BaldeRunner
Member
- Joined
- Aug 6, 2009
- Messages
- 136
- Reaction score
- 73
I understand the reaction to sink our head into our hands and bemoan some cruel luck again but there's all summer to do that if we need to. Now the league games are over the mists have cleared, the weekly pythagorean equations are meaningless and no other results matter. At least it is clear and the fans and the club have only two choices. We slope off muttering about footballing gods and fate being against us or we grow some and target Stevenage as Public Enemy No 1. They are what stands between us and a Wembley appearance that could make this one of the best seasons we have had in a long, long time. I am not going to pretend I am a football manager and spout tactics. Stevenage have already declared theirs as 'raw meat and razor blades'. That does suggest a response that calls for calm heads, professionalism, possession and passing. If we try to emulate then we will get bullied off the pitch. We have to rely on the United staff to get the tactics right for this one.
What else can we do?
1. Get the mentality right. This is Stevenage ffs not Barcelona. We have lost 1 in 12 games and finished nearly 20 points in front of them. Of course we can beat them. Defeatism is hanging in the air like some toxic smog at the moment. Get the players away from this - physically if needs be out of Sheffield. Get them away, get them focused, use a sports psychologist if needs be but ensure the team starts the next game mentally fresh and focused
2. Fill the Lane for the second leg. Give tickets away, sell them for a fiver, bloody well pay people to come if needs be but fill the ground and make it as intimidating as possible for the return fixture. This is something the club can control and try to frighten the bejeebers out of the Stevenage players when they come out of the tunnel
3. Market the match, big it up, have a media campaign, sound as if we mean it and that we want every single Blades supporter behind us. I understand DW's diffidence in his interviews but it's all feeling very low key. If we go out in the play-offs I want it to be a blood & thunder exit not a shrug of the shoulders. The Stevenage manager is doing exactly this. We are a bigger club with a bigger fanbase, let's use that advantage. This game really matters and I want to hear the club appealing, pleading in fact demanding our support. It may be years before we have this opportunity again. We need a war cry not a whimper. Get some flag waving going like we have never done before and rally the supporters.
In other words, get off the back foot and on to the front foot. I want to see the Blades win at Wembley in my lifetime. I want to smile back at the Wednesday supporters and shove it back down their throats. We can't control everything but lets get pro-active about the things we can control. A big, big week for the club, let's get it right this time.
4.
What else can we do?
1. Get the mentality right. This is Stevenage ffs not Barcelona. We have lost 1 in 12 games and finished nearly 20 points in front of them. Of course we can beat them. Defeatism is hanging in the air like some toxic smog at the moment. Get the players away from this - physically if needs be out of Sheffield. Get them away, get them focused, use a sports psychologist if needs be but ensure the team starts the next game mentally fresh and focused
2. Fill the Lane for the second leg. Give tickets away, sell them for a fiver, bloody well pay people to come if needs be but fill the ground and make it as intimidating as possible for the return fixture. This is something the club can control and try to frighten the bejeebers out of the Stevenage players when they come out of the tunnel
3. Market the match, big it up, have a media campaign, sound as if we mean it and that we want every single Blades supporter behind us. I understand DW's diffidence in his interviews but it's all feeling very low key. If we go out in the play-offs I want it to be a blood & thunder exit not a shrug of the shoulders. The Stevenage manager is doing exactly this. We are a bigger club with a bigger fanbase, let's use that advantage. This game really matters and I want to hear the club appealing, pleading in fact demanding our support. It may be years before we have this opportunity again. We need a war cry not a whimper. Get some flag waving going like we have never done before and rally the supporters.
In other words, get off the back foot and on to the front foot. I want to see the Blades win at Wembley in my lifetime. I want to smile back at the Wednesday supporters and shove it back down their throats. We can't control everything but lets get pro-active about the things we can control. A big, big week for the club, let's get it right this time.
4.
