BLADE STUNNER McGoldrick scores first goals in 1,615 minutes as Chelsea slump and Lampard fumes
DAVID MCGOLDRICK said on the eve of this game that ‘scoring loads has never been in my DNA’ — claiming ‘intelligence’ was more his thing.
It has taken 26 games and 43 shots, but the striker has finally worked out how to score a goal in the Premier League. In fact, he now has two of them. And strike partner Oli McBurnie also found the net in this dismissal of Chelsea.
It helps when you are up against defenders prone to brain fades like Chelsea were. As good as the Blades looked, Frank Lampard’s team were complicit in their demise.
But let us not take anything away from Chris Wilder’s side, who recorded four straight Premier League home wins for the first time in the club’s history and climbed to sixth position, just five points off a Champions League place.
Consider that Norwich City — five points superior to the Sheffield club as the pair were promoted last season — were relegated earlier in the day and Wilder’s achievement in taking the club to the brink of a first European qualification is all the more remarkable.
No player captures the job Wilder has done in forging a team which amounts to far more than the sum of its parts better than McGoldrick does.
The 32- year- old was without a club having been released by then Championship side Ipswich when Wilder rang him two summers ago and went on to prove instrumental in the promotion campaign.
Was the Premier League a level too high for the Republic of Ireland forward?
You could certainly argue as much based on a goals return that simply read zero before yesterday’s game at home to Chelsea.
So how relieved he looked when, after 18 minutes yesterday, he finally brought relief to that drought with the simplest of tap-ins.
McBurnie added a second and McGoldrick doubled his own tally late on to cap a victory which was hard- earned in its creation but eventually became a stroll.
Wilder’s side laid the foundations with their endeavour and when they met with little resistance, the rest came easy.
Lampard disappeared down the stadium concourse immediately on full time, although it was a surprise to some that he had hung about until then.
Chelsea had started well enough, at least for a few minutes as they enjoyed some possession. It seemed unwise when George Baldock needlessly bulldozed into Chelsea winger Christian Pulisic after three minutes, earning a yellow card that drew exasperation from Wilder.
But the threat of a second caution rarely impedes when you are on the front foot and so Baldock went on the attack, supplying the cross which led to McGoldrick’s goal.
Chelsea’s Mason Mount inexplicably decided to dribble on the edge of his own area and was robbed by Sander Berge, who fed Baldock.
He sped for the by-line and centred for McBurnie, whose volley was twice deflected before Kepa produced a r e f l e x s a ve t hat deserved far better than the assist it provided for McGoldrick. Some of Chelsea’s passing evoked memories of their difficult first half at Leicester in the FA Cup a fortnight ago. Indeed, if they were kicking for touch you had to applaud their accuracy.
So bad had they been at Leicester that Lampard made three changes at half time.
Yesterday, however — unlike at Leicester, when they somehow survived until the break at 0-0 — they trailed by two and deservedly so.
McBurnie’s goal arrived after 33 minutes, when Enda Stevens delivered a ball for the unmarked striker to plant his header into the bottom corner from six yards.
It felt like one of those goals you would see in a training-ground drill — you know the type, when there is no opposition.
Chelsea centre- backs Andreas Christensen and Kurt Zouma held an impromptu inquest in a bid to apportion blame. What they needed was a team-mate to join the discussion and tell them they were both culpable.
It is not as if McBurnie is an inconspicuous presence. He is 6ft 3ins tall and wears a grizzly ginger beard, as well as his socks at halfmast. Perhaps the defenders left him alone because he does not really look like a top-flight footbal l e r — much l i ke Chelsea’s defence on the evidence of this.
Looks can be deceiving, of course, and McBurnie was unplayable at times. The 24-year-old was understudy to Chelsea’s Tammy Abraham at Swansea two seasons ago but he was among the leading men here, outshone only by McGoldrick.
He got his second when Antonio Rudiger made a weak attempt to block a cross and served the ball on a plate 13 minutes from time.