Survival

[Stretch]

I value the opinions of those idiotic wankers on talksport about as much as I value the opinions of those idiotic wankers on Porktalk. Do you see what I did there...?

Both exist only to be mocked and nothing more.

 

[Champagneblade]

Motivation

 

[Sheffsteel]

If we can survive this season, yes it's a big if, I expect us to be in and around bottom six all season, but if we can it could be pivotal in all manner of ways. More likely to find a serious buyer, Hecky buys himself time and space to lay solid foundations. That first season back under Wilder was deceptive. It was great and we saw the likes of Stevens, JOC, Fleck, Bash playing at their very peak but there were weaknesses that could be seen in retrospect. I've said before Hecky could be the best of the lot. He isn't arrogant, he's understated, humble but shrewd and has a good rapport with the players. I think this season is vital. We can stay up. We need unity.

Might sound controversial here but I seriously think Hecky is average (not good not bad, he's OK)
but I'm convinced he'd struggle to get another manager job in the Championship or above if he left us.

Last season we rarely played well but managed to get consistent results.
Most matches were the same, very organised strong defence, we often had spells of parking the bus so even our goalie had little to do.
(our strength at parking the bus bodes well for the Premier League because I don't think we'll concede many, problem is don't know where our goals will come).
The midfield were often disjointed, have some really good 15 minute spells but in the same match also have 15 minute spells we we can't string 3 passes together.
Under Wilder I could see a set style of play, generally keep possession, often overplaying it on to the wings and working openings.
Where as under Hecky I couldn't work out a style, apart from it was mixed up, every match we'd play a bit of decent football and some long ball hoof.
We always had this tendency to drop deep being negative in the last 20 minutes of many matches, but we held on to the 1 goal lead with ease.

Also the post matches interviews with Hecky were a waste of time, he never revealed much about his plan or thoughts.
Everything was measured and none committal about anything. We played well and he'd say we were OK, we played poorly and again he'd say we were OK.

One big positive with Hecky is that Wilder wore his heart on his sleeve and was over emotional, can be a good thing or a bad thing.
Where as Hecky is so non emotional, giving nothing away and you couldn't tell if we were near the top or near the bottom.
Also think he's handles off field affairs really well, just doesn't get involved...so he's been a very steadying influence, which was needed.

 

[Sheffsteel]

Remember when that Ginger Tosser Durham spouted the same shit? Ended up with smeg on his face

Yesterday 99% of Blades were spouting that we are certs for relegation.
Then just because Talksport predict the same....then there's Blades in disagreement.

When we came up with Wilder, think most Blades expected us to stay up because we were alot better than what people thought.
We were a bit of a secret, playing attractive keep possession passing football and I predicted we'd finish just below middle in the PL.
It also helped that the Wilder side spent over 50 million on transfers to strengthen the Championship squad.

Where as if we take our rose coloured spectacles off.
I'd agree, N'Diaye, along with McAtee and Doyle are massive losses, in fact without those 3 can't see how we'll score.
So agree with Talksport, looking at the current side surely we're destined for bottom 3.

However we have several more players line up to join, so we'll be making a few more signings.
We bought Ahmedhodzic from nowhere and he's good enough for the Premier League, so who knows how good these new signings will be.
Think it's a bit stupid to make any predictions until the transfer window closes but of course Talksport can only make predictions based on todays squad.
and I agree, pretty confident, without N'Diaye this current squad doesn't have enough numbers, no strength in depth and no where near good enough.

In fact the funny thing is....this current squad is a lot weaker than last seasons promotion squad. We've become weaker where as promotion teams always spend knowing they need to be stronger. However as mentioned we've got a few new signings lined up....so expect it to be much stronger very soon.
I think we'll stay up because I expect us to have identified some good players who will do well in the Premier League.
Our track record has been good when making cheaper signings, it's the big money signings that have tended to be the flops.

 

[St Annington]

What will be the factors for us to stay up do you think? Presume a combination of a poor league, Fleck and Mcburnie, Berge hitting obsolute form and osbourn to play like he has never before.

Said this on another thread - our biggest chance of staying up is first and foremost concentrating on keeping the ball out of our net. Leicester, Man U and Villa all scored roughly a similar amount of goals last season. They finished in their respective league positions due to goals conceded. It's not sexy football, but is effective.
Our performance v Spurs in last seasons FA cup is a prime example.

 

[Bell4]

Yesterday 99% of Blades were spouting that we are certs for relegation.
Then just because Talksport predict the same....then there's Blades in disagreement.

When we came up with Wilder, think most Blades expected us to stay up because we were alot better than what people thought.
We were a bit of a secret, playing attractive keep possession passing football and I predicted we'd finish just below middle in the PL.
It also helped that the Wilder side spent over 50 million on transfers to strengthen the Championship squad.

Where as if we take our rose coloured spectacles off.
I'd agree, N'Diaye, along with McAtee and Doyle are massive losses, in fact without those 3 can't see how we'll score.
So agree with Talksport, looking at the current side surely we're destined for bottom 3.

However we have several more players line up to join, so we'll be making a few more signings.
We bought Ahmedhodzic from nowhere and he's good enough for the Premier League, so who knows how good these new signings will be.
Think it's a bit stupid to make any predictions until the transfer window closes but of course Talksport can only make predictions based on todays squad.
and I agree, pretty confident, without N'Diaye this current squad doesn't have enough numbers, no strength in depth and no where near good enough.

In fact the funny thing is....this current squad is a lot weaker than last seasons promotion squad. We've become weaker where as promotion teams always spend knowing they need to be stronger. However as mentioned we've got a few new signings lined up....so expect it to be much stronger very soon.
I think we'll stay up because I expect us to have identified some good players who will do well in the Premier League.
Our track record has been good when making cheaper signings, it's the big money signings that have tended to be the flops.

Thank you thank you

Needed this

 

[blade too long]

plenty of teams we could finish above
full house bramall lane got mousset and Lundstram freeman zivkovic besic competing with the best
lots of teams in the mix to go down a lot no better than what we have
forest spent hundreds of millions and look vulnerable lost 5-0 to french side

 

[chesblade]

Crook is a decent football journo and as things stand, he's hardly being disrespectful.

Then again, it was Danny Mills on the very same station who took the piss and said we had no chance last time.

And Danny Mills admitted he got it wrong last time. I heard this yesterday and it annoyed me, how anyone can judge before we have kicked a ball is infuriating

 

[blade too long]

we go into the prem full of confidence just minus Ndiaye
are those missing him implying only he contributed to us getting 91 points
he was according to overall match ratings only 4th on the list for the season

 

[Davalon]

And Danny Mills admitted he got it wrong last time. I heard this yesterday and it annoyed me, how anyone can judge before we have kicked a ball is infuriating

Know what you mean but I'd imagine anyone who's neutral that follows football would more often than not have us down for relegation as it stands.

 

[Charlieblade]

I think that saying 99% of blades think we are relegation favourites is wrong. Many, including me, think we will stay up. That percentage against relegation doesn’t change much because N’diaye has left.
Wilder does not have a monopoly on finding gems for a good price. Wilder does not own the rights on moving players to a different place in the team (Basham from midfield to RCB).
Wilder is a good manager and motivator. So is PH. I used to believe in the Wilder philosophy, of a finger in every pie. It worked very well and he had his finger on the pulse of everything SUFC.

PH is the emotional opposite of Wilder. He has inherited a squad that is comfortable with a 5-3-2 formation. PH and Billy Sharp have energized that dressing room.

PH has got it spot on. He is not the fire and brimstone manager that, heart on his sleeve, emotional, toys out of the pram, manager that Wider became.

PH is more pragmatic, cool hand Luke, we’re all in it together, manager. He is still learning, but he can now do the job, since his defence coach arrived. He trust Jack, Macca, and Mark Hudson to deal with coaching and they are all very good at it. It frees PH to manage. That’s his job.

Wider and Knill werea partnership, but Wilder was the boss and it worked……. until it didn’t!

This is mostly a new experience for Hecky, but he will more readily accept the blame if it fails. I can’t see Wider ever accepting that!

PH will still make mistakes, but he will learn from them, and the club will grow because of that.

 

[straight_outta_compton]

Me.

Does that do owt for ya?

 

[blade too long]

hecky is a winner , hes very competitive
but hes very honest , says when hes got it wong , learns from it and moves on
he handles players so well and makes them better by getting them more involved pressing and closing
we got up mainly on our defensive strength , clean sheets and falling back to defend

it will stand us in good stead to continue this

 

[RealMcCoy]

Hecky needs to be cute target the eight weakest teams and get 4 points off each that gives us 32 points

Now if only someone could do a clever bit of graphing with this And track it through the season. Have to hazard a guess at the weakest 8 though. Weakest 10 would make 40 points (and presumed safety).

 

[FriethBlade]

The negatives at the minute are obvious, no Illi, Macca or Doyle who were a big part of our promotion. Our creative options seem to be poorer than last season at present and you have to wonder where the goals are coming from.

The positives are a big strong left sided defender added to make the defence look more solid. Slimane looks a great acquisition and could surprise a few in the PL and Traore looks a real live wire who will frighten defenders with his pace.

Clearly we need more in but if we can sign Souza and Illis replacement and get 2 good loanees in we might be in business.

Of course there are other weaknesses as strength in depth means injuries to key players will seriously weaken the team.

However our biggest strength is us, the support so as others have said it's imperative thst we stay behind the team all season, scare visiting teams at the Lane and make sure we don't become a weakness when things aren't going well

 

[71Blade]

Didn’t know Mcatee’s brother had signed for Luton.

He signed last season and was loaned out somewhere

 

[71Blade]

No way we stay up this season .. look at the teams who went down last season both Leeds and Leicester would take a minimum 4 points from us only Southampton would we possibly beat at home. Seriously Luton aside who are we better than? Appreciate the window isn't closed but we are weaker at this point than we were at the end of last season. I truly want to be wrong but i cannot see 3 worse teams than us.. sorry ..UTB

 

[Bell4]

No way we stay up this season .. look at the teams who went down last season both Leeds and Leicester would take a minimum 4 points from us only Southampton would we possibly beat at home. Seriously Luton aside who are we better than? Appreciate the window isn't closed but we are weaker at this point than we were at the end of last season. I truly want to be wrong but i cannot see 3 worse teams than us.. sorry ..UTB

Please please stop this

It’s - well - boring

 

[71Blade]

Please please stop this

It’s - well - boring

But realistic like i said be over the moon if I'm wrong . Time will tell

 

[St Annington]

And Danny Mills admitted he got it wrong last time. I heard this yesterday and it annoyed me, how anyone can judge before we have kicked a ball is infuriating

It's how modern media makes money. Their traditional revenue streams, i.e people paying for content, has disappeared, their only revenue stream is advertising, so to drive you to their site, station, podcast, or whatever, they will say anything. The more pissed off you are the more money they can make, cos not only will they piss you off but you will then post on a forum telling other people how pissed off you are, and then some people who didn't hear the original radio show might go and listen on catch up and bingo they're getting paid by their advertisers because someone clicked through. They are getting rich off of your poor mental health - just ignore them!!!

 

[munksyb]

The Blades will stay up

We don’t have to compete with Citeh , Arsenal etc

Plenty of clubs are having problems keeping their stars & recruiting due to FFP
Luton
Everton
Florist
Wolves
Palace
Bournemouth
Brentford

These are the teams we are competing with in our own mini- league

We have lost Illy
Who we will have a couple of slightly different replacements for
Tillman / Akpom ????
We have bolstered our defence
We will replace McAtee & Doyle loans with
Cole Palmer / Diallo ????

Hecky knows what he is doing & we aren’t spaffing money away

We will be more competitive & deeper than last season

 

[NerdyBlade]

Off of games this weekend and last, think it won't be a case of us staying up because we played well - think we'll stay up because there are some seriously dire teams (Everton probably the biggest) around us

 

[Tramway Blade]

Wolves look poor shocking at the back

 

[Alex Cheeseright]

 

[JayGreen17]

I really wished we’d have pulled the trigger earlier, I recon we’d have 4-8 more points if we had brought Wilder in after the Newcastle game. Which would see us out of the bottom.

 

[Alex Cheeseright]

The survival group is getting bigger. Bottom 3 and add Florist, Palace, Fulham and Brentford. But could change in a couple of weeks.

 

[blade too long]

16​

​

​

NOTTINGHAM FOREST

​

38​

9​

11​

18​

38​

68​

-30​

38

17​

​

EVERTON​

​

38​

8​

12​

18​

34​

57​

-23​

36​

18​

​

LEICESTER CITY​

​

38​

9​

7​

22​

51​

68​

-17​

34​

19​

​

LEEDS UNITED​

​

38​

7​

10​

21​

48​

78​

-30​

31​

20​

​

SOUTHAMPTON​

​

38​

6​

7​

25​

36​

73​

-37​

25​

final table last season and after 19 last season it looked like this,14th and 15th went down
14Leeds United18 4592633-7 17
15Leicester City19 52122633-7 17
16Wolverhampton Wanderers19 45101227-15 17
17AFC Bournemouth19 44111841-23 16
18West Ham United19 43121525-10 15
19Everton19 36101526-11 15
20Southampton19 431217 34-17 15

leeds only got 14 points in last 19 leicester got 17 in last 19. 25 points was enough to stay up
if its similar we need 26 points from 19