“I’m a huge fan of United’s manager Chris Wilder and for me he’s one of the most innovative but successful managers in the country today.
I’ve watched them most weeks and I’ve been impressed with how well they’ve transitioned to the top flight. Against similar level opposition they play on the front foot with a ball dominant style and a lot of positionless play where guys swap around regularly but they’re still very good defensively.
Hard to predict how they’ll set up because even though we’re a much better team we and they’ve given up possession to bigger teams so far, we don’t look comfortable trying to control games and have been there for the taking in every away game this year.
They’re a very poor quality side although Robinson, Stevens and Fleck are decent. Henderson’s an ok keeper but he’s got a clanger in him. Also Lundstram is a FPL god.”

“This is going to be really tricky. Has banana skin written all over it.”

“They were surprisingly good against Liverpool, pressed really well, don’t expect an easy game, especially with the way we play atm.”

“Sheffield United has only conceded 7 goals in the league so far. Second lowest in the league. It will be a tough nut to crack.”

“Particularly with how little we create”

“This will be a very tough game – defensively they are very strong, and it will be a great atmosphere up there under the lights.
would settle for a 1-1.”

“Hard to be confident for this. They are a really well organised side and will deffo raise their game for us. Liverpool only won there because of a terrible mistake from the Keeper.”

“They’ll ruin us.”

“not confident whatsoever”

“Has Home win written all over it. Newly promoted northern team at home. Our record against such isn’t that great. Hope I’m wrong obviously.”

“Not looking forward to this one. Monday night likely rain and they’ll run all day and night.
See us struggling to get into this and we won’t battle or control enough of it to win. Low point of the season coming up”

“Got a 1-0 loss written all over it”

“Don’t like the idea of playing this lot under the lights infront of a packed house. LOSS”

“Auba is my only hope. Sheffield Utd are pretty organised whenever i have seen them this season and doesn’t leak too many goals. Glad to see Luke Freeman in PL.”

“Only 4 days until I have to watch team with 9 players I really hate try to play football!”

“Let’s hope captain fannyfart isn’t playing as his wife has just given birth..”

“Amazing where we’re at with this team. Worried about playing Sheffield United. But, rightly so. And thats no disrespect to them. I guess I just expect so much more…”

“they don’t have much quality but they play with energy and the crowd has lots of passion. Doubt we win this away from home under the guidance of Unai Emery.”

“Think this will be a fairly routine win for us providing HB & KT play.
Too much quality and i suspect they will have a go against us which will work out well for us. Think everyone will see what a difference it actually makes to have first choice fullbacks playing. Think we can go on a really good run now “

“Routine win? Is this a server glitch from 2004?”

“I honestly can’t remember one time when we’ve played them in Sheffield and had an easy ride regardless of their form being good, bad or indifferent, similar to how Wimbledon often used to be a fly in our bowl of soup.”

“Emery probably nervous because he can’t set up as the underdog.”

“Ofc he can. Already forgot about Huddersfield Town at home last season? 8 defenders + Laca and Auba up front at home vs a relegation side.
Thankfully we managed to win 1-0 against the worst team in the prem by scoring a 83rd min bicycle kick on our 2nd and last attempt on target” “In days gone by we’d have beaten these easy but 2019 is a different scenario altogether (particularly with our lot) but I still go with a win for us.”

“They’re a somewhat ‘physical’ side, even so we now have some players more able to cope with that than those wenger snowflake pussies.”

Sheffield Utd are a newly promoted team.
We should be beating them by a big margin. Come the end of the season they’ll most likely be relegation fodder.
We have a good attack force…and that’s about it.”

“I’ll be very disappointed if we don’t win by at least 2 goals”

“Sheffield are decent and will raise their game, we’re **** away but with Auba we can score a goal or two.”

“Sheffield UNITED ffs. I’m picking people up on this, you’re not the only. Two teams in Sheffield so we should call them by their full name”

“Sheffield used to have quite a good footballing pedigree, Sheffield Wednesday were once considered a massive club and battled in the top flight of English football for much of their history, best known now as a sanctuary for ex-Watford players who can no longer perform effectively.
This week we play their less well known neighbours, Sheffield United, nicknamed the Blades. Quite a cool nickname that dates back to historical times when we used to make things in this country, less relevant now but a nice nod to the past. Can’t profess to have seen much of them but from what I can gather they have played some quite decent football whilst being solid and organised defensively when needed. They have also scored in each of their away games so far (alarm bells ring).
On the unofficial scale of must win games this is right up near the top for us, only games where you will actually be relegated there and then would be above this. If we are to survive this season it is games like this that we simply must win, I mean no offence to Sheffield United (I did that earlier) but we are now at the point where home games against non top 6, and especially newly promoted, sides need to be won, especially with Spurs away to follow.”

“If we can get first goal we might spark into life. Concede first and heads will drop though.”

“I watched Sheff U against Liverpool and they were very unlucky to lose that. Only a crazy mess up by their keeper denied at least a point.
There’s no way Watford would have stood up to Liverpool like United did. They have also won at Everton, a place we’ve never won in our history.
I would say we are actually the underdogs in this match. United are a better “team” by far. We have superior quality, but it means nothing if you’re not committed to the cause.”

“I watched their match against Liverpool and was very impressed by them. Have no doubt they will beat us comfortably.”

“Sheffield United lost 1-0 against Liverpool and their manager was digging out their players after the game and furious.
We lost 8-0 against Man City and the club showed more or less total apathy afterwards. Shows you a fair bit about the different mentalities of the clubs at the moment.”

“The big issue is, can the Blades get themselves motivated for such lowly opponents?”

“It should work in our favour, being underdogs for this one. Sheff Utd complacent thinking they just need to turn up.”

“Hard to see us getting anything. They will get a goal in the first 20 minutes due to some inexplicable act of defensive suicide and that will be it. We will lose by a margin if at least 3 goals.”

“Dear Sheffield United,
Would you like your 3 points gift wrapped or just as they come?
Regards,
Watford Football Club”

“I think this has potential to be a season defining game. Win and I think we’ll have the quality to stay up. Lose or draw and I think we’re ******.”

“Hate the term must win but this one is pretty close. Could be our season starts here and we desperately need it to happen”

“If we win we have a chance of staying up. If we lose this, we are as good as gone.”

“We are 4th (105 shots) in the league for most shots on goal this season. That must demonstrate there is still decent attacking flair in the team.
We are 9th in the table for ‘big chances missed’
Possession has not been an issue even though you can’t derive too much from that nowadays. Still better to have it than not.
I look at those core stats & ask myself is it just ordinarily bad luck that that round ball of leather is not touching the back of the onion bag. How can it be we have dropped off a cliff so convincingly?”

“I think we have the better players, but they will be high on confidence, organised and work their socks off. Some more poor defending will cost us, and we will struggle to create chances against them.”

“Sheff Utd are everything we are not. A squad of limited players, who play with a purpose and a game-plan they are able to execute consistently.
They’ll batter us. I’m certain of it.”

“They’re young goalkeeper has been in the headlines for all the wrong reasons this week, we have to start fast and get the first goal. If we do I think we might have a comfortable 3-0 win. Deulofeu getting off the mark as it’s a mediocre team like this he would normally shine against.
However the mess we’re in and low in confidence has me extremely worried. Sheffield are the extreme opposite going to the Vic with nothing to lose, and most probably go home with all 3 points and the young goalkeeper picking up the motm award.”

“Ideally we’d shoot at Henderson as much as possible to test him. Unfortunately with our attackers we may have lots of shots but the only danger will be to the crowd”

“Sheffield United have played well so far and far better than anyone anticipated but I fully expect them to burn out and be down there at the bottom come the season so 3 points from this is a must. We have more individual quality but Sheffield United have players that know their responsibilities and have a compact and solid 5-3-2 which Liverpool struggled to break down at the weekend. They are narrow and have 2 holding midfielders which makes it hard to play between the lines so I think we would be best off attacking them down the wings, therefore I would like to see us play Sarr on the right and Deulofeu on the left.”

“Prediction
Watford 2-3 Sheffield United
Sharp (og 23, og 72); Sharp (85, 88, 90+6)”

“Whatever happens, it’s always a laugh taking the piss out of Paddy Kenny in the Sheff Utd goal. I’ll look forward to that at least.”

“As long as we can nullify Tony Agana and Brian Deane we should be fine.”

“We are due a shock defeat. We are also due to thump a team at Anfield. Could this be one of those?”

“Nothing suggests to me that we are due a defeat. Every team in this league can beat anyone, if you don’t go into the game with the right attitude and commitment. There’s a very good reason why we are top and are on an excellent winning run…..it’s because we do show the right attitude and commitment!”

“this could be a tricky game ..s united are playing well .. and we would be a big scalp for them”

“tricky game”

“Will be a tough game, they are a decent outfit and played really well at Chelsea a few weeks ago.”

“They have had a good start to the season and would love to try to show what they can do. We have become a bit of a target as teams want to measure themselves against us. I expect this to be harder than we might imagine, and we will have to battle before the quality differential becomes apparent.”

“I’ve seen bits and bobs of them, they defend well as a unit and not afraid to attack aggressively when the opportunity presents itself. No star players really jumping out, but their GK (Henderson, on loan from united) is v good.”

“I think the key game to this game could be their ‘overlapping’ centre backs. They will leave space in behind for our full backs moving forward. I’m sure people will say the manager will come up with a different plan for this game but the quality is not in their side, despite their impressive start, to mastermind a new system just for this game. They will have to attack, the back line is not strong enough to hold us for 90 mins. McGoldrick and Robinson work hard and will have to be watched but I think our defensive players are more than up to the task.
It should be a comfortable win, as long as we don’t get complacent. Mane and Salah will see a lot of the ball and Firmino could cause havoc.
They will spring more surprises this season until teams come to terms with this new formation and style of play though”.

“Hope they don’t clam up against us and i don’t think they will,could be like the Norwich game we’re our quality just is far too much for them also nice we’ve rested most of out starting eleven.”

“It won’t be much like the Norwich. To their credit, Norwich came out with an intent to play and attack when they had the chance. Didn’t work against us, paid dividends against City. The Blades have been much more traditional, defence first (their 3-5-2 is almost more Italian style than English), force opponents out wide, and deal with the crosses that gives up. Like Norwich, they are sometimes going to press high, but Norwich wanted to play a wide game, Sheffield are a lot more narrow, a lot of longer balls hoping for one of the strike partnership to get a flick-on to the other. A lot more effective so far than it has been entertaining.”

“I don’t mind newly promoted clubs doing this. So far it’s working for them.
We’ll still hammer them.”

“The 3-5-2 is an interesting wrinkle, most of the ‘defend to survive’ promoted clubs are more likely to play a 4-5-1 trying to clog their entire defensive area with as many bodies as possible, and make every game tedious. Sheffield United choose a space to give up (midfield width) in order to have a little more sting.”

“I have watched their Chelsea and Everton matches. I would say their system worked against Chelsea, but did not against Everton, result notwithstanding. Everton seemed more aware of where the space was available, they were just dire at actually using it. Chelsea was more determined to batter through the middle I think. On the attack, Sheffield struggled to get much going against Everton (in part I think because they had a lead for over half the game, so were more cautious). Their scheme seems to rely on a flaring run from one of the two strikers, with long balls aimed wide, outside the 18 yard box and in the zone between the 18 and half line. The other striker shifts over and makes an interior run, one of the midfielders always runs into the space that striker vacates, and sometimes one of the other 3 mids makes a supporting run. That worked much more effectively against Chelsea than Everton, ironically.
I think they probably will, so it might be an interesting day for their wingbacks. TAA in particular might get some excellent chances for crosses from deep, because they defend the drives for crosses into the corner fairly vigorously, but a fullback perhaps 30 meters out in a wide position is basically standing where they are willing to let him stand. “

“Watched the Chelsea game. Great attitude and determination but little ability and no stars.
We should beat them with a disciplined approach”

“Their manager is a self confessed mardy Yorkshireman – I liked what I read last week. He was laying into them and Jagielka said, “Boss, this was a good result, we just beat Everton…” or something like that. Anyhow, there’s a bit more depth and insight to the manager than you might expect. They have thought it through and it’s a case of so far so good for them.
On our end what we’ve been showing as the team matures is an ability to win all sorts of games. If we play well we beat anybody. But it’s not always like that, and some days you have to find a way to win, and that’s what is helping us put up such strong challenges for the title of late. We are a team that doesn’t panic, and we also have the ability to work it out on the pitch. We have some clever players who, I expect, will do what they need to do to find the space they need out there.
As Arminius says, Sheffield United will be narrow and will pack the bodies in that way, when they are on the back foot, but they will try to hit the diagonal and get support up there for the hoped for secondary ball as it comes down.
We should have too much quality, but as ever, we have to earn the right to show it.”

“Poor Sheffield United.
It’s bad enough facing the European Champions, but the European Champions with 7 days rest.
Oh boy.”

“They’ve lost 3 consecutive games at home now.
Spirited team and got a fantastic result at Everton, but they don’t have a lot of quality.”

A win by at least a 2 goal margin, in what should be a fairly routine victory, with the Champion’s League tie coming up in mid week.”

“Should be a (rare!) clean sheet & hopefully comfortable enough victory to enable us to make some subs the last 30 mins.”

“I saw them play, switched off after 30 mins.”

“I actually keep forgetting they are in the PL. I am surprised every weekend when I are their name on the fixture list.”

“Their manager looks like every single person in “Kes” and the only two words he knows are “hard” and “graft””

“Lads should be rested, the front three will blast them away.”

“Proper not looking forward to the trip to Sheffield Utd not gonna lie”

“Who knows, this might be another Premier League scalp in their own backyard.”

“if we beat another premiership side will that be a sign that Ross’ tactics aren’t shite just are completely unsuited for when you are the better team?”

“A similar night to Burnley would be tremendous, can’t see it after Saturday.”

“Another win would be canny , then draw a top prem club at home” “I hope we lose… we do not need the distraction”

“I think we’ll take a canny few down for this.”

“A reckon it will be a decent turn out from us around 2k”

“Surely we will sell loads. If anyone hasn’t been there, get there.
It’s a great ground and a short hop, arrive early leave late.
Obviously one of my favourites. Take the place over.”

“old style ground with a good atmosphere especially night games..”

“I like Sheff Utd’s version of John Denver’s, Annie’s Song.”

“I’ll be flying down for me greasy chip butty about 3, apparently the Sheffield United fans sing a song about that. Me Cyril and Ernie usually sing about our hatred of magpies and crows.”

“Sheffield United always been a good away day”

“The Peter Reid ’95-’96 promotion season visit to Bramall Lane in April ’96, we had the ground rocking.
There sided ground as the John Ireland Stand had been demolished, SAFC fans in both top and lower tiers (5000 there). I took a Dutch friend to the match and he loved the atmosphere and match even though it ended 0-0.
We were in the bottom tier and on more then one occasion he was convinced the top tier was going to come crashing down on us, it was rocking that much.
S2 is always a great away day.
Really looking forward to this one.”

“Was at a match there. Warnock was the manager
Got in late, left early and got beat 2 nil. they also played the professionals tv series theme tune after they scored. Magic night..”

“One of the things I remember from way back was that 81-82 season – MOTD had Colchester United v The Blades as its main game at the old Layer Road- huge following of Blades fans there.”

“Proper old ground, one of my favourites.”

“The cricketers is a nice welcoming pub next to the away end.Last time I was there they were lobbing pint pots at us whilst we were walking to get on the coaches”

“Love sheff united… but there can be only one red & white striped team this match”

“in Sheffield on Wednesday, but not playing Wednesday as Wednesday play Tuesday although we were set to play Tuesday against Sheffield but Wednesday avoid Wednesday to play the Tuesday leaving Sheffield to play Wednesday”

“I was just checking the Sheffield United FC website to see if they had any details on the date for our match next month in the League Cup and I noticed tkts are on sale to Blades fans for the home game against the bin dippers, and they start at 30,000+ loyalty points
How the hell do blades fans manage to build up that amount of points?”

“You get 100 points for every time you watch when Saturday comes”

“Nice to see the Blades back at Goodison.I hope we smash them, but it’s good to have Sheffield United back in the top flight.”

“A mixed bag so far for them and its early doors yet, but ive got them down as 1 of the sides that might struggle this season, so a pretty straight forward home win for Marcos boys? Time for Everton!
We have yet to hit our stride this season, our form and the players are very much up and down, we could do with getting a little run together and whilst its still early doors, a win under the siren will certainly be very welcome.”

“Anything less than 3 points and I’ll be disappointed.  They are not good and we are home.”

“It’s important we win this game.”

“Confident on this one”

“Confident we’ll beat these.”

“Should be a straightforward win.”

“Depends if we go one up or one down If we go one up we should be beating this lot of relegation fodder by three! But if we go one down I can see another 90 min debacle because our heads will drop” “Past caring, tbh.
We’ll beat these, lose against City and then draw with Burnley away. Predictable crap.”

“5 games in and I could barely care tbh.”

“We’ll probably win but who’s arsed?”

“Let’s win this in despite of DCL”

“These have barely looked like scoring so far, we’ve got a good record at home.
Got a feeling it’ll be like the Watford game, score early and then do nothing much for the rest of the game”

“Similar to the scene from The Running Man where the old lady bets on Schwarzenegger’s character making the next kill, I don’t want to do this but I’m putting my money on utd rolling our soft underbelly over and tickling us until we done.
Only kidding, we will win but they better do it with some style to make up for some of the rest of the performances we have had to endure this season already.”

“If i was Chris Wilder, i would simply tell the players to get the ball up front and hustle for Corners and free kicks in our half. Chuck it in the box and you can get as many goals as you want.
I’m hoping we blow them away but think they will cause us a lot of problems playing basic direct football.”

“These set up well. Centre backs attack like wingers. Should win at home though.” “We should win, but it’s no gimme, I remember they went to Stamford Bridge and got a 2-2 from 2-0 down and also got a late point at Bournemouth.”

“Feel like Jags will do to us what he did in the derby a few years ago. If we don’t get the win here, could turn ugly for Marco.
Thankfully, it’s at home so >should< be fairly straightforward – as Chelsea thought against these too”

“They are a good team. Well drilled. No superstars, but all know their job, Shouldn’t take it lightly. Everything comes from the wing.”

“Be as tight as a nuns un.”

“Doesn’t formed next big thing at Everton lundstram play for them? My prediction, he plays a decent 6/10 game, and people lose their minds saying how they can’t believe we’ve let another superstar slip away.
We’ll win but nothing is easy at the moment.”

“A warm welcome home for Everton legend John Lundstram”

“Ollie Mcburnie hat trick incoming. We’ll win 5-3.”

“We will dominate them in possession , pint drinking and booooing
can only see one result ..
NIL NIL”

“I feel Sheffield United aren’t as bad as many people may expect, and can see us having a hard time of it on Saturday to be honest. That said, I predict… three-nil to Everton”

“They’ve had a decent enough start and certainly no whipping boys. Will be involved in the scrap but have a decent chance to stay up.”

“Tough game this. I’ve been really impressed by them.”

“a tough season is suddenly getting even tougher. Let’s hope the strikers start talking their chances”

“They’ll be looking at games like this as the sort of games they need to win to stay up. Will be a tough one.”

“Hoping we go and attack this game. They’re a good footballing side, this isn’t a Burnley away type game so I don’t think we need 3 at the back or packing the midfield.”

“One thing we must improve on this season is our record against newly promoted teams! Let’s start by taking this next match against Sheffield Utd with the same level of commitment as we played against Man U! Must go for the win!”

“I just hope we manage to put in a better performance than we did last time we played there in the EFL cup in 2014. We were atrocious that night.
Blades so far remind me of Hudds two years ago. They’ve got a good fighting spirit and they’ve kept their momentum going from the end of their promotion season. But they are a limited side in terms of quality.”

“Sheff U are a very limited side from what I’ve seen on MotD. Having momentum from last season is fine but will only carry them so far. Our high press and non-stop effort style will not suit them at all and as long as we turn up for the first half on the day it should be a comfortable win, even 0-3 perhaps.”

“They will look at our away record and feel that we are one of the poorer sides on the road and this is one where they will be pumped up with the crowd behind them to try and get points on the board and like Huddersfield two seasons ago use their good start to be the foundation to keep them up.”

“newly promoted sides seem to either bomb completely at the start of a season or have a good start followed by a steady decline, After promotion some teams seem to find an initial surge of adrenalin that can only be sustained for a short period before normality sets in.Sheffield United so far have made the best start of the three promoted clubs and sit one above Saints on 5 points after a win and two draws, but with due respect to the Blades they do not seem to have the firepower to keep this up, so it is Saints job to bring them back to the ground with a short sharp shock.That means keeping it tight at the back whilst taking our chances up front and controlling the game.The good news is that they are not prolific scorers and 2 of their 5 goals scored so far have been last minute equalisers so that should tell us something.”

“would be a huge 3 points if we can win at Sheffield Utd. Must be on the front foot as they have a good home defensive record. It will also be a physical game and we can expect little time on the ball. It’s the sort of test we need”

“Billy Sharp will inevitably score… and if he doesn’t, McGoldrick will!”

“I noticed David McGoaldrought was playing for Ireland, either him or Billy Sharp is bound to score against us”

“- Redmond still out
– Danso suspended
– Obafemi & Bertrand both training & in contention
– Djenepo sounds 50-50.”

“Fingers-crossed Adams does “an Abraham” and scores goals against defences he’s used to scoring against.”

“Went to Sheffield Utd away in ‘91 and Tiss n shearer won it 0-2. Very hostile outside the ground after towards saints fans wearing shirts. I didn’t as an 18yr old to avoid. Fans should think if this going to Skatesville. No colours on the street, no trouble”

“You can understand them being concerned about away fans infiltrating the home areas after ‘Coombsey’s Commandos’ assault on their Kop 40-something years ago!”

• 

“Be nice to get a 2nd win before the break. Especially with Wolves and Liverpool after. These are the ones we should be winning… Hopefully onwards and up! “

“Arguably the easiest match of the season. Absolute must win especially after the confidence booster today. Full week of rest too. Should be fine.”

“Yeah poor opposition no doubt. Will provide a different challenge as they will likely employ a very low block, so not a whole lot of spaces to run behind their defense.definitely a confidence builder and a game to be on the younger side with the starting XI. Perhaps give rudiger his first start if ready?

“I think a good gauge for the quality of the opposition is just to think how important a player our “beloved” willian would be for them. “

“They looked pretty good first three games. But yeah we should win.”

“Another 3 points”

“Our next 3 points come against Sheffield United”

“think the way teams sometimes set up with a blockade nowadays, the notion of easy games is changing “

“No such thing as an easy game for me……..they will come to sit back all day everyday at SB. We have injuries left and right, refs all fucked up and var is consistently fucking us over. Of course its a must win to boost ourselves with another win but nothing comes easy anymore. A win is massive considering the tough matches utd have in store, plus arsenal and spurs are bound to lose pts next weekend.”

“More and more teams going toe to toe with the big boys, apart from Palace and Newcastle i don’t think we will face many if any pure spoiler tactics all season.”

“Be a tough game too as they always look to switch the ball fast to create overloads out wide. “

“We need goals , a lot of goals and a clean sheet please”

“We need to win by at least 4 to make up the goal difference on United”

“Tammy certainly to continue his goal scoring exploit against Sheffield United. Who is with me on this”

“Another championship side for Abraham to statpad against!
If he is to prove himself to the doubters, then he needs to do it against Wolves the following week. That will be the true test, not scoring against championship sides like Norwich or Sheffield.”

“These are another championship side like Norwich”

“Tougher game than some might predict. Well drilled under their manager, playing expansive football with high tactical detail”
Sheffield United haven’t been bad defensively at all”

” If we don’t beat them there is a serious issue”

“Last season Sheffield United thumped Lampard’s Derby home and away. Chelsea are not Derby, it’s true, but I’m not convinced by Lampard’s tactical nous”

“We shouldn’t ever underestimate an opponent. So far, bouts of excellent play but that needs to be more consistent over the 90 minutes.”

“It’s Chelsea, anything can happen”

“Should play Alonso. He gives us extra height against a big Sheffield and we have few fit wingers.”

“On the day of this game, it will be 96 years and 328 days since Sheffield United kept an away clean sheet against Chelsea, a 0-0 draw in October 1922; the Blades have conceded in all 30 games since”

“Premier League Sheffield Utd lie in wait in the Carabao Cup on 27th August, a testing encounter certainly, based on the evidence of last season’s Championship and early PL fixtures. However, with almost every club in the competition deploying squad rotation, the only prediction from me is that parking* around Bramall Lane, much like facing Lewis Travis, will be tough and challenging!”

“listening to Mowbray on the radio it sounds like a number of players may well be rested for the Sheffield game so they are ready for West Brom.  Personally, I wouldn’t have a problem with that and it will be interesting to see if some of the fringe players can make more of their opportunity than they did against Oldham.”

“Do I care if we lose? Not really if it doesn’t impact on league performances.”

“I imagine not much stock will be put into this match and we will play fringe players”

“This mid week game in the city of Steel will be contested fiercely by our fringe players.Sheff Utd will make wholesale changes and i expect at least 8 by TM.”

“I would certainly play a strong side to see how we do against Prem opposition. Albeit most players are familiar from last season including their signings”

“Sheffield will ring the changes from their first 11 , so we won’t really be playing Prem opposition”

“Chris Wilder looking to field a good side, with Ravel Morrison expected to make his first start.”

“Interesting conundrum is the Sheffield United team selection. I think Mowbray said post match that Downing will have the night off, and that Brereton and Adarabioyo are unlikely to be fit. For me, Chapman, Armstrong and Rothwell all have to start, theres no point giving the former 20 minutes at the end, let him start a game. The 4th place in the attacking positions I would give to Gallagher, to try and get him a goal. Dack obviously did get one in the cup, and theres an argument to get him firing but I would have him on the bench.”

“I accept not all players are blessed with great skill and as such they as a minimum requirement have to put total effort in. but as Chris Wilder said on Saturday at Sheff Utd, he cant understand why it gets a round of applause when it is their minimum requirement. “

“Reading his comments you can see how Chris Wilder’s gotten Sheff Utd to where they are. A total winner’s mentality.”

“look at what Warnock did with Cardiff. Less money than what Mowbray has gone through yet got them up in his first season through his expertise for hauling teams to promotion. Wilder at Sheff Utd similar. Both succeeded in getting their clubs up within a couple of seasons on restricted budgets so it can clearly be done. I think Mowbray ties himself in knots with inconsistency in recruitment and selection, never really sure how to approach things from one game to the next.”

“I think that the signings of Tosin and Cunningham mean we are going to try and play the Sheffield United way.  Mowbray has commented about the way the play and how they progressed several times”

“at least we’ll have a chance to focus on the league when they beat us”

“Sheff U newly promoted to the Prem with a sprinkling of £10m men will show how far away from the promised land we really are”

“Sheff Utd didn’t look too shabby on Sunday so it won’t be a stroll.”

“Hard working team and theyll rely on that more than anything. Palace were pathetic though so its not a great barometer. We should win”

“I felt they made Palace look poor, which is more than we’ve managed in the past 2 seasons. This game will be a slog, make no mistake.”

“they are pretty solid and work as a team however if we perform anything like we did in the second half then our quality should get us the 3 points”

“Tough game but surely our quality should be too much for them.”

“Was really impressed by their performance against Palace. Didn’t give them a sniff and hounded Zaha out onto the periphery of the game. I expect them to try the same with Maddison.”

“Zaha is one of the easiest players to mark out of the game if the rest of Palace isn’t up to scratch, especially because he’s a winger – it was easy to mark him out as you did because of how shit the rest of the attack is. When they had Townsend on form and Batshuayi they had other threats which meant teams couldn’t focus on Zaha so much.”

“SUFC looked like a good solid team. It’s going to be difficult to beat these.”

“We won’t be able to break them down, ending in another frustrating damp squib of a game.”

“Blades play with two wing-backs so we’ll have to be careful with those two marauding forward, but, play like we did second-half on sunday, and they’ll have no choice to bring them back to defend.”

“Sheff U remind me of us in earlier days with 3 centre halfs and a largely English/British squad. The difference with us is we had a few top players like Muzzy and Emile and some bruising big defenders where there game is not as physical with centre halfs acting as wingers! Its a real interesting formation and way to play and thats supported by some bang average players hunting down the ball like their lives depended on it. In theory we should have more than enough know how and ability to win here and I reckon that games like Chelsea will sharpen us up and the errors of today (timing of key passes) will be less against these.”

“These are a good side, but they play their best football when O’Connell and Basham can get on the overlap and confuse the opposition with overloads. Us playing three forwards high up the pitch could completely nullify that – get Barnes and Ayoze high and then it leaves Ricardo and Chilwell to ensure the wing-backs are pinned back.”

“Their centre back O’Connell looks a good player and was instrumental in the build up to the goal as they get their centre backs overlapping. I wouldn’t be surprised if he got himself into England contention and a bigger/more established club comes calling if he keeps the performances up.”

“Sheffield Utd will be a physical team but more than beatable and we should be beating them without too many issues, we certainly have the quality on our day.”

“If we play as well as we can we will win. I don’t think that’s arrogant or overconfidence to say that. Sheffield United have started well and they’ll be difficult to beat but i’d be disappointed if we lose to a team with David McGoldrick and Billy Sharp up top. Defend well and I’d back us to break them down, i’d be less confident if we were playing them at home.”

“If you pooled our squad and theirs to make a combined XI, I think that every position would be filled by a Leicester player.  That said, this will still be a difficult game.  I would much rather play these around Christmas when the promotion euphoria and PL optimism has been knocked out of them.”

“Am actually slightly worried for this game. They play a similar formation to Wolves and they managed to out play us a fair bit”

“Sheff U wont play like Wolves did at the KP. They wont leave 9/10 behind the ball n take a point they will have a go”

“Sheffield Utd will be well up for this I imagine. They seemed to have a bit of a beef with us over the 2 cup games in 2017-18. They did extremely well to get promoted from a competitive league last season with fairly limited resources. Gonna be similar to a Burnley type game so we need a good start. Too often we go to these grounds and get sucker punched early on.”

“I like how Sheff Utd have gone about their business and I’d like to see them stay up, but on Saturday, we should be smashing them off the park.”

“Sheffield have looked solid at the back but without any real spark. They make mistakes so we need to press them from the first minute. High and hard press and we come away with a 3 or 4 goal victory.”

“I could see us having about 83% possession for this game, not including counter attacks.”

“if harvey plays i’d say 3 or 4 to us. if he don’t then we will labour to a 1-0 win i reckon. can’t see us conceding unless it’s a consolation cos we’ve switched off with the game already well and truly won.”

“The post match views from Palace fans suggests that SUFC are basically Cardiff 2.0. They battle hard and close teams down well but not much else quality.”

“the way Chrissy Wilder likes his teams to attack, we should get plenty of opportunities to break on them when they inevitably lose the ball. It should be a good game, I’ve got massive respect for Sheff Utd to be fair, Wilder seems a top bloke and I’m glad he’s managed to get a chance in the Prem. He’s put together the kind of team you’d love as fan base, much like Pearson did with us “

“Wilder is a better coach, absolutely love Nige but his strengths aren’t really tactical coaching. They both get the absolute best out of their players though, the comparisons to Cardiff that I’ve seen are a bit unfair because Sheff United play much better football.”

“I meant more in terms of team spirit, he’s a Sheffield United man he’s got a squad that plays for him and the club, with a Sheffield United lad as captain, the will to play for each other really shows like us under Nige and the title-winning season. You’re in terms of the football they play, that’s why I said we have t be very careful to start well and not get sucked into their game, I’ve got a feeling Bramall Lane will be a nasty place to go this year.”

“I am looking forward to seeing Sheff U – entertaining to watch and it seems they have adapted already to not having as much of the ball as in the Championship which I am a bit surprised about. With respect to Bournemouth and Palace I think this will be a tougher test as Wilder’s system could struggle against high-pressing sides (although to be fair it appears that most teams struggle against this). I think it will be a close but entertaining game. I hope Vardy gets a late winner just to see what his celebration looks like!!”

“they’re this years favourite underdog.”

“They didn’t look great against Bournemouth opening day. It was a terrible game but thought Bournemouth looked comfortable for the most part and just ended up paying the price for not finishing them off.They work hard though and they have the same sort of togetherness that seems so familiar….”

“Will be a tough game. Feelgood factor is well and truly there at Bramall Lane right now. Energy, hustle and bustle, closing down, and my heart sinks at the thought of Billy Sharp coming off the bench for them – he always scores against us. “

“Perfect first home game for SU, unless Wilf plays and is focussed, and Townsend gets his act together.”

“Wilder is a very strong tactician – and they play with ‘over lapping centre backs’ which overloads the defence, and overcomes traditional organised two banks of four.
May create space for us to counter – but will our makeshift defence and sometimes dodginess at full back get taken to the cleaners?”

“Overlapping centre back have a word. This lot will get murdered in the league. Our counter attack style should destroy them also. 8-2 Zaha hatrick”

“Roy will put a stop to this bollocks right away, him and Ray are probably pissing themselves laughing watching sheff united highlights as we speak!”

“Didn’t look like ‘bollocks’ vs Bournemouth, who are quite similar to us in terms of counter attacking with pace. Didn’t look like bollocks vs the whole of the championship either.”

“It’s an interesting tactic, but one you can get away with in the Championship. Would you want your Centre backs high up the pitch, with a midfield player left to mark Wilf, or even someone like Kane.
Last season they could get away with it in the Championship where they were one of the best teams. That’s not the case now.
But I’d bank on Wilder having plans to deal with a team like us.”

“Anyone that has a high pressing style that can pass accurately and quickly will shit all over them.
A lot of championship clubs play direct counter attacking styles which will suit Wilders tactics because I suspect a lot of them can’t pass well and there counter breaks down due to Wilders overload which a) congests the space on the wings which a lot of these clubs use to counter up and b) Championship players don’t have the accuracy and speed of passing to get around the congestion while still maintaining a flowing counter.

“The centre backs are out of position, but the wing backs tuck in and sorta take their place centrally, so it’s not as if they’re leaving themselves completely open. They did have the best defence in the championship last season after all.
Think Wilder might play a more traditional back 5 against the likes of Man City, but will fancy his usual tactics against teams like us.”

“Sounds like a stupid gimmick to me.”

“A ‘stupid gimmick’ doesn’t get a team promoted from league one to the Prem in 3 years whilst spending very little.”

“Wasn’t their promotion more about Leeds implosion?”

“Yes, that’s the only reason that they’re not in league one right now. Leeds bottling it.”

“Bournemouth matched up with them at the weekend and went 3-5-2 as well. Not sure Roy will stray from his 4-4-2. Will be interesting to see what we do.”

“Bournmouth in their last 5 games have 3 wins and 2 draws. 1 win in their last 7 at home.
Both sides ended up with 2 really good chances a piece. People are lauding the opening day performance by Sheff Uts but it was an almost identical team we put 5 past at the end of last season. If Bournemouth have improved then it will make it a decent test next weekend. If they haven’t then Sheff Utd really didn’t create much against what is a poor declining side.
Too early to know what position teams are in for this season but we should have confidence going into the game this weekend.”

“Go long to benteke with wilf and Townsend getting the second ball for a foot race. If they pack the middle then get wilf and Townsend away in the channels..
They won’t be committing centre backs for too long when they get hit on the break like that
Ugly ugly. Will suit the two james’s Perfectly as well as the front three who are perfect for long balls or space in the channels
Played right we are probably one of the best equipped teams in the league to counter it. Ugly ugly football though “

“The trouble is, for all his good points, Roy doesn’t seem to be a great one for adjusting his tactics based on who we are playing. We set up how we set up, and we play our game… regardless. Once again – it will remain to be seen if there is a change of tactics and any kind of plan B / fallback plan ready to adopt if we find that things aren’t going as we hoped… don’t hold your breath.”

“They’re a good side and quirky tactically, but we are very good on the road and by any measure have the better players. Should be a good game”

“They are new to the Premier League. We are an extremely effective away side and have seen off most of the top sides at their grounds. Not saying we will find it easy – far from it – but they will have done their homework on us and be a little nervous of our away capabilities. Let them worry about us”

“The reality is we are a clear level above Shef Utd when our first team is out. As per we’ve not got our first XI ready to play.
We’re weak in the full back positions and toothless up front.
If we hold a firm line at the back and take our chances we should be winning this. Our Midfield is lightyears ahead of theirs. Baring Wolves teams coming up usually have a bounce for a couple of weeks before they hit the reality of this league, let’s hope it’s worn off.”

“Interesting views on their message board. Stop Wilf, by man marking him, and we’re done. Completely ignoring our away form and tactics from the last couple of years.”

“Man mark wilf out of the game? They are going to do everything else with the only 2 players they have left?”

“I’m hating them already, looking at their forum.
‘One man team’
‘They’ll be shitting themselves’
‘Favourites for relegation’
‘The likes of Palace’
F**k me, they’ve got more mouth and less sense than those c*nts from Shithole-on-Sea.”

“It is a tricky one for us but if the team are as cocky about beating us as the fans I think they are in for a surprise. What they can succeed with in the Championship is quite different to the Premier League. Long may they be over confident.”

“I always liked Sheffield United much more than preening Wednesday but this pretentious bollocks system and their dismissal of little old palace is sodding asking for it.”

“Quite confident on this one..they will be up for it and will probably be too adventurous. We just need to chip away and catch them on the break”

“I’m very confident about this game,newly promoted team against the brilliant counter attacking Palace.
I can see Sheff utd getting a bloody nose with us getting a thumping win.”

“I think Wilder has still flown under the radar a bit in the football mainstream (despire his LMA award). Plenty see him as just another dinosaur like Warnock or Steve Bruce, despite him clearly being a very adventurous and astute modern tactician. Just because he’s old, English and gruff sounding. “

“Fair play to Wilder for sticking to his overlapping centre backs in the Prem. I’m telling you, the bloke is a managerial genius.
If he does well enough with the Blades in the Prem and Hodgson calls it a day, I’d love him at palace.”

“If he does well, it won’t be Palace he moves to. They are a bigger club than us.”

“I know we tend to over state ourselves sometimes but really do you think they are bigger? Interested to understand why?
Barring a couple of short stints in the top flight, they’ve spent most of the last 40 years in 2nd or 3rd flight but recently spent more down in the third tier.
Averaged 26k attendance last season, same as our capacity.
Genuinely interested in what your criteria is for a bigger club?
I’d say we’re at worst level in terms of size, but certainly not smaller.
Regardless unlikely a successful manager from a club their size would come to us if successful as there will be a bigger team looking at him if that situation arose”

“We’re a far bigger club than Sheff United in the criteria that’s most relevant: Money and squad quality. Keep in mind that they were in league one only 3 years ago, and it’s not a Bournemouth situation where there’s a billionaire bankrolling them.Wilder is Sheffield through and through, so if he keeps them up he definitely stays. But say they’re only just relegated and look quite decent on the way, I think we could tempt him here. If Hodgson wants to leave that is, I wouldn’t swap the two as things stand. “

“Billy Sharp always scores against us.”

“Time to put these cloth capped ferret shaggers back in their place.”