Centre Back Absentees

[Fjortoft's Aeroplane]

Any sensible money would bet we do not get hammered. Sometimes clubs have to play a teenager in defence - it very rarely means they get hammered.

You were saying? Was so so obvious to anyone with an ounce of sense what would happen.

 

[wadblade]

Hughes (Hull)
Worrall (Burnley)
Mepham (Bournemouth)
Mee (free)
Tanganga (Millwall)

What other realistic (decent quality) options are there domestically?

The other Hull CB, is it Ayala? thought he looked decent today
Also the Luton CB’s individually looked decent

 

[brownblade]

You were saying? Was so so obvious to anyone with an ounce of sense what would happen.

My point was it's far from guaranteed. The sensible money still wouldn't be on a hammering. Like, high level gamblers that do the maths before betting.

As it is we were forced to play (poor lad) RND without even a defensive minded midfielder.

I've not scrolled back through the exact conversation. But although we lost by a few, was it a hammering? Don't answer that

 

[SwissBlade]

My point was it's far from guaranteed. The sensible money still wouldn't be on a hammering. Like, high level gamblers that do the maths before betting.

As it is we were forced to play (poor lad) RND without even a defensive minded midfielder.

I've not scrolled back through the exact conversation. But although we lost by a few, was it a hammering? Don't answer that

As soon as I saw RND alongside Bindon I was expecting the worst but hoped I’d be wrong. No pace and just look exposed. Unfair for Bindon to be thrown in alongside RND. It was extremely sad to see it pan out like it did

 

[Blade56]

Can see several senior players asking their managers to put the word out.
Campbell
Hamer
Jlt
Cooper?

To get into a situation where we lose 4 experienced players and play 4 out of the Accademy, then, play a CF as a RW and a LB as a RB is unforgivable.

Owners are so nieve it worries me they have Watch to many episodes of Welcome to Wrexham and thought it would be that easy.

 

[Servigliano]

One thing's for sure, the price we've been quoted for the centre backs we've apparently been looking at has just been upped by a factor of God knows how much.
Maybe our esteemed owners should reflect on whether or not hard bitten Championship football equates with their love of poker and AI.

 

[100% part time blade]

There were 6 outfield Blades players plus Cooper in the penalty area when they scored their 3rd. He was the only city player in the box waiting for a cross - and seven players couldn’t prevent the goal.

 

[FTPE]

Darling went to Norwich for free this summer. I can’t believe that, that was the most obvious transfer ever, especially in January!

Without banging the Wilder drum.
Imagine how much tighter at the back we'd be today with Darling in the middle and Dunne at right back.
Both, sweet FA.

But, who wants "Bladey Blade" signings anymore?

 

[brownblade]

Without banging the Wilder drum.
Imagine how much tighter at the back we'd be today with Darling in the middle and Dunne at right back.
Both, sweet FA.

But, who wants "Bladey Blade" signings anymore?

Well yes we wouldn't have played such attacking football, so we definitely would have been tighter at the back.

Perhaps naive from Selles to try his favoured system without having all the right players. But I'm not going to get angry about it, hopefully get bodies in even faster now.

 

[brownblade]

Hughes (Hull)
Worrall (Burnley)
Mepham (Bournemouth)
Mee (free)
Tanganga (Millwall)

What other realistic (decent quality) options are there domestically?

Not really any significant pace amongst these options. Tanganga aside. So I'm less confident on them after seeing the intended tactics in competitive action.

We badly need 2 CBs (3 if JLT leaves)... But who will fit the bill?!

Godfrey on paper, but probably not in practice given his last few seasons.

N.B. Choudhury would be ideal for DM, but unrealistic. Can't just have one DM (Soumare) in the squad when it's as vital as the CB position.

 

[Blacksea]

Hopefully Robinson is back fit. He's very much needed for Saturday.

Turns out Robinson was fit then, but Selles preferred RND.
Good thread this turned out to be,with hindsight of course

 

[LondonBlade89]

Without banging the Wilder drum.
Imagine how much tighter at the back we'd be today with Darling in the middle and Dunne at right back.
Both, sweet FA.

But, who wants "Bladey Blade" signings anymore?

Bringing in Selles was effectively an acceptance or a belief that the Wilder way wasn’t going to lead us to being a sustained Premier League club. If Wilder was still in charge, I’m fairly certain we’d be sat on three points and I’d be feeling confident about the season ahead. I’d be sh*tting it about next season though. Selles was always the roll of the dice on something different for longer-term success. Wilder was streets ahead as the better short-term option. If we go through much more pain like Saturday it’ll be incredibly hard to stomach but that’s ultimately what it was all about. And what do we as fans want? Great Championship seasons mixed in with awful Premier League ones, or a dice roll that we get some Premier League success with the risk being that we may miss out on both PL and Champ success? That’s the difficulty and why it’s been so hard to get any fans to align on it.

 

[Kozzy_is_my_Dad]

We'll get hammered for a game or two...

Prophetic

 

[1889]

The lack of experienced signings which has left us so exposed at the back and reliant on inconsistent academy players beyond the start of the season, shows an arrogant naivety from the ownership. Rightly or wrongly, Selles has been appointed and had pre season to try and introduce a new style of play, totally at odds with anything the majority of the squad have experienced.

Clearly, the ownership must have agreed and bought into this programme, when they selected him. But they haven’t delivered on their part of the project, we needed to fill the glaring gaps in the squad with good quality Championship players weeks ago, to give the side a chance to gel and familiarise themselves with the new system and each other?

They’ve totally taken their eye off the ball, seemingly preoccupied bringing in 18 year old ‘AI’ prospects from Eastern Europe and South America, whilst failing to address the here and now. The priority should have been players who could go straight into the starting 11, strengthen our position as a team prepared to challenge for promotion and be ready to go on the 9th August.

The 9th August to the 1st September, was the time to research and recruit data driven prospects. The ownership have been so eager to embrace the future and to drag Sheffield United into the world of 21st century innovation, that they’ve overlooked 2025/26.

Although its an unnecessary gamble, I sincerely hope that we can sign the quality players we need over the next month, without sacrificing many more points or failing that, the AI project proves to be a huge success and we’ll obliterate League 2 in 2028/29