Stoke City vs Sheffield United

S24SU · OFFICIAL MATCHDAY EDITION · 2026/27 · No.11

19th September 2026 - Kick-off 12:30
Stoke City v. Sheffield United
EFL Championship Week 7 - Bet365 Stadium, Stoke-on-Trent

EFL Championship Week 7 – Saturday 19th September 2026, 12:30 – Bet365 Stadium, Stoke-on-Trent
Please keep all discussion related to the match within this thread.

Match Info

Competition: EFL Championship Week 7

Kick-off: Saturday 19th September 2026, 12:30

Venue: Bet365 Stadium, Stoke-on-Trent/frow]

Player Ratings: CLICK HERE (will open shortly after full time)

Officials

Referee: Tim Robinson

Assistants: Andrew Dallison and Hugh Gilroy

Fourth Official: Ed Duckworth

How to Watch

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Keep it on-topic and within the rules – see the forum rules if unsure.​

 

[Rufus T. Firefly]

I said I would wait until after the Stoke game to give my assessment of where we are. Todays game confirmed it we are in a relegation struggle with little sign of getting out of the mess we are in. We have no threat up front. No athleticism , no pace and little in the way of physicality. All attributes required for the moddern game.

The manager prefers to bring on a 35 year old geriatric instead of a pacy young forward and that sums up the mentality.

We offered virtually nothing throughout the game yet still managed to find ourselves in front. The plan thereafter was to retreat and hold on. We just dont have the players to do that and Donovan on earlier would have at least given Stokes defence something to think about.

The bizarre conclusion to yesterdays presser confirmed in my mind that CW is past his sell by date. I have avoided calling for him to go before now hoping he would at least get the players into an organised shape. It hasnt happened and his blinkered out of date view as to how the club should progress confirms in my mind that we are destined for league 1 if he remains at the helm. We are not Everton 2007. The team reflects the managers thinking always looking back instead of forwards.

No amount of sugar coating will escape the fact the team and coaching staff are tactically inept. Add in serious concerns about the sports science function with no backing from owners embroiled in legal actions and no one in their right mind would want to manage SUFC in its present state.

Spot on Addison, but without any potential investment do you think the owners can afford to sack him and hire someone else or let things continue? The reality of relegation would devalue their business on the other hand and after what happened with Selles they will be bricking themselves. Maybe they act in this break or give him until Christmas.

 

[ChipButtyBlade]

I reckon Dino Wilder has got one more game.......Lincoln City...if he does not beat them..he is finished.

 

[1973Blade]

As soon as we go one nil up we are hanging on. Need to bring Donovan on to give us an outlet. Something that sums us up (and Choudhury wasn't too bad today) but the ball goes to him off a Stockport player, he has space on the right but lets it roll out for a throw in.

 

[MartBlade]

Yeah if Peck is gonna keep doing long shots (which I hope he does because we need someone who won't try to dribble the bastard ball into the net) then he needs to be practising constantly to improve.

As anybody got an enormous barn door he can practice with ?

 

[Shawy24]

As anybody got an enormous barn door he can practice with ?

No, but I’ve got a banjo and a cows arse he can borrow.

 

[Designer Blade]

Asaba on the radio saying we will be a better side with Sekiri and McCallum, well kinda yeah, but with no form up top or midfield creativity it will be like pissing in the wind.

 

[SwissBlade]

Asaba on the radio saying we will be a better side with Sekiri and McCallum, well kinda yeah, but with no form up top or midfield creativity it will be like pissing in the wind.

I see captain obvious is stating the obvious again.

We’ll also be better with Burrows as well. Choudhury and RND weren’t really up to it today but we can only go with what’s available at the moment.

Shackleton does offer more on the right so hopefully he can build up the minutes as well

 

[Uganda Blade]

For all the focus on what was a disastrous summer last year under Sellés, this one is looking no better.

Ok, I get that having Seriki and Burrows injured as well as Oné and Chong only further compounds O’Hare, Hamer and Brooks moving on.

However, we should be doing much better and it really isn’t clear to me HIW we expect to create chances.

But to my original paragraph, if Chris left, he leaves the new guy with a full squad (not a positive comment). He can’t bring in a single new player without having to sell, pay up or loan out one of the existing ones, or ending a loan of Phillips, Donovan, Kitching or BBD, at least the first three should be starters for any manager.

So the squad is really hamstrung in terms of improvements. Apart from Seriki and Oné, possibly McCallum, there is no pace in the entire 26 either.

There are so many player that will have one year to run at the end of the season too.

It’s not all on Chris, Bettis has to take some blame too on the contract front but it’s a really poor state we find ourselves in.

Perhaps we thought we’d battle theough this year as we come to terms with SCR? Well if that’s the case then we neee to acknowledge we still need to score goals. We have one flair player and he got about 6 minutes.

If you'll permit a little licence, the players we have are, on paper, good enough to be a top-half Championship team.
But we're shit.
Leaving aside fitness and conditioning, I can only see two explanations:
1. The players are not following instructions and the preparation in training or;
2. The instructions and/or preparation are shit.
In either case, where does the responsibility rest?
I don't agree, therefore, that nobody else could get a tune out of this group.

 

[jt64]

offside, no?

That second looks way offside.

Clearly offside

miles offside

It does but it was some finish

Miles offside

Offside

Offside!?

Any of you want VAR to call that one off?

 

[3Cheers4Ramirez]

As soon as we go one nil up we are hanging on. Need to bring Donovan on to give us an outlet. Something that sums us up (and Choudhury wasn't too bad today) but the ball goes to him off a Stockport player, he has space on the right but lets it roll out for a throw in.

Choudhury can't kick a ball properly

If he didn't let it go out for a throw he might have to cross it or something

 

[Nick Jansky]

Agreed - how does one do that?

Write to him c/o the club.

 

[Silas]

A decent defensive performance, but the attacking outlet came far too late.

 

[luffenhamblade]

Write to him c/o the club.

Fair point will give it a go

 

[More Bladier than thou]

Thank fuck we now have international break. Need some hard work on the training pitch.

 

[Yoonitedite]

Doherty isn't very good. He's slow as fuck and isn't the answer unless the question is Who has the turning circle of a cruise ship and is also considerably slower than one?

He's up there with Rothwell, Jairo and Brereton Diaz in the why the fuck are we wasting money on clowns like this?

Nailed

 

[Yoonitedite]

I am beginning to think Wilder doesn't know what he is doing

Where have ya been

 

[Niallllll]

Doherty isn't very good. He's slow as fuck and isn't the answer unless the question is Who has the turning circle of a cruise ship and is also considerably slower than one?

He's up there with Rothwell, Jairo and Brereton Diaz in the why the fuck are we wasting money on clowns like this?

Wonder what that list of players all have in common

 

[Yoonitedite]

3 wks international break get it sorted

It needs 3 seasons mate not three weeks

 

[Yoonitedite]

I said I would wait until after the Stoke game to give my assessment of where we are. Todays game confirmed it we are in a relegation struggle with little sign of getting out of the mess we are in. We have no threat up front. No athleticism , no pace and little in the way of physicality. All attributes required for the moddern game.

The manager prefers to bring on a 35 year old geriatric instead of a pacy young forward and that sums up the mentality.

We offered virtually nothing throughout the game yet still managed to find ourselves in front. The plan thereafter was to retreat and hold on. We just dont have the players to do that and Donovan on earlier would have at least given Stokes defence something to think about.

The bizarre conclusion to yesterdays presser confirmed in my mind that CW is past his sell by date. I have avoided calling for him to go before now hoping he would at least get the players into an organised shape. It hasnt happened and his blinkered out of date view as to how the club should progress confirms in my mind that we are destined for league 1 if he remains at the helm. We are not Everton 2007. The team reflects the managers thinking always looking back instead of forwards.

No amount of sugar coating will escape the fact the team and coaching staff are tactically inept. Add in serious concerns about the sports science function with no backing from owners embroiled in legal actions and no one in their right mind would want to manage SUFC in its present state.

Welcome to the wake.Help yourself to a drink sir.

 

[Rufus T. Firefly]

Thank fuck we now have international break. Need some hard work on the training pitch.

Some of our 'better players' are on international duty so that throws a spanner in the works.

 

[SB_90]

i was looking at the stats from the 1st stint from fotmob

22nd for possession
20th for expected goals
21st for shots on target
24th for shots
24th for touches in the oppositions box
19th for xg conceded

 

[54yrblade]

i was looking at the stats from the 1st stint from fotmob

22nd for possession
20th for expected goals
21st for shots on target
24th for shots
24th for touches in the oppositions box
19th for xg conceded

Wilder won't like that. He'll find something from last season to say that he's better than that and then go to a pub where he can be consoled by his mates.

 

[1973Blade]

If the people of Stoke could count they'd be dangerous.

 

[bakeblade]

I said I would wait until after the Stoke game to give my assessment of where we are. Todays game confirmed it we are in a relegation struggle with little sign of getting out of the mess we are in. We have no threat up front. No athleticism , no pace and little in the way of physicality. All attributes required for the moddern game.

The manager prefers to bring on a 35 year old geriatric instead of a pacy young forward and that sums up the mentality.

We offered virtually nothing throughout the game yet still managed to find ourselves in front. The plan thereafter was to retreat and hold on. We just dont have the players to do that and Donovan on earlier would have at least given Stokes defence something to think about.

The bizarre conclusion to yesterdays presser confirmed in my mind that CW is past his sell by date. I have avoided calling for him to go before now hoping he would at least get the players into an organised shape. It hasnt happened and his blinkered out of date view as to how the club should progress confirms in my mind that we are destined for league 1 if he remains at the helm. We are not Everton 2007. The team reflects the managers thinking always looking back instead of forwards.

No amount of sugar coating will escape the fact the team and coaching staff are tactically inept. Add in serious concerns about the sports science function with no backing from owners embroiled in legal actions and no one in their right mind would want to manage SUFC in its present state.

Same tactics and subs today as against Wolves, we lost both.

 

[bakeblade]

For all the focus on what was a disastrous summer last year under Sellés, this one is looking no better.

Ok, I get that having Seriki and Burrows injured as well as Oné and Chong only further compounds O’Hare, Hamer and Brooks moving on.

However, we should be doing much better and it really isn’t clear to me HIW we expect to create chances.

But to my original paragraph, if Chris left, he leaves the new guy with a full squad (not a positive comment). He can’t bring in a single new player without having to sell, pay up or loan out one of the existing ones, or ending a loan of Phillips, Donovan, Kitching or BBD, at least the first three should be starters for any manager.

So the squad is really hamstrung in terms of improvements. Apart from Seriki and Oné, possibly McCallum, there is no pace in the entire 26 either.

There are so many player that will have one year to run at the end of the season too.

It’s not all on Chris, Bettis has to take some blame too on the contract front but it’s a really poor state we find ourselves in.

Perhaps we thought we’d battle theough this year as we come to terms with SCR? Well if that’s the case then we neee to acknowledge we still need to score goals. We have one flair player and he got about 6 minutes.

The last decent transfer window was summer 24 under the prince.

 

[Nedski]

Sheffield United's pass network is absolutely grim
64.7% pass completion, and the graphic basically explains why.
Stoke have an actual passing web. Loads of triangles, multiple options and players constantly connected to each other.
Sheffield United have two separate groups that barely seem to know each other exist.
At the back you've got:
Cooper → Tanganga → Phillips
Then Phillips basically has to figure out what happens next.
Up front you've got:
Norrington-Davies → Brereton → Peck → Bamford
And between the two groups? A massive empty space.
Phillips is basically being asked to run the entire midfield department on his own. If the opposition marks him, the whole thing starts looking like a broken circuit.
Bamford is especially unfortunate. He's at the end of a four-man chain looking like he's waiting for someone to actually connect him to the rest of the team.
Stoke have a nervous system.
Sheffield United have Phillips running around trying to reconnect the wires while everyone else waits for the Wi-Fi password.
The biggest problem isn't even the number of passes. It's the lack of connections between the lines.
Stoke look like a team passing TO each other.
Sheffield United look like a team passing THROUGH stages.
And that 64.7% completion rate suddenly makes a lot more sense.

 

[RAH_blade]

Any of you want VAR to call that one off?

Please if you can that would be helpful thank you

 

[Shawy24]

Sheffield United's pass network is absolutely grim
64.7% pass completion, and the graphic basically explains why.
Stoke have an actual passing web. Loads of triangles, multiple options and players constantly connected to each other.
Sheffield United have two separate groups that barely seem to know each other exist.
At the back you've got:
Cooper → Tanganga → Phillips
Then Phillips basically has to figure out what happens next.
Up front you've got:
Norrington-Davies → Brereton → Peck → Bamford
And between the two groups? A massive empty space.
Phillips is basically being asked to run the entire midfield department on his own. If the opposition marks him, the whole thing starts looking like a broken circuit.
Bamford is especially unfortunate. He's at the end of a four-man chain looking like he's waiting for someone to actually connect him to the rest of the team.
Stoke have a nervous system.
Sheffield United have Phillips running around trying to reconnect the wires while everyone else waits for the Wi-Fi password.
The biggest problem isn't even the number of passes. It's the lack of connections between the lines.
Stoke look like a team passing TO each other.
Sheffield United look like a team passing THROUGH stages.
And that 64.7% completion rate suddenly makes a lot more sense.

Awesome analysis. Wilder wouldn’t understand it.

 

[Blademan89]

Sheffield United's pass network is absolutely grim
64.7% pass completion, and the graphic basically explains why.
Stoke have an actual passing web. Loads of triangles, multiple options and players constantly connected to each other.
Sheffield United have two separate groups that barely seem to know each other exist.
At the back you've got:
Cooper → Tanganga → Phillips
Then Phillips basically has to figure out what happens next.
Up front you've got:
Norrington-Davies → Brereton → Peck → Bamford
And between the two groups? A massive empty space.
Phillips is basically being asked to run the entire midfield department on his own. If the opposition marks him, the whole thing starts looking like a broken circuit.
Bamford is especially unfortunate. He's at the end of a four-man chain looking like he's waiting for someone to actually connect him to the rest of the team.
Stoke have a nervous system.
Sheffield United have Phillips running around trying to reconnect the wires while everyone else waits for the Wi-Fi password.
The biggest problem isn't even the number of passes. It's the lack of connections between the lines.
Stoke look like a team passing TO each other.
Sheffield United look like a team passing THROUGH stages.
And that 64.7% completion rate suddenly makes a lot more sense.

Yeah all that but we played well today and was decent on the ball and never under threat from stoke.

Just unlucky from 2 wonder goals (* I personally cant forgive them for gallagher scoring that, as hes one of the worst strikers ever to grace chamionship).

 

[toledo]

Lets say how it is: this side will be lucky to stay up in the Championship..