have to deal with that every time he sets foot in Sheffield for the rest of his life. He followed it up with the cardinal sin of professional football at Wolves - giving a gobful to the fans who pay his wages. He followed that up by public critising his team mates not once but twice. He then gave a cringingly embarrassing interview on Radio Sheffield before the Barnsley match, and made himself look a dick when Shackell had him in his pocket for 90 minutes.

Last night, I'll agree that he worked when we were one up, but in the first half, he was anonymous. His movement in the first half was non-existent and he made marking him a doddle. He gave every impression of believing his own mouthings off about the quality of the side. In fact, the rest of the side were performing very, very well, Sharp still had to have a go at them. The only times he came to life in the first half were when he was giving the rest of the team a bollocking. In particular after he himself had missed the best chance of the half. Hayter did his usual job of being the human punchbag for the side, but Sharp was rarely making the moves that we expect in order to pick up the pieces.

He is a superb player, without question. The best centre forward I have seen in nigh on 40 years as a fan. But as I said last week, we could do with an Alan Warboys type senior pro to take him on one side and tell him to concentrate on his own game and cut out the Billy Big b*llocks crap. It's unnecessary, unprofessional and counter-productive.

Could not have put it any better BST, totally agree. Great player Billy is, but I believe there are times when he should concentrate more on his own game than others around him.

[ravenrover]

VikingJames wrote:

I was amazed to see his reaction to that missed chance just before half time. Couldn't see exactly what happened in the scramble, but Copps shot, and it rebounded across goal and then I think it was cleared off the line.

Sharp turned round immediately and started giving somebody a right earful. Not sure whether he was having a go at Copps for not squaring it, but it did look like a bit of an overreaction. It's a bit worrying when you get the sense that he's not happy - it looked like that at the start of the season when he had a lean spell, but his season turned around the \"Fat lad from Sheffield\" jibe. I hope he gets back on track because he's very important to us, even when he's not scoring goals every week.

Sharp was having a go at the ref for allowing advantage instead of giving the free kick when he was clobbered. When the ball broke to Copps he had a chance for a clear shot on goal, but got closed down very quickly, which is why the ref played on.
I've said it before while we keep knocking high balls to Sharp as we have been doing recently, with the exception of Burnley, he is going to get a mard on. Carlisle looked to me to be a quality CB and had Sharp in his pocket for most of the match.