Pre Sheffield United match chat- DF press conference page 3

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Cjay
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Pre Sheffield United match chat- DF press conference page 3

Post by Cjay »

Week today so seemed as good a time as any for this.

Would be remiss of me to not mention the tragic events that unfolded earlier this week.

The sad death of George Baldock who played for our opponents for 7 years.

Only 31, shows how fragile it all is, he played a match in Greece on the Sunday, was found on the Wednesday.

Very sad, a clip from a radio show popped up on my twitter feed, turns out a young boy needed a defibrillator, he had a heart issue. So the club invited him down, meet the players sort of thing I guess (during covid this was). And Baldock just said he'd buy it, no publicity, nothing to do with the club, his own money.

Nice guy and hopefully some form of tribute is organised for Friday

Anyhow

First game back after another stupid international break sees 2nd vs 5th.

3 points separate the teams

Sheffield United are the only unbeaten side left in the Championship this season with 6 wins and 3 draws, they also have the best defence with only 3 goals conceded

Not the most free scoring of sides with only 12 goals, but had a very decent season so far.

If you put stock in xG and stuff though the defence is a bit more iffy than the 3 goals conceded suggests, they should have conceded 6-7 but either the opponent missed when they shouldn't or the goalie made a great save.


Last game out they beat struggling Luton 2-0.

Bit of extra added motivation with old ham face Wilder making multiple digs at us in the summer and in the past.

In terms of key player the main one is Gus Hamer, he's scored 4 of the 12 goals Sheffield United have managed and got one assist from a new role out wide

Loan signing Jesurun Rak-Sakyi has had a struggle but got both goals vs Luton and may see him kick on now.

And of course like all parachute payment clubs they kept hold of people like Anel Ahmedhodžić and Vini Souza and highly rated Ollie Arblaster.

Added proven Championship players like Keifer Moore and Callum O'Hare and goalie Michael Cooper whose maybe a bit of an unsung hero.

Tactically the old overlapping cb stuff has gone for a more traditional low block 4-2-3-1, judging by possession stats they seem quite happy to sit deep and break on teams with the energy in midfield they have and pace.

From our point of view a very frustrating end to the Sunderland game robbed us of 2 points.

A very decent performance in parts though, less so in others.

Willy Gnonto showing once again he can step out of the shadow of his departed best mates Georgie and Jimmy and be the main man.

Joel Piroe showing that he is perfectly capable of playing as a loan striker and is actually bloody good at it.

And Firpo continuing his transformation into Roberto Carlos.

But will we perhaps have a new midfielder?

Mateo Joseph scored a first half treble this week, does that change the thinking about who starts up front?

Aaronson after a bright start is struggling, is a case to he made for a change in that role?

We hope to have Dan James and Manor Solomon back of course, do they come back in?

We also have the issue of people like Tanaka and Aaronson maybe only getting back to training on Thursday.

Our record vs the better teams this season isn't good, we can debate bad luck etc but we've played 4 top half teams and not beaten any of them, 5 if you include Boro in the cup.

So needs to change surely.

Anyway any thoughts etc.
Last edited by Cjay on Wed Oct 16, 2024 12:49 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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Re: Pre Sheffield United match chat

Post by The Subhuman »

I’d like to see

Meslier
Bogle
Firpo
Tanaka
Rodon
Struijk
James
Rothwell
Joseph
Gnonto
Solomon
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Re: Pre Sheffield United match chat

Post by The Subhuman »

Without a true defensive mid come third CB we’re likely to concede so will need goals. James pace will keep them honest and I think Solomon’s now how and skills trump Ramazani’s youth and pace atm.

Gnonto as the 10. We have zero options for the 4 and 8 atm.
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Re: Pre Sheffield United match chat

Post by whiteswan »

Very sad re George Baldock. First game for the blades since. They will be well up for this more than ever now, just like Greece were v England. I can't see us winning this one.....sorry
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Re: Pre Sheffield United match chat

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The Subhuman wrote: Fri Oct 11, 2024 12:36 pm Without a true defensive mid come third CB we’re likely to concede so will need goals. James pace will keep them honest and I think Solomon’s now how and skills trump Ramazani’s youth and pace atm.

Gnonto as the 10. We have zero options for the 4 and 8 atm.
Is James available again ?
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Re: Pre Sheffield United match chat

Post by YorkshireSquare »

What is this of which you speak? A game of football? An actualy game of football?
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Re: Pre Sheffield United match chat

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mentalcase wrote: Sun Oct 13, 2024 10:44 am Is James available again ?
Is supposed to be back for SU, as is Solomon
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Re: Pre Sheffield United match chat

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The Subhuman wrote: Sun Oct 13, 2024 11:08 am Is supposed to be back for SU, as is Solomon
Thanks, I hope that's the case, even if both start from the bench, both will be excellent additions to bring on against tiring legs.
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Re: Pre Sheffield United match chat

Post by Jammy 07 »

The Subhuman wrote: Sun Oct 13, 2024 11:08 am Is supposed to be back for SU, as is Solomon
Farke said James would be out until the next international break.

Not sure that means he'll be available immediately after it though and guess we won't find out until the pre game press conference.
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Re: Pre Sheffield United match chat

Post by Tom the Cat »

Don't forget that Bamford is "fit" again unless he has fallen off his settee !!
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Re: Pre Sheffield United match chat

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Tom the Cat wrote: Mon Oct 14, 2024 8:53 am Don't forget that Bamford is "fit" again unless he has fallen off his settee !!
Shouldn't make anyones starting 11 though
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Re: Pre Sheffield United match chat

Post by Jammy 07 »

Would happily take point on Friday and move on to Tuesday against Watford when hopefully our late international returnees have had some decent kip.

4 points from the two home games would be more than acceptable in the circumstances we find ourselves in.
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Re: Pre Sheffield United match chat

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Jammy 07 wrote: Mon Oct 14, 2024 6:09 pm Would happily take point on Friday and move on to Tuesday against Watford when hopefully our late international returnees have had some decent kip.

4 points from the two home games would be more than acceptable in the circumstances we find ourselves in.
I'm praying Rodon doesn't get injured tonight ....
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Re: Pre Sheffield United match chat

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Jammy 07 wrote: Mon Oct 14, 2024 6:09 pm Would happily take point on Friday and move on to Tuesday against Watford when hopefully our late international returnees have had some decent kip.

4 points from the two home games would be more than acceptable in the circumstances we find ourselves in.
We don't worj that way jammy, we'll beat sheffield then drop points to watford, still 4 points like.
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Re: Pre Sheffield United match chat

Post by The Subhuman »

7 changes for Wales tonight, one of them is not Rodon
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Re: Pre Sheffield United match chat

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mentalcase wrote: Mon Oct 14, 2024 6:34 pm We don't worj that way jammy, we'll beat sheffield then drop points to watford, still 4 points like.
That's the problem as we could easily drop points in both of them and might end up with bugger all points wise. Which is why I'd take a point on Friday and see what happens after that.
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Re: Pre Sheffield United match chat

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I'm looking for performance as usual ....
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Re: Pre Sheffield United match chat

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The Subhuman wrote: Mon Oct 14, 2024 7:52 pm I'm looking for performance as usual ....
After an international break with many players away does that really matter ?

Defeats really hurt so avoiding one is probably the most important thing.
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Re: Pre Sheffield United match chat

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Jammy 07 wrote: Mon Oct 14, 2024 8:07 pm After an international break with many players away does that really matter ?

Defeats really hurt so avoiding one is probably the most important thing.
To me? Yes ... I think SU have players away too it shouldn't be an excuse
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Re: Pre Sheffield United match chat

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