“Got a feeling Sheffield United will win the league comfortably. Every chance we could be between 7 and 10 points behind them by next Sunday.”
“Sheffield United will be attempting to set a league record of 10 successive clean sheet wins at home when they face us on Boxing Day.
We are the top side away.
So something will have to give, and it will be a great chance to assess Parker against a top team.”
“we limited the two free scoring Championship home teams (Leeds and Norwich ) to one goal between them. If we can do the same vs the Blades and nick one on the break somehow, happen we can come away with a positive result. On this occasion I would welcome one of those lovely nil nils.”
“Sheff Utd have two of the top 4 away teams in the league (1st, us, and 4th, WBA) and two of the top 4 home teams in the league (3rd Watford, 4th Sunderland) to play in their next 4. Their squad is finally being tested with some injuries too”
“Leeds & Sheffield United don’t have the strength in depth that we have. What they both do in January and whether they get a bout of injuries similar to ours (or escape anything too dramatic) will play a big part in the final league table in my view.”
“I can say with absolute certainty that Sheffield United and Leeds would be nowhere near where we are if they’d had that kind of injury list this season”
“I do think we have a habit generally of underestimating ourselves and over estimating our rivals. Away from home especially, there’s no one better than us. Leeds and Sheffield United are very good, but not so good they won’t drop points particularly away. And after the Watford performance we’ve nothing to fear, the lads will be raring to go”
“Sheffield United had better be awake on B/day because if we play like we did against Watford we should be for too much for them”
“Sheffield United are going well but we will catch and overtake them.”
“looking at fbRef if I sort the division by “shot creating actions” we are 6th, miles ahead of Sheffield United”
“I do expect we will finish above Sheffield United, and that definitely isn’t the opinion where I live, surrounded by Blades fans”
“Looking back to the last promotion season, the b******n game made it. We’d just had a hammering at Sheffield United and they were above us in the league. I remember thinking, all they have to do is put muric under pressure and they’ll get a result. We played them off the park and finished top of the league before the break for the world cup. We never looked back after that. Hopefully, our next 2 games do something similar for us”
“the striker issue is a real problem . We don’t have a platform. Sheffield United have two or three good options at this level. They also have more pace in certain positions and more physicality – they are more a threat at set plays.”
“What extra pace do Sheffield United have? Hamer is no faster than Anthony, for example. Rak-Sakyi slower than Koleosho. O’Hare slower than Sarmiento. Burrows and Pires no difference. Gilchrist maybe quicker than Roberts. Their central midfield options no quicker than ours. Foster and Hountondji are quicker or equal paced to their strikers. Moore and Jay same paced.
Physicality, yeah but only really central defence and Moore (who isn’t a 90 minute player).”
“I scoffed at Sheffield Utd bringing in Kiefer Moore but he has been terrific for them. McBurnie could offer similar qualities to us, and has been mentioned be a focal point which we’ve badly lacked at times.”
“If they don’t win the league with the squad they have it’s a massive fail for Wilder”
“I honestly don’t think it’s that good. Ahmedhodzic, Hamer, Souza and Cooper aside, I think it’s pretty ordinary. I think it’s far weaker than it was last year with Archer, McAtee, McBurnie, etc (we are too of course).
Maintain that I wouldn’t swap our two fully fit squads in a million years.
Wilder has performed absolute miracles to pay for only 3 players (€7m) and use loans to even have a squad to field. Doing a brilliant job.”
“I don’t quite think your doing there squad justice. They had an excellent window, no more so than getting Rak Sakyi (IMO the best winger in the league) and then getting Campbell/O hare on a free was unbelievable business.
Looking at there squad they have got the best Defender, the best midfielder and the best winger. There’s a reason they are top of the table even after a points deduction.”
“Blades didn’t have anywhere near the same level of squad turnover we had. Half the league wanted Rak-Sakyi – two clubs made £15m bids. O’Hara was clearly in demand as one of the top Championship performers for Coventry who they’ll be paying top whack. Hardly undiscovered gems.”
“To be top of the league by 4 points, 6 without the deduction, with the exodus they had in summer and only spending €7m on replacements is miraculous in my opinion.
Tbh, I thought they’d recruited well in summer but I thought thought it’d be playoffs at best for them.
May still prove to be so as I don’t think they have any strength in depth whatsoever though. January will be as big for them as it is for us for different reasons.”
“Sheffield United managed to keep hold of Hamer.
If he would have been at Burnley it’s very likely he would have been sold in the summer.
They bought O’Hare at a good price – presumably as he was either reaching the end of his contract or it was as a result of his couple of big injuries.
Brewster cost £20m and goodness knows how much in wages.
Kiefer Moore will be on decent wages.
Gilchrist and Souttar good loan signings but again will be big wages and very likely big loan fees too.
Cooper was a great buy – probably the best keeper outside of PL in last couple of years.
Davies from Everton will not have come cheap.
Rak-Sakyi already mentioned
Shackleton – from Leeds and played in PL
They had a good clear out of some of the deadwood like McBurnie and some of their older defenders who had been there under Wilder previously.
They have hardly done this on the cheap – and likely when their accounts come out it won’t be pretty reading.”
“Harrison Burrows is an exceptional buy from Peterborough. They have bought very wisely and used the loan market well too.Their challenge will come when promoted as they are under the watch of Fair Pay rules, and wont want to come straight down again”