Sheffield United vs Birmingham City

S24SU · OFFICIAL MATCHDAY EDITION · 2026/27 · No.2

15th August 2026 - Kick-off 17:30
Sheffield United v. Birmingham City
EFL Championship – Week 1 - Bramall Lane, Sheffield

EFL Championship Week 1 – Saturday 15 August 2026, 17:30 – Bramall Lane, Sheffield
Please keep all discussion related to the match within this thread.

Match Info

Competition: EFL Championship, Week 1

Kick-off: Saturday 15 August 2026, 17:30

Venue: Bramall Lane, Sheffield

Player Ratings: CLICK HERE (will open shortly after full time)

Officials

Referee: Gavin Ward

Assistants: Bhups Singh-Gill and Darren Williams

Fourth Official: Neil Hair

How to Watch

TV/Stream:

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Keep it on-topic and within the rules – see the forum rules if unsure.​

 

[Hamer's Right Peg]

Biggest positive was the clean sheet and Oné doing more in 5mins than Cannon and Bamford. Shame he got that knock which basically killed the game as O'Hare had to go back out wide.

 

[Æthelstan]

My key takeaways:

• We aren't great
• Brum aren't great, despite their money and the delusions of grandeur some of their fans have
• Cannon is a ghost
• Never give the fans paper as they will throw paper aeroplanes around
• The teenage girl I sit near still smells of piss

 

[Belvedere Blade]

 

[wf9-Danny]

My key takeaways:

• We aren't great
• Brum aren't great, despite their money and the delusions of grandeur some of their fans have
• Cannon is a ghost
• Never give the fans paper as they will throw paper aeroplanes around
• The teenage girl I sit near still smells of piss

Does she have a disability?

 

[Belvedere Blade]

 

[bakeblade]

Really, really poor today. Chris says in his programme notes that he wants 'accountability and connectivity between all associated with Sheffield United' getting his cliché in early.

Well, if he really wants connection, stop starting Cannon. That price tag is weighing heavy on the lad and he's being played to justify it somehow.

I feel for him now, it's not working and everyone can see it as can our fingerpost lookalike manager. Delightful pointing to the left and right again today.

The South stand toilets are fabulous though.

A wasted afternoon.

Fortunately I missed today's game, I'm looking forward to seeing the new toilets though next home game

 

[54yrblade]

Fortunately I missed today's game, I'm looking forward to seeing the new toilets though next home game

They are a huge upgrade and very clearly had a full pre season. Everything properly connected.

Pity the team isn’t

 

[Dean68]

Thankfully Cannon off, will get Wilder the sack that lad.

I think he already did once

 

[Sheffsteel]

Full time 0-0

Thought we were solid enough but never looked like scoring. Birmingham were slightly better, they also looked solid but never really threatened to score.

Positives
Central defence was good, well done McGuiness.

Thought Rothwell was good too, always looking to play quick forward passes.

After making the subs for the last 10 minutes think we improved.

Negatives
Midfield didn’t work, no understanding , thought Rothwell was decent but Peck hardly touched the ball and when he did it was just simple sideways passing. Overall thought Peck was disappointing.

Sereki showed athleticism and effort but he had loads of misplaced passes

In it seemed contagious, everytime any player tried a more difficult forward pass it was misplaced.

Thought Cannon was poor, quite slow and weak challenging for the ball, he looked a bit disinterested.

Overall
Can’t complain at the result.
Thought 0-0 was a fair result altho Birmingham looked slightly the better side. If any team deserved to win, was them.

Makes me laugh how everyone says we must keep Sereki and Peck. If any scouts were watching they’d be reporting back “don’t bother”.

Atmosphere started well but there was so little action there was quiet spells but in the circumstances thought the fans were better than last season.

Everyone is talking about buying Souttar but today defence was our best area. It was creativity we lacked.

In the crowd around me a few were saying it was a stale mate between 2 half decent solid teams but neither looked anywhere near promotion level.

 

[Nagima]

Positives
Cooper looks in decent form that was a terrific save down to his right as there were bodies blocking his sightline.
Japhets tackle in the box. Japhet was good. McGuinness ok he had one or two poor moments but he worked had.

Negatives.
Wilder. What was he doing starting that midfield. We were light weight and bullied of the ball time and time again. O'Hare and Donovan worked hard but when you have Peck and Rothwell in the centre we never got hold of the ball to control anything. Rothwell played Seriki in but under hit the pass causing Seriki to shuffle his feet. Chance gone. Rothwell on breaking played a pass out to the wing and over hit it, Seriki had to scramble to keep it on the pitch, allowing cover to get back. Chance gone. Cannon starts again....and again was ineffective.

Substitutions. What was the point of signing Riedewald and not putting him on in the type of game where we need a steady CM. One should be ahead of Campbell for this game. His size and pace is what we needed earlier.

We were lucky to get a draw out of this game. Two balls went across our box that only needed a tap in. Burrows dive in the box was embarrasing.

Phillips and Riedewald are needed on the pitch to give a platform to work from for the likes of O'Hare, Donovan, and Chong to be able to influence the game. The stop/start nature of the game was casused mainly by the attempt of playing 5 a side in tight spaces. It was energy sapping and didn't create anything.

 

[tyke1889]

Watching in a bar in Spain, with Sky Sports commentary. Why they allow Lee Hendrie to cover our games I will never know. He is so far up Birmingham’s arses I swear all you could see are the sale stickers on his sale price Arnes

Didn't get any more understandable the second time of reading

 

[SouthStandGBlock]

I was bored senseless, but I thought we'd get beat, so happy with the point.

GK and CBs looked good, as did Full backs.

In front of them was poor. I'm a big fan of Peck but he wasn't at the races today. Rest of midfield bullied.

O Hare fizzed and popped but was ineffective.

Bamford OK 1st half, v poor 2nd half. Cannon is woeful.

One good when he came on.

We need some energy and creativity in midfield.

Not sure we need Souttar - by all accounts he was very poor today.

 

[Keen Blade]

Yay cannons on
What’s the point of talking about Campbell then giving him an extension if Wilder don’t even start him

A player that Wilder says publicly has not kept himself fast & fit enough to play in a friendly GETS A NEW CONTRACT ???
Who the fuck is running this club ?
McCarthy & Stone retirement & care homes ?

 

[KMC-1889]

Think the back line is fine, even Burrows looked solid when he came on. If mcGuinness can keep putting in games like that I’m much more confident about our CB situation.

I’ve no idea what the plan to score goals is. Loads of effort from O’Hare but there’s nothing for him to feed. Cannon was diabolical but other than a half chance Bamford contributed nothing.

Loads of up and under and try to nick a chance. Going to be a long old season if we can’t come up with a better plan.

 

[Edgar Allan Poo]

A better start than last season and undefeated in the league during August so far.

Recruitment to push us onwards and upwards hasn't happened yet so I'm not surprised that Chris set us up not to concede.

As others have mentioned we are crying out for more creativity in midfield.

 

[Æthelstan]

Does she have a disability?

Nope

 

[prescotblade]

Unfortunately forwards need chances to score, I think there was only two or three

 

[Keen Blade]

Cannon’s been no worse than Bamford though I’d be tempted to swap him for Campbell soon.

Bamford has gone right off the boil since last season.
Awful at Mansfield & today after being our star.
New baby must be wrecking his sleep and/or his brain.

We now have 3 useless strikers and one decent rookie.
And we just gave one of them a new feckin contract
Laughable.

 

[Keen Blade]

I was looking forward to watching the first game of the season but unfortunately I ended up watching a game from last season

Yeh , and it had festered quite badly in the meantime