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Sutton and Crouch look like they tipped Villa for relegation? But still surprising that only 2 did.
 
also surprising (for me anyway) how many tipped Cardiff for promotion
 
Could someone on here compile a simular piece on the pundits in this article , reflecting on how their predictions ended, then maybe send it them on twatter and post their reply on here?
Would be interesting to see who (like Savage has) had the balls to hold their hands up, or the feeble ramblings of a Steve Nichol type bell end
 
wait...wait ...maybe one of them tipped us to win a cup...they did not.
 



I can't believe how many people have been offended by pundits expecting us to go down. Our wage budget was less than half of the next lowest in the division. What Wilder has done is nothing short of a miracle and what was the statistic 17 of the last 20 lowest budgeted teams have gone down?

Just enjoy it, they're not pricks for thinking we'd go down and who cares what anyone thinks.
 
I think the most contentious point is the use of the word “expert”.
Fair enough possibly for the four ex-pros who played football to a very high standard but what qualifies the other blokes as experts on United’s prospects when they had probably never seen us play?
Crouch even played against us recently and he still thought we’d go down.
(Only he and Sutton not hoodwinked by the Villa spending spree though)

Bottom line is, I would have gone for mostly the same predictions.
Except for United going down as I see them play every week and thought we’d stay up (but not so comfortably as we have done)
If their “experts” had included the likes of Liam Rosenior, Colin Murray and the blokes from NTT20 we would have been rated more highly.
I couldn’t tell you if Forest and Fulham are potential challengers for Europe next season or not.
I’m too busy enjoying our Premier League adventure to bother with the lower leagues any more. As were their “experts” last season.
 
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Ian Wright was pretty annoyed that Wilder had lumped 'pundits' together and adamant that he said we'd stay up on MoTD last weekend. There weren't many though and I take no offence by the predictions, promoted teams are generally fancied to go down and they were all (bar 2) hoodwinked by Villa's spending spree. They obviously didn't learn from Fulham last year.
 
What a shower of cunts.

Did they also predict who would have the most VAR decisions against them as well?

pommpey
 
PittsburghBlade said:
I can't believe how many people have been offended by pundits expecting us to go down. Our wage budget was less than half of the next lowest in the division. What Wilder has done is nothing short of a miracle and what was the statistic 17 of the last 20 lowest budgeted teams have gone down?

Just enjoy it, they're not pricks for thinking we'd go down and who cares what anyone thinks.
Click to expand...
Yeah but it’s like they’ve never watched us play, had no clue whether we were any good. Just see the name Sheffield United, think of Neil Warnock and tip us for relegation.

The thing is they’re supposed to have a bit of a clue that we were a half decent side and just might stand a fighting chance of having a go at it.
 
Sothall_Blade said:
I think the most contentious point is the use of the word “expert”.
Fair enough possibly for the four ex-pros who played football to a very high standard....
Click to expand...

I agree with the sentiment of your post, except this bit.

Ex-pros are those least likely to be "experts". This is proven in every televised game.

You did then say that Colin Murray and "the blokes fron NTT20" should have been consulted :)
 
It was just lazy journalism predicting the promoted teams to do so badly, it’ll be the same with this seasons promoted teams. Maybe Leeds being the exception, like Villa, because of their history of being a top flight club for so many years in the 90s. They were right about Norwich and possibly Brighton too.

It was nice to prove them wrong though and it certainly helped give us some extra motivation.

What winded me up more is the fact that some pundits like Crookes still find it difficult to admit they were wrong about us. In the main we are well respected and that is what matters.
 
Even with my Blade glasses on, at times before the start of the season I’d look at the PL and think ‘are there three teams worse than us?’ Then I’d think ‘well, Norwich will struggle, not sure about Brighton with a new manager, surely Bournemouth or Burnley will run out of luck at some point’ and convince myself that with those, and the fact there’s usually someone you don’t expect to be down there, we’d be safe.
It’s easy with hindsight to say ‘how ridiculous’ and I did have faith in Wilder to keep us up, but this has been one of the most unpredictable seasons I can recall. I didn’t expect Arsenal or Spurs to sack their managers and struggle, I thought Chelsea would be out of the running by now. I thought Leicester might make top six but not top four.

If football was totally predictable it would be a bit shit and pointless.
 
Like all sports, there is always a paradigm of what brings success. Then someone or some team comes along and forces all to look at the metrics they once thought brought success. Usain Bolt changed the way coaches viewed sprinters for example.
The Blades came up with a team of little or no PL experience. Players who most would describe as journeymen. The majority of the team starting/playing in the PL cost/earn very little in comparison to other teams. There are no 'big', established names. No Players who have 'proved' themselves at the highest level. Etc etc. So by most metrics of the ordinary fan and lazy pundit, we were destined to go down. Just look at Wednesday fans and their views that their players are still better. Amongst coaches, who have access to data, it was more problematic. The players compare favourably with most other PL players when it comes to most data metrics. Add to that the coaching and management of CWAK and you get where we are. I was chatting to a Dutch coach the other day who was raving about Basham. Now, most fans would look at the way Basham runs and dismiss him as shit. In my opinion, Basham is our best player. (Controversial, I know). Soon to be replaced by Berge, trust me.
CWAK have shaken up the current paradigm which is why you have Klopp, Pep, Bielsa etc singing his praises. I predict there will be problems for some of the richer clubs when the Chairman/women start to expect managers to do the same as Wilder. Add to that the EFL proposed salary cap. CWAK have shown what excellent management/coaching can achieve. That is the new way forward not the cheque book. Mittwoch, look and learn.
 
At the start of the season I thought we would be in a mini league with 8 other teams and our aim was to finish upper mid table in that league. I didn't think we would go down; CWAK and the players have too much about them for that. I thought we'd get in the low 40s points wise but would never seriously be in danger of relegation.

This season is beyond my wildest dreams though. I am truly in awe at what is happening with our club. The signing of Berge was a watershed moment for me. It was a statement of where we are at and where we want to go. I am more positive than ever about our prospects now for next season. No billy big bollox stuff though from me, just solid consolidation and sustainable progression as a premier league club.
 



Trafford said:
Sutton and Crouch look like they tipped Villa for relegation? But still surprising that only 2 did.
Click to expand...

I think most would've thought that if any newly promoted club was going to do what we did this season, it'd be Villa. Which would be understandable given the money they threw at it, but as we've seen, by no means a certainty.

Even with my biases aside, I always thought we were a better side than Villa or Norwich, because we have a blue print, a system, and a method for recruitment, the other two don't.
 
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