Wilder got it right today.

[Cheesebored]

Inept selections that got us maximum points…. Can’t see us getting top 2 even though on the pitch we have won 72 points from 33 matches, yeah ok ……..

You'll learn. Back door, 4 million, etc. Some people can't forgive and forget. Wilder's not perfect but fuck me he's doing a good job for us and there's plenty worse out there.

 

[Paulus]

It would be harsh to sack him if he gets us promoted, but there is certainly a strong argument that we should see if there is a better option out there.

Yeah, let’s get Jokanović or someone else who fancies a good pay packet and doesn’t give a shit about us. That’ll work

 

[YES Blade]

Yeah, let’s get Jokanović or someone else who fancies a good pay packet and doesn’t give a shit about us. That’ll work

Wilder has been part of two relegations from the Premier League, so I struggle to see how anyone can be confident that he’d be the right manager for that level.

 

[Bl4desutd]

I’ve been today…it wasn’t great but we won. Luton have been missing 3 or 4 key players recently but they all played today and they played more like the team we saw last season. We dug in when we had to and created good chances when we managed to play our fluent football. I can’t get my head round the number of entitled fans we have created over the last couple of seasons who expect us to just roll up like Liverpool or Madrid and steam roll every team, home or away. We sit top of the league, most wins in the whole EFL, a fantastic team spirit, some great individual players, fantastic young academy players, and new owners who appear to want to back the club financially.
Take a step back….look at the big picture…enjoy the ride…..and stop fucking moaning for the sake of it

 

[loveWalrusDaveTheBlade]

Everyone saying Wilder got it right today, so I assume that these people believe the correct game plan was to weather the storm, against a side bottom of the league, for the first 80 minutes, at which point hope a central defender, will all being well, roll in the winner?

I think Wilder got it horrifically wrong and rode his luck, thanks in the end to the players who watched the majority of the game sat behind him. Luton fans must be struggling to get their breath tonight, after our toothless performance. Wednesday night was a superb, attacking football performance, we absolutely destroyed Middlesbrough and a 3-1 defeat flattered them.

On that basis, surely you start with the same team, with the exception of any injuries, maintain the momentum, build the confidence and play the same front foot style of football and engrain it into the squad. Then, when you’re 2 or 3 up, then you change the players you might want to keep fresh for Leeds, albeit that the game is still a full 9 days away?

As far as I’m concerned, the changes at half time were an acknowledgement from Wilder that he’d made an error of judgement. He complained after the Portsmouth game about the players having an ‘arrogance’, well it’s apparent who they’ve caught it from. We were much more of a threat second half, after the changes, but we should have carried that exact same threat from the kick off. I don’t agree with his constant tinkering with the team shape and personnel. We need to play the same 11 whenever possible for the remainder of the season, without Peck, O’Hare even Davies, we have no threat from midfield and no link to the strikers. Souza and Choudhury are defensive, holding midfielders and both shouldn’t be starting together.

As it is, we now go into the game with Leeds, not buoyed with confidence after another superb up and at ‘em display, after putting 4 or 5 passed Luton, to add to the 3 passed Middlesbrough. No we go into it, not knowing how the fuck, we nicked 3 points off the team bottom of the league and what style we’ll be asked to adopt against our main rivals?

I wouldn’t argue against the fact that we rode our luck in the first half, but just maybe the second half changes were intended as part of a game plan, a strategy even, to minimise further workload on players like Peck and O’Hare, both of whose games depend on energy, and who have run themselves into the ground in recent weeks. Maybe Wilder has seen the benefits of giving some of these players a bit of a break after their extreme exertions over Christmas and into January. Maybe he understands how close some of them are to the edge, physically.
Maybe he’s trying to give some of the new players time to get up to match speed in case we need to call on them as a result of injury. Choudhury shouldn’t be playing alongside Vinny, but is the obvious replacement if Vini gets injured. Would we expect him to do that from a cold start?

As for going into the game against Leeds “ not buoyed up with confidence” then perhaps he should show the players the league table, or remind them that they’ve just won four on the bounce, even during a period when we’ve been very obviously marshalling our resources to ensure readiness for the final run in.
I fully expect the line-up for Leeds to be at what most of us recognise as full strength, with players that are fully fit, sensibly rested, full of confidence, and raring to go. The players will understand what we’ve been doing in recent matches, and will appreciate the reasons why we have been doing it.

 

[1889]

Or as many on here have often asked, where's plan B.

If he changes it - he get's slated.

If he doesn't change it - he gets slated.

If he assembles an entire squad in two windows and takes us to the top of the league - he gets slated.

Not entertaining enough.

Well today, he’s getting slated for not changing it on the coach, on the way to the ground.

 

[moody1889]

When i saw the team sheet i thought WTF, bur he was so right. Luton were bombing balls into our box from everywhere on the pitch and a tough resolve was needed and we got that.
Well done Chris.

He didn't in the first half Luton were the better team.

Peck and O Hare attacking wise changed it and Holding in defence was solid as a rock was really impressed.

But Callum O Hare for me was key he is a class player and when he came on he changed the game.

 

[Plymouthblade]

No he din’t it did NOT have to be that hard… he’s walking a tight line, today it paid off

Bore off

 

[Paulus]

Wilder has been part of two relegations from the Premier League, so I struggle to see how anyone can be confident that he’d be the right manager for that level.

If anyone seriously thinks the last relegation was Wilder’s fault they need their head reprogrammed. The world was going crazy first time around so let’s throw it all at Wilder’s door. The guy who had rescued the club from the edge and built a team that played as good football as any Blades team any of us can remember.

 

[Blade56]

Eventually

 

[bertieblade]

I do not expect us to turn up and our opposition roll over but I do expect our manager to pick a team with some creativity, not play the two defensive midfield players who failed against Portsmouth and only Rak Sakyi as an outlet yet only give him the ball once.
Yes we won but similar to Portsmouth it was again hard work and only improved when he changed the team at half time, which is surely indicative of the fact that not only did he pick the wrong team to start with but learnt nothing from the Portsmouth selection

 

[Sheffsteel]

When i saw the team sheet i thought WTF, bur he was so right. Luton were bombing balls into our box from everywhere on the pitch and a tough resolve was needed and we got that.
Well done Chris.

It was a big risk….that had a good chance of failure
But the gamble paid off……so agree he deserves credit.

Think it was the 2nd half substitutions that helped. He realised he’d made a mistake and corrected it.

 

[Sheffsteel]

Your username is embarrassing you div. Get your head out of Wilders arse and realise we have been incredibly lucky today. Exactly the same as Portsmouth. Two games we should have lost with Wilders inept team selections, but somehow we have gained 6 points. Im as delighted as anyone but with everything a tad some common sense is required. Can’t see us getting top 2 but feel free to quote me. Take the points etc and UTB

Factually wrong based on neutral in game XG stats.
They show we were incredibly lucky against Portsmouth but only slightly lucky today regards the 1st half.

However in the 2nd half we had all the best chances.
Overall the stats prove we had the better chances in the match and just about deserved to win….
Our XG was better than Luton’s, so the based on chances the win was deserved….it was far from convincing though.

There’s 2 schools of thought regards our prospects and both have validity.

1: Results will catch up with performances….it logical to expect that a team can’t keep having off days…yet continue to win.
However we do have the excuse of having loads of injuries during Dec and Jan, so you can’t judge us when playing such a weak squad.
Today we were poor 1st half but Wilder treat it like a FA cup tie putting out a weaker starting 11.

2: If we’ve topped the league with small squad and so many injuries.Then now we’ve are substantially stronger with loads of players back from injury, Wilder had an embarrassment of riches with a much stronger squad and bench than last year in the PL.

Logic suggests that with a much stronger and bigger squad…we should amass more points in the 2nd half of the season compared to the 1st half.
Therefore we should end up around the 100 point level….which would likely mean we’ll be champions.

Not sure which will end up being correct….all top 4 teams can put forward a reasonably strong argument why they’ll finish top 2….thats what makes it exciting.

 

[Sheffsteel]

I do not expect us to turn up and our opposition roll over but I do expect our manager to pick a team with some creativity, not play the two defensive midfield players who failed against Portsmouth and only Rak Sakyi as an outlet yet only give him the ball once.
Yes we won but similar to Portsmouth it was again hard work and only improved when he changed the team at half time, which is surely indicative of the fact that not only did he pick the wrong team to start with but learnt nothing from the Portsmouth selection

Agree….good points.
Think Wilder must be resting some of the players to prevent future injury and tiredness….risky but it’s working so far.
Wilder corrected his mistakes 2nd half and we got the win…..slightly concerning but it’s no big deal.
When we put the team that outclassed Boro on Wednesday night….we’ll be a match for any team in this league….that team will finish top 2.

 

[Northernsoulblade]

Wilder seems to set up to our opponents strengths instead of them worrying about our set up but points win prizes and so far wilders doing the business can’t argue with that be interesting the team selection for the weeds

 

[SouthEssexBlade]

I need Bergen Blade on this to confirm my suspicions. But I think Luton caught us out today by playing two up front and we set up for them playing one.

 

[Bladezz]

Why didn’t he match them from the start and then avoid the risk of going in 2 down?

In his interview after he said Peck wasn’t fit to play 90 minutes. So there wasn’t a choice.

 

[KiwiBlabe]

Luton made 7 changes today. When CW/AK figured out what they were doing he changed it again. People talk as though if e put our strongest team out we would play free flowing footy for 90 mins of every game.
Thing is, the only things that are 100% true are that, we won, we did not pick up any serious injuries to key players through overuse and we are top of the league.
I'm choosing to enjoy these facts and not dwell on any of the other bullshit that has been spouted all year, such as, we are not entertaining, Wilder needs to get it right from the start, we should have played x not y,.
Try enjoying the ride and not finding fault, you will enjoy it lots more.

Can't wait to sack Wilder when we are promoted..........

 

[GymClassHero]

Luton made 7 changes today. When CW/AK figured out what they were doing he changed it again. People talk as though if e put our strongest team out we would play free flowing footy for 90 mins of every game.
Thing is, the only things that are 100% true are that, we won, we did not pick up any serious injuries to key players through overuse and we are top of the league.
I'm choosing to enjoy these facts and not dwell on any of the other bullshit that has been spouted all year, such as, we are not entertaining, Wilder needs to get it right from the start, we should have played x not y,.
Try enjoying the ride and not finding fault, you will enjoy it lots more.

Can't wait to sack Wilder when we are promoted..........

Having previously held very similar view to yourself - on Wilder, other blades expressing 'negative opinions' - I totally get where you are coming from. It's only very recently, probably early January, this has changed.

There is a minority of blades with daft and unrealistic expectations (as is the case with every club), but generally we just want to see some kind of game plan, not deploying 2 CDMs to stifle teams at the opposite end of the table, and more attacking intent/better tempo.

The fact is we have been very fortunate with some results lately. We can all deny it and point to the points on the board but eventually luck runs out and those slender victories will turn to draws and draws to losses.

I'm a big fan of Wilder, he took this club from some of our darkest days and made me enjoy being a blade again (twice).

 

[KiwiBlabe]

Having previously held very similar view to yourself - on Wilder, other blades expressing 'negative opinions' - I totally get where you are coming from. It's only very recently, probably early January, this has changed.

There is a minority of blades with daft and unrealistic expectations (as is the case with every club), but generally we just want to see some kind of game plan, not deploying 2 CDMs to stifle teams at the opposite end of the table, and more attacking intent/better tempo.

The fact is we have been very fortunate with some results lately. We can all deny it and point to the points on the board but eventually luck runs out and those slender victories will turn to draws and draws to losses.

I'm a big fan of Wilder, he took this club from some of our darkest days and made me enjoy being a blade again (twice).

I hear what you are saying GCH, and the message was not really aimed at anyone in particular. People have been saying our luck will run out since October. Wilder has been very vocal on the character of the team, especially with weakened teams getting results. This board says we are lucky to get results from poor performances, I would suggest Wilder creates TEAMS that will get results which overperform performances.
Wilder has his own ideas and I certainly don't agree with them all. If he keeps getting the results then I am happy with that. If results change and we are still playing rubbish, yep give our opinions on what to change.
As ever up the Blades and happy clappity clap I toddle off into the NZ sunshine.

 

[Bertie Mee]

Everyone saying Wilder got it right today, so I assume that these people believe the correct game plan was to weather the storm, against a side bottom of the league, for the first 80 minutes, at which point hope a central defender, will all being well, roll in the winner?

I think Wilder got it horrifically wrong and rode his luck, thanks in the end to the players who watched the majority of the game sat behind him. Luton fans must be struggling to get their breath tonight, after our toothless performance. Wednesday night was a superb, attacking football performance, we absolutely destroyed Middlesbrough and a 3-1 defeat flattered them.

On that basis, surely you start with the same team, with the exception of any injuries, maintain the momentum, build the confidence and play the same front foot style of football and engrain it into the squad. Then, when you’re 2 or 3 up, then you change the players you might want to keep fresh for Leeds, albeit that the game is still a full 9 days away?

As far as I’m concerned, the changes at half time were an acknowledgement from Wilder that he’d made an error of judgement. He complained after the Portsmouth game about the players having an ‘arrogance’, well it’s apparent who they’ve caught it from. We were much more of a threat second half, after the changes, but we should have carried that exact same threat from the kick off. I don’t agree with his constant tinkering with the team shape and personnel. We need to play the same 11 whenever possible for the remainder of the season, without Peck, O’Hare even Davies, we have no threat from midfield and no link to the strikers. Souza and Choudhury are defensive, holding midfielders and both shouldn’t be starting together.

As it is, we now go into the game with Leeds, not buoyed with confidence after another superb up and at ‘em display, after putting 4 or 5 passed Luton, to add to the 3 passed Middlesbrough. No we go into it, not knowing how the fuck, we nicked 3 points off the team bottom of the league and what style we’ll be asked to adopt against our main rivals?

I’m more worried about what Wilder will do rather than Leeds a week on Monday…

 

[Bergen Blade]

I need Bergen Blade on this to confirm my suspicions. But I think Luton caught us out today by playing two up front and we set up for them playing one.

Luton returned to 3-5-2 for the first time since Edwards left. After several poor results I think they decided to go back to basics, both in style but also restoring a few of the players that were key for them as they won promotion. Morris and Adebayo were among those changes. Hard to believe they can be bottom, as their squad is decent.

I think their RCM Walsh and LCM Aasgaard created a lot problems for us first half, and we didn't always know who should be dealing with them. Ideally our system should be flexible enough to make tweaks (i.e. strengthen our midfield) at any time, but yesterday's starting line up wasn't suitable for that.

 

[Nick Jansky]

Admitting Wilder got summat reyt on S2 is a death sentence

As is suggesting that he got something wrong. Before he came back I stated on here that my biggest reservation was that he splits the fanbase. That’s fine as long as we’re sat in the top 2 of the Championship but if we get promoted and next season starts badly it will get very toxic very quickly. That’s just how it is.

 

[HVR]

It’s like watching a boxing match, jab, jab, jab, dodge, block, jab, jab, jab and the guy in front of you is shouting “knock him out! knock him out!” and in the 6th round, bang! The opponent goes down cold, the crowd rise and cheer, and the guy in front stays in his seat shaking his head, “all that fucking about in the first 5 rounds, I said knock him out, so why didn’t he just knock him out with his first punch like I said? Should have listened to me!”

 

[KiwiBlabe]

As is suggesting that he got something wrong. Before he came back I stated on here that my biggest reservation was that he splits the fanbase. That’s fine as long as we’re sat in the top 2 of the Championship but if we get promoted and next season starts badly it will get very

Is this not toxic at the minute. We are winning c.70% of games and it seems that unless we play like prime Barca there is a significant portion of the fanbase who only want to criticise Wilder and certain players.
I dread to think what it would be like if we were mid table and that result had gone the other way.
I will never be embarrassed to be a Blade (even last year), but some "fans" on here are unrealistic and would be slated if we saw Weds fans behaving this way on porktalk.
I thought it was the prem I was over, however the more I read the shit about Wilder on here after the season he is giving us, I think it's just how footy is going in general that makes me a grumpy old man..........though one happy the Blades are top of the league

 

[Shawy24]

In his interview after he said Peck wasn’t fit to play 90 minutes. So there wasn’t a choice.

The choice was TD.

 

[Dkc]

Wilder has been part of two relegations from the Premier League, so I struggle to see how anyone can be confident that he’d be the right manager for that level.

He's had two full seasons in the PL. One was the covid season, where games were played behind closed doors or 20% capacity. In the other, normal season we finished in our best position for over 30 years.

When he took over from Hecky we were well adrift already with the league's lowest transfer budget. I doubt Pep would have been able to save us then.

We must have had 15 managers since Basset took us up to the PL and kept us there. No other manager has managed to do that bar Wilder.

 

[Berkshire Blade]

The kids games going ahead this morning just be amazingly coached by all the never did it dads coaching the under 8s who somehow think they can do better than the manager top of the fucking league. They should really stream the games so we can all see how the game is meant to be played

 

[Bell4]

I've always thought your posts are well thought out Bell4 but are you serious?!

He's made some errors granted like all managers do, but we are on a higher points total than weve ever had at this time of the season and not many thought we were going to be as strong as this. Wilder is definitely the best man for the job regardless of which division we're in. If we go up, the worst thing we could do is change the manager.

We need 3/4 quality signings to compliment what we have and I think we'll compete in the PL. We may go down but we'll make a fist of it.

Booker4 , i like Wilder - he has overseen a wonderful output so far , by hook or by crook . He is clearly a good man manager and pulls the squad together well - but - i think the quality of the Prem, and the broad technical skills required of the mangers / coaches / club infrastructure - has moved on so much over the last 3 / 4 years and i don`t think Wilder has what is required to make a fist of it in that environment if we go up.

For one , i think his recruitment in the lower leagues has been great , but the recruitment required to sustain a Premier League place , with new owners who will have higher expectations than the Prince is beyond Wilder IMO . Plus , will he be happy to play a part rather than be the main man , in the running of and the recruitment of players etc - on a wider platform.

I think his tactical awareness is quite basic - his decision making (see above re recruitment - even this season and recently) is questionable - IMO.

He is a really good , up and at em Bladey Blade manager and this endears him to nearly everyone. But .....not for the Prem if we want to get a foothold - IMO

 

[Keen Blade]

Leeds literally play the same team week in week out. So why can’t we?

Coz apparently we don't want a consistently cohesive team , in which the players all know their roles instinctively and know where their teammates will be.
A team that , quoting CW , "smashes everything in front of it".

We'd prefer to completely change , from Sat to Wed , then again from Wed to Sat , so we can struggle against the bottom club , a disjointed mess that can't keep the ball or construct any chances , with players looking like they just met on the coach down.

Only saved by the profligacy of the opposition strikers and the manager at HT changing it to (almost) what he should have started with.

A decent case could be made for Sectioning CW with just the evidence of his decisions in the last 3 games.

Looking at the chances Pompey & Luton had , does anyone think that if they'd taken just a few , we have the goalscoring ability to pull a game around from 0-2 down.

I know someone here say "we won and that's all that counts".
But it's not.
Coz winning on the basis of Pompey & Luton method just puts us closer to the PL where we'll be eviscerated.

Think of the number of chances we've conceded v Pompey & Luton.
Double it , to take account of facing PL teams attacking us instead.
Then apply the conversion rate of PL strikers.
You're now back to 0-8 v Barcodes.

If scraping wins in shit fashion in our league is your thing , why do you want promotion gained by that method ?