Wilder in crunch games

[Keen Blade]

Our results against Leeds and Burnley are evidence that they have better teams

And managers

 

[Blademan89]

Let's see how it goes.

I can see why people think we're in the best position to win these play offs based on the opposition and us being the clear best team based on the league table.
I can also see why people think otherwise based on a) our form, b) our style and c) our record in 6 pointers this season.

Leeds and Burnley we have played 4 times and lost every one.
Sunderland we have beat in a freak game 10 v 10 and lost away.
Our record against Coventry and Bristol City is much better granted, but that said Bristol City had us up against it for the whole second half at the Lane. Would not like that at Wembley.

Question I'd like to ask is do you think Chris Wilder has got what it takes when it really matters most to win a 6 pointer? The horrific record against Leeds and Burnley suggests not. But we ARE by far the best team in the play offs.

Tbh Sunderland away was unlucky, they didn't deserve to win (like us a few time this season), but we was the better side and the usual cock up cost us.

Again I wasn't that impressed with Burnley yesterday nor at the lane, again usual cock ups and it cost us (although I think it was a case of do not lose for them, rather than all out attack and leaving holes).

 

[Wincobank S9 Blade]

He’s getting/got a bit of a reputation, half of me likes it cus it’s gritty and don’t mind people hating us but at the same time everyone’s raising their game to play us. If you get it right it’s sweet if not it’s even worse.

 

[S64 Blade]

He was in charge for the famous Basham's arriving game at Elland Road. Not to mention beating Brentford a few days before that with 10 men.

I'd suggest you don't win two promotions without winning any big games.

Nobody is disputing that he could do this 6 years ago. But since Covid there’s little evidence that he still has those same levels of influence.

 

[Keen Blade]

We've got two legs to play against an objectively inferior team, that puts us as firm favourites to reach the final.

If we don't then Wilder will have some serious questions to answer.

Look , Wilder is "gone" imo , whatever happens.
The owners would never keep him in the PL , to which he is obviously both tactically and temperamentally unsuited.
In addition , he's a clown with £ big transfers.
I would send him to Lidl for me but not to Waitrose.
The long contract intentionally keeps him motivated and then sets him up for a juicy payoff if we go up.
Only crazy owners would keep him until he eventually properly loses it and decks a ref or an oppo player or fan.

If we fail to go up , he'll have proved that "fighting spirit" is not enough , despite having recruited a lot of quality players for £ modest fees (but high wages).

You have to have a better plan/tactics to look and be fast & fluent.
He just has no plan that I can decipher.
I don't know whether he's playing with wingers or not.
I don't know whether he wants one striker or two.
He brings in a striker instead of a Souttar replacement of equivalent quality.
He in a panic at the end of the window brings in a CB with PL pedigree who is clearly rusty after a long layoff ...
And when Holding is fit , he prefers the clown/thug Robbo , alongside whom Anel performs much worse than alongside a calmer CB , so both CBs end up crap compared to the Anel/Souttar duo.

He's run his course , he needs to retire with another chunk of deserved £ and it'll be better for us , the club and his own mental health.

 

[CaptainMorgans]

Let's see how it goes.

I can see why people think we're in the best position to win these play offs based on the opposition and us being the clear best team based on the league table.
I can also see why people think otherwise based on a) our form, b) our style and c) our record in 6 pointers this season.

Leeds and Burnley we have played 4 times and lost every one.
Sunderland we have beat in a freak game 10 v 10 and lost away.
Our record against Coventry and Bristol City is much better granted, but that said Bristol City had us up against it for the whole second half at the Lane. Would not like that at Wembley.

Question I'd like to ask is do you think Chris Wilder has got what it takes when it really matters most to win a 6 pointer? The horrific record against Leeds and Burnley suggests not. But we ARE by far the best team in the play offs.

Does it suggest Wilder doesn't have what it takes, or does it simply suggest that we came up against better sides and lost?

We're third best in the league, probably have the third highest budget too, and our results reflect that.

We have a better record against 4th than we do against 1st & 2nd, and unsurprisingly that record improves further as you reach down to 5th & 6th...

 

[bakeblade]

And managers

And owners ( pre the americans)

 

[Shawy24]

I actually think he has got it in him… but whether he draw on that at the moment is my concern.

As mentioned above, Wilder and the team have looked flat for the last few weeks, so it’s whether they’ve got enough in the tank to get us over the line.

On a positive note, I think Wilder loves to prove people wrong, and given the recent criticism of him, I can see it motivating him to silence the doubters.

I also thought he sounded buoyant and up for the fight in his post match interview yesterday, noting that our past history doesn’t determine our future.

That’s part of the problem. He loves to prove them wrong. But sometimes we’re not wrong. Sometimes (possibly more than he would like) we are right. But the twat will still against all the evidence try to prove us wrong by selecting the side and the tactics we have seen fail. It’s just Wilder and his big fucking ego against the world. Small man syndrome? By that I mean height, not girth.

Wilder you did well for a few years. Well done. I personally thanked you. But now you’re a piss head with a big head a big mouth and no ideas other than the big I am will show em. I’m a premiership manager me. Fucking grow up, treat the club and fans right and stop trying to prove you’re almighty God and infallible.

 

[Bladesman]

Let's see how it goes.

I can see why people think we're in the best position to win these play offs based on the opposition and us being the clear best team based on the league table.
I can also see why people think otherwise based on a) our form, b) our style and c) our record in 6 pointers this season.

Leeds and Burnley we have played 4 times and lost every one.
Sunderland we have beat in a freak game 10 v 10 and lost away.
Our record against Coventry and Bristol City is much better granted, but that said Bristol City had us up against it for the whole second half at the Lane. Would not like that at Wembley.

Question I'd like to ask is do you think Chris Wilder has got what it takes when it really matters most to win a 6 pointer? The horrific record against Leeds and Burnley suggests not. But we ARE by far the best team in the play offs.

 

[Sean Thornton]

I can’t understand why some people think we should even be near Leeds and Burnley ? CW has overachieved unbelievably imo .

Look at the utter shit show he inherited- an owner who wanted out and to invest as little as possible and who was the biggest factor in us being a shit show . Compare that with the starting points of Leeds and Burnley .

CW recruited superbly well last summer - he had to recruit quality over quantity and get players in the building . He didn’t have time to gell them into worldbeaters yet get up in the top 3 all season from a minus 2 start - miles ahead of everyone but Leeds and Burnley who were only rid of us with 2 games to go . Plus he had the heart of the team ripped out in the Autumn / early winter .


FFS

Stop berating him and get the fk behind what he has done rather than what he hasn’t done

An owner who loaned another £27m to the club?

Let’s get behind him and the team for what needs doing. The distant past won’t have a bearing on the play offs and the last few weeks need to be put behind us.

 

[The Bear]

The worrying thing for me is we are now in a cup type competition.

His record in cups is crap because half the time he listens to the fans narrative of 'cant be arsed' and now it will come to bite him on his arse if he's not careful. Always been somewhat disappointed by his attitude to them. Crazy really.

 

[HOT CURRIE 10]

Given the horrendous grammatical error in a sentence of 6 words, I don't think you could.

Murder she wrote ?

 

[Gimli]

The worrying thing for me is we are now in a cup type competition.

His record in cups is crap because half the time he listens to the fans narrative of 'cant be arsed' and now it will come to bite him on his arse if he's not careful. Always been somewhat disappointed by his attitude to them. Crazy really.

It’s not a cup competition though is it. There’s a difference between Barnet, Cardiff etc in the early rounds of the FA Cup with an experimental side than in the play offs to reach the premier league.

The fans narrative of ‘can’t be arsed’ applied to those early cup games - do you think that’s going to apply to the play offs?

Also we reached an FA Cup Quarter final under Wilder and were very unlucky that covid meant that our home game against Arsenal became a no-fan game. So not sure I agree with the ‘wilder is crap in the cups’ narrative anyway - I also don’t think it’s relevant.

 

[FTPE]

 

[Badger Blade]

If we treat the derby games as crunch ones, we're undefeated under CW.

We've come unstuck when we've been complacent against teams we should be beating and haven't.

Burnley should have been a crunch game but it didn't get that far. If we were 5 or 6 points better off then it would have been and the general feeling towards it would have been like a play off final - basically winner goes up.

 

[The Bear]

It’s not a cup competition though is it. There’s a difference between Barnet, Cardiff etc in the early rounds of the FA Cup with an experimental side than in the play offs to reach the premier league.

The fans narrative of ‘can’t be arsed’ applied to those early cup games - do you think that’s going to apply to the play offs?

Also we reached an FA Cup Quarter final under Wilder and were very unlucky that covid meant that our home game against Arsenal became a no-fan game. So not sure I agree with the ‘wilder is crap in the cups’ narrative anyway - I also don’t think it’s relevant.

Well for cup games replace with knock out competition then

But I stick with the cant be arsed. I have never come across a club so devoid of trophies with such an apathetic approach to cups. Only Bassett seemed to care but Clough weren't bad at it. Do the research Gimpot. I spent hours doing this a few years ago and I think it was us and Rochdale were the only teams that had not won a play off final or major/minor cup trophy since 1967 I think I started analysing from. It is fucking shit !!

The reason it bugs me so is that winning, actually winning not coming 2nd or 3rd breeds a winning mentality something I have not seen in a SUFC side since Bassett. Wilder's is not to lose. There's a difference. Our record is an utter disgrace in that regard and it is an embarrassment that a club of our so called standing is so shit in these competitions.

We couldn't even win the bloody Watney Cup against sodding Bristol Rovers.

 

[Sean Thornton]

View attachment 209237

Is the one on the left the love child of Sean Bean and Kevin Spacey?

 

[sitwell]

Ask the grunters.

 

[Flatulent_Bob]

Overachieved unbelievably is very hyperbolic. We clearly have one of the best 3 teams and squads in the division.

Yes, purely looking at the players on paper. But the team has needed to be embedded, mentality fixed, new approaches implemented and coached plus our squad was paper thin up until January. If Wilder had this same level of squad next season, against similarly levelled opposition 3rd should be the minimum level expected.
To turn it around, begin the rebuild and still get 3rd is an over achievement against more established squads who admittedly have slightly less quality in depth now, but possibly had more up until end of the Winter window.

Coming back to the original point, I think Wilder in a single crunch game is an upgrade on the managers we've had in recent playoffs, although I do have a slight concern around 2 legged semi's where I fear we may go into the first game ensuring we don't lose rather than winning it and putting the tie to bed.

 

[Torrix1889]

I can’t understand why some people think we should even be near Leeds and Burnley ? CW has overachieved unbelievably imo .

Look at the utter shit show he inherited- an owner who wanted out and to invest as little as possible and who was the biggest factor in us being a shit show . Compare that with the starting points of Leeds and Burnley .

CW recruited superbly well last summer - he had to recruit quality over quantity and get players in the building . He didn’t have time to gell them into worldbeaters yet get up in the top 3 all season from a minus 2 start - miles ahead of everyone but Leeds and Burnley who were only rid of us with 2 games to go . Plus he had the heart of the team ripped out in the Autumn / early winter .


FFS

Stop berating him and get the fk behind what he has done rather than what he hasn’t done

From where we were in the summer and forgetting for a moment the turgid shite we have been playing most of the season, he has overachieved to where most of us thought we would end up, I will give you that.

Fact is though we have finished 3rd when autos and even the title was well within our grasp.....we have arguably, (on paper) got the best squad in the Championship yet Wilder has failed repeatedly to get the best out of it, baffling team selections, refusal to drop poor performers, bizarre substitutions, questionable signings, playing players out of position.....need I go on......he's more interested in either arse kissing or slating the opposition than SUFC..

So no, he's failed with what he had at his disposal....and the sooner he goes the better.

 

[VictoryBlade]

I have made my feelings on Wilder well known.
But we all need to put these a side and get behind the team.
There is nothing like Bramall Lane when it's rocking at a night match. We fans can play a big part in this by getting behind the players from the off cheering every tackle and attack, it really does make a difference.
As others have said I hope the club do something on tickets like £20 for the Kop and £25 everywhere else with maybe £10 for kids because a full Lane can be the difference.

Only one ticket per season ticket holder or member.............................strictly enforced

 

[Gimli]

Well for cup games replace with knock out competition then

But I stick with the cant be arsed. I have never come across a club so devoid of trophies with such an apathetic approach to cups. Only Bassett seemed to care but Clough weren't bad at it. Do the research Gimpot. I spent hours doing this a few years ago and I think it was us and Rochdale were the only teams that had not won a play off final or major/minor cup trophy since 1967 I think I started analysing from. It is fucking shit !!

The reason it bugs me so is that winning, actually winning not coming 2nd or 3rd breeds a winning mentality something I have not seen in a SUFC side since Bassett. Wilder's is not to lose. There's a difference. Our record is an utter disgrace in that regard and it is an embarrassment that a club of our so called standing is so shit in these competitions.

We couldn't even win the bloody Watney Cup against sodding Bristol Rovers.

Of course it would be great to win something, and I agree it is frustrating to see rotated teams for winnable cup games.

This season I actually will defend Wilder on resting players for the Cardiff FA Cup game - we were struggling to field a full squad at the time and it had to be done really.

I agree he effectively threw the League Cup tie against Barnsley which annoyed me because they are absolute pony.

Where I disagree is I don’t think we’ve been crap in cups at all - several semis and quarters for a club in our league position I would argue is hugely overachieving - name me another team at ‘our level’ that has done better than us in that regard in the last 30 years

 

[Bell4]

From where we were in the summer and forgetting for a moment the turgid shite we have been playing most of the season, he has overachieved to where most of us thought we would end up, I will give you that.

Fact is though we have finished 3rd when autos and even the title was well within our grasp.....we have arguably, (on paper) got the best squad in the Championship yet Wilder has failed repeatedly to get the best out of it, baffling team selections, refusal to drop poor performers, bizarre substitutions, questionable signings, playing players out of position.....need I go on......he's more interested in either arse kissing or slating the opposition than SUFC..

So no, he's failed with what he had at his disposal....and the sooner he goes the better.

Wow

 

[Champagneblade]

Let's see how it goes.

I can see why people think we're in the best position to win these play offs based on the opposition and us being the clear best team based on the league table.
I can also see why people think otherwise based on a) our form, b) our style and c) our record in 6 pointers this season.

Leeds and Burnley we have played 4 times and lost every one.
Sunderland we have beat in a freak game 10 v 10 and lost away.
Our record against Coventry and Bristol City is much better granted, but that said Bristol City had us up against it for the whole second half at the Lane. Would not like that at Wembley.

Question I'd like to ask is do you think Chris Wilder has got what it takes when it really matters most to win a 6 pointer? The horrific record against Leeds and Burnley suggests not. But we ARE by far the best team in the play offs.

The OP is dripping with anti-Wilder sentiment.

Wilder’s inability to beat the two highest resourced teams isn’t necessarily showing his inability to manage crunch games, merely his inability to overcome a 45m wage bill in Leeds’ case and a far more settled and also more expensive Burnley team.

Why somehow diminish our win vs Sunderland whilst not referencing the fact that in the defeat we dominated them on their own ground having 10 corners to 4 and 66% of the ball and outshooting them on their own patch?

You could easily focus on his ability to eke out 27 victories from the remaining 40 matches, giving him a seriously impressive 67.5% win ratio against the non-top two teams.

You could probably even make reference to the fact he’s done it without his 20m star midfielder and his 15m centre half, none of which severe injury issues impacted the eventual top two.

In fact apart from West Brom who got two draws out of us, outside the top two, he’s led us to at least one victory against every single other team with a side assembled through the pre-season window and learning on the job despite key injuries.

Whilst the aesthetics could have been better, in terms of results, when 31 is the highest amount of wins at this level, I’d say having 27 under his belt with two still to go shows he’s more than capable of delivering.

 

[bladesmanluke]

Whoever we play in 6th will not have had as much time to prepare for the playoffs as their focus will be finishing in them. We’ve got the best squad. I’m annoyed with the collapse but I’m actually looking fwd to them.

Great post. People need to get over it now. Yes it's annoying we lost 3 games in a week, but it's done and we still have an opportunity in front of us. Forget about the collapse and try to enjoy being involved in the playoffs.

 

[redandwhitewizard]

I think the prospect of being the first united manager to win the playoffs will be a pretty big motivator for Wilder. A chance to make history.

 

[Chunkey]

I have made my feelings on Wilder well known.
But we all need to put these a side and get behind the team.
There is nothing like Bramall Lane when it's rocking at a night match. We fans can play a big part in this by getting behind the players from the off cheering every tackle and attack, it really does make a difference.
As others have said I hope the club do something on tickets like £20 for the Kop and £25 everywhere else with maybe £10 for kids because a full Lane can be the difference.

Or do what we did last time v Forest and give them a quarter of the fuckin ground

 

[Davalon]

View attachment 209237

What's Josh Widdecombe got to do with anything?

Was he the one who Wilder called Fat Boy last week?

 

[Davalon]

I think the prospect of being the first united manager to win the playoffs will be a pretty big motivator for Wilder. A chance to make history.

You'd like to think so.

Despite him now dividing opinion, he'll always have his place in Blades folklore, but winning the PO at Wembley will elevate him to another level even if fans still think we should bring someone else next season.

 

[Torrix1889]

Wow

What's "wow" about the post.....it's fact!