Is this a potential relegation group?

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blades_95

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Not in any way saying we will get relegated (putting the possible points deduction to one side) but we do have some of the hallmarks of a club on the decline, and I do think this squad has a lot of parallels with our 2010-11 squad.

That squad was full of ‘solid pros’ who actually were just below average journeymen - Collins, Doyle, Simonsen, Nosworthy, Ertl, Henderson, Bogdanovic, Taylor, Yeates, Lowry etc. We’ve now built a not dissimilar squad with our many CDM’s (Jairo, Phillips, Rothwell), Choudhury, Tanganga, Campbell, Doherty, Chong. Hell we can even throw in an expensive flop striker who doesn’t look cut out for the Championship, for Evans see Cannon! We have the same lack of creativity & goals as that squad and defensively we’re not secure at all, Cooper aside.

Currently the management team don’t seem to have a clue what to do with this squad they’ve built (Wilder’s basically admitted as much today). We’re still painfully unfit and have no style of play. We can’t control games or change games and are conceding far too many chances. We have probably one player in the squad (Bamford) who can score 10+ goals - does anyone genuinely think Cannon, Campbell, Chong, BBD are going to score that many? Donovan & Oné look bright but are young to carry that burden. Our many midfielders might get 3 between them, we have very few goals in the squad.

Also, not many of this squad are going to be around next season. Those that are will get moves (Cooper, Seriki, Oné, Peck) - is a squad that doesn’t have to deal with the consequences going to be as motivated?

I’m very unsure how I see this season going, but I do think there are some major warning signs we can’t ignore. We’ve been pretty poor in all 5 games so far & are lucky to have as many points on the board as we do. We’ve also been comfortably outplayed by 2 newly promoted sides who sit in the bottom 4. A few more drab performances which see us slide down the table and how long before fans / players start to lose faith?

I think this is a massive test for Wilder & we need more from him & the coaching team than we’re getting currently. A bit of passion & 15 minute spells of huff & puff aren’t good enough - he has to find a way to get this group looking cohesive & playing to their strengths. We have to assume the board won’t be helping, and there’s a lot of points to play for before January anyway - we can’t hang our season on that.

An overreaction maybe, but interested to get people’s thoughts.
 



I was thinking similar at the match today in terms of it feels a bit like the road to relegation previously.
This squad has a lot more talent than the 2010-11 version but the division has moved on and everyone is better.
I think without a points deduction we scrape enough points together to stay up - just.
However, I do think we will get a points deduction, and if it’s 12 I can’t see this group being able to get the points required.
 
blades_95 said:
Not in any way saying we will get relegated (putting the possible points deduction to one side) but we do have some of the hallmarks of a club on the decline, and I do think this squad has a lot of parallels with our 2010-11 squad.

That squad was full of ‘solid pros’ who actually were just below average journeymen - Collins, Doyle, Simonsen, Nosworthy, Ertl, Henderson, Bogdanovic, Taylor, Yeates, Lowry etc. We’ve now built a not dissimilar squad with our many CDM’s (Jairo, Phillips, Rothwell), Choudhury, Tanganga, Campbell, Doherty, Chong. Hell we can even throw in an expensive flop striker who doesn’t look cut out for the Championship, for Evans see Cannon! We have the same lack of creativity & goals as that squad and defensively we’re not secure at all, Cooper aside.

Currently the management team don’t seem to have a clue what to do with this squad they’ve built (Wilder’s basically admitted as much today). We’re still painfully unfit and have no style of play. We can’t control games or change games and are conceding far too many chances. We have probably one player in the squad (Bamford) who can score 10+ goals - does anyone genuinely think Cannon, Campbell, Chong, BBD are going to score that many? Donovan & Oné look bright but are young to carry that burden. Our many midfielders might get 3 between them, we have very few goals in the squad.

Also, not many of this squad are going to be around next season. Those that are will get moves (Cooper, Seriki, Oné, Peck) - is a squad that doesn’t have to deal with the consequences going to be as motivated?

I’m very unsure how I see this season going, but I do think there are some major warning signs we can’t ignore. We’ve been pretty poor in all 5 games so far & are lucky to have as many points on the board as we do. We’ve also been comfortably outplayed by 2 newly promoted sides who sit in the bottom 4. A few more drab performances which see us slide down the table and how long before fans / players start to lose faith?

I think this is a massive test for Wilder & we need more from him & the coaching team than we’re getting currently. A bit of passion & 15 minute spells of huff & puff aren’t good enough - he has to find a way to get this group looking cohesive & playing to their strengths. We have to assume the board won’t be helping, and there’s a lot of points to play for before January anyway - we can’t hang our season on that.

An overreaction maybe, but interested to get people’s thoughts.
Click to expand...
No.
 
Missing Spark said:
No.
Click to expand...
Can’t argue with that!

Genuinely what makes you so certain, I’m interested to know why? We finished 13 points above Oxford in 22nd last season. We’ve lost Hamer, Brooks & O’Hare who contributed 41 goals and assists between them.

We’re clearly a worse team & we’ve started the season with 5 pretty woeful performances. Something needs to change and quick and I don’t see what that is right now.
 
Jacobsenthecrab said:
I was thinking similar at the match today in terms of it feels a bit like the road to relegation previously.
This squad has a lot more talent than the 2010-11 version but the division has moved on and everyone is better.
I think without a points deduction we scrape enough points together to stay up - just.
However, I do think we will get a points deduction, and if it’s 12 I can’t see this group being able to get the points required.
Click to expand...
Agree I don’t think it’s a bad squad on paper, but we’re coming up against ‘lesser’ teams who have a clear way of playing. If we get deducted 12 points I can’t see us staying up either. 12 less last season meant we’d have beaten the drop by a point & we had a better team.
 
blades_95 said:
Not in any way saying we will get relegated (putting the possible points deduction to one side) but we do have some of the hallmarks of a club on the decline, and I do think this squad has a lot of parallels with our 2010-11 squad.

That squad was full of ‘solid pros’ who actually were just below average journeymen - Collins, Doyle, Simonsen, Nosworthy, Ertl, Henderson, Bogdanovic, Taylor, Yeates, Lowry etc. We’ve now built a not dissimilar squad with our many CDM’s (Jairo, Phillips, Rothwell), Choudhury, Tanganga, Campbell, Doherty, Chong. Hell we can even throw in an expensive flop striker who doesn’t look cut out for the Championship, for Evans see Cannon! We have the same lack of creativity & goals as that squad and defensively we’re not secure at all, Cooper aside.

Currently the management team don’t seem to have a clue what to do with this squad they’ve built (Wilder’s basically admitted as much today). We’re still painfully unfit and have no style of play. We can’t control games or change games and are conceding far too many chances. We have probably one player in the squad (Bamford) who can score 10+ goals - does anyone genuinely think Cannon, Campbell, Chong, BBD are going to score that many? Donovan & Oné look bright but are young to carry that burden. Our many midfielders might get 3 between them, we have very few goals in the squad.

Also, not many of this squad are going to be around next season. Those that are will get moves (Cooper, Seriki, Oné, Peck) - is a squad that doesn’t have to deal with the consequences going to be as motivated?

I’m very unsure how I see this season going, but I do think there are some major warning signs we can’t ignore. We’ve been pretty poor in all 5 games so far & are lucky to have as many points on the board as we do. We’ve also been comfortably outplayed by 2 newly promoted sides who sit in the bottom 4. A few more drab performances which see us slide down the table and how long before fans / players start to lose faith?

I think this is a massive test for Wilder & we need more from him & the coaching team than we’re getting currently. A bit of passion & 15 minute spells of huff & puff aren’t good enough - he has to find a way to get this group looking cohesive & playing to their strengths. We have to assume the board won’t be helping, and there’s a lot of points to play for before January anyway - we can’t hang our season on that.

An overreaction maybe, but interested to get people’s thoughts.
Click to expand...
Yes
 
We're a club that's set up for relegation. I've been convinced of that since 25/6, albeit the seeds of decline were there much earlier.

We've had one good yet inefficient transfer window (needed more permanents) in around five seasons (2024/5 summer window) and it simply must come home to roost at some point. We went into this summer needing around ten additions due to past mismanagement, with another three additional players then needed to replace the bedded in first team players that have left (Brooks, Hamer, O'Hare). We needed them in early to get them fit and to build team cohesion, or simple logic dictates we'd be worse this season due to the above player losses. We've again engaged on a reckless late window loan strategy that has massively handicapped us before a ball is kicked. Our players simply do not have 90 minutes in them. We can't outfight and out run teams when we're physically cooked at halftime. We have to push players and risk injuries in a desperate (maybe vain?) attempt to get them up to speed.

The manager of Sheffield United's job is essentially to look at the 20 or so players at his disposal and to pick the eleven freshest. Then to do the same in the next game and the one after that. We are essentially embarking on a fitness exercise in August and September. Building cohesion and partnerships is a secondary consideration.

I've got news for you: next season will be even worse. Remove the loans and look at the squad. The only way out of the death spiral is to sign enough permanent quality players that allows us to only need to sign a few players. You know, like a competently run organisation. Well have done extremely well not to go down in the next 1-3 years imo.
 



YES, this group stinks to high heaven of relegation and so does the management. Don't know what was said at HT, but they came out for the 2nd half looking like there was no belief that they could turn the game around. I see less than half a dozen players in this squad that could be the future of the club.

The only area of the squad that looks competent is at goalkeeper, the defence is all over the shop, midfield slow with no creativity at all, attack pretty much the same as midfield. A team managed by a dinosaur out of touch with the modern game and living on his past years of success of nearly a decade ago. Since walking out of the back door he failed at both Boro and Watford, failed again second time around, "but hey he got 92 points" his cult followers cry.

The club has been in a managed decline since before the new Yank owners got control as the Prince wasn't rich enough to fund the club, but these owners haven't a clue except what Wilder and Bettis tell them. Now it seems they are a bit short of either cash or the will to fund the club. A podcast intended to blow warm air up supporters arses will not cut it we need to see change.

I do worry that when the products of the academy dry up we will be in desperate trouble, we can't keep building a squad each season with six loan players it simply is not sustainable, When these loan players are on big wages but are just here for a last pay day before retirement it is throwing money down the drain, money that would be far better spent on developing young players, but we always seem to sell any we do get before they have contributed a few years to the club. I won't even go into our recruitment above academy level which under Wilder and his team as been an utter disaster Brewster, Cannon etc being some of the more notable wastes of money.
 
We've been transported back almost 2 decades to the Mickey Adams times,this season has all the same vibes as the losers that were on and off the pitch and around the club then,just bad decision after bad decision,squad down to the bare bones of what's required,and it's going to take a miracle to survive the immediate future without a relegation plus other associated damage to the club which is circling around waiting to be tomorrows headlines.
 
As a team this lot have got nothing in the tank…It’s as though half of them can’t play a full ninety minutes. Whether it’s physical fitness, mental fortitude or just the ability to play simple football, this group of players are seriously wanting.
 
Yes - we absolutely have the potential to get sucked into a relegation fight. For me, the main and only aim of this season is to amass enough points to stay away from the bottom five. We have a good few parallels with the Micky Adams era although I think this team has better players:

1. Selling and replacing with loans
2. A manager who is past his best
3. Unwavering faith in a couple of players who aren’t good enough / overrated (Monty, Quinn)
4. A weak centre midfield
 
Why is it that our players are so tired? Are they up all night playing video games? Lost track of how many times Wilder said this in the post match interview. If they are tired after just 5 league games how tired will they be after 10? 15? Why weren't Norwich tired?
 
How yesterday was our first loss of the season was quite ridiculous.

That said, despite the performances thus far being largely garbage, I do think we will be mid table this season and not in a relegation battle.

I fear for us longer term however.
 
KMC-1889 said:
If not this season then we’re definitely on the road to it, not just the playing squad but the whole set up of the club.

Teams like Lincoln, Cardiff and Bolton are embarrassing us, it’s not a great sign.
Click to expand...
We havent played Lincoln and took 4 points of the other two? Did we play well no, but not embarassing.
 
I dont think this team will go down but it might be very close - we'll be in that bottom "group" of 8 teams looking over their shoulder. Sadly.
 
blades_95 said:
Not in any way saying we will get relegated (putting the possible points deduction to one side) but we do have some of the hallmarks of a club on the decline, and I do think this squad has a lot of parallels with our 2010-11 squad.

That squad was full of ‘solid pros’ who actually were just below average journeymen - Collins, Doyle, Simonsen, Nosworthy, Ertl, Henderson, Bogdanovic, Taylor, Yeates, Lowry etc. We’ve now built a not dissimilar squad with our many CDM’s (Jairo, Phillips, Rothwell), Choudhury, Tanganga, Campbell, Doherty, Chong. Hell we can even throw in an expensive flop striker who doesn’t look cut out for the Championship, for Evans see Cannon! We have the same lack of creativity & goals as that squad and defensively we’re not secure at all, Cooper aside.

Currently the management team don’t seem to have a clue what to do with this squad they’ve built (Wilder’s basically admitted as much today). We’re still painfully unfit and have no style of play. We can’t control games or change games and are conceding far too many chances. We have probably one player in the squad (Bamford) who can score 10+ goals - does anyone genuinely think Cannon, Campbell, Chong, BBD are going to score that many? Donovan & Oné look bright but are young to carry that burden. Our many midfielders might get 3 between them, we have very few goals in the squad.

Also, not many of this squad are going to be around next season. Those that are will get moves (Cooper, Seriki, Oné, Peck) - is a squad that doesn’t have to deal with the consequences going to be as motivated?

I’m very unsure how I see this season going, but I do think there are some major warning signs we can’t ignore. We’ve been pretty poor in all 5 games so far & are lucky to have as many points on the board as we do. We’ve also been comfortably outplayed by 2 newly promoted sides who sit in the bottom 4. A few more drab performances which see us slide down the table and how long before fans / players start to lose faith?

I think this is a massive test for Wilder & we need more from him & the coaching team than we’re getting currently. A bit of passion & 15 minute spells of huff & puff aren’t good enough - he has to find a way to get this group looking cohesive & playing to their strengths. We have to assume the board won’t be helping, and there’s a lot of points to play for before January anyway - we can’t hang our season on that.

An overreaction maybe, but interested to get people’s thoughts.
Click to expand...

The championship has passed Wilder and SUFC by. We’ve got a squad full of has-beens and Blades yout that aren’t up to scratch bar Seriki in my book.

If we got promoted (yeh not likely I know) the following players/manager I’d take to the prem…

Cooper (GK #2)
Seriki (FB #2)
……..
 
blades_95 said:
Not in any way saying we will get relegated (putting the possible points deduction to one side) but we do have some of the hallmarks of a club on the decline, and I do think this squad has a lot of parallels with our 2010-11 squad.

That squad was full of ‘solid pros’ who actually were just below average journeymen - Collins, Doyle, Simonsen, Nosworthy, Ertl, Henderson, Bogdanovic, Taylor, Yeates, Lowry etc. We’ve now built a not dissimilar squad with our many CDM’s (Jairo, Phillips, Rothwell), Choudhury, Tanganga, Campbell, Doherty, Chong. Hell we can even throw in an expensive flop striker who doesn’t look cut out for the Championship, for Evans see Cannon! We have the same lack of creativity & goals as that squad and defensively we’re not secure at all, Cooper aside.

Currently the management team don’t seem to have a clue what to do with this squad they’ve built (Wilder’s basically admitted as much today). We’re still painfully unfit and have no style of play. We can’t control games or change games and are conceding far too many chances. We have probably one player in the squad (Bamford) who can score 10+ goals - does anyone genuinely think Cannon, Campbell, Chong, BBD are going to score that many? Donovan & Oné look bright but are young to carry that burden. Our many midfielders might get 3 between them, we have very few goals in the squad.

Also, not many of this squad are going to be around next season. Those that are will get moves (Cooper, Seriki, Oné, Peck) - is a squad that doesn’t have to deal with the consequences going to be as motivated?

I’m very unsure how I see this season going, but I do think there are some major warning signs we can’t ignore. We’ve been pretty poor in all 5 games so far & are lucky to have as many points on the board as we do. We’ve also been comfortably outplayed by 2 newly promoted sides who sit in the bottom 4. A few more drab performances which see us slide down the table and how long before fans / players start to lose faith?

I think this is a massive test for Wilder & we need more from him & the coaching team than we’re getting currently. A bit of passion & 15 minute spells of huff & puff aren’t good enough - he has to find a way to get this group looking cohesive & playing to their strengths. We have to assume the board won’t be helping, and there’s a lot of points to play for before January anyway - we can’t hang our season on that.

An overreaction maybe, but interested to get people’s thoughts.
Click to expand...
A lot of understandably negative thoughts, but no possible solutions being suggested.
 
No.

We’re in a midtable slog. We’ll win some, draw some and lose some. We’re in a holding pattern until we get new investment or new ownership IMHO.
 



I expected to loose yesterday as I would against any decent side at the moment. What is more concerning were the previous two games against teams that will probably be down at the bottom end of the table fighting relegation. Both these sides looked far better than us for large parts of those games and if we are honest we deserved nothing from the Cardiff game and at best a point from Bolton. So we should probably be sitting here now on 2 or 3 points from 5 games. So in answer to the OP yes this is a potential relegation group and throw in a points deduction it starts to become highly likely. Yes we have few injuries but it is not as if we have any game changers to come back. We will still have a slow unfit squad many of whom can't manage 90 minutes even on an occasional basis. We will still have no creative midfield players who get forward and contribute with goals and assists. We will still have a manager who will still insist it is nothing to do with tactics despite opponents regularly tweaking theirs to alter the course of games against us.
 
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