How can it be that we are in the Premier League, yet so far it feels like the worst season I can remember?

[Stretch]

So once again we enter the best and richest league in the world. The promised land....

Before a ball is kicked we see a generational talent fuck us off at the 11th hour.
We see repeated transfer deals get stuck in the mud so that we can't field a competitive team for the start of the season and have numerous new player not up to speed.
We get numerous late kicks in the bollocks (Forest, City, Spurs) to drop crucial points.
We suffer the tragic loss of Maddy, which knocks the whole club sideways, then we take a humiliating hammering at the very match that we honoured her memory.
Next we see our Club Captain pick up a serious injury before seeing a club legend suffer what looks like a career ending injury, before getting pumped again.

And we are only just into October. I honestly can't quite believe it.

This is not a call to surrender, and I know that most of us haven't given up yet, but does anyone else just feel like everything that could go wrong has, or is going to this season?

Surely things have to turn (even just a little) soon, with or without the current management team?

 

[1973Blade]

Because we are losing every week

 

[ashsufc1889]

Could it be that you are basing your expectations on the last "first season" in the prem?

 

[Stretch]

Could it be that you are basing your expectations on the last "first season" in the prem?

I am basing it on all the seasons I can remember to be honest mate.

We've been worse on the pitch. I recall how I felt when we had Heath, Adams, Weir and Adkins at the helm, but it's not just about the football, it's everything else that is going off with injuries (again) and the other off the field things I mentioned.

Everything just feels stacked against us, and we don't seem to have the quality or the luck needed to get through it.

 

[Sheffsteel]

Because we are losing every week

Couldn't care less about losing most weeks or being relegated, that's isn't the massive surprise.

For me it's the manner of the defeats, the tactics, the performances, the effort and in game tactical changes and subs.
As long as the team are doing their best then I'm happy.

We supposedly have upper Championship players competing against higher standard PL players.
So appreciate it will be tough however the problem is we can't seem to be able to compete.

The massive surprise for me is it really feels like watching a league 1 or league 2 team play Liverpool in the cup.
Our tactics seem to revolve around damage limitation, so keep it at 0-0 as long as possible then hope for a late winner from a long throw-in or corners.
You fear the players could be traumatised by such a season of having no chance and we do a Sunderland with another relegation next season too.

Surely we should be expecting better than this.
The results (apart from Newcastle) have been semi respectable to date but this masks the non event negative performances
which suggest there's a realistic chance we might not break double figure points for the season and beat Derby's record.
Not sure how any manager can keep their job with such record breaking under performance.

 

[Sheffsteel]

Could it be that you are basing your expectations on the last "first season" in the prem?

I'm basing my expectations on some of the worse Championship team in the last 30 years to be promoted.
Also comparing us to Wilders relegation season.
Check and compare the stats we're not competing as well as that side.

The Premier League has been running since 1993 (I think).
but over a period of 30 seasons we're seriously in danger of being the ever worse team.

We can't even put it down to bad luck, missing chances etc.
The pattern is the opposition always create plenty of chances and we hardly create any, so it's pretty much nailed on we'll lose.
We could have lost almost every match 4-0 to date, actually it's our results that are the one positive.....the results are better than the performances.

 

[Champagneblade]

What is surprising is how little we can do the basics all of a sudden. The very same basics that got us promoted.

Yes Ndiaye had his unplayable moments.

But we were good defensively. We’re now an incredible soft touch, giving simple goals away all the time.

We seem completely incapable of any form of sustainable possession.

I’m for being patient these days and not being rash but whatever we are practicing on the training ground isn’t transmitting itself to the pitch.

Are the players not fighting for Hecky anymore? Are they not alarmed by the situation? The way they allowed a 35 year old to canter into the box unimpeded for the 3rd speaks volumes.

If they like Hecky, it’s very much up to them to prevent him getting the sack by showing far more fight.

That said, Hecky has to be more flexible if he isn’t going to send us down with a record points total and no plan. Otherwise he’s going to be on borrowed time, if he isn’t already.

I like having a long term plan and sticking to it. But to bring the young lads through we need to have a way of playing, a style. I have no idea what that is right now. If Hecky is a man without a plan then he’ll soon be a man without a job.

 

[WF10BLADE]

We've got 1 point more than I thought we'd have at this point, predicted with Illy it wouldn't be pretty, without him this was obvious, or if we didn't have illy last year we wouldn't have made play offs so we are a mid table champ side playing in division above.

 

[Northyorksblade]

And yet, we are still not cut adrift at the bottom of the table. Yes, we definitely could be after the next two games, but at this moment in time, there are three other teams almost as bad as we are and their fans will be as down as us.

 

[JPBrods]

I was thinking about the punditry around the Covid disaster season and how so much was said about the lack of fans at the games.
Well now we're getting to see such results play out with 30,000 in the lane and 3,000 away every week, so the answer must be it makes sod all difference.

 

[straight_outta_compton]

Watched the Luton game, and they are even worse than we are! Technical ability was horrific. Even with spurs down to 10 men, spurs still looked reasonably comfortable. Luton definitely down. Burnley doing ok, but overall just shows how the financial gulf between championship & prem is widening to the point that promoted teams struggling to compete. It's killing competition!

 

[ATL Recs]

Couldn't care less about losing most weeks or being relegated, that's isn't the massive surprise.

For me it's the manner of the defeats, the tactics, the performances, the effort and in game tactical changes and subs.
As long as the team are doing their best then I'm happy.

We supposedly have upper Championship players competing against higher standard PL players.
So appreciate it will be tough however the problem is we can't seem to be able to compete.

The massive surprise for me is it really feels like watching a league 1 or league 2 team play Liverpool in the cup.
Our tactics seem to revolve around damage limitation, so keep it at 0-0 as long as possible then hope for a late winner from a long throw-in or corners.
You fear the players could be traumatised by such a season of having no chance and we do a Sunderland with another relegation next season too.

Surely we should be expecting better than this.
The results (apart from Newcastle) have been semi respectable to date but this masks the non event negative performances
which suggest there's a realistic chance we might not break double figure points for the season and beat Derby's record.
Not sure how any manager can keep their job with such record breaking under performance.

Exactly this

 

[Shakespeare blade]

I have to agree in some respects that some of the events that have occurred have really impacted what was already going to be a difficult season.
However a lot of this is down to poor planning and recruitment, you have to ask why did we recruit certain players to play in the under 21’s with a limited budget, why recruitment wasn’t done earlier, why we let players out the door without replacements lined up ( criminal how we bent over, yes I’ve heard the arguments but we are definitely weaker), not being ready for the first 4 matches where we could have had a chance knocked any belief out of the team.
Allowing Egan to play for Ireland with an injury & playing him ourselves has led to this situation undoubtedly.
Refusing to change formation, drop players, recruiting unfit players, recruiting hardly any premier league experience, letting go our talisman who would have helped in the last 10 minutes to sure up things hold the ball up and win cheap free kicks, keeping players like fleck instead.
We have been our absolute worst enemy and now paying the price for inept senior management & now middle management decisions, we need a complete change to alter the course of our season, will we stay up doubtful but at least try

 

[loveWalrusDaveTheBlade]

So once again we enter the best and richest league in the world. The promised land....

Before a ball is kicked we see a generational talent fuck us off at the 11th hour.
We see repeated transfer deals get stuck in the mud so that we can't field a competitive team for the start of the season and have numerous new player not up to speed.
We get numerous late kicks in the bollocks (Forest, City, Spurs) to drop crucial points.
We suffer the tragic loss of Maddy, which knocks the whole club sideways, then we take a humiliating hammering at the very match that we honoured her memory.
Next we see our Club Captain pick up a serious injury before seeing a club legend suffer what looks like a career ending injury, before getting pumped again.

And we are only just into October. I honestly can't quite believe it.

This is not a call to surrender, and I know that most of us haven't given up yet, but does anyone else just feel like everything that could go wrong has, or is going to this season?

Surely things have to turn (even just a little) soon, with or without the current management team?

I’m completely on this page.
I remember back to that stage last season where Boro were threatening to chase us down, and thinking just get over the line and get promoted - be happy with getting our arses handed to us on a plate in the a premier League next season, because we will have won the prize of stabilising our finances and avoiding catastrophe. Now that what I wanted to happen then has actually happened, I feel more down about the Blades than I have done in a long time. I expected to struggle with on-pitch performances, but the off-field stuff pre-season, the nature of some of our defeats, and the horrible personal circumstances affecting much loved individuals has got to me.
I don’t imagine that the players feel much different. There’s a lot of discussion on this forum about tactics and formations, and there’s certainly room for improvement there, but I think our biggest issue is that morale is paper thin. That puts lead in players legs, discourages players to make themselves available for passes, and leads to silly mistakes and frustrated actions - we’re seeing plenty of all of that, all over the pitch, and it’s killing us.
We need to spend the next two weeks putting that right - it’s every bit as important as worrying about tweaking or changing set up. Get some confidence and belief in the players and we will see a different team. Talk about what’s been happening both on and off the pitch, how we feel about it, what we’re going to do about it, and try to put some of it to bed.

The way things are panning out so far, the team that finishes fourth bottom might stay up with a ridiculously low points total. Unbelievably, that team could still be us.

 

[bladesmanluke]

I said from the moment we sold Ndiaye we are breaking Derby's record comfortably. I was often ridiculed for it, but the writing was on the wall. Nothing has changed

 

[Muttley]

I was thinking about the punditry around the Covid disaster season and how so much was said about the lack of fans at the games.
Well now we're getting to see such results play out with 30,000 in the lane and 3,000 away every week, so the answer must be it makes sod all difference.

We had players who would run through brick walls for this club, now we haven't.

 

[Caveblade]

I hate modern football. I hate the premier league and everything it stands for. The Newcastle game was awful for me, not because of the score, but the diving, the shit inept officials, and the ridiculous gulf in finances that means we simply cannot compete.

It's got to a point where I have given my season ticket to my nephew who will actually get some enjoyment out of it. I will go back when we get relegated and maybe I can enjoy watching football again.

It's not a flounce because we are losing, this has been coming for me for a long time as I have watched the game get completely fixed and skewed in favour of a few rich clubs.

 

[Muttley]

I hate modern football. I hate the premier league and everything it stands for. The Newcastle game was awful for me, not because of the score, but the diving, the shit inept officials, and the ridiculous gulf in finances that means we simply cannot compete.

It's got to a point where I have given my season ticket to my nephew who will actually get some enjoyment out of it. I will go back when we get relegated and maybe I can enjoy watching football again.

It's not a flounce because we are losing, this has been coming for me for a long time as I have watched the game get completely fixed and skewed in favour of a few rich clubs.

I'm fast reaching this point myself.

 

[Sheffsteel]

What is surprising is how little we can do the basics all of a sudden. The very same basics that got us promoted.

Yes Ndiaye had his unplayable moments.

But we were good defensively. We’re now an incredible soft touch, giving simple goals away all the time.

We seem completely incapable of any form of sustainable possession.

I’m for being patient these days and not being rash but whatever we are practicing on the training ground isn’t transmitting itself to the pitch.

Are the players not fighting for Hecky anymore? Are they not alarmed by the situation? The way they allowed a 35 year old to canter into the box unimpeded for the 3rd speaks volumes.

If they like Hecky, it’s very much up to them to prevent him getting the sack by showing far more fight.

That said, Hecky has to be more flexible if he isn’t going to send us down with a record points total and no plan. Otherwise he’s going to be on borrowed time, if he isn’t already.

I like having a long term plan and sticking to it. But to bring the young lads through we need to have a way of playing, a style. I have no idea what that is right now. If Hecky is a man without a plan then he’ll soon be a man without a job.

Excellent post.

You mention how the basics of.....show some composure, control and basic short passing.....all seem to have been forgotten this season.
However I remember in most matches last season.....we had a 20 minute spell of playing some really good, keep possession, passing football.
The link up play between Norwood, Berge, McAtee, Doyle and N'Diaye was a joy to see at times.
My heart used to warm because I used to think "yes, this team looks the real deal, we definitely have the look of a top 2 team".

Then in the same match we'd have a good 15 minute spell where we couldn't string 3 passes together where it was slightly embarrasing.
Was it a deliberate tactic because we'd then put almost everyone in defence, when a player had the ball, they'd just boot it clear straight back to the opposition.
We'd be saying on the Kop around me, it's a dangerous game continuously inviting pressure.
Why don't we just show some composure and play some simple passing to keep some possession to give the defence a rest? We'd laugh because we'd have to admit that the "park the bus" tactic worked for us earning us wins because we always held out due to weaker Championship attacks not being able to break throw.

So the warnings signs were all there last season.

Maybe Hecky thoughts are Egan and Robinson are liability regards their pace, so it's too dangerous pushing the defence up to the halfway line.
However when they 2 defend deep, then they both excel, so the general plan is to defend on the edge of our box.
Also maybe Hecky realises that Egan and Robinson aren't good with the ball at their feet,
so he's given them instructions to NOT play the ball around the back too much and when pressed by the opposition, just boot it clear.
Then the rest of team catch the same disease of when under pressure and the ball arrives at your feet, then just boot it clear upfield to anyone.

Hecky doesn't say much regards tactics in his pre and post match interviews, fair enough he prefers to keep things secret and non controversial but the danger is he comes across as not knowing what he's doing, when I suspect he knows exactly what he's doing but is trying to protect his players regards their short comings.

 

[Igor]

This season reminds me of that old book “Tom Browns Schooldays“
We are now up at the big school and are presently under the guidance of Flashman and his pals.
They’ve have had our pants down, been on the end of a good beating and we’ve been roasted in front of the fire.

Come on lads, to get any respect from this division we have to show a bit if fighting spirit.

It’s about time you started shitting in their beds and pissing in their soup.

UTB

 

[Sheffsteel]

We've got 1 point more than I thought we'd have at this point, predicted with Illy it wouldn't be pretty, without him this was obvious, or if we didn't have illy last year we wouldn't have made play offs so we are a mid table champ side playing in division above.

Agree without Illie we were a mid table side and to be fair.....that was consistently the summary given by away fans who saw us last season.

However I'd say last season on an individual level....most of our players were upper Championship level.
So if we did finish mid table....then for me..that would be under performing based on getting the most out of the players.

Last season Hamer looked class at Coventry, Archer was more inconsistent but was capable of looking class at Boro too. So why are we playing to their strengths?
Appreciate Hecky does have a level of excuse due to the disjointed pre-season and last minute incomings which probably explains why we look disjointed.

Also even if we all accept the current players are only average Championship standard then why this season are we approaching games and competing like we're a league 1 team playing a PL side in the cup. Average Championship sides would compete better than what we're doing (based on performance not results).
Mentioned before, apart from the Newcastle game all our results have been respectable, it's the performances that haven't been respectable or acceptable.

 

[Sheffsteel]

This season reminds me of that old book “Tom Browns Schooldays“
We are now up at the big school and are presently under the guidance of Flashman and his pals.
They’ve have had our pants down, been on the end of a good beating and we’ve been roasted in front of the fire.

Come on lads, to get any respect from this division we have to show a bit if fighting spirit.

It’s about time you started shitting in their beds and pissing in their soup.

UTB

Love it...brilliant post....you should post more if that's your level ha ha.

 

[Working Class Hero]

Coupled with the fact that promotion never felt right and was easily the least exciting I've ever experienced, there is clearly something not quite right with things. Even in a nailed on relegation scrap, a Premier League season should be very exciting.

I think it's probably partly down to me and how my perspective on football has changed, but it does seem to be wider than that.

 

[Muttley]

Coupled with the fact that promotion never felt right and was easily the least exciting I've ever experienced, there is clearly something not quite right with things. Even in a nailed on relegation scrap, a Premier League season should be very exciting.

I think it's probably partly down to me and how my perspective on football has changed, but it does seem to be wider than that.

I thought it was just me who thought that. Last time we went up with Wilder, I had tears running down my cheaks, this time was very different. The relegation seasonwas horrendous. It 's as if I knew what was coming.

 

[Rodley]

And yet, we are still not cut adrift at the bottom of the table. Yes, we definitely could be after the next two games, but at this moment in time, there are three other teams almost as bad as we are and their fans will be as down as us.

We’ve got Arsenal and Man United next, I think we’ll have one point still and be adrift by then. The issue is we’re conceding 20 shots per game, only having a handful ourselves, and not having any sort of possession. I can’t see where the next point comes from. We can’t be that bad surely.

 

[Lord Eddard Muir]

So once again we enter the best and richest league in the world. The promised land....

Before a ball is kicked we see a generational talent fuck us off at the 11th hour.
We see repeated transfer deals get stuck in the mud so that we can't field a competitive team for the start of the season and have numerous new player not up to speed.
We get numerous late kicks in the bollocks (Forest, City, Spurs) to drop crucial points.
We suffer the tragic loss of Maddy, which knocks the whole club sideways, then we take a humiliating hammering at the very match that we honoured her memory.
Next we see our Club Captain pick up a serious injury before seeing a club legend suffer what looks like a career ending injury, before getting pumped again.

And we are only just into October. I honestly can't quite believe it.

This is not a call to surrender, and I know that most of us haven't given up yet, but does anyone else just feel like everything that could go wrong has, or is going to this season?

Surely things have to turn (even just a little) soon, with or without the current management team?

Good post. We've had plenty of bad luck in the past but this season actually feels cursed.

 

[DSB-91]

Coupled with the fact that promotion never felt right and was easily the least exciting I've ever experienced, there is clearly something not quite right with things. Even in a nailed on relegation scrap, a Premier League season should be very exciting.

I think it's probably partly down to me and how my perspective on football has changed, but it does seem to be wider than that.

I feel the same.

Yesterday when we scored, I barely celebrated. Partly I think because I just didn’t have any real expectation we’d be able to hang on and get anything from the game. But also, I just didn’t feel the same sense of tension or stakes. Weird one.

I’ve never heard The Lane go so quiet as during the 8-0. Not even anger, just deflation. I think that was a massive knock not just to the team, but for the fans.

 

[Dark muffy]

Premier league is not all its cracked up to be, best bit about being in the Premier league is the promotion to it. The media and the fans of established prem teams (especially the ones who dont go to matches) will tell us its the b all and end all of football. Truth is its a bit shit for the likes of us Norwich, West Brom, Burnley. I just see it as a season lost in my enjoyment of football, a season where I don't see us score much, create much, have shit (not sat 3pm) kick off times. Where we generally get ridiculed and slated by the media and other fans. We need to be in it for the cash, we needed to get promoted for our short/mid term future, but il be more bothered and interested next season when we are back in the championship.

 

[mcbladeface]

I certainly have this feeling that the footballing gods saw us promoted again and went "what do you think you're doing?".

The stuff thrown at us thus far is ridiculous. The injuries in particular to our older players. After a long spell of will-won't he, one of our overlapping CBs finally admits his injury has ended his career. Months later the other overlapping CB suffers an horrific freak injury that also ends his. We renew Fleck's contract, another old favourite (albeit one who hasn't been anything like he used to be) and he promptly breaks the same leg again. Osborne suffers a horrible injury.

People wanted us to keep Sharp. I'm glad we didn't now. Fuck knows what would have happened to him if we had.

 

[Loco Blade]

Two guys win a million on the lotto . First bloke says fuck it and blows the lot . Second bloke pays off his mortgage and cards and has a few bob left to mess with . We are the second bloke . Our owner is tidying stuff up pre sale so I can’t see any massive changes here . We are going back where we belong in second tier for now . In a galaxy far far away some trillionaire might spunk billions on blades but our reality is keep the club solvent and rob the bank now and then . Hecky will still be here next season IMO like it or not