Source: Team_Talk
Second-half effort pleases Speed
Sheffield United manager Gary Speed was delighted with the way his players responded to his half-time team-talk as they won 1-0 at Hull.[LNB] Mark Yeates scored a superb solo effort early in the second half of Tuesday night's Championship clash at the KC Stadium to claim the points from a dull game.[LNB]"I'm delighted with the result and the performance," Speed said.[LNB]"In the first half we looked solid in defence, but on the ball we were poor.[LNB]"At half-time I had a word with them and told them that they needed to have more belief.[LNB]"Sometimes we don't do ourselves justice and don't show enough belief, but in the second half we did and we started to create a few chances.[LNB]The win lifts United up to 17th place in the league.[LNB]"We have had two good performances, but we've got to carry it on," Speed said. "In this league you can't have off days because you'll get caught out and get punished.[LNB]"We haven't had two back-to-back wins this season yet, but we've got to go to Doncaster on Saturday and believe in ourselves when we're on the ball."[LNB]On Yeates, he added: "The goal was no surprise to me, but in the first half he was a shadow of himself and how he played on Saturday because he didn't have enough belief.[LNB]"I told him at half-time to buck up his ideas and he did.[LNB]"I don't mind him making mistakes in the right areas, and I told him to get in the final third and create. He's a talent and he's really pleased with him."[LNB]Yeates' strike was the first goal Hull have conceded at home this season, but that is of little consolation to manager Nigel Pearson.[LNB]"You can't keep keeping clean sheets at home," he said. "It was a bad goal to concede and I don't think we were unlucky tonight. There are no excuses.[LNB]"I'm getting a bit tired of coming out and saying the same things after games and seeing us being negative in possession and turning down the opportunity to cross the ball.[LNB]"There should be a lot more (goals), but we need to give our strikers the chance to score goals. It is something we've got to solve.[LNB]"It's disappointing again because we haven't made the opposition work hard enough and we haven't put them under enough pressure. It's another missed opportunity.[LNB]"There's not a lot in the games in this division, and we've only scored four goals at home, and now we've conceded one.[LNB]"Defensively we've had one or two heavy defeats but we have otherwise been pretty tight. At the minute for whatever reason we're not producing the goals and it's something that needs to be rectified.[LNB]"In the first half it looked like one of those games when they were keeping it tight. To lose a game like that tonight when they've not really come to be overly expansive and haven't played a very attacking game is a sucker punch.[LNB]"We're not consistent enough and at the moment and we don't have enough players making the positions their own. That's my responsibility ultimately.[LNB]"I'll be looking to see how I can freshen things up at the weekend."[LNB]On the potential takeover of the club, Pearson added: "I don't think it has any bearing on us on a day-to-day basis whatsoever, and I certainly can't use that as an excuse."
