ucandomagic
Well-Known Member
Friday night away at the Bet 365 Stadium turned into quite a brutal encounter. Stoke were already on the usually-safe 50 points, but that probably won’t be enough to stay up this year. The Blades are mathematically certain to finish in 3rd place, but needed to balance game time and fitness before the playoff semi-finals. Stoke clearly thought that we wouldn’t be up for a fight in advance of the playoffs, and they were really physical throughout. The referee Jarred Gillet was very weak and offered the Blades players very little protection. Brewster in particular got studs to the ankle and about a minute later his leg was deliberately stood on while he was on the ground – both reds if VAR had been there. Anyway, on 38 minutes “Salmon-Leap” McCallum headed in a deflected Brewster corner – even then he had to take a knee to the head to score it.
After that, the Blades never seemed in real danger, but it took until the 87th minute to get the safety net of a second goal – probably with the best move of the game. Sydie Peck sprinting into space and receiving a lovely chipped pass from Cal O’Hare before delivering the perfect low cross across the 6-yard line for a rapidly-arriving Andre Brooks to smash into the net – job done. It was Brooks’ first touch, after 49 seconds on the pitch!
In his current interviews Wilder always emphasises that we still have things to play for, and that he wants to exceed 90 points and go for our best-ever Championship total. We now have 89 points from 45 games, and so we can get a maximum of 92 points. On 89 points after 45 games we are 1 point ahead of both Hecky’s 88 after 45 in 2022/23 and Wilder’s own 88 after 45 in 2018/19. We are 2 ahead of Warnock's 87 after 45 in 2005/06. Graph1 (and Graph 2 zoomed in) compare this season against our last 3 successful promotions from this level and show that 92 points would be our best ever Championship result, beating Hecky’s 91 points in 22/23. We will, however, once again fall short of our best equivalent finish of 93 points with Reg Freeman in 1952/53.
(We should, of course, remember that we have suffered a 2-point deduction this year, and so 92 points would mean 94 points on the pitch, which would be a better performance than the equivalent 1952/53 points total of 93)
Graph 1:
Graph 2:
We’re in the playoffs in 3rd place and we will play 6th. So, who does the League Table suggest our next opponents will be? The Table below is from Saturday night (26th) and before the Leeds v Bristol City match on 28th.
League Table:
Amazingly, with one game to go our 6th-placed opponents could be any one of Bristol City, Coventry, Boro, Millwall or Blackburn. Looking at the fixtures below, Bristol City should have enough to beat Preston for 5th place – Millwall shouldn’t win at Burnley – but if Coventry don’t see off Boro and we lose to Blackburn we could face Blackburn again twice in the playoff semi!
I think the most likely is Coventry in the semis and, unfortunately, Bristol City at Wembley, as they were one of the best sides at Bramall Lane this season.
Chart 1:
Anyway, we’ll all be keeping one eye on our phones on May 3rd to see who will be the visitors at the May 12th Bramall Lane second leg!
UTB & Slava Ukraini!
After that, the Blades never seemed in real danger, but it took until the 87th minute to get the safety net of a second goal – probably with the best move of the game. Sydie Peck sprinting into space and receiving a lovely chipped pass from Cal O’Hare before delivering the perfect low cross across the 6-yard line for a rapidly-arriving Andre Brooks to smash into the net – job done. It was Brooks’ first touch, after 49 seconds on the pitch!
In his current interviews Wilder always emphasises that we still have things to play for, and that he wants to exceed 90 points and go for our best-ever Championship total. We now have 89 points from 45 games, and so we can get a maximum of 92 points. On 89 points after 45 games we are 1 point ahead of both Hecky’s 88 after 45 in 2022/23 and Wilder’s own 88 after 45 in 2018/19. We are 2 ahead of Warnock's 87 after 45 in 2005/06. Graph1 (and Graph 2 zoomed in) compare this season against our last 3 successful promotions from this level and show that 92 points would be our best ever Championship result, beating Hecky’s 91 points in 22/23. We will, however, once again fall short of our best equivalent finish of 93 points with Reg Freeman in 1952/53.
(We should, of course, remember that we have suffered a 2-point deduction this year, and so 92 points would mean 94 points on the pitch, which would be a better performance than the equivalent 1952/53 points total of 93)
Graph 1:
Graph 2:
We’re in the playoffs in 3rd place and we will play 6th. So, who does the League Table suggest our next opponents will be? The Table below is from Saturday night (26th) and before the Leeds v Bristol City match on 28th.
League Table:
Amazingly, with one game to go our 6th-placed opponents could be any one of Bristol City, Coventry, Boro, Millwall or Blackburn. Looking at the fixtures below, Bristol City should have enough to beat Preston for 5th place – Millwall shouldn’t win at Burnley – but if Coventry don’t see off Boro and we lose to Blackburn we could face Blackburn again twice in the playoff semi!
I think the most likely is Coventry in the semis and, unfortunately, Bristol City at Wembley, as they were one of the best sides at Bramall Lane this season.
Chart 1:
Anyway, we’ll all be keeping one eye on our phones on May 3rd to see who will be the visitors at the May 12th Bramall Lane second leg!
UTB & Slava Ukraini!
