“All Fylde have to do is play like Liverpool last night, and they’ll be home and dry!”
“great draw for Fylde plus sheff utd will underestimate us so can defo see a replay”
“Last year they lost to Barnet at home, just saying”
“Lightning doesn’t strike twice etc. etc. Can’t see them making that mistake again to be honest I hope they show respect and field a decent team.”
“wouldn’t hold your breath on that team and unfortunately the size of the crowd, there game against Barnet didn’t draw a good crowd at all unfortunately”
“We have been shocking lately”
“Clueless,no togetherness and devoid of any ideas.Would be a good bet next season to win the conf north league.”
“Easy 3 points”
“It’s been confirmed that VAR will be in use at Sheffield United on Sunday – making AFC Fylde the first non-league team to ever use the system. Let’s keep those armpits tucked in lads.”
“Got a better chance with VAR”
“Got to be in our favour as we probably will not get near enough to their goals for it to be used against us whereas Sheffield will be camped in our box and subject to VAR on a regular basis…”
“Cannot wait to have 93rd minute winner overruled because Rowes nose is offside”
“Effectively changing the way the game is officiated in the middle of a competition”
“Decent player who can plan in 2 positions, but I wasn’t too upset he left. I’d go to Italy or MLS if I was him, he’ll always have a mercenary tag in England.”
“I reckon he is a class player”
“He’s class”
“To have a player of Rodwell’s ability that can play midfield or centre back is a rare luxury I’d have liked to have seen him play more in midfield instead”
“to be fair to him, Rodwell did show his class at times and I was in favour of offering a new deal had he wanted to stay.”
“Rodwell is excellent quality but he might be employed better in a system which employs a single deep sitting centre mid, rather like Campo at Bolton a few years back. “
“I’d personally class him as a midfielder but mostly played in defence for us”
“had talent but questionable attitude and certainly not fit for purpose having been signed as a CB”
“Too good for Rovers – unless he saw us as such a step down it would negatively impact on his career.”
” get Rodwell’s attitude right and you have a class midfielder”
“Rodwell was very good for us in games last season. He’s good player, but a weird guy.”
“Rodwell has had about 3 of the last 4 years on holiday. He should be the freshest footballer in all 4 divisions. And at his a
“Thought he strolled the games with Lenihan around Christmas.”
“looked decent when we’re in control, totally disappeared when we were under the cosh. Also a pretty rubbish CB”
“Rodwell was not fit for purpose as a centre back”
“at best, bang average for us last year”
“What a waste of a God given talent.He’s scammed a very nice living out of achieving the square root of sweet FA and when his career is over will be remembered for nowt other than being a complete waste of space. In fact his father should have shot him into space almost 30 years ago! “
“What a waste of obvious talent, its a crying shame that the money they get destroys their hunger for success. That’s why I’m falling out of love with the game”
“One of the best games I’ve seen us play this season.”
“Death by 900-odd passes.”
“Not bad that exhibition match, when does the main, highlighted,match start?”
“Easy, easy, easy. ”
“I can live with this, I had to go looking for my heartbeat at halftime just not used to being so calm as this.”
“Controlled the game from start to finish. Sheff Utd had two up top, then everyone else behind them were organised in a bus position, albeit with some freedom to interchange positions. An early goal from a mistake from the Sheff defender, and then we never looked back. We passed the ball around, always in control, and always probing. Sheff Utd never managed anything of note, and this was more to do with how we just kept the ball. “
“It wasn’t Sheffield playing badly, it was just our lads playing fantastic football and exerting total control. A record amount of passes on our side speaks for that. Of course, it could have been six nil, which would have reflected the game far more accurately, but hey.”
“Game over from the 4th minute. They were in damage limitation mode from then on. “
“great performance, nothing even to debate, so dominant, so comfortable.”
“Nice, comfortable and boring, total dominance.”
“Professional performance against a team who were scared to play us.”
“We’re just impossible to play against, no matter how teams set up.”
“Proper dominant performance, passed Sheffield too death broke another record.”
“We’re Sheffield even on the pitch ? “
“Training session.”
“About the most comfortable Premier League game you’ll ever see. “
“We turned up like we hadn’t kicked a ball in ages and looked fresh. They looked drained after 5 minutes and just wanted to go home”
“That was about 1000% more comfortable than I was expecting, which shows the quality of our team rather than showing up Sheff Utd, who we know are a good side. We utterly dominated them, probably the most commanding performance from us I’ve seen this season, and at no point was I worried it wouldn’t be our night.”
“Good team, good manager Sheffield”
“even when you watch us totally outplay them, you know why they are so high in the table. The last game when a side was battered by us and somehow still in the game was Leicester. “
“That was one of the easiest games of the season. I like Sheffield Utd and their manager but they didn’t want any part of us tonight. “
“Anyone see Wilder sit down at one point with his head in his hands?I laughed seeing it, then I felt totally sorry for him. “
“They are a great side for a promoted side and he seems a good bloke but we just sucked the life out of them”
“Wilder is the most classy manager in the league after Klopp. Respects quality when he sees it.”
“Deserves manager of the season if he gets top 8”
“Chris Wilder is a football genius. But to go with it he has humility and respect for a great football side when he sees one.”
“I have never praised an opposition manager but I have a lot of respect for Wilder and his achievements with very limited resources I like him as much as I dislike moaningho the real idiot”
“Huge respect to him and Sheffield, all the best for the rest of the season”
“New found respect to him and Sheffield. Hope they do well and finish in Europe.”
“Absolutely impressed by Sheffield United and what Chris Wilder got from his players. He gets them to play with the passion and pain at losing that he showed towards the end there. We don’t need to hear words of praise from him about our performance which may come anyway, because it was all about their defensive work and spirit. This guy is a worker of minor miracles.”
“Massive respect to them. Any other team today and the score line would have been humiliating. Defensively very very solid. Hopefully they can take points of our title rivals.”
“Chris Wilder is a breath of fresh air. I think he realised we’re the only side this season his team could not out-work. They’ve won a lot of points on grafting alone.”
” Dean Henderson is future star. Pitty, he is owned by the manure”
“Their fans were reasonably funny at times, our champion of Europe, champions of the world etc. was meet with, champions of league 1 , you’ll never sing that. Robbo walking past them when he was subbed they started chanting, England, England, England. Even Robbo laughed. Probably the easiest game we have had effort wise I guess, just totally dominated them. They had a couple of chances late on but it was a stroll really. “
“We are looking really good, sat on top of the table, but with a couple of tricky games against flying Wolves and now Sheffield to come, we have to keep picking up as many points as possible. Sheffield is another battle, we should pass, but after only beating them 1-0 away from a dodgy goal, any thing can happen…right?”
“another toughie. only a bad goalkeeping error allowed us to beat them earlier in the season.”
“I assume a lot of cryo therapy will be needed to recover for this one. Sheffield will be another tough opponent.”
“another tough game against a very impressive sheffield united, caught us all out. 3 points please by hook or by var, i don’/t care.”
“This will be a tough game. Sheffield Utd are well drilled and honest. Just get the job done and move on.”
“Wolves came to frustrate and did it really well, looked good going forward too. Expect the same from Sheff Utd”
“A tough team to beat (i like them) but a new year, new decade and new dawn of LFC dominance so we should get the win”
“Tough one this, important to get an early goal in this one I feel.”
“Another big, tough game but again thankfully at home. I think it will be another win for us, and most likely another nervy finish. I expect Milner, Origi and Keita in for this.”
“Big changes as want first team fit and firing for Everton and Spurs.”
“I hope we go with our strongest line up against Sheffield United & make the changes for Everton. SU are a top side & have given everyone a game, we saw how good they were against us in September. Only their first defeat away from home yesterday”
“Napoli , Man united and Sheffield United are the toughest 3 sides we have played this season”
“It’s going to be a difficult game, that’s for sure.”
“Amazing how many, “Tough”, games we seem to have coming up, seems every one is this.”
Goes to show even more how incredible our team is that they have won 27 of the last 28 given how tough the opposition are.
“It’ll likely be a slog but I can see us turning it on again.”
“Tough test against another well drilled team. Although I think we come out on top comfortably.”
“We’ll win again, another tough game for our opponents. Plucky side but we’ll have way too much for these and should win comfortably, barring a below par performance from us, in which case it’ll be only 2-0 to us or something.”
“I think we’ll pummel them.”
“We were much better last match against them I see an easy 3 points”
“Sheffield United had their chances against City. Very brave team & defensively strong. The ref really screwed them over on the first goal. Won’t be easy on Thursday”
“Just seen Man City v Sheffield Utd highlights.City fans crying abt Liverpool having VAR in its pockets while refs are providing hockey assists for them.”
“Sheffield Utd were well & truly robbed of a great result vs Man City”
“Sheffield United have had some ridiculous decisions gone against them this season”
“all runs have to come to an end sometime and what a fitting end than that to be the Home of the reigning Champions.”
“About time we ground out a result like that. Dippers have been lauded for it all season. We’ll be branded as lucky.”
“Not our finest hour, but not our worst either.”
“Slow, sloppy, predictable, defence all over the shop but 3 points.”
“That was as bad as we have played all season”
“thank god for the referee’s intervention because we hadn’t created a sniff before that got handed to us.”
“We were utterly exceptional 2nd half.”
“Great win against a tough team”
“I understand why Sheffield United are in the position they are in the table and only lost one game away so far – they have incredible physicality”
“One of those games that if we were still looking like we had chance of winning the league you would say was one where we didn’t play our best but found a way to win, which is what champions do. Thought they defended fairly well, but the tweaks made a difference”
“Good win against a very decent Sheffield Utd side. Little lucky but I don’t care 3 points is all that matters”
“Tbf, Sheffield matched us well in the first half, after the change in shape they gave us little problems. 2 games in 2 days. Not much to complain about really”
“Hats off to Sheffield United they are a really well organised side, Not looking forward to going to Bramell Lane.”
“Good result as we needed that but let’s be honest they cut through us at will at times. Luckily they didn’t have their one chance one goal boots on like a lot of our opponents this season.”
“Until we scored we didn’t trouble their keeper at all. After we scored they came out and our formation change allowed us to look more threatening but that was more down to them than us improving.”
“it’s a terrible decision (that our first goal stood) and if it happened against us this place would explode. I’ve been told by a million people that it didn’t quite touch the referee so that rule is invalid, although I would imagine all the former referees tomorrow and maybe even PGMOL will say it should have been a drop ball.”
“He clearly gets in the way and causes us to get the ball, it is very unlucky for Sheffield and they’ve got every right to be aggrieved but the rules are the rules and seemingly the rules say play on if he doesn’t touch it”
“It makes a change for one to help us by getting in the way, because week after week they get in the way of our passes and nothing happens, sometimes I wonder if they are doing it on purpose, so I’m pleased its worked in our favour for once”
“I actually think their disallowed goal should absolutely have stood — the referee didn’t really “do” anything to help us in that incident. The Sheffield player saw where the referee was before he played the pass and the Sheffield player behind him could only run through the back of the referee to get the ball — that is a mistake by the Sheffield player attempting the pass, not the referee’s fault.”
“their goal should have stood because the current threshold for VAR offside assessment is farcical from a purely technical standpoint (which I and others have expounded upon extensively previously), much less for the spirit of the game. I don’t care if it benefited us today, it’s hurt us and other teams far more, and it is absolutely inaccurate/inconsistent enforcement of the current rules”
“Shit ref not giving the foul on Kun but they then score a goal that should stand imo but yet again VAR ruins thegame for one set of fans and a game is changed because of it. Yes he was offside but with the eye, the law that says benefit of the doubt to the attacker its a good goal and one given in every season i have watched the game barr this one.”
“its wrong but nothing will change till next season at least…the rules around offside/the margins for decisions need to change.”
“As for their “goal”, if they’re going against us for that, I’ll take them when its someone else’s misfortune, that said Sergio was fouled so it should never have got there, he was pulled back by the arm, and then started wrestling (an error from him), but it still should have been an attacking free kick.”
“Our two are good. The one involving the ref — if he himself had deflected the ball into the path of an onrushing City player, that would be clearly an injustice. That’s not what happens. He doesn’t appear to touch it at all. The Sheffield United player goes through his legs to play it to De Bruyne. On the other hand, I will never change my opinion about ruling goals out because of half a foot, or half an armpit, or whatever. It was a superb pass. The goal should have stood. Fair result: 2-1. “
“VAR is still shite”
“In contrast to the Blades manager, Espirito for Wolves is pure class. Handles some tough questions with aplomb.”
“Annoying commentary on my stream constantly trying to big up Sheffield despite their lack of shots on target they were very unlucky etc.”
“Loads of coins thrown by their fans, I don’t know what they were so worked up by.”
“They are very decent for a promoted club especially with their squad. No danger of relegation at all. with some luck results and a win they could go 4th this weekend. I guess they are living the dream and they didnt expect at all that after Christmas they will be closer to 2nd place than 18th place. The games I seen from them, quick, in your face type of attacks, lots of clever crosses, big danger from corners, freekicks, solid defence given their lack of quality names, well everything is given for them to catch us unless we are aware and showing some urgency. This Wolves/Sheffield looked a tricky set of games couple weeks ago just after Boxing Day, lets hope at least 3 points will be made now. We play away to them already on 21st of January. I am pretty sure we wont take all 6 points off of them. They are certainly much more solid than the shit Norwich who beat us.”
“Just what we need after an energy sapping match with 10 men. Sheff utd are a great team, they are loving playing the big boys, they just seem to be stuttering against the so called lesser teams. If we get something against these with the predicament we find ourselves in currently then I’ll be chuffed Should be a cracker of a game, tv companies might have dropped a bollock not putting this on”
“If we don’t win the game within the first half hour we will lose this. That took a lot out of the players tonight and many of them will have to play again on Sunday so the longer the game remains a contest the more disadvantaged we are.”
“After last nights poor showing this is exactly the sort of team we don’t want to play. They will fancy their chances against our weak defence”
“It’s going to be a very tough game this. They are a good side”
“A young, hungry team with an extra day’s rest. Can’t think of many teams I’d rather not face than the Blades tomorrow. We were so poor defensively against Wolves I can see us being turned over again”.
“SU will employ same tactics as Wolves. As much as people think we will win, they’re where they are because they’re not shit. If we don’t sort this comedy out we will be freefalling down the table. We seem unable to keep or pass the ball to each other, Mahrez needs dropping, bring in Foden for some energy. As much as I’d like us to win 3-0 I can’t see it, it will more than likely be 1-2 SU, unless we can actually play football instead thinking we can just turn up and expect to win. Teams are now wise to how we play and set up accordingly. If they attack and shoot, they’ll score, I’ve seen a pub team defend better than us at the moment”.
“Going to be difficult to lift ourselves from tonight, with the players knackered and our first choice keeper suspended. The title is long gone so hopefully Guardiola will mix it up a bit.”
“This game has banana ski written all over it , i could never bet against our club but 14/1 is worth a punt , Sheff Utd are high energy , pressing team and are tireless , they have played at least ten less games than us this season and have had more rest from their last fixture”
“going to be the third team we’d play in this busy who will give everything they’ve got against us and then go on to play the scousers next with a day less rest when playing them … and yes while they play us they’ve had one day more recovery time than us (while we were also down to 10 most of it) … It’s either going to be City 5 – 0 Sheff Utd OR City 1 – 2 Sheff Utd”
“They’ve gone almost a full year without losing away – longer run than Liverpool even – so it won’t be easy.”
“This is going to another slog. Sheff utd are organized and dogged. They love the wings which should help us more as our weakness is right through the middle. Not confident. I think we’ll draw.”
“Atmosphere could be a strange one. If we don’t break them down in the first half it could be a frustrating evening. From what I’ve seen of them this season they defend really, really well in numbers and they could really frustrate us. Stick your mortgage on McGoldrick ending his goal scoring drought. When was the last time he scored a goal? I wanna say 4-0 and a solid response from tonight. But if we defend anything like we have been doing this season we won’t keep a clean sheet against a pretty physical side in Sheffield United.”
“it’s gonna be tough, they haven’t lost away from home yet either. At least aguero and Jesus will be rested and foden could come in to add a bit of energy to the midfield.”
“I can see us really struggling in this one. They have an excellent away record, a good system and are in great form. We’re going to be exhausted having played almost 80 mins with 10 men and our confidence will be shot having blown a 2-0 lead plus we have less than 48 hours between matches. Finally our reserve keeper will play who has conceded 6 in his only 2 league appearances this season”.
“Anything is possible with Bravo in Net. Teams know if they attack us there is a high possibility they will score.That is the sad reality these days.”
“Clownio will concede at least 2 against these. If they shoot, they’ll score. As long as we score 1 more than they do, it will have to suffice. We are absolutely comical in defence at the moment.”
“We could play as we did against Burnley and Leicester, and smash them. Or we could lose abjectly, as we did against the rags and last night. Or we could draw. We’re inconsistent, like everyone else, except for one team, which is going to win the league at a canter.”
“We are at a point where I just haven’t a clue how a game will unfold. It might be that Sheff Utd think they can go toe to toe with our present crisis. I don’t think we will replicate the couple of brainfarts that gifted Wolves a couple of goals, but, there again, yer never know!”
“Im sick of hearing about our players being tierd because they have just played a gamr,poor little things ! They are top proffesional footballers who get the very best pre and post medical treatment. The more they are told they are tired the more they believe it.”
“I think we will smash them tbh . We will have one big point to prove and dismantle them with ease”
“That was a fine display. At the end of the day we were lucky to get a point, Shef United were a well worked machine with so much discipline”
“lets be honest, we got away with a point. In a nutshell we were pretty crap Take it and be grateful”
“Lucky overall, disappointing that we couldn’t get any moves together going forward, but it is hard to play against the relentless pressing of United.”
“Not the prettiest of performances but a solid away draw with a goal from open play.”
“Very poor up front and it is so flipping frustrating that so many players struggle with the basics. Nevertheless that is a great point against a team in form.”
“Before that kicked off, a point would of been a decent return. We got that, but rode our luck in large periods of the game. Sheff Utd are no mugs – and they play decent football.”
“They’re a good side to watch”
“I think credit to Sheffield , they look alright, so drawing with them while a shame is fair enough”
“The biggest compliment I can give Sheffield United is that I am absolutrly delighted we didn’t lose to them in either league game. They play an attacking brand of football under a great manager in a brilliant atmosphere. Slightly jealous to be honest.”
“I noticed that when Sheff Utd players paseds the ball it went to one of their own players.”
“As points go, I think that’s better than any of the home draws we’ve managed so far this season. The time to beat Sheff Utd was the home match. Just a shame we actually took a chance for once, looked like we had them where we wanted them and then threw it away with possibly the laziest penalty you’ll ever see conceded. Hughes has looked good in recent games but completely dropped a bollock there. Stupid to assume their man would stop chasing once he’d won the first ball so comfortably. A complete brain fart.”
“An away point is decent enough, but my main concern is the same as after the Liverpool game. The opposition are irrelevant in our situation – we need points and today was a chance at 3. However, 1 is better than none of course. Biggest issue with today is our continued complete inability to do the basics with any sort of competence. If we have a throw-in deep in our own half, we struggle every time to make use of possession and just seem keen to get it to halfway and lose the ball. Keeping the ball isn’t important to them. And set-pieces…my god we are beyond awful at them. Free-kicks, corners, throws – just terrible at them all. Success rate is very very near zero from key positions.”
“we received some good luck. Not before time.”
“It wasn’t a great performance, but it’s very difficult to tell how much of that is us falling off, and how much of that is the way Sheffield Utd play and them forcing us into looking worse than the past couple of performances. What I do find funny, particularly in hindsight, is all the Sheff fans crying their tears about Deeney’s pre-match comments on their playing style: “Guess he hasn’t watched us in years”/’How dare he, we play decent football” etc etc. If that was ‘decent football’ by Sheffield standards, it’s even grimmer than I thought.”
“Amusing how often their 6 ft 2 Championship cloggers fell like dandelions in a breeze when our fancy dan winger was within 2 yards of them.”
“We were awful. Sheffield Utd were awful. The game was awful.”
“We were shit but their tactics are to hoof it to the channels, win second balls and then sling crosses into the box. There’s nothing pretty about either team”
“They got lucky, never hurt us all afternoon and that’s the worse we’ve played all season. Fact”
“Sheffield United are surely the surprise package this season and are sitting pretty in 5th place with 28 points. We are sadly languishing at the bottom, 6 points from safety. Sheffield Utd will certainly be looking for the win, but should be wary after our last two games., During pre-season Chris Wilder actually infused all of his players with the finest Sheffield Steel. Think Wolverine but a bit more steely. This has largely been attributed as the cause of their rise up the table. Interestingly some players have also taken on other abilities similar to Wolverine. Most famously Billy Sharp can sprout Sheffield Steel butter knives out of his hands. It is for this reason he is called Butterine. This means he isn’t as dangerous as Wolverine, but is much more yourself at breakfast time to get the squads toast buttered quickly, freeing up more time for training.”
“Must win game. So important to show the MU result wasn’t a fluke. The impact for the rest of the season on morale and self-belief of another win vs a defeat can’t be underestimated. 2-0 to SU.”
“Boxing day is crucial; get another win and we’ll transform the season.”
“I’ve just looked at their recent results and they’ve had a remarkably easy December – Wolves, Newcastle, Norwich, Villa, Brighton and now us. Could they have been sweetly lulled into a false sense of security by this feast of mediocrity, ready to be rudely awakened by a fired-up Deeney’s incredible bulk pinballing around their back four? Probably not. A draw would be good.”
“The win against Man U simply has to be the catalyst of a good run with Sheffield United and Villa to come over the next few days. Both will be difficult but winnable and we need minimum four points but six would be mighty handy”
“Pearson is already making me eat my words and long may it last. He is squeezing every little bit out of the players. It’s like watching a different team for me. The disastrous appointment of OSF is really at the forefront now. Just hope the displays over the last four matches are here to stay because its shown what we’re really capable of with the right man in charge. Boxing day is going to be a massive fight but one I’m looking forward to. Let’s hope we start the way we have been and dig out another result”
“Since Nige has come in we look so much better. We are closing the ball quicker, battling so hard from front to back, tackles are crisper and more importantly the players are playing their normal game, move the ball around, go forward with crisp, quick passing. Capoue showed some great touches and skill today – he wasn’t doing that under QSF. That shows that Nige is giving them clear instructions and confidence to play not just hang back and try to defend. They look so different.”
“Didn’t we reach 4th after beating Liverpool in December 2015? Sheff Utds moment in the sun will come to an end and it starts on Boxing Day.”
“this is a game I expect us to get something from, or I hope we can. Sheff Utd are last season’s Wolves. Impressive, hard to beat and under a good leadership. Going there is not easy task, and I expect a battle. It will not be the same calibre we faced at Anfield but pretty hard to beat never the less. Anything we can get away from home will be a bonus, and nobody should be expecting us to up there and ease to a win. They will see us as an easy win, despite our recent good displays, and we have to make sure we don’t roll over and all the good work so far under Pearson is undone. I would take a draw here, especially with Villa coming up two days later.”
“Confident of another win providing Pearson refuses to let our players go out on the pop. I hope he has strict guidelines on drinking this Christmas and New Year. We are bottom and the players need to take this season seriously. No time for them to put their feet up. Any player that gets wasted Christmas should immediately be fined and dropped. Providing our players take is seriously then I actually think we will go there and thrash them 4-1. “
“Can’t see nothing but an away win. Let’s be honest we should have had two possibly three at home against the Blades. Remember we even had the negative Spanish kuk in charge. Honestly can’t remember if they even bothered Fozzie in goal because I was still furious at Grays miss.”
“We’re much better than 9 points from 17 games, but it is what it is. We have to prove we’re better than that, and do the talking on the pitch. I don’t think we’re as bad as the league table suggests. We’ve had some stinkers for sure, but in the main, we’ve been on the wrong side of fine margins. Yesterday that changed. Staying up is still a tall order. Things have to go our way from now until the end of the season. But the harder you work, the luckier you get. They have to have this desire and application in every match now. It’s easy to be up from United at home, but Sheff Utd away and Villa at home are just as crucial. We need 4 points from those two at least. We certainly cannot afford to lose to Villa.”
“We lost last week away to the World Club Champions, giving them only a handful of chances, and we missed more chances than Flamengo created. Then on Sunday, we deserved to win, against a team full of top internationals none of whom actually managed to get the better of ours. There is little doubt that we have the technical ability to be a mid table side. I certainly think our defence is good enough without more signings, and although we need a goalscorer, we may get by without buying in January. Our problem has all been about attitude, belief and confidence”
“Well we were warned by United fans on their message board. Pretty much every team they come up against has their ‘worst game of the season’. Fact is Sheffield United are so organised they manage to have players up front when they attack and near enough everyone back when they defend.”
“They made us poor. Started the game excellently, didn’t give us any room or any time on the ball, threatened themselves whilst we offered nothing, and then we simply never recovered. We were rattled. Someone quoted a post on their board saying ‘every team says they have their worst game against us’. You can see why today – and we did too. They made us poor and we had no answers. Also easy to see why they sat deep second half. They did their homework and knew we’re poor in the final third and struggle to create.”
“We were poor but I’d not take credit away from them either. Said before and I’ll say again fantastically well organised side who work so hard at what they do and deserved a win tbh.”
“Beginning of the season this would have targeted as three points, but as it stands Sheffield United are the fifth best team in England, no shame in losing to them.”
“United were full of energy and were non-stop pressing – and being clever by taking advantage of when they’d lured the players down their end to then launch really fast attacks. We couldn’t match them at all in the first half. It did feel a bit like they’d done a lot of research on us and knew the way to play.”
“Sheffield were a unit with a gameplan that I envy in a way. Such togetherness and understanding. I hope we can mix our style with their spirit and cohesion. Much-deserved victors.”
“I’m not sure they work harder or run more than the average PL team but their defensive organization is simply world class, maybe the best in Europe since no top teams play defensively these days. Combine it with the animals they have up front and they are a dirty challenge to anyone. When they take the lead they won’t lose unless you have a midfield with Individuals that can score from distance or challenge multiple players and win set pieces or cause uncomfortable movements in their defensive positions. And we don’t have that.”
“I’ve got a lot of time for Sheffield United, mainly because they’re not MASSIVE. But also, a decent manager who preseason was immediately dubbed by “pundits” as not good enough.”
“She’d U probably best promoted side in last 20 years, we weren’t at the races but sometimes you have to hold your hands up and say the other side are just better than you.”
“They were incredibly well organised and soaked it up all our pressure with ease. Rightly 5th for a reason and I’d say that 1-0 flattered us”.
“Even Liverpool struggled to break them down and only won by a late penalty. They deserve their 5th place in the league. Wilder has done a fantastic job with them.”
“Good team Sheff U. Did a number on us today.”
“One of the most hardest working teams I’ve seen never gave any of our players a moments peace”
“only 3 seasons ago there were a League One side now half way through this season they are above Spurs,Arsenal & Man Utd fair play”
” It was crystal clear that Utd already rocked a jelly suspension pimped up ride from hell, and thus were more PL ready than Boris’ oven ready (never a palatable option) brexit. Wilder is a wiley fox like manager, with a work ethic matched only by his manic charges. Indeed he made our own, our very own humble Potter look akin to that mis-guided fool of a farmer Bean, left turning to Bolger and Bean for tactical advice – alas; doomed from the start, of a stark and strangely familiar narrative. Blades for Europe? – I think we might be seeing a lesser miracle, in the age of the undoing of the ‘big six.'”
“Sheffield United: well played. You make it hard for the opposition. Deserved to win.”
“They fully deserved it and are not massive.”
“We lost to the better team”
“they were magnificent yesterday, and really ought to have won by more than the single goal.”
“very easy to see why they are 5th in the league, exceptional defending.”
“I was impressed by them, a really well organised, hardworking, decent football team. Far, far better than the two teams they came up with and well deserving of their position ensconced in the top half of the table.”
“Their work rate is incredible and if you don’t match them at that you are going to struggle. Thought they were exceptional first half lot more cynical and niggly second half. You can see why they are doing well”
“Credit to Sheffield Utd, they defended superbly, kept their shape throughout and worked hard not to give us any time on the ball in danger areas. They got what they deserved. The table doesn’t lie, they are a decent side although too many of our players had off days today.”
“They generally play decent football but can also scrap in Game in needed. Defensively solid and a threat going forward. They played well today and have all season today was not a fluke and should be given credit when it’s due”
“Every Blades player had a precise role and they carried it out to the letter. Allied with an always pass forwards philosophy. Absolutely no interest in being possession kings. Exemplified by McBurnie and McGoldrick making Dunk look like Michael Keane. If they keep this up, Europa League deservedly beckons.”
“They’re clearly miles better than us this season. Giants in mind and body in defence and organisation, supremely confident that they’re better than our likes, even Championship George Baldock played like Andy Robertson, whilst the two Mc’s made Dunk and Webster look slow paced donkeys.”
“I honestly believe we underestimated Sheff Utd today, and throughly got what we deserved absolutely nothing. Complacency was definitely there in abundance. They are fifth in the league for a reason, well organised. We had no answers to it!”
“Reminded me of THAT England vs Iceland game… they made us look poor and we were suckered into forgetting how we can pass.”
“Wilder did a job on us with the help of our team.”
“Chris Wilder is THE best English manager in the game. I’m excited to see what he does with a team of world class players, because he’s making a championship squad look brilliant.”
“It was a 1_0 thrashing. Beaten by a better team not better players”
“I was impressed by the work they did. But I do wonder whether they can carry on with that level all season. I personally think they will stay up – but I don’t think it will be the easy ride to safety/high spot in the league that they are currently predicting.”
“Credit to Sheff United – good hard working spirited team with limited natural talent, who made it extremely difficult for us.”
“They are very organised and cynical and can press or play on the break. Good side – but we chose today to have our biggest off day of the season”
“The angering thing is that they’re really not very good.”
“We were abysmal first half. Second half we lacked the guile to break down a massed Championship level defence.”
“feel drained after watching that. I’m not sure one single Sheffield United player would get in our team but they were one of the most organised gritty teams I’ve ever seen. They won every 50/50 and we could not work any space against them. I think they’ll do well this season but not sure they’d be able to keep it up for years at this level.”
“Credit to United but they played Championship style and tactics .”
“They reminded me of Wimbledon, lots of balls over the top and the most cynical team i have seen since we’ve been in the premier league. Its effective though so you cant blame them, completely knocked us out of our stride.”
“I’ve seen them a few times this season and every time they’ve turned the match into a slug which is understandable with the players they’ve got. They rightly get a lot of plaudits for how they are doing as they are getting the most out of a limited playing squad. They play effective football.”
“It’s not pretty to watch as they turn every match into a horrible battle but it is extremely effective. I can’t see them sustaining it for more than this season though.”
“Let’s not try and justify that performance by pretending SU are some World force in football. They all played teir roles well but we were shockingly sh*t”
“I didn’t think Sheff U were amazing – certainly not the fifth best team in the country- but they did a job on Potter and the boys.”
“Totally done by tinpot United. Depressing”
“Apart from their no 17 McGoldrick, who to me looked the best player on the pitch yesterday, we look to have a far better player base for becoming a top ten team than they do. Major upgrades needed obviously, but Potter has only been here five minutes, Wilder’s had three years to mould his team. I know which one I’d back over an equivalent term.”
“We were very poor. I don’t think they had to do much to win that game.”
“The fact that Chris Wilder can get results in the Premier League using the likes of Luke Freeman and David McGoldrick speaks very highly of him, but I just get the feeling that, when one or two teams work them out and give them a stuffing, others will quickly follow the example.”
“If it wasn’t for VAR, that could of been a lot worse. Plus Mcgoldrick is not a premier league striker, he is woeful.”
“Put McGoldrick in an attack-minded team, instead of one with eight defenders, and he might just flourish”
“They know how to feign injury to break up play…. Especially the guy in latter part of second half when we had gained a lot of momentum. Not sure if his name was Lazarus but he was dead one minute and then just got up and walked around as if nothing had happened. That bit was not good to watch and I think there were 3 other incidents like that.”
“I don’t think Sheffield United are a top 5 team, but with a very good manager in Chris Wilder I can understand why they are where they are. Good luck to them. Loudest away fans this season.”
“Their support was pretty amazing…. so loud”
“It was good, yeah, but you’d expect fans of any team with their away record to be pretty bouncing. They were quiet for quite long spells when we were pushing second half (albeit getting nowhere)”
“A quirky stat. All of Brighton’s previous 24 league meetings with Sheffield United have been in the second tier.”
“Whilst Sheffield Utd are doing well they seem to have had a easy time of fixtures can only remember them playing Liverpool & Utd at home”
“Oh come on, they have surpassed all expectations and done excellent so far, you can only do your best against what is in front of you, and that they have done and then some.”
“They drew away at Spurs, beat Arsenal and drew at Chelsea. As well as drawing with Utd and giving Liverpool a scare. Otherwise, great point”
“I think a oppo team are due a hefty beating from us, it’s been coming and I think it will be Sheff United or B’Muff.”
“I think Sheff Utd are a very good side and well drilled. That said, so are we, and this could be the game it all comes together”
“Just seen Fleck is out, that is great news for us, I’ve been so impressed by him whenever I’ve seen him this season”
“SheffU are unbeaten on the road for ELEVEN months, as of today. Remarkable.”
“Their unbeaten away record has to end sometime”
“Their unbeaten away record must come to an end and we are due a ‘perfect’ game.”
“Can’t see us being the first side to knock out Sheffield Utd”
“Hoping for a win but only Liverpool and Leicester have conceded fewer goals than Sheffield so expect this to be a tight game. Wouldn’t be unhappy with a draw from this one but just have a bad feeling about this one and am concerned that with United’s physical style we may struggle. Hope I’m wrong.”
“Think Stephens will be back as feel he will be more suited to the Sheffield utd physical game which I think will be their way of stopping us playing. They will be looking to keep their run going and certainly won’t be afraid of us just like they showed against liverpool”
“Have you actually watched Sheff Utd play this year? Warnock doesn’t manage them any more, they are the furthest thing from a physical team. They play free flowing, attractive football. It should be one the games of the season.”
“These are a very good side.”
“Funny isn’t it ?….. when the fixtures came out , I suppose most teams were looking at 3 points at home to Sheff U . I know I was !! … they have done amazingly well .”
“Really looking forward to the game Saturday, Potter v Wilder is an interesting one! Hopefully we can inflict their first away defeat! Sheff Utd have been almost unbelievably impressive this season!”
“the question does remain on how Potter tackles a possession based wing backs side similar to our own? My guess is that he’ll set-up exactly the same as them and rely on us having better players. “
“Tight game but potter had them beaten twice last year so hopefully that’ll carry on”
“Both games (and wins) over Sheffield last year was a struggle in first half and complete domination in the others. Their CBs dont overlap a lot if they dont have the ball…”
“walk in the park”
“Think this lot are massively overachieving.”
“I think this will be a very difficult match. Not seen Sheff United to know if they any good or not? My pre-season relegation tip with Watford and one other club.”
