What we don't have & must get.

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vas borbokis

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So... I'm taking it as read that we will be relegated this season, so don't need further discussion of that on this thread.
Also that Wilder in Wilder out is being discussed ad. infinitum elsewhere, so theres no need to discuss that here either.

The question is; What do we fans see as the biggest keys to improving the current team?
Let's say you can have up to three things..

I'll go first...
1 A pacy player who will run at defenders, can sometimes beat a man, and/or "win" free kicks around the box. (Hate the phrase win free kicks but everyone does it to us).

2 A consistently sound player in his own position who can also regularly take dangerous free kicks.

3 A consistently sound player in his own position who has leadership qualities that can drive others on to compete for every ball and never give in. (A Morgs/Vinny Jones/Roy Keane type attitude).

What else do we need?
 

Not so much a specific mould of player comes to mind, but the qualities of:
  1. And added yard of pace in midfield, keep the tempo up.
  2. Comfortable at recycling possession, as per Duffy.
  3. An attacking point to the midfield, as per Duffy, reducing the flat midfield 3. It leaves our side as 3 isolated banks of defence, midfield, strikers otherwise.
  4. Genuine attacking width. In the absence of a no.10 creating chances and PL quality wingers, we are relying on WBs only to unlock some of best defences in the world. No wonder we end up trapped near the corner flag, cycling possession.
 
Not so much a specific mould of player comes to mind, but the qualities of:
  1. And added yard of pace in midfield, keep the tempo up.
  2. Comfortable at recycling possession, as per Duffy.
  3. An attacking point to the midfield, as per Duffy, reducing the flat midfield 3. It leaves our side as 3 isolated banks of defence, midfield, strikers otherwise.
  4. Genuine attacking width. In the absence of a no.10 creating chances and PL quality wingers, we are relying on WBs only to unlock some of best defences in the world. No wonder we end up trapped near the corner flag, cycling possession.
I like these. You mean a new system then or back to the old one that had Duffs causing havock.. I agree
 
First of all a complete new midfield, one who can tackle to give it to one who can create and two more who can play out wide and beat a man. We need a defender who can play anywhere and a left back/left wing back. It might surprise a few but I don't think we need much more up front we need to create good chances for those we have and use them as attackers no just ball chasers who press defenders.
 
I would concentrate on our midfield. We need an athletic box to box midfielder who actually wants to play for us. *Looks at JL.

We need a creative mid and a couple of players who can also double up as wingers if we decide to change formation. (Unlikely)

I would also try and bring Freeman back into the fold. As a number 10 he is proven at Championship level and that will enable us to spend our money elsewhere.
 
Emi Buendia, Ivan Toney, Troy Deeney, Ben Foster, Mo Besic, Matty Cash, Antonee Robinson, John Swift...oops, that was my summer list.

If we’re persisting with 5 at the back, then we need:
  • a genuine option for LCB - tough because it’s such a specialist role, but we’ve tried the square pegs and the round hole has not been filled.
  • a number 10 to bridge the gap between midfield and the isolated attack.
  • Sadly, a defensive midfielder who can pass a ball and has high energy/work rate. Have loved Norwood, but the yard of pace he seems to have lost is costing us.
 
So... I'm taking it as read that we will be relegated this season, so don't need further discussion of that on this thread.
Also that Wilder in Wilder out is being discussed ad. infinitum elsewhere, so theres no need to discuss that here either.

The question is; What do we fans see as the biggest keys to improving the current team?
Let's say you can have up to three things..

I'll go first...
1 A pacy player who will run at defenders, can sometimes beat a man, and/or "win" free kicks around the box. (Hate the phrase win free kicks but everyone does it to us).

2 A consistently sound player in his own position who can also regularly take dangerous free kicks.

3 A consistently sound player in his own position who has leadership qualities that can drive others on to compete for every ball and never give in. (A Morgs/Vinny Jones/Roy Keane type attitude).

What else do we need?

We need a ball winning defensive midfielder. Think Kante, Mendy, Ndidi etc. Someone who is a great athlete and has the legs to cover box to box but will break up play and win the ball back. Without that, you're not getting 1.
 
We should can the idea of the back 5 / overlapping centre backs.

I think the type of left sided player who can do it costs a fortune and are near impossible to replace. as soon as JoC proves his fitness he’ll go for a lot of money.

The system is too niche, and we need to be much more robust.
 
We should can the idea of the back 5 / overlapping centre backs.

I think the type of left sided player who can do it costs a fortune and are near impossible to replace. as soon as JoC proves his fitness he’ll go for a lot of money.

The system is too niche, and we need to be much more robust.
Agree we need players that can play in more than one formation.
 
So... I'm taking it as read that we will be relegated this season, so don't need further discussion of that on this thread.
Also that Wilder in Wilder out is being discussed ad. infinitum elsewhere, so theres no need to discuss that here either.

The question is; What do we fans see as the biggest keys to improving the current team?
Let's say you can have up to three things..

I'll go first...
1 A pacy player who will run at defenders, can sometimes beat a man, and/or "win" free kicks around the box. (Hate the phrase win free kicks but everyone does it to us).

2 A consistently sound player in his own position who can also regularly take dangerous free kicks.

3 A consistently sound player in his own position who has leadership qualities that can drive others on to compete for every ball and never give in. (A Morgs/Vinny Jones/Roy Keane type attitude).

What else do we need?

To broaden it out, more creative flair.

The absolute genius of Wilder has been to create a system so refined and so highly tuned that it compensated for the near complete absence of costly flair players. When this was disrupted we had nothing to fall back on.

At championship level we should now be able to afford them, both financially and tactically.
 
Brand new athletic midfield.
1. Box to box midfielder, runs all day, pace, can actually pass to his own team mates who are in advanced positions not 30 yards behind him and can tackle
2. Creative link player (with pace) Grealish type, who knows when and how to fall over and expertly when a free kick to either relieve pressure or create a shooting opportunity.
3. Players who can pass a ball to team mates more than 5 times before losing it
4. Someone who will cross a ball
5. Someone who will actually have a shot from outside the area.
6. Anybody in fact apart from the useless fuckers we have now.

Not sure where we'll get them from but that wasn't the question.

Also as we have only loans to use (apparently) the best option would be to loan players with option to buy in the summer. Gives them half a season to bed in and chance to hopefully generate some funds by selling the garbage we have.
Get a whole new recruitment department, did great work getting players in for L1 and champ but prem recruitment has shown they're out of their depth like the players they've bought
 
So... I'm taking it as read that we will be relegated this season, so don't need further discussion of that on this thread.
Also that Wilder in Wilder out is being discussed ad. infinitum elsewhere, so theres no need to discuss that here either.

The question is; What do we fans see as the biggest keys to improving the current team?
Let's say you can have up to three things..

I'll go first...
1 A pacy player who will run at defenders, can sometimes beat a man, and/or "win" free kicks around the box. (Hate the phrase win free kicks but everyone does it to us).

2 A consistently sound player in his own position who can also regularly take dangerous free kicks.

3 A consistently sound player in his own position who has leadership qualities that can drive others on to compete for every ball and never give in. (A Morgs/Vinny Jones/Roy Keane type attitude).

What else do we need?
What we need for the prem against what we need in the championship are chalk and cheese, I'd back Billy for example to get over 10 goals in the champ....our front 4 of mcburnie , Brewster, mousse, and mcgoldrick will be more than a handful for any championship defence, but in the prem no way near, defensively we will be fine, Bogle was immense every time I saw him in the championship, I fear he may be on the radar of a few prem teams , I really rate him, o'connell no issues, Egan may go, there's enough in our midfield with maybe 2 additions to be fine, berge will not want to be playing away at Millwall and I can't see him stay, his price tag will fund our promotion assault. GK non-issue for me ....
 
We should can the idea of the back 5 / overlapping centre backs.

I think the type of left sided player who can do it costs a fortune and are near impossible to replace. as soon as JoC proves his fitness he’ll go for a lot of money.

The system is too niche, and we need to be much more robust.

I agree with this 100% for the reasons stated and also because it relies on too many players doing too many jobs: centre halves, wing backs, and centre mids all have to constantly get up and down the pitch to both defend and attack. If they don’t defend, we get ripped apart; if they don’t attack, the two strikers are hopelessly isolated.

Build something more like a 4-3-3 or 4-2-3-1 with the players we have. That would mean a couple more wide players are needed as back up/different options to McBurnie and Burke.

Midfield needs a total overhaul.
 

We have a box to box midfielder playing in Belgium, could be perfect for us in the championship if he can get clearance, and also keeps developing
 
I agree with this 100% for the reasons stated and also because it relies on too many players doing too many jobs: centre halves, wing backs, and centre mids all have to constantly get up and down the pitch to both defend and attack. If they don’t defend, we get ripped apart; if they don’t attack, the two strikers are hopelessly isolated.

Build something more like a 4-3-3 or 4-2-3-1 with the players we have. That would mean a couple more wide players are needed as back up/different options to McBurnie and Burke.

Midfield needs a total overhaul.

I think that if it is not already on Chris Wilder's player profile check list, the one thing that we need to add is "Athleticism".

We are so slow and ponderous at times, as we have all noted on here, that we really need to add the "pace" all over the pitch.

Burke is our only fast player, for the whole time he is on the field. Mousset in quick in bursts, so is Baldock. Lunny showed a bit of pace at times, but isn't in the plans.
 
Brand new athletic midfield.
1. Box to box midfielder, runs all day, pace, can actually pass to his own team mates who are in advanced positions not 30 yards behind him and can tackle
2. Creative link player (with pace) Grealish type, who knows when and how to fall over and expertly when a free kick to either relieve pressure or create a shooting opportunity.
3. Players who can pass a ball to team mates more than 5 times before losing it
4. Someone who will cross a ball
5. Someone who will actually have a shot from outside the area.
6. Anybody in fact apart from the useless fuckers we have now.

Not sure where we'll get them from but that wasn't the question.

Also as we have only loans to use (apparently) the best option would be to loan players with option to buy in the summer. Gives them half a season to bed in and chance to hopefully generate some funds by selling the garbage we have.
Get a whole new recruitment department, did great work getting players in for L1 and champ but prem recruitment has shown they're out of their depth like the players they've bought
Three! ;-)
 
We need a couple of athletic players that can get round the pitch and compete. Too many of our players look like they are on the decline and towing a caravan.
I think the issue is we have loads of these types of players but they have limited quality. We have pace and athleticism but we use it up chasing the ball instead of dictating the tempo.
 
So... I'm taking it as read that we will be relegated this season, so don't need further discussion of that on this thread.
Also that Wilder in Wilder out is being discussed ad. infinitum elsewhere, so theres no need to discuss that here either.

The question is; What do we fans see as the biggest keys to improving the current team?
Let's say you can have up to three things..

I'll go first...
1 A pacy player who will run at defenders, can sometimes beat a man, and/or "win" free kicks around the box. (Hate the phrase win free kicks but everyone does it to us).

2 A consistently sound player in his own position who can also regularly take dangerous free kicks.

3 A consistently sound player in his own position who has leadership qualities that can drive others on to compete for every ball and never give in. (A Morgs/Vinny Jones/Roy Keane type attitude).

What else do we need?

Good footballers who are athletes. See any top side.
 
So... I'm taking it as read that we will be relegated this season, so don't need further discussion of that on this thread.
Also that Wilder in Wilder out is being discussed ad. infinitum elsewhere, so theres no need to discuss that here either.

The question is; What do we fans see as the biggest keys to improving the current team?
Let's say you can have up to three things..

I'll go first...
1 A pacy player who will run at defenders, can sometimes beat a man, and/or "win" free kicks around the box. (Hate the phrase win free kicks but everyone does it to us).

2 A consistently sound player in his own position who can also regularly take dangerous free kicks.

3 A consistently sound player in his own position who has leadership qualities that can drive others on to compete for every ball and never give in. (A Morgs/Vinny Jones/Roy Keane type attitude).

What else do we need?
You mean the exact players we needed in the summer?! Instead we threw all our budget at Brewster, Bogle and Lowe🤦‍♂️
 
Bring Freeman back if we can, he would walk in to this side at the moment and offer more going forward than any of the other CMs.
I feel sorry for our strikers, must be sick of balls not being put in the box early or just the general lack of quality they try and feed off.

we should of spent 20m on an attacking talent like Buendia/Cantwell instead of a striker IMO
 
I think the issue is we have loads of these types of players but they have limited quality. We have pace and athleticism but we use it up chasing the ball instead of dictating the tempo.
Which are our players have pace and athleticism? We only have Burke with genuine pace to go past someone and nobody across the midfield that has the physical attributes to go and win the ball for us, carry it and generally get up and down the pitch.
 
Which are our players have pace and athleticism? We only have Burke with genuine pace to go past someone and nobody across the midfield that has the physical attributes to go and win the ball for us, carry it and generally get up and down the pitch.
Pace:
Burke
Baldock
Osborne
Fleck
Moose
Bash

Athleticism:
Burke
Bash
Osborne
Baldock
Enda
Fleck
Lowe

Enough across the team but if we are talking about technical players/creativity i couldnt give you 1.
 
I think that if it is not already on Chris Wilder's player profile check list, the one thing that we need to add is "Athleticism".

We are so slow and ponderous at times, as we have all noted on here, that we really need to add the "pace" all over the pitch.

Burke is our only fast player, for the whole time he is on the field. Mousset in quick in bursts, so is Baldock. Lunny showed a bit of pace at times, but isn't in the plans.
I'm sure I read somewhere that McGoldrick was the fastest in the squad over a sprint and I thought Osborne was very good yesterday at getting back and catching people when chasing.
 
I'm sure I read somewhere that McGoldrick was the fastest in the squad over a sprint and I thought Osborne was very good yesterday at getting back and catching people when chasing.

Think it was actually Billy who won the sprint stuff mentioned, but it could have been McG. Osborne does have pace, but not a great deal else for the PL, not having a go at the lad, because he puts a shift in and never hides.
 
Very top of the list, a keeper that will win us points. Ramsdale has not particularly dropped any howlers, a few iffy ones defo but plenty more where I thought a good keeper would save them. Wolves at home first game as an example, both goals a decent keeper would have saved. That's at least a point from that game alone.
 
I agree with many of the Blades on this thread who have highlighted the glaring need for some flair and creativity.

The nagging doubt that I have had for a couple of years now, however, - notwithstanding the brilliant 'journey' - is whether the gaffer actually wants flair players, or whether he is instead actually one of those managers - and God knows we've had a few of that kind of manager over the years - who aren't comfortable with them.

Arguably the only flair player that Wilder bought and then played regularly, was Duffy. Of course, even Duffy's role ultimately began to diminish in the Championship, when in Chris's 'substitutions by numbers', Duffy would invariably be taken off after 65 minutes regardless of the match situation, and to the publicly-voiced irritation of the player himself.

Other players who might have been considered 'flair' players, or at least players who could beat a man, take a free-kick or conjure something a little different, have generally been and gone having been given few or any opportunities.

There has to be a question, therefore, about whether the gaffer has a problem with creative players? Is the 'system' the 'be all and end all'?

After all, Chris struggled to get Brooks - a player of rare ability and vision - into his Championship side, before his injury/illness. By contrast, Eddie Howe - a manager who it can be agreed definitely does like creative flair players - swooped to buy Brooks regardless of his lack of playing time with us, and immediately made him a mainstay of a Premier League side.
 

Patience and a dose of reality.

West Brom/Fulham/Burnley are clubs financially that can be emulated, and as well as Dyche has done at Burnley, they too needed relegation and time to invest their PL money in the squad and the club infrastructure. All 3 have come up and down the PL in the last few years, The Blades have spent 6 of the last 9 years in League 1.

Wolves/Leicester are long term targets. But they're both backed by Billionaire owners, with the latter spending over £120 million on a new training ground.
 

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