Squad reshape this summer

[RamsgateBlade]

Didn't this make you feel insecure though? Perhaps sitting alone in your room afterwards looking down at your own legs and feeling totally inadequate? In your darkest moments thinking "if only I had legs like Chris?" Trying but ultimately failing to find solace in a comforting mug of hot chocolate? Awaiting the dawning realisation that even if your legs were up to scratch that you couldn't possibly have hair as shiny as his...?

Yes. It's haunted me ever since. Why she went on to marry Beckham I'll never know.

 

[Red Wing Blade]

Cannon is so much like Brewster.
You just want to urge them on to be successful and justify their price tags, hoping and waiting patiently for them to suddenly turn into a real player.
They both show occasional flashes of skill, and do something really good, but it never lasts, they just seem to fade out for the next several games.
Overall, they both come across as exceedingly average players, without any outstanding attributes.
They just seem to kinda run around and take part without seriously affecting the game.
It’s just frustrating.

Last season Brewster scored nearly as many goals in one season for Derby than he did in his entire Blades career (albeit not a huge amount). Perhaps there's an argument for actually coaching players and utilising their best attributes in matches over an obsession with winning and forcing square pegs into round holes with "system" football.

How many players who Wilder has signed actually got better during their time at Sheffield United and were sold for a profit under his management? (Academy players not included). Sam McCallum is probably the only player I can think of who Wilder has signed recently who's actually shown signs of improvement.

Bristol City have had an amazing summer with the capture of Michael Skubala as their new manager, and some of the players that they've signed. I would bet my last pound that they finish above us this season. Even if they fail they will likely develop the players that they've signed and some may get sold on for substantial profits in the future. This is the model that we should be following, but we only sign loans and our squad is overloaded with a lot of bang average players who know one else wants who we're stuck with.

Cannon will probably be yet another player who will ends up leaving us and goes on to be a better player elsewhere.

 

[sufc323]

Cannon will follow the same pattern as Brewster. Overpaid for someone who wasn't needed and could've spent the money in defence due to an injury to a key defender (wonder who the manager was both times), then will have the odd purple patch but not enough to have a proper impact on the team. Will then run his contract down because no one will pay what we'd want for him, leave on a free and will look a better player elsewhere.

 

[Champagneblade]

My concern

Cannon will probably be yet another player who will ends up leaving us and goes on to be a better player elsewhere.

Cannon just feels like the 2026 version of Brewster; he’s a player for which we paid a decent fee and come hell or high water we’re going to use every possible opportunity to justify it.

I really hope Stoke come in for him as the window closes. It would do us a massive favour. Whether it’s our style or his attributes, it seems a huge struggle to get anything out of him.

So whilst on one hand I don’t blame Chris in getting rid of the poor signings under Sellés, he should also look closer to home.

If we play 4-2-3-1 I’d be ok with simply not replacing him until January and rotate between Bamford, Campbell and Oné. Can always keep Marsh around as insurance.

 

[Keen Blade]

Wilder has turned United into a retired greyhounds centre. Signing players that nobody else wants !

Yeh , but you only have to give them a short walk once or twice a day , so it's quite an easy job to manage them.

 

[Keen Blade]

Is it just me, or do we feel like we still have quite a lot to do?!

We're idling towards nothing, with no real sense of urgency.

We have very little depth, across the park.
We need a first choice CB
A first choice CM, especially if anyone leaves.
We are still playing Gus LW and then if he leaves, we have no replacement.
We have an inexperienced kid at RW and no further depth. Huge drop off from Brooks.
We have no pace or athleticism, or creativity. A problem worsened notably if Gus goes.

...and we seemingly have next to naff all resources upon which to do it.

We seem preoccupied with fending off bids for who we do have and we are showing no gumption or ambition to try and improve the squad in any way.

Gumption & ambition are worthless without £ and we have none.
And anyway ,
gumption brings Cannon for £10m.

 

[Keen Blade]

Cheers was looking for something similar.

Crazy when you look at Baptiste playing the most but probably won't start the season. Burrows/One not getting much minutes then fucking Shackleton

Burrows & Oné are fucking Shackleton ?

 

[SouthportBlade]

Every year we get the same calls for “young, hungry, athletic, powerful midfielders” as if it’s the golden bullet of recruitment. We also get clamours to give our youngsters a starting role in the team.

It’s just bollocks… well partly!

We need a set of players, who are right for whatever tactics we are looking to play, the manager wants, that gel together and become greater than the sum of its parts.

Youngsters also need to be good enough to start. Cannons splayfooted start in red and white doesn’t make One the answer, or any better than he is. If One is starting for us and excelling I’ll gladly eat my words, but at the moment he’s very raw and would likely be a passenger in some games which you just cannot carry and be successful.

Some of our most brilliant midfield combinations in recent years are unathlethic and slow, Duffy, Coutts, Norwood, Fleck - but were joyous to watch.

I’m not suggesting there aren’t players who fit the above description, but it’s often pitched as the solution to our problems.

It’s not. Good recruitment and complimentary tactics are. But if this were easy, everyone would do it.

 

[HAP]

I've come to the fact that we have no ITK's cause anyone within the club just talks shite. Going off Wilders interviews we should have about 6 players in . Our transfer policy/method is an absolute joke.

 

[Bell4]

I do, however, remember at the time my girlfriend really liked Guthrie's legs. They were though pretty impressive. That was of course the era of short shorts (cue Freddie and the Dreamers)

I was so excited when we signed big Chris

 

[Bell4]

I've come to the fact that we have no ITK's cause anyone within the club just talks shite. Going off Wilders interviews we should have about 6 players in . Our transfer policy/method is an absolute joke.

It’s not a joke

It’s frustrating sure

We haven’t got any money - we have to offload first - whats not to understand

We bought some awful panic buys last close season - you’d need Del Boy to shift most of these players - add in Cannon and Rothwell - Christ on a bike

It’s like platting fog

 

[Bell4]

Last season Brewster scored nearly as many goals in one season for Derby than he did in his entire Blades career (albeit not a huge amount). Perhaps there's an argument for actually coaching players and utilising their best attributes in matches over an obsession with winning and forcing square pegs into round holes with "system" football.

How many players who Wilder has signed actually got better during their time at Sheffield United and were sold for a profit under his management? (Academy players not included). Sam McCallum is probably the only player I can think of who Wilder has signed recently who's actually shown signs of improvement.

Bristol City have had an amazing summer with the capture of Michael Skubala as their new manager, and some of the players that they've signed. I would bet my last pound that they finish above us this season. Even if they fail they will likely develop the players that they've signed and some may get sold on for substantial profits in the future. This is the model that we should be following, but we only sign loans and our squad is overloaded with a lot of bang average players who know one else wants who we're stuck with.

Cannon will probably be yet another player who will ends up leaving us and goes on to be a better player elsewhere.

Good post

Last paragraph though is beyond fanciful

 

[Jim Mcdonald]

It’s pretty clear mid table obscurity awaits, let’s just hope the board has a plan here on making us competitive on a budget in the seasons to come or it could get painful so it could. I have little faith in these owners so I do.

 

[TopBoy]

Cannon is so much like Brewster.
You just want to urge them on to be successful and justify their price tags, hoping and waiting patiently for them to suddenly turn into a real player.
They both show occasional flashes of skill, and do something really good, but it never lasts, they just seem to fade out for the next several games.
Overall, they both come across as exceedingly average players, without any outstanding attributes.
They just seem to kinda run around and take part without seriously affecting the game.
It’s just frustrating.

Spot on. No footballing brains but have a hard shot on them. Bit like the fat kid from school.

 

[CPB]

I've come to the fact that we have no ITK's cause anyone within the club just talks shite. Going off Wilders interviews we should have about 6 players in . Our transfer policy/method is an absolute joke.

T-Blade is normally about right with things. However he doesn't have a 100% record.
He reckoned the Souttar deal was very close within the last two weeks.

I suspect a few things have happened with this one.
1. We are just a bit short of their valuation and don't want to go higher.
2. We need a sale to actually afford to buy him such as Hamer. (I think this is the most likely)
3. We are still negotiating including the structure of the deal and possibly a player back the other way.

Thing is whilst in my opinion this is not best planning to now be in August and effectively have only signed 2 players in Donovan and Doherty.
This isn't unusual for any side and especially us most summers. We felt far more pro-active first season back down under Wilder yet I reckon even by this stage had only actually signed Shackleton, O'Hare and Rak-Sakyi.
We realistically as the squad stands right now need 2 more centrebacks, and then the squad doesn't need alot more without departures in terms of numbers. Not necessarily quality.

A positive right now we haven't as yet lost any key players from last season aside from Brooks. This will more than likely change.

 

[HeCanDoMagic]

T-Blade is normally about right with things. However he doesn't have a 100% record.
He reckoned the Souttar deal was very close within the last two weeks.

I suspect a few things have happened with this one.
1. We are just a bit short of their valuation and don't want to go higher.
2. We need a sale to actually afford to buy him such as Hamer. (I think this is the most likely)
3. We are still negotiating including the structure of the deal and possibly a player back the other way.

Thing is whilst in my opinion this is not best planning to now be in August and effectively have only signed 2 players in Donovan and Doherty.
This isn't unusual for any side and especially us most summers. We felt far more pro-active first season back down under Wilder yet I reckon even by this stage had only actually signed Shackleton, O'Hare and Rak-Sakyi.
We realistically as the squad stands right now need 2 more centrebacks, and then the squad doesn't need alot more without departures in terms of numbers. Not necessarily quality.

A positive right now we haven't as yet lost any key players from last season aside from Brooks. This will more than likely change.

Option 4: Leicester owners are batshit crazy to negotiate with and changed terms at the last minute.

 

[CPB]

Option 4: Leicester owners are batshit crazy to negotiate with and changed terms at the last minute.

Also quite likely.

 

[Bladesman101]

Really poor recruitment no matter what now for me. If Cov are officially bidding for Gus that means he’s personally told Cov he’ll go (fair play of course) but when are we going to do that deal? He’s just been on pre season tour, it’s so stupid. Why is our recruitment always so hinged on past players, why do we have scouts at all it’s baffling

 

[Fjortoft's Aeroplane]

The £10m on Cannon seems worse realising how potless the owners are. I genuinely thought it was there way of saying " Hi, yes we do have deep pockets,! This is just the start!" when they arrived like that.

 

[Scoips]

I just don't think Cannon has the attributes to be a better player elsewhere - he's slow, weak, on his heels all the time and can't head a ball. Even if we had some coaching ability at the club (not that there's any evidence of this) I don't see that there's anything to work with. He's on a big wage, so as others have said, we won't be able to move him on.
One at least has strength and pace - so there is something to work with. Unfortunately Wilder will spend the next couple of seasons shoehorning Cannon into the side to try and prove that he spent the £10m well, so One might as well get a move to somewhere he's going to get game time and some decent coaching.

 

[FriethBlade]

The £10m on Cannon seems worse realising how potless the owners are. I genuinely thought it was there way of saying " Hi, yes we do have deep pockets,! This is just the start!" when they arrived like that.

It was therir way of pushing the club into the PL. We were top of the league when we signed Cannon and that signing was meant to guarantee PL riches.
I don't t believe they ever had a plan B and were completely shocked when we missed out hence Wilders sacking and the rest is history

Now they dont know whether to stick or twist. If they stick the value gradually erodes away and their 110m is worth 50m. If they twist and they end uo with more Tangangas, McGuinesses, Matos's etc they've done evem more money. I dont envy them a bit but id love to sot in a meeting where Helmy and Rosen explain to the other investors where all their money has gone (or maybe it hasn't given tje apparent none payment of 35m )

 

[247Blade]

Everyones trying to outguess each other .... just bottom line is were interested in same old has been injury prone targets.

 

[Nick Jansky]

Some of our most brilliant midfield combinations in recent years are unathlethic and slow, Duffy, Coutts, Norwood, Fleck - but were joyous to watch.

The first three each had something a bit special that elevated them above the bog standard. That doesn't apply to any of our current midfielders.

 

[Bell4]

Spot on. No footballing brains but have a hard shot on them. Bit like the fat kid from school.

Leave Jansky out of this

 

[SouthportBlade]

The first three each had something a bit special that elevated them above the bog standard. That doesn't apply to any of our current midfielders.

Agreed, but to my broader point…

Gelled well together, fit to managers tactics and greater than sum of parts.

You could argue however, with Duffy, Fleck and Coutts m, they weren’t top tier championship signings and had fairly bog standard CVs before joining.

 

[Keen Blade]

I just don't think Cannon has the attributes to be a better player elsewhere - he's slow, weak, on his heels all the time and can't head a ball. Even if we had some coaching ability at the club (not that there's any evidence of this) I don't see that there's anything to work with. He's on a big wage, so as others have said, we won't be able to move him on.
One at least has strength and pace - so there is something to work with. Unfortunately Wilder will spend the next couple of seasons shoehorning Cannon into the side to try and prove that he spent the £10m well, so One might as well get a move to somewhere he's going to get game time and some decent coaching.

So sad , but so true.
And folk wonder why CW's accused of being stubborn.
FFS , Chris - be like the owners who brought you back ...
Recognise your whopping mistake and act accordingly.
Cannon's never gonna improve or get anywhere near justifying his fee & wages.
I can hardly bear to watch his hapless performances.
Ditch him and move on.
FFS don't do a Brewster on us ,
Not again ,
please ,
Pretty please ,
With a cherry on top

 

[HAP]

It’s not a joke

It’s frustrating sure

We haven’t got any money - we have to offload first - whats not to understand

We bought some awful panic buys last close season - you’d need Del Boy to shift most of these players - add in Cannon and Rothwell - Christ on a bike

It’s like platting fog

I'd still call it a joke, it's our method of panic buying for massive sums in previous years that's caused this downfall. Having plan A in signings but no plan B.
Plus Wilder doesn't help himself saying there's definitely movement this week (previous weeks) then absolutely nothing happens. Just like he said last January.

Just from outside looking in looks like there's no actual method.

 

[Kozzy_is_my_Dad]

This has resurface from April.

With that context, I can see him getting fucked off and potentially walking. Especially if we get off to a bad start.

 

[ATL Recs]

How can we have a sustainable short / medium term plan when we are a reactive club who just loan players for a season then rinse and repeat

we waisted 20 plus million last year and the season before Wilders 92 point cock up relied on loans with the exception of Burrows Cooper and a couple of out of contracts

This has resurface from April.

With that context, I can see him getting fucked off and potentially walking. Especially if we get off to a bad start.

 

[KMC-1889]

tell you what, I’m glad we went into this summer with a plan, we could have looked very stupid otherwise.