“Big game and must not lose. Have to play with both Gayle and Rodriguez up Gayle up top. One thing that is guaranteed is no clean sheet from ourselves. I can’t believe we only have 1 all season. We simply have to defend better
A win would take us 3rd and 2 points above sheff Utd. A draw would also take us 3rd . A defeat and if results go against us Saturday we could drop out top 6…”

“Big game this, 2 proper clubs and quite evenly matched on the pitch at the moment, so i’m going to boldly predict another draw. Hopefully we’ll have too much going forward and get a win to put some pressure on Norwich and Derby.”

“After the Brentford and villa games this has become almost a must win game.
Already 8 points off the top we could be 10-11 off it if we don’t win this one. Hopefully mozza HRK are back in contention”

“Not a “must win”..A real GOT TO! ….WIN. We are dropping down. DM must stop this decline. He has to drop his chums and go for victory.”

“Must-win for me if we are serious about finishing top 2, Leeds and Norwich don’t look like slipping up and we can’t afford to be 10 points behind them. Gayle needs to be through the middle, can’t believe it’s come to this but HRK is probably a better option than JRod on the right, hopefully Mozza is back in for Barry.”

“I agree we really do have to win if we are hoping to be in touch with the top 2 at the start of the new year.  But a draw would deny a rival 2 points, and they are pretty hot at home this season.”

“A draw seems the most obvious outcome but if we have a fully fit team and fire on all cylinders I think we could nick it.”

“I think we’ll be lucky to salvage a draw”

“Not confident at all for tomorrow.”

“Another away day struggle, against a confident team.”

“Defensively we are very poor”

“They’re a decent side. But push their defenders forward leaving gaps at the back to exploit.”

“this is a game where our ability to break using the flanks will be vital. Sheffield United play a back 3/5 where fairly uniquely the outside centre backs overlap. J-Rod will be used centrally to drop in and help the midfield with Barnes and another left high on the flanks. The game will be won in the wide positions: will their overloads lead to goals or will we be able to repel them and exploit the gaps they leave high and wide. For me, it is I.important that our two wide central midfielders, are extremely mobile and energetic. I’d have Phillips and maybe a youngster like Harper if he can be trusted enough to be diligent defensively.”

“Looking at the Blades results they don’t appear to have done so well against the sides at the top.”

“When looking at their squad there are no players we should really fear, but Wilder has done a brilliant job moulding a disciplined, organised team that wins games.”

“Got a good feeling about this one. Think we will keep a clean sheet too.”

“We have sold just over 1100 for this one. A lot of tickets sold the last couple of days.”

Sheffield United are next to descend on Reading for a top v bottom clash as their ascending star hits town to play Reading’s rapidly plummeting meteor. Expectation is that Sheffield will win fairly comfortably especially as it’s a home game on the telly and Reading just don’t really do very well in league games at home on the telly in recent years. However Reading’s overall form in play is very slowly on the turn into something better so if Reading get it right and Sheffield don’t there could be happy outcome for the beleaguered followers of the hoops. Sheffield United had a good start but, fortunately, it would appear that now is the best time of the season so far to play them as they have only recorded 2 wins from their last 8 games. However both of those wins were against currently struggling sides (Wigan and Brentford) while the 3 defeats they’ve suffered in the same run have all been against promotion contenders (Forest, Derby and Leeds). As ever Reading’s opponents are injury free while Reading’s injury list is still as bad as ever. So another hard game awaits then. Something that Reading will need to be on their mettle for otherwise it’ll all be rather disappointing again.”

“Think Sheffield United will come and do a job on us, they need to bounce back after their defeat to Leeds on Saturday. Can see it being 0-1 in a tight, dull game”

“Sheffield United can be quite inconsistent and I am confident we will get a point from this game.”

“Watched them a few times and they seem to start very intensely and then drop off as the game goes on . Need to keep them at bay in the first 20 and then I think we’ve a good chance of a result. Need to sit tight on Norwood and not let him dictate. Good manager there though, like what he has done with a bit especially talented side.”

“Sheffield have been powerhouses of wing play this season so we would be foolish to play with Wing Backs again.”

“they have not been very good as of late.”

“Ex royal Oliver Norwood is performing incredibly strongly across all measures looked at – he seems to have really clicked at Sheffield and is a big part of their form this season.”

” Would rather start with Meite in this one and bring him off if necessary. No way we could play McNulty and Loader against their defence from the start, they’d be eaten alive. Let Meite start and beat them up a bit, hopefully he can last for 60 minutes then bring McNulty or Loader on to run at them.”

“I think there’s a disproportionate amount of “doom and gloom” around the place at the minute. We’re not doing as badly as some are making out. I know we’re in a relegation scrap but considering the huge injury list, most games we are putting up a decent fight”

“Bolton and Sheffield Wednesday were both shi.t Considering they both beat us what are we? On those occasions an abomination now improving. But that’s the point. The division is shit.”

“The bottom 10 are for sure, some of the sides nearer the top have a bit of class. Derby, Sheffield United and Leeds (regrettably) are good to watch. Sheffield United should give us a footballing lesson this weekend, it is a must win game for them.”

“Prediction: New guy is lined up, he is spotted in the stands on Saturday watching the game. The players know that and put in the performance of a season, beating Sheffield United 3-0. Howe runs on to the pitch to celebrate, closely followed by the new manager”

“4 of the 5 longest serving Championship managers – Johnson (Bristol City), Harris (Millwall), Wilder (Sheff Utd) and Warne (Rotherham) – all featured for their clubs as players too. Appointing Murty or Parkinson might be a risk, but that stat shows a good trend.”

“I always thought the Sheff Weds manager looks like a Bond villain.”

“Have a bad feeling we’ll have another West Brom type result here. The constant disruption to our defence due to injuries is starting to have an effect on the whole team, we’ve got away with it the last couple of games because teams have just sat back but Sheff U will be a different beast.This is the Championship though so I wouldn’t be surprised if it ends 0-0.”

“We are going to have to up ourselves game here, from what I saw against Bristol & Reading we could easily have another WBA type result here. What odds Billy Sharpe scoring ?”

“Think we will lose. Billy Sharp absolutely guaranteed to score of course.”

“Big step up needed from the 2 home games (Could easely have been 2 points instead of six – player sent off/missed pen) to get anything from this game.”

“I can see us getting beaten convincingly here. We never do too well against Sheff Utd and we’re not playing great at the moment. Hopefully them coming out and attacking more that Reading/Bristol did should leave a few more openings.”

“this one will be a much tougher proposition than the last 2 home games. Still, with Pontus back at the heart of our defence, Saiz back in the starting line-up and Alioski warming the sub’s bench, we have a chance. I’d take a point right now, though!”

“think Sheff U will have to much for us, I’ll take a point now, but we’re due a win in a big game”

“A tester in view of the state of the squad – hopefully we can hold out at the back”

“We are not good enough on the counter at the moment, that showed the other night. If we play like we have of late Sheff utd will rip us to shreds. Let’s see if we can get the derby game mentality too as it always seems to be non existent..”

“We have more midfielders in defence than defenders and Sheff United use their CBs as attacking midfielders. Calling it now. 0-0”

“Must admit the overlapping centre backs is a pretty revolutionary idea. Watched Sheffield United a few times this season and when it works it’s really dangerous. Think we can catch them on the break though.”

“What the hell is an overlapping centre back?!!! I wasn’t aware that Sheff Utd were so tactically astute/different. They do score a lot and seem fit as a fiddle. Played us off the park at ER last season.”

“Brilliant to watch when it works. Leaves you slightly open for a counter I feel but it’s tactically a brilliant idea. Hoping it doesn’t rip us on Saturday!”

“Would be happy with a point, I think they play really good football and will be fired up for this one, we typically don’t play well either on the 12:30 Kick Off”

“we never play well against these. a draw would be superb”

“Overall home & away Sheffield United against us have won 28, drawn 23 & lost 29. This is anyone’s to call.”

“Sheff United will be a massive game sat, despite them being 4th I’d say they’re the weakest of the current top 6”

“We’re gonna bat Sheff Utd off the park on Saturday. Will be a Norwich/Derby away type performance”

“Sides only have 35 % of possession on ave vs leeds so they might not be seeing much of the ball”

“57 games and counting since we last had a penalty”

“Weirdly Sheff Utd are the team that claimed the previous longest run without a penalty of 50 games in 1991/1992. I imagine there must be others from England but I can’t find any examples. Galway United in Ireland went 72 games without a penalty so that’s the one to beat!

“SUtd go forward with a lot of width and we’re going to need our two wide attackers to have a lot of mobility, both to track back defensively and also to exploit space left behind them. It’s unfortunate that we’re almost without choices in those positions.”

“Got to look at the opposition. Sheffield play an open attacking game but are vulnerable under pressure, very different to yesterday and the dour counter attacking Pulis game. This should suit us better in many ways. “

“United play with a central back three and two wing backs, could be tough breaking them down. Creating opportunites on the ground more than aerial is best. Same as Boro, in a way, but United will have three CB’s over 6 foot and not two……”

“Sheff Utd are a well-rounded team these days and will present more of a threat than Boro whilst being no pushovers all over the pitch or at the back.
Big win if we manage it. “

“We will beat Sheffield United, they were cack against Rotherham.”

“I’m confident that our winning ways will restart on tuesday, now that we have more selection options.”

“We’re not that far off, we just need something to go our way for once, give everyone a lift. Hopefully that will come tomorrow night…”

“The fact we had more shots on target than any other championship side at the weekend points to us creating chances.”

“we have one win in 12 and are not getting better as the games go by. The trend is pointing downwards rather than up. ”

“Nothing other then 3 points tomorrow is acceptable. As 1 win in 6 is bad enough, 1 in 7 is Leroy/Butcheresque.”

“most of us would like to stay in the championship……sometimes alarm bells have to be rung as our last 11 games have seen us dropping like a proper heavy fkin stone…..another 11 consecutive games like this and we will be bottom 3…..can you guarantee we wont be in that position end of january with players sold to the higest bidder to cope with too ???”

“Not at all confident in any team currently available.”

 

 

“We don’t have a great record against the Blades and they’re in great form at the moment but you never know.
We’re lacking in the talent that the other teams have but we use a system that makes us hard to beat and even when we fall behind we stay in games and try and pinch something late on.
This games on Sky, if you’re going to watch it don’t expect a classic. It’ll probably be like a chess match with them probing ways to break us down and us trying to snatch something on the counter attack.”

“It will not be a classic but we’ll give 100% as usual & the Blades will know they’ve been in a game.”

“I’ve a feeling we will not so much be deliberately parking the bus, more not been able to get out of our own half.
That’s been the case in a lot of our games this season, but we hang in there and often pinch it late on.”

“We have a worse record against them than against the pigsters. I think we may lose but would take a point now.”

“Sheff U are a proper side at this level. No big time Charlies but solid players. Win more than they lose.”

“Picking up their defenders as they come into midfield and beyond is the key. If we can do that and keep our width we could get a good result.”

“The worst thing we can do is sit back. They play a similar style to us, but clearly have more quality.
I want to see us get straight at them and play with a bit of verve and aggression like we did against Derby and Stoke. It’s important not to lose, but a win would be magic.”

“They play nothing like us shef u are a pressing team who focus on frontal players like billy sharpe and the supporting midfielders where we are a counter attack team who focus on midfield to boost our defence and offence. If anything shef u are more like Blackburn. ’m gonna go 1-0 to us purely because I think we will chip away at their fitness for 70 mins and brake them in last 20 mins”

“Tough fixture this but as we all know our team are very good at home and dont give in until the whistles gone.
I worry about he midfield they have and Sharpey reminds me of Robbo always in the right place at the right time.”

“must admit though we’re going to need to play really well to compete.
Saw them on sky and they look a very good footballing team.”

“Will it be the coldest match so far in the way of temperature? Could be quite tasty on the pitch though.
I was listening to someone saying that the three centre halves they play like to go up into midfield and beyond. This will either over run us in the middle or leave them open at the back.”

“I fancy us against anybody at home”

“The Blades are a good side and unlike some others who have come to the NYS they won’t think they just have to turn up to win. That’s not how they play and it’s not how Wilder operates. They are strong favourites to win and rightly so. But we’ve lost one in eight and we’ve shown that we are quite capable of pulling off surprises. There is no pressure on us. It should be a belter of a game.”

“I watched the sheffield derby wow what a boring game. The piggies were awful and I would be happy to play them every week, and the blunts had no idea how to break down a defensive team and created very little in terms of clear chances.”

“I’m half tempted to throw Wood if only because the Blades ex Shrewsbury keeper Henderson would have nightmares if he saw Wood coming forward for corners!”

“Spare a thought for Sheff U keeper Dean Henderson, who will be spending all week having nightmares about facing big Woody and our aerial bombardment again. Still fresh in his memory from Wembers. Think Woody must play against the blunts and get the ball on his nut for set pieces. ”

“We owe the Blades one after that Wood/McGuire penalty incident at the Lane which gave them an undeserved and very fortunate victory. “

“I personally can’t remember a classic game between the two sides, nothing really stands out.
The league 1 encounter at NYS in 2013/2014 stands out for me because it was the first time I’d seen us beat them in a league match. It is also the game which set our current highest attendance at NYS. Due to segregation it will probably remain the highest for, well, forever. Unless we ever expand the stadium.
It was part of the ‘deedar double’ that season, after we beat Wednesday in the league cup earlier in the season.
Anyway, they came here, spent most of the first half passing the ball around in their own 18 yard box to show us how superior they were. At some point they went forward and scored a goal. Clumsy Claude Davis was also very lucky not to have conceded at least one penalty.
We went in at half time a goal down having barely had a touch of the ball.
Legend has it that manager Steve Evans actually apologised to his players for getting his tactics all wrong, and sent them back out with some fire in their bellies and sure enough we were a different team in the second half, putting in a proper Rotherham United display of gritty determination coupled with a touch of class here and there. Kieren Agard, almost anonymous up to this point, smashed in an equaliser from somewhere up on Sheffield Road. Clumsy Claude almost gave away a stonewaller (again) at the other end, before we were awarded what I remember being a really soft penalty, one even I wouldn’t have given us, which was converted by Daniel Nardiello. Recent world cup hero Harry Maguire was in the Blades lineup that day too.
We didn’t know it at the time but we’d go on to win promotion that season at the first attempt while it would take Sheffield United, perennial promotion favourites and already with three seasons behind them at that level, another three years to get out of that league.”

“I remember with great fondnes our win in 81, also our win in 2013/4, i’d won a free ticket in a promo at work for the west stand, near the away fans, and getting abused roundly when coming out of the ground by the blades ‘fans’….got all the usual, toytown, sheffield postcode, small town in sheffield etc, i then asked what the score was and the response was epic!!! even had middle aged men wanting to climb the barriers!! quite funny i thought!!”

“No one can expect us to get anything from this game, we can have hope for sure but let’s face it they are a far better team that score goals and we are a poor team that can’t keep a clean sheet. So based on that we need to score 2 before it even starts”

“I fear this could be the biggest derby defeat in our history”

“If Billy Sharp can manage a hat trick against Wigan, imagine how many he’ll get on Friday. I don’t think I’ve ever dreaded a derby this much”

“We are going to get mullered on Friday unfortunately! Wilder has something neither of our last two managers have had an eye for a bargain and real passion” “If the pigs don’t beat us by four or more then it’s a bonus. Anything less than 4 will be like a lottery win. Poor blades they’re in an awkward position lol”

“All the pressure is on United. expected to lose by 3 or 4 goals on friday “

“They’ve never had a better opportunity to give us a good thrashing. It’s why they’ve been flooding onto this site and radio phone-ins over the last couple of weeks. If they don’t win by at 5 clear goals they’ll be bitterly disappointed. It’s a shame for them that November the 9th doesn’t fit as good into a song like Boxing Day does. Now there’s a thought. Maybe we should nick their own shitbutty song off them? The thing is to show them they’re not getting to you before, during and after the match. Showing them you’re not bothered will upset them a lot more than if you give a reaction to their prompt ”

“Expected to lose and nothing to lose, all the pressure is on the pigs”

“Although dont want to lose to United, if its a narrow defeat and a battling performance then fair enough no shame in that. But really, really fear it going to be a humiliation that we will never live down.”

“I just hope it’s not too painful for us”

“Would take a similar game and result to last season, which sadly shows where both clubs are currently at.
Don’t expect to get it though, defence is a shambles no clean sheet all season, midfield easily overrun and an overrated forward line. (We’re great in every other department though!)
Hoping for the best but expecting the worst.”

“The only way we will get a result is if they think they have won it before KO”

“That seemed to be the case last year at theirs. Can’t see them taking us as lightly this time and if anything we look worse now than we did going into that game.”

“Perhaps Wilder and that lot will get so amped up that they fall flat… Probably wishful thinking tbh. We are so poor at the moment that I can’t see anything but a very long night…which is bizarre considering how we were 6th literally weeks ago.”

“if united don’t win by at least 5 it’ll be a miracle. We’ll be lucky to get nil and I’d snap your hands off for a 2 nil defeat as it stands. They could turn up in slippers and smoking jackets, brandy in one hand and still beat us. For some reason not one blade I’ve spoken to agrees and they are as nervous as me it seems. Weird bunch, after all, they’ve spent the last season and a bit telling us daily that they’re better than us. Wish they’d make their minds up.”

“We’re so bad that we have to resort to court cases that happened years ago, years in the league below that were over 18months ago and the fact were a bit older than them which so clearly proves our underlying superiority.    I bet all this will hit em hard despite walking over us on Friday.Oh and one more point. I’d rather have mcsue and the Poundland Prince running our club properly instead of the million dollar baby we have in charge of ours running it into the depths of oblivion “

“Even the pigs keeper is confident enough to stick his neck out on social media. Hope it comes back to bite him but I can’t see it”

“If we win – treat it like the world cup final and rub it in every pigs face like it’s the only thing that matters.If we lose – act completely indifferent as if it is the most irrelevant thing to happen since the announcement of the royal’s tour of Australia.“

“Win – win for us. They should win handsomely. Anything less would be a dissapointment for them. If we get hammerred then what with the last 4 results Jos would have to go. ?And then ofcourse, we might just bounce back after the Norwich debacle.”

“They don’t seem very confident. Pretty much all of them I have spoken to have said that anything can happen in a Derby. One thing I do agree with them though…. If Utd take an early lead our helps will drop and that could be bad news.”

“Most I speak to prefer being the underdog in this game, and being the favourite doesn’t suit them and might not suit the team either. Putting that aside CW will have them pumped up for it, something which I can’t see Jos doing unfortunately and that might see them through. CW clearly wants to win this, possibly more than any other, evidenced by changing stuff like the walk out music last year.  Dreading it, these games are never fun”

“They were particularly impressed with the world cup final celebrations with the draw in January .They have the FEAR, and yet in paper the odds are MASSIVELY in their favour. “

“Imagine if we win by any scoreline. There team of all conquering super men being beaten by our shower of s**t. Derby matches are funny games and anything can happen. Do i think they will win? Yes! but anything can happen. They are Sheffield United not 1970s Ajax.  If our team cant turn up for derby day they never will. The pressure is all on them and just like last season at there place it galvanised us and we got a point in difficult circumstances.”

“They’ll fall away like last year – they still don’t have the quality in depth to do it all season, not a chance. Plus they still have an aging donkey couple of centre forwards – it’ll all come crashing down after Nov/Dec again when they’ve been sussed”

“Yes we’ll probably lose. But the mood amongst Wednesdayites on here is reyt embarrassing. Let’s get behind the lads and show some positivity for two days at least. We can go back to moaning on Saturday. But come on, we’re older, bigger and BETTER than them. We’re running scared of Sheffield United ffs.”

“Horrid weather for Fri night. Wind, heavy rain. Makes it a lottery. Will favour their more agricultural style over our sophisticated Holland-1974 football.  Say it quickly; keep a straight face”

“If we turn these c**ts over it will be better than the Tudguy double IMO. Those DRAWB bastards are starting to think they’re fucking Barca.”

“us pipping them to promotion when they were however many points clear in 2012 was marvellous. And then for them to lose in the play-offs, outstanding times. They can bang on about beating us 4-2 and the ‘bouncing day massacre’ (so cringe), but that season will go down in Sheffield history.”

“We always seem to win the significant games between us. Boxing day 79, fa cup semi final and in our promotion season in 2012. Whatever happens in this game it doesn’t shape the future of either club although it will not doubt go on their honours board.”

“More worried that after this season Utd will have had 13 from last 19 seasons.  Our city dominance of the 80s and 90s and lengthy spells throughout time has been surrendered. Thanks to all the pretenders in charge that have aided in this.”

“The hatred on their forum is embarrassing compared to the stuff posted on owlstalk.”

“Imagine if we win Friday night and Jermaine Jackson & Garrido become Wednesday fans again”

“Utd somehow lost their last away match at Funtime Frankie’s Comedy Elect. That’s their only loss in the last 8 games. They haven’t failed to score in their last 7 matches. Utd haven’t scored more than 1 goal in a league match at Forest in their last 12 visits.
This league fixture was first played in 1893
Utd are nicknamed The Blades after their founder, safety razor legend King C. Gillette We put out a second string against Burton for a reason. Winning these matches are top of AK’s list. We are due a performance at home, the big crowds deserve one ”

“Should be a good game they proper go for it, can see it being a very open game”

“I think everyone is aware this will be a tough one.
Sheff Utd have a style that I think is unmatched in this league. Leeds perhaps try and play a similar way albeit in a different formation.
They play 3-5-2 but their CB’s often overlap and join in with attacks. So you can find yourself hemmed in under a lot of pressure.
Key is when you get the ball, you get it in behind quickly. When they have the ball, the DM’s need to be very efficient at blocking and picking pockets.
They do concede goals however, and if we can be resilient, we can do them. They are not unbeatable. It’s just vital that when they have their spells, we stay strong because we can punish them.”

“Can only see a blades win.”

“We’re gonna get another lesson in how not to play winning football.”

“Sheff Utd are in really good form at the moment and I feel that they will have too much for us”

“A point would still be a good return.”

“I never fancy us to beat these and looking at the last 11 encounters is there any wonder.
Still not sure how we beat them at home last season.
If we play well, retain some possession and don’t sit back, we could easily win. Can’t see it though.”

“Pressure will be on on Saturday, love to see a positive attacking game of football from Forest but sadly i fear most of the pressing and attacking will probably come from Sheffield. Hope I’m wrong”

“Really can’t see us beating shef u. They will tear us a new one I’m afraid”

“I expect us to be punished by the blunts if we carry on losing possession so easily.
Think we need to go back to basics as we’re struggling to string more than a couple of passes together.”

“Sheff Utd have a lot of mobility in their team.”

“Pantilimons confidence looks very low and with the blades 12th man (the WFCG crowd) on his back it does not bode well. A couple of clearances straight to touch or to an opposition player and they will be on him like a shot.”

“Can’t wait to play long ball, constantly foul them, get at least 3 yellows, and time waste for 60 minutes. Fuck off karanka, your football is shite”

“Interesting to see how Karanka deals with their back 3. It normally causes teams no end of problems. Also, Norwood’s possibly been the stand out midfielder in the league so far this season, he’ll run the game if we let him.”

“Gonna get smashed coz he will set up to stop them like against leeds even tho were home team.”

“Already on the back foot after Burton. They’ll dread playing at the CG again.”

“If we don’t take 3 points from this, what was the point of playing a shit XI on Tuesday?”

“People asking for Karanka to be sacked because we’ve lost a cup game. You ‘ll all be licking his arse again when we beat Sheffield united”

“if we beat those scumbags from Sheffield on Saturday then Burton will soon be forgotten as disappointing as it is”

“Play our first eleven and we’ll win, but we’re at home so the negative crowd will transpire to a loss, so that probably means a draw, which will mean we’re about 10th, which is promotion this season but last season was relegation.”

“A big performance here could really push us on tho. This may be the moment when we go from being Champ chancers to real Prem contenders. Sheff U are doing great, but they have only drawn 2 all season and are perfectly beatable.”

“Piece of p*** this one. Easier than you might think. They aren’t scared of us so will come to play, which will allow us to play as well.
Forest to bring Sheffield’s run to a dramatic and sudden halt with a convincing 2-0 victory that has us all purring and wondering what all the fuss was about.”

“Got to be beating teams like this at home”

“”Teams like this”? They’re top of the league!”

“They’re crap, they have Billy Sharp up front FFS”

“I see Billy Sharp has been chelping about how confident they are going into this game.
Hope we fucking smash them.
A bit of a grudge match for me this is, I really want to see 100% from the players. Any bollocks on Saturday and it won’t just be Barry throwing rotten tomatoes.”

“Sheff Utd fans wanted rid of Sharp at the start of the season.
Reality is, we’re all fucking idiots aren’t we”

“I liked him when he was here.gave his all in a difficult time in his life.. “

“This year round I’d like to see some more intelligent “scab” jibes from their fans
Like, oh I dunno – “Forest pay their players by SCAB Transfer””

“Smash the piggy bastards, do it for Desmond Sinclair Walker!”

“Got a young team who are struggling to cope with the pressure of bigger grounds and more intimidating atmospheres, not helped by a manager setting them up to park the bus and treat a draw like a win inviting pressure on and off the pitch. Plus injuries are killing us, wiping out all our pace which made us so dangerous on the break, not helped by the manager refusing to play the quickest attacker we still have available. Finally we also have a small cluster of players who are simply not good enough at this level but are seeing gametime due to injuries (Vaughan, Connolly etc). Think that covers it.
I’m right behind the manager and players but with Sheff Utd and Boro next I’m extremely worried. The last three performances away from home have been as bad as I’ve seen us over the last few years.”

“We go into home games trying to win, when we go away it’s like damage limitation and you can’t go into a fight afraid to throw a punch and expect to win in. Fortune favours the brave and away from home we’ve quite frankly been very cowardly.”

“We are six points behind leeds and eleven points from rock bottom but play Sheffield this weekend. Another loss would shift the balance and start to draw us into a relegation battle.”

“I don`t get our inconsistency and why we lump it forward with no support for the knock down
Play like that at Sheffield and we could be in for a thumping”

“I can accept a defeat.
I can accept two, three defeats on the bounce.
I can accept a poor performance.
I can accept experimentation.
But I cannot accept the way we are rolling over and abandoning our successful passing and pressing game principles away from home. Half a dozen games of this **** and no signs Cook is learning from his mistakes.”

“I don’t think he knows what to do to fix it does Cook. He seems to have run out of ideas away from home and has resorted to basically parking the bus in an attempt to steal a draw from somewhere to break the losing streak and hope that it brings confidence, momentum to the players. Only problem is the players have no belief in themselves”

“Reality check. Little old Wigan, punching above our weight.
Yes, we have played shyte in most away games so far but I am still predicting mid table finish.”

“Are we really that bad or are some folk going over the top with criticism of the club/manager and his selection of certain players .
After all we arnt doing that badly surely when you take into account what happened last time we was in this league I mean after 14 games we had a grand total of ten points and had not got a win away from home not much difference there chaps our home form a couple of years ago wasn’t much better after 14 games we had 2 wins and 2 draws plus three defeats with in many posters views at the time and indeed some are saying the same now not championship players .
All in all we are doing fine people must remember that away form in this league ain’t like league one you just can’t go gung ho all the time have patience we have the right man this time for the job in hand and hopefully when injuries clear up a more than adequate team to finish comfortably mid table/ top half judging on teams played so far”

“Not bad at all. Infact, very good for a team that hasn’t been at this level (literally or figuratively), for a number of years. My only criticism is that I know how good we can be and I would like to see us play to what I perceive as our strengths. I also have nasty memories of what a defensive approach can lead to in this league and defeats can stack up very quickly.”

“We’ve already shown this season we can compete when we apply ourselves. The issue is we aren’t applying ourselves properly away from home. If we wouldn’t have been so negative away from home and maybe had a touch more luck with dodgy refs we could easily have another 5 or 6 points that would have us floating around the automatic places. If anything I’d say we’ve not got as many points as we probably should have.”

“Well done Wigan, agree to buy the player which means he will never play for them again but agree to Sheffield Utd’s request to make him non eligible for Saturdays game.
Who does the contracts at Wigan ? Ray Charles ??”

“Sheffield Utd allowed Leonard to play, but not Evans. Therefore not our decision. It’s pretty obvious Sheff U see us as more of a threat that Millwall, so take it as a compliment.”

“Sheffield Utd see us as more of a threat than Millwall”.. thats got to be about the most bellend remark anyone’s said on here for a good while.”

“sheff utd will tonk us on Tuesday. they were only promoted the season before last and are looking good.and then you have blackburn , wigan and Brentford who only came up last season, and all 3 are doing well in the league. I don’t think any of these teams have spent anywhere near what we have spent.we have too many individual players and we don’t play as a team.and as for bringing crouch and adam on ,surely we have better players on the bench than these.”

“I’m thinking they see us a an opportunity to get three points.”

“I thought one point tops from the two games against Brum and Sheffield U. I’ve revised this to none and if Stoke then don’t get a result against Bristol. Tone could be the man to get GR the sack.”

“I think 17th is an EXACT reflection of the sort of side we are.”

“First good side we have played we need to focus and work hard stoke supporters appreciate both those things lets hang in there till Xmas then bring in some nice presents who can get us up!!”

“This is the Championship, anybody can beat anybody.
I wouldn’t be surprised if we beat them.”

“We look like a team set up to do more damage away from home tbh, we’ll probably win.”

“Yet we have only won one away and three at home and the one away win was an hillarious oggy”

“Should have trounced Wednesday and Rotherham though. I’ve been to 3 away this season and they’ve been the 3 best performances I’ve seen.”

“At times Birmingham had 11 men behind the ball making it incredibly difficult for us to create something.Can’t see that happening on Tuesday.”

“despite losing on Saturday we bossed the game for the most part, we are certainly in with a good chance on Tuesday if Rowett can lift the side.”

“We’re on the verge of being a good side.”

“We’ll win this one.”

“I think our performances have slowly improved though, since the Blackburn game. The pockets of cohesion are there and we just need to put it together for longer.”

“We have better players than other clubs, but they have better teams; there is a difference. We need a manager who can create a team.”

“they cost more and we’re paying them more. There’s a big difference between that and actually being better players.”

“we seem to become totally reliant on Tom Ince to create something as all McClean does is run up and down in straight lines. “

“Unless Hull can still be counted as Yorkshire our record against sides from over the border is poor this year and on the evidence of last year’s two performances we’ll need to be at our best.
I do however remember two or three great ‘turning point’ wins against the Blades in the not too distant past so, here’s hoping for another.
Defeat would begin a bit of a minor crisis”

“could really do with three points and a battling performance against a team that will come at us, hopefully it plays into our hands. Let’s make a statement”

“sheffield united play 3 at the back. We know one lone striker struggles against three defenders so there is no point persisting with 4231 v 343. Perfect opportunity to try summat else.”

“last year I personally thought that Sheff United were the best team we faced over both games. Seems like they’ve carried it on!”

“Who knows which Derby will turn up. I’d take a point.”

“Sheff Utd are in great form and will be full of confidence, so it looks like being our hardest game since we were outplayed by the DYS.
On our day we could win this one, but we’re too inconsistent to risk much money on the outcome.”

“We couldn’t have picked a worse time to face them they are on fire But we’re Derby anything can happen certainly have to up our game to get anything “

“Going into an international break on a winning or losing run does not automatically mean you come out of it the same way.
Also Derby are well known as breakers of opposition winning/losing streaks.”

“how often do teams go into an international break on fire and come out of it extinguished or vice versa? I think we will get something out of it”

“International break over….. Sheffield good run to come to an end.”

“How many of United’s side would you swap for ours?”

“A tough one but, I think the Rams will play well in front of Sky again”

“it’s Derby so we will probably win but I can’t see it given our inconsistency and their run of form”

“I’d like to see us match their formation in this one. Go three at the back… Man for man I think we have more skill and we will beat them.”

“We should play to our strengths and let them worry about our quality rather than switching formation to a back 3. If we play with a 3 at the back we will either have one less midfielder or one less attacking option, and playing in a back 3 is hard to adjust to. With the players we have got and our style of play I would say it wouldn’t work becuase what is the point of going down the wing and crossing with the wing backs a lot when we don’t have someone aerially dominant to win the headers.”

“If David McGoldrick serves us up a lesson in football I am going to have to go off sick for a week.”

“On paper this de-darby team ought to knock the breadcakes out of ’em. (Sheffield bants). “

“Did you know that, originally, it was Wendy who were the Blades? They adopted “The Owls” when they moved to the Owlerton district of Sheffield and the red half of steel city nicked the dropped Blades tag.”

“Ticket sales very slow again. Looks like a poor crowd against the top team.”