THAT team is relegation material

[Lawrence]

Maybe we should have stuck with Clough!

Naaaa

 

[The Bohemian]

Deej - it's not about being negative, it's just recognising what we have and IF they can get better. I have been very positive with Clough and Adkins, but not now.

The main problem was getting rid of Clough - he bought a squad to play a certain way - 4-5-1, he aimed for boring 1 nil, 2 nil wins etc, dour football, but effective and for me it would have got us out of the division last season, but boring us to death and with Clough under pressure for his strange style of management that was alien to our supporters.

Adkins had to deal with that and give him credit, he tried all sorts of formulas, player changes etc and as we saw all to no avail.

CW has tried to do something similar but he backed himself in a corner by being too honest and vocal. Poor signings coupled with what he inherited was always going to be a problem. We played 4-2-3-1 in pre-season, bought Clark and suddenly it's 4-4-2 with a load of players suited to 4-5-1 and some 4th division type players. The whole scenario was a recipe for disaster.

I said to my lad when we played Derby "This team has relegation written all over it" - all the signs (including our slow demise) were there - sadly.

CW is the right manager to get us out of it, but he is going to have to eat humble pie (as he seems to be doing) and holding up his hands.

I wish him all the luck. He needs to start with a back 4 that is tough, uncompromising and are bully boys - just like Southend's no 6 last night. O'Connell is half decent and can progress as long as he has someone decent to talk him through games - the others are fragile to say the least.

Not sure where he actually goes from here.

UTB

Much as it pains me to say, you are bang on.

Sadly, the players Wilder has brought in are not performing and, based on the last three games, have taken us backwards (no mean achievement).

Long is taking all the rap having cost us a goal on Saturday and being partly to blame for last night's second (which, having seen the replay, was offside). However, Hussey had gone walkabout for Southend's first and could have dealt with the second. Wilson's appalling first touch was another big factor in Southend's second. Finally, O'Connell, who at least looks like a player, was leaden footed when giving the ball away for the third. That's 4 goals in 2 games all directly due to defensive errors and three of Wilder's signings culpable.

Perhaps, Adkins' single positive achievement was the improvement he oversaw in George Long, who had a solid season with relatively few errors, but is now back to his confused, self-doubting worst.

We ended last season with Edgar and Baptiste at the back. Again, based on evidence to date, they were light years better than the current pairing.

Hussey delivers a good dead ball but looks anything but a natural defender. Based on what we've seen so far, is he an improvement on Harris, Wallace or even McEveley?

Defensive frailties got us relegated from The Championship, (Simonsen in goal and no proper centre half once Morgs was crocked), cost us a likely promotion in 14/15 and undermined us again last season. This season is already, effectively, over from an automatic promotion perspective and unless Wilder resolves his goalkeeping (a critical priority) and defensive issues quickly we are in a relegation scrap.

That's before we even get started on our central midfield vacuum and dysfunctional strike pairing.

We all need to get behind Wilder and the team but, more than that, Wilder needs a rapid reappraisal of his formation and selections and his signings need to start performing.

 

[HighfieldBlade]

Speaking of relegation...Have they changed the rules? Four teams go down this season?

 

[1danewhitehouse]

Maybe, just maybe we should have stuck with Adkins.

And Clough…… and Wilson….. and Blackwell…… and Warnock….


But no, McCabe knows best.

 

[1danewhitehouse]

No, he can start now and avoid a relegation battle

He gets a sound GK, a sound defence and stop conceding goals - be boring (like Clough) if needed.

Don't concede, don't lose.

That is where he needs to start.

UTB

I think, as much as I’m sick of seeing boring football, that you are correct. We need all 11 players to contribute towards a clean sheet and then try to nick a goal. We’ve tried to go at teams, not enough to break them down whilst they can easily pick us off. I think we need to become first and foremost hard to beat. Then, try to improve on that. It worked for Clough in 2014 and Adkins’ better spells came around a similar approach of getting clean sheets (xmas period and the 5 games after the opening day defeat).

 

[1danewhitehouse]

Said it at the time and Wilder hopefully might prove me wrong, but how crazy is it to sack a manager after one season who has three league one promotions on his cv and replace him with a manager who has never managed as high as league one?

We've paid off Adkins and his staff, paid compensation to Northampton for Wilder and paid off Adkins' players. How much has that all cost? It's no wonder we're shopping in the bargain bin for players!

Absolutely fucking insane. But the bladey PR move worked as we shifted around 14k season tickets again under the guise of “it’ll be different this time”.

 

[Caseh]

Speaking of relegation...Have they changed the rules? Four teams go down this season?

That was the case anyway for League 1.

 

[Sean Thornton]

Absolutely fucking insane. But the bladey PR move worked as we shifted around 14k season tickets again under the guise of “it’ll be different this time”.

People renewed because they want to watch the team, not because they bought into the usual bollocks. The discount will have added a few no doubt but I think you are doing fans a disservice.

If I was McCabe I'd be looking at the ageing fan base heading towards 60 and paying £200 sir an ST in the South Stand and the number of younger ones heading towards full price and worrying about how many of them will give it a miss because of the extra money. That'll hit him in the pocket if we stay in this division.

 

[Fulwood Blade]

People renewed because they want to watch the team, not because they bought into the usual bollocks. The discount will have added a few no doubt but I think you are doing fans a disservice.

If I was McCabe I'd be looking at the ageing fan base heading towards 60 and paying £200 sir an ST in the South Stand and the number of younger ones heading towards full price and worrying about how many of them will give it a miss because of the extra money. That'll hit him in the pocket if we stay in this division.

people should look around Sheffield.............it's turning B&W also.

UTB

 

[Barney]

It's a bit of an overreaction to say we'll go down.

 

[1danewhitehouse]

People renewed because they want to watch the team, not because they bought into the usual bollocks. The discount will have added a few no doubt but I think you are doing fans a disservice.

If I was McCabe I'd be looking at the ageing fan base heading towards 60 and paying £200 sir an ST in the South Stand and the number of younger ones heading towards full price and worrying about how many of them will give it a miss because of the extra money. That'll hit him in the pocket if we stay in this division.

I meant only a portion of our fans renew for that reason. Some, like myself and possibly yourself go because we are hooked regardless of how pessimistic we might be over our chances. There has been plenty of blind optimism on here over pre-season to support my suggestion with comments along the lines of

"we finally have a manager who knows what he's doing", "a proper manager" "signing the best players of league 1" and my favourite "Sharp can only get better as it'll be a better team and better service".

 

[Ldn_Rd_Blades]

Another one

 

[Fulwood Blade]

another one what?

UTB

 

[Roygbiv]

To be fair to Fulwood Blade his original post wasn't far off at all. The players he picked out for criticism have all been dropped whilst Done has finally been taken away from the left wing position.

Maybe Wilder read his post

 

[Ldn_Rd_Blades]

another one what?

UTB

Another premature relegation thread

 

[Snowman]

Said it at the time and Wilder hopefully might prove me wrong, but how crazy is it to sack a manager after one season who has three league one promotions on his cv and replace him with a manager who has never managed as high as league one?

We've paid off Adkins and his staff, paid compensation to Northampton for Wilder and paid off Adkins' players. How much has that all cost? It's no wonder we're shopping in the bargain bin for players!

So far not that crazy. But you never know, when it all goes TU you can search for and resurrect this thread and say "I told you so".

 

[Fulwood Blade]

yes, I thought you meant that.

Would you like to tell us the difference in the teams from the first few games and now.

I'll give you a head start.

There are now 6 different players.

It is now a different formation with 3 of the existing players who started the season, playing in different positions.

Totally and utterly incomparable now to the start of the season.

Perhaps you also need reminding that we were 24th.

Perhaps you also need reminding that CW went on record as saying he had made mistakes with some players.

UTB

and as for one of our opening posts - Yes, we have got our Blades back - and it's way way different from the start of the season and previous for that matter.

 

[Ldn_Rd_Blades]

yes, I thought you meant that.

Would you like to tell us the difference in the teams from the first few games and now.

I'll give you a head start.

There are now 6 different players.

It is now a different formation with 3 of the existing players who started the season, playing in different positions.

Totally and utterly incomparable now to the start of the season.

Perhaps you also need reminding that we were 24th.

Perhaps you also need reminding that CW went on record as saying he had made mistakes with some players.

UTB

and as for one of our opening posts - Yes, we have got our Blades back - and it's way way different from the start of the season and previous for that matter.

i don't need reminding of anything, it was four games into a season, with a new manager, new players and the transfer window was still open

A bit premature to be talking about relegation

 

[Fulwood Blade]

yeah - it's really easy to sit on a fence also..............

UTB

 

[Ldn_Rd_Blades]

The fence is the correct place after 4 games

 

[zablade]

Another one

What exactly are you trying to achieve here?

 

[Ldn_Rd_Blades]

What exactly are you trying to achieve here?

Nothing, just bumped a thread another relegation thread like the other one.

Don't know why people get so defensive,

 

[Fulwood Blade]

the TEAM you so refer to in post #48 DOES NOT EXIST anymore - it's confined to history - hopefully never to be seen again.

I hope we all enjoy the NEW team we now have, created by CW and AK when they openly admitted they got it wrong.

What is your problem as expressed above by zablade?

UTB

 

[zablade]

Nothing, just bumped a thread another relegation thread like the other one.

Don't know why people get so defensive,

It's more like you have walked into a pub where everyone is having an enjoyable drink and started pointing at various people and calling them fools..

..sooner or later it's going to cause a feight.

 

[Ldn_Rd_Blades]

I haven't got a problem, just bumped what I thought was an overly negative thread

 

[Ldn_Rd_Blades]

It's more like you have walked into a pub where everyone is having an enjoyable drink and started pointing at various people and calling them fools..

..sooner or later it's going to cause a feight.

Is it, ok mate

 

[Tyler Durden]

You're both right in a way actually.

 

[Pollingtonblade]

This is a bit much isn't it?

I'm sure if I could be arsed I could go back through the last 5 seasons and find "don't worry we're going up" Or "Adkins/Clough know what they're doing "
"We don't need more signings the squad is good enough "type posts.

Football fortunes fluctuate, fans of the Blades get pissed off with chronic underachievement and at the start of the season it was looking like the same old.

We've turned it round, we're playing well, Wilder has identified problems and addressed these more importantly we are winning football matches. While this is the case we should enjoy it instead of searching the archives for a "he said this" it achieves nothing.

 

[stringjunior]

Hindsight is a wonderful thing. It looks to me like Fulwood called it as he saw it at the time.

Premature? With hindsight, maybe a little. But based on last 10 years of watching United, understandable.

 

[zablade]

If you look at the posters on the two threads there are a lot who would be considered decent posters who were extremely concerned about the horrible start. (Righty so)

A lot of them are now delighted and I am in no doubt very relieved at recent progress and have posted such.

This is a bit much isn't it?

I'm sure if I could be arsed I could go back through the last 5 seasons and find "don't worry we're going up" Or "Adkins/Clough know what they're doing "
"We don't need more signings the squad is good enough "type posts.

Football fortunes fluctuate, fans of the Blades get pissed off with chronic underachievement and at the start of the season it was looking like the same old.

We've turned it round, we're playing well, Wilder has identified problems and addressed these more importantly we are winning football matches. While this is the case we should enjoy it instead of searching the archives for a "he said this" it achieves nothing.

Exactly.