Are we underestimating this squad?

[Stretch]

Norwood can’t go back to the Prem

Will have to agree to differ on that. On his current form, he at least deserves another chance.

 

[Charlieblade]

There has been a lot of (sometimes justified) criticism of our form since at least the World Cup. With a consensus of opinion, more or less, that we play halfway up the gears just long enough to win each game, then fall back into mediocrity.

There have been obvious exceptions. Burnley at home. Half a handful of games early doors in the season. Possibly also today, where I'd say we played mainly in 3rd, occasionally in 4th, and well within ourselves for most of the game, but still handed out a spanking to a steady-if-flawed-Champ-side.

So, ahead of the next and decisive run of games, I'm going to shout 'MAKE ME A CLAPPING HOSTAGE TO FORTUNE', and suggest that 'we' (meaning some of our supporters, inc plenty on this forum and sometimes me) have significantly underestimated the ability and potential of this squad.

Yes, if we go up, Hecky may need to develop his ability to be flexible with Plans A-F, particularly in-game. Yes, if we go up, we will need to spend a serious amount of money and hang on to key players. Yes, a good number of the current squad will need to be shown the door. And yes, we will need a new owner who has the capability to fund and administer a Prem club professionally.

But I do feel that we are in significantly better shape, with significantly better prospects for next year (if, if, if we go up) than many of 'us' have recently been willing to acknowledge.

Come at me.

I said similar about 6 weeks ago praising squad depth and return from injuries.
But my post was more about the number of supporters who wanted to buy at least one striker, possibly 2, plus a midfielder.
Even if Billy is injured or rested midweek, we still have McBurnie and Jebbinson back in play. Of course more players would be great, but our fans need to recognize that we don’t have oil rich Arabs with fat wallets. That is not our club.
Our place in the PL is already assured by results, if not performances. This squad, especially the togetherness and brotherhood, will need additions when we go up. That needs to be done gradually, to make sure we get quality players who will fit into that dressing room.
We have relied on loan players this season, and we will have to do it again next season, but we still need to buy our own talent, and bring on ballers like Arblaster and Coulibaly..
I am full of admiration for what Howe has done at the barcodes. He has money, but he has not destroyed the team by buying too many stars.
We need to be even more careful because we don’t need some Billy big bollox coming in to ruin the squad ethos, and we don’t have the money to burn anyway.
Get used to it because we are Sheffield UNITED, not Man City.

 

[nezimão]

Because whilst I would rate Wes as good enough for the PL, I wouldn't feel the same about Davies or Amissah. 1 GK needed.

We only have 4 CBs of our own, and one of them is Bash (god love him, but not the player he was). So we need 2 more.

Norwood and Berge are (IMO) the only midfielders that we own who are immediately good enough for the PL. I don't see Osborn or Fleck as good enough for that level anymore and whilst Coulibaly & Arblaster have potential, we will need more experience. 3 midfielders will be needed to both fill the 3rd position and compete with Norwood & Berge.

Onto the strikers, and we have Ndaiye and McBurnie to lead the line, but Sharp's contract is up in the summer, and whilst I would love for him to stay, the club may decide otherwise due to his age. Brewster is hit & miss and then we are onto Jebbo and Osula, who again have potential, but we will need more proven firepower. 2 strikers required.

All of the signings need to be good enough to get into the team, but the point I made above is that we need to trust the core team who got us promoted initially, and then have the strength in depth to make changes if needed.

totally agree with your reasoning about which positions need strengthening, wasn’t querying your thinking there at all.

 

[A Storm of Blades]

Today we played at a level approaching our potential. Pretty much the first time since the second half against Burnley.
Our results have disguised largely mediocre performances. Lets say we lose midweek. We would have no default performance level to fall back on to forge on. Doubts start to appear along with fragility of physical and mental approach to adversity
Now imagine if our performances matched our results. It's pretty straight forward. Oh and I don't understand anyone wanting to see anything different, Put the opposition to bed.

Ok - but the opposition also have a say in whether or not we put them to bed. I wouldn’t say results disguise mediocre performances. I would say we have been ruthlessly efficient in finding precisely the “Goldilocks” performance level needed to acquire, a quite frankly outrageous points total since Hecky came in.

 

[metalblade]

We'll see how good this squad is when Spurs come to town. At the moment we are doing rather well despite coming out of a injury crisis like I have never seen before. We have our moans about the performances when we seem to be doing the minimum required but how much is down to nursing players back to full fitness, you could say the same for some strange looking substitutions. Shows how much we fans know the table does all the talking. We do always seem to have that extra gear when things get tough.

 

[Charlieblade]

Aye a decent barometer for next season. Maybe we end more than one match against prem opposition to be sure.

 

[cahill]

Nice not to be hanging on at the death yesterday

 

[Dougie]

Justified criticism of performances yes. Not of results.

The op said sometimes justified criticism of form. The form is 9 wins and 3 draws in 12 games.

 

[A Storm of Blades]

The op said sometimes justified criticism of form. The form is 9 wins and 3 draws in 12 games.

One defeat in 18 too. I think Hecky has something like 123 points in just over 1.5 seasons. That’s incredible by any measure.

 

[ShockingBadBuy]

I could have used a different word than “form”, I suppose, but I’d say it’s pretty clear what I meant, given the rest of the OP. Not sure “form” necessarily has to mean points in the bag, and can never meaning anything else, either, but

For clarity, I think Hecky has done a fantastic job, and I’ve said as much on here plenty times.

 

[MagnifiqueShorehamStreet]

This is a special season for the Blades, and those who don’t realise it, or can’t get behind it, will never be satisfied.
Our record this season is fantastic, and not something anyone would have predicted at the start.
Our squad is the envy of the league, except Burnley’s, and I’ve never seen a Blades side manage football games so effectively, in my 50 plus years
Yes, the usual suspects on here, carp and complain, but hopefully these people, are in the minority.Unless we win the game by half-time, or Hecky’s team selections are spot on every time,and every player doesn’t dip below an 8 out of 10 performance, they’re straight on their keyboards, slagging this and that off.Thankfully it’s the reason why they do their football analysis, in their bedrooms, and Hecky is the manager.
Enjoy the good times, because there has been, and will be plenty of bad ones.
If we can’t get on board with what they are doing this season, some never will.

 

[Selly]

Ok - but the opposition also have a say in whether or not we put them to bed. I wouldn’t say results disguise mediocre performances. I would say we have been ruthlessly efficient in finding precisely the “Goldilocks” performance level needed to acquire, a quite frankly outrageous points total since Hecky came in.

Agree with this.

The difference between this squad and the Wilder promotion season is that this squad has a couple of players in Ndiye and Berge who are simply a cut above those division.

That means that performance of 70% are often enough as one of them will produce some quality that wins the game.

The Wilder squad didn't have that individual quality - they were very much a team - and as such performances had to be 90-100%. Where they dipped we generally dropped points in the run in (Bristol City, Millwall)

 

[FallowfieldBlade]

There has been a lot of (sometimes justified) criticism of our form since at least the World Cup. With a consensus of opinion, more or less, that we play halfway up the gears just long enough to win each game, then fall back into mediocrity.

There have been obvious exceptions. Burnley at home. Half a handful of games early doors in the season. Possibly also today, where I'd say we played mainly in 3rd, occasionally in 4th, and well within ourselves for most of the game, but still handed out a spanking to a steady-if-flawed-Champ-side.

So, ahead of the next and decisive run of games, I'm going to shout 'MAKE ME A CLAPPING HOSTAGE TO FORTUNE', and suggest that 'we' (meaning some of our supporters, inc plenty on this forum and sometimes me) have significantly underestimated the ability and potential of this squad.

Yes, if we go up, Hecky may need to develop his ability to be flexible with Plans A-F, particularly in-game. Yes, if we go up, we will need to spend a serious amount of money and hang on to key players. Yes, a good number of the current squad will need to be shown the door. And yes, we will need a new owner who has the capability to fund and administer a Prem club professionally.

But I do feel that we are in significantly better shape, with significantly better prospects for next year (if, if, if we go up) than many of 'us' have recently been willing to acknowledge.

Come at me.

I think this squad is too draw which is why sometimes it can be frustrating watching them grind out games

I would say of the squad we have plenty of prem mid table players Bogle/Egan/Anel/ - Norwood/Berge/Ndiaye/Mcburnie

Though I think this time if we go up the Prem is a million times more stronger than it was the first year with wilder

 

[Snowflake]

There has been a lot of (sometimes justified) criticism of our form since at least the World Cup. With a consensus of opinion, more or less, that we play halfway up the gears just long enough to win each game, then fall back into mediocrity.

There have been obvious exceptions. Burnley at home. Half a handful of games early doors in the season. Possibly also today, where I'd say we played mainly in 3rd, occasionally in 4th, and well within ourselves for most of the game, but still handed out a spanking to a steady-if-flawed-Champ-side.

So, ahead of the next and decisive run of games, I'm going to shout 'MAKE ME A CLAPPING HOSTAGE TO FORTUNE', and suggest that 'we' (meaning some of our supporters, inc plenty on this forum and sometimes me) have significantly underestimated the ability and potential of this squad.

Yes, if we go up, Hecky may need to develop his ability to be flexible with Plans A-F, particularly in-game. Yes, if we go up, we will need to spend a serious amount of money and hang on to key players. Yes, a good number of the current squad will need to be shown the door. And yes, we will need a new owner who has the capability to fund and administer a Prem club professionally.

But I do feel that we are in significantly better shape, with significantly better prospects for next year (if, if, if we go up) than many of 'us' have recently been willing to acknowledge.

Come at me.

There are players in the squad who are capable of surviving in the Prem but if the embargo is not lifted I don’t think the squad as a whole is good enough.
If that means we come back down in a better financial position then I am ok with that, as long as we then invest wisely to be in a better position when we next go up.

 

[biggiesablade]

There are players in the squad who are capable of surviving in the Prem but if the embargo is not lifted I don’t think the squad as a whole is good enough.
If that means we come back down in a better financial position then I am ok with that, as long as we then invest wisely to be in a better position when we next go up.

We escape the embargo if we go up fucked if we dont

 

[Berkshire Blade]

Though I think this time if we go up the Prem is a million times more stronger than it was the first year with wilder

Newcastle are stronger but Fulham and Brentford show it's not exactly impossible.

 

[Snowflake]

This is a special season for the Blades, and those who don’t realise it, or can’t get behind it, will never be satisfied.
Our record this season is fantastic, and not something anyone would have predicted at the start.
Our squad is the envy of the league, except Burnley’s, and I’ve never seen a Blades side manage football games so effectively, in my 50 plus years
Yes, the usual suspects on here, carp and complain, but hopefully these people, are in the minority.Unless we win the game by half-time, or Hecky’s team selections are spot on every time,and every player doesn’t dip below an 8 out of 10 performance, they’re straight on their keyboards, slagging this and that off.Thankfully it’s the reason why they do their football analysis, in their bedrooms, and Hecky is the manager.
Enjoy the good times, because there has been, and will be plenty of bad ones.
If we can’t get on board with what they are doing this season, some never will.

There are those of us who have seen us collapse before and that tends to cloud our judgement. When we play well, like yesterday, I still think back to Rotherham and two Wrexham performances . That leads me to look at where we are weak, rather than basking in the success of the last match.
Bizarrely I remain confident that we will go up this season, but that juxtaposition is what makes so many Blades supporters.
Sorry !!

 

[Snowflake]

We escape the embargo if we go up fucked if we dont

...are you sure that they haven’t changed the arrangements between the two leagues ?

 

[FallowfieldBlade]

Newcastle are stronger but Fulham and Brentford show it's not exactly impossible.

Fulham have spent millions

And Brentford do but they have a top class manager and scouting network

 

[biggiesablade]

...are you sure that they haven’t changed the arrangements between the two leagues ?

Not as far as I know have I missed something? Regardless we'll have the money to settle it

 

[Snowflake]

Not as far as I know have I missed something? Regardless we'll have the money to settle it

Do we not need to settle it before the 30 day period is up or have, like many others, misunderstood that also ?

 

[MagnifiqueShorehamStreet]

There are those of us who have seen us collapse before and that tends to cloud our judgement. When we play well, like yesterday, I still think back to Rotherham and two Wrexham performances . That leads me to look at where we are weak, rather than basking in the success of the last match.
Bizarrely I remain confident that we will go up this season, but that juxtaposition is what makes so many Blades supporters.
Sorry !!

Try to live in the present.`It will help, you enjoy life, much more.

 

[biggiesablade]

Do we not need to settle it before the 30 day period is up or have, like many others, misunderstood that also ?

I'm not sure now if you find out for sure will you tell me please

 

[Snowflake]

Try to live in the present.`It will help, you enjoy life, much more.

Attempting and achieving are not always easy.
Fortunately football doesn’t over influence my life, so I still think I am going to win each time I stand on the first tee !!
Watching United always starts the other way round as I have no control over the way we play. There again I don’t seem to have much control on my drives !

 

[Snowflake]

I'm not sure now if you find out for sure will you tell me please

I would love to know but have stopped following any progress on the “sale” or the embargo!

 

[mattbianco1]

Middlesbrough game is massive. It's one of those "must not lose" games. I'll take a draw now. A win and it's pretty much done and dusted.

First thing I'd do when promoted is drop £15m on McAtee. Give them the buy back option.

 

[A Storm of Blades]

Middlesbrough game is massive. It's one of those "must not lose" games. I'll take a draw now. A win and it's pretty much done and dusted.

First thing I'd do when promoted is drop £15m on McAtee. Give them the buy back option.

Agreed. He’s got great potential but he’s a million miles away from City’s starting 11 unless his progression goes nuclear. It’s a question of whether he feels our starting 11 is better than the occasional place on City’s bench.