Countdown to Kick Off

Had Meet Her at the Love Parade in my head all week.  To most people who know me that aren't Blades fans and know my taste in music, the fact I have a 20 year old electro house track in my head might come as a surprise. But for me the tune can only mean one thing......countdown to kick off.

There's a sense of anticipation and excitement building, excitement that the extra 145 minutes we have to wait from 3pm might just be able to contain. There is a sense of positivity and confidence about the season ahead. There's a fine line that is often straddled to over confidence, we only have to cast eyes across the city to see past evidence of that. 

I've answered questions for When Saturday Comes and World Soccer's Football 2019 season preview magazines. For the former I had to put all 24 Championship teams in the position I thought they would end up in. I went for 10th, where we ended up last season.

For me, we have a much stronger squad than 12 months ago. There is competition for places in most positions and the depth of the squad is much better, despite the loss of the most prodigious talent I've seen at the Lane in my lifetime. And we still haven't touched his sale proceeds.

With Coutts to come back into the reckoning and Leonard only having played a limited role pre-season the selection  decisions are only going to get harder as the season progresses. Wilder makes great play on the unity of the squad and management. His recruitment decisions focusing on maintaining that happy equilibrium as much as the player's talents and financial cost. He is also quick to move players on that don't feature or don't work out, ensuring group spirit isn't affected negatively. 

In fact the only negative relates to issues a level above. The boardroom shenanigans are well documented. The only reassuring aspects being that Wilder felt confident in the assurances he received to sign the contract extension and that's evidenced in the quality of transfer dealings to date. In addition, we have garnered a reputation for development of young players that means players like Kean Bryan see us as a club of choice and Mourinho and Klopp trust us to help their best young talent flourish.

Maybe my mood is enhanced by events across the city. Having had their snipes for several years, you'd have thought last season would have been a timely reminder for them  of how quickly the balance shifts in the city of football. I'm too conservative and cautious to get over excited, as I know it can just as easily swing back, often when everything else that's happening suggests otherwise.

Chris Wilder, in an interview with James Shield of The Star said; 

"We're not a boom and bust club. We just want to keep improving and keep knocking on the door. I know our fans don't see it as being 'this is our year or we're doomed.' The big thing is the club keeps developing and that we don't put ourselves in the situation some clubs do. We just want to keep developing."

These words strike a chord. We feel like a progressive club, boardroom disagreements aside. So why am I not predicting a higher finish than last season, when I see us as progressive and stronger and with the best manager in the division and our best manager since Dave Bassett? 

One, it feels a tougher division, based on the clubs coming down and a couple of those stepping up. Things can still change and as transfers and loans continue for another week there could be further departures at some of the relegated clubs, but sometimes you have to step up your levels just to maintain a status quo and that is how it feels at present and it is only going to get more difficult with the riches of the Premier League and parachute payments.

Secondly, I think we are probably a striker short. The contribution of Clarke and Sharp was probably beyond expectations and although the latter ranked high in the leading goalscorer rankings, his goals were in fits and starts and only scored 5 from early December onwards. They're a year older and although David McGoldrick has contributed well in pre-season, we still lack an alternative, sharper option. We know Wilder is trying to address this, with reported interest in Waghorn, but if that falls through you wouldn't put it past him to pull off a surprise coup.

Get that recruitment right and it could be the difference between a mid-table/top half finish and a push for a play off spot. And if we got there......well our luck is going to have to change at some point.....isn't it?

I have also answered questions on the season ahead for a Championship preview for Brentford site Beesotted. You can read it here.

Remember, if you are otherwise indisposed on a matchday (working, on holiday, ill, or just have a stadium ban), our short Game by Game reports will follow most games. Factual, some opinion and a bit of fun.

Game by Game - 2

You may have noticed that we haven't had a report on the Mansfield friendly. Our correspondent messaged me during the match to ask how many words I wanted. Sensing his frustration and boredom I told him single figures weren't acceptable. A dour game by all accounts and one that we were second best in for large spells. On the plus side; Wilder recognised this and pulled no punches in post-match interviews. Some teams celebrate 0-0 away draws, our manager doesn't.

The other positive is we didn't go there and lose 2-1, lose all discipline and turn it into a Royal Rumble. Although there is an argument that did show some team spirit and unity from a Wednesday team that had shown little of it for the previous 90 minutes, or much of last season.

That's the thing with pre-season, you enter it full of hope and one game seems to spell disaster, three days later and the mood can be quite different. If anything that is exacerbated by social media (and blogs!) that allows fans to vent publicly and with such immediacy to a wider audience. It seems that the end of the world is nigh for football fans with increasing frequency, yet rarely does it come. And so after the concerns following a 0-0 draw at League 2 Mansfield, the fourth best side in Italy paid Bramall Lane a visit……………

Pre-Season Friendly: Inter (H), 1-1

Inter at home the kind of friendly you would expect to form part of some major anniversary celebrations, say your club's 150th, and not just a run-of-the-mill pre-season friendly. 4th in Serie A and featuring a number of international players, they provided an enticing prospect for Blades fans, more so than say  the third best team in a one team league might.

And for a Friendly fixture it wasn't a bad game. Reasonably competitive, although some early moments where you could see players leaving the foot out of tackles were soon forgotten when Fleck  flew into a 50:50 in the middle of the park. A physical challenge you need to time perfectly and as a spectator you flinch at. Lundstram then clattered into Dalbert, no foul given and after a lengthy delay the Brazilian was stretchered off.

The Blades matched Inter well and it was an extremely well worked goal down the left side that saw United take the lead. Stevens and Fleck exchanged passes twice, before Fleck surged towards the edge of the box and dinked a perfect through ball to McGoldrick, who had held his line well with one of the Inter centre halves sitting deep. McGoldrick's finish was calm and assured, lifting it over the advancing Handanovic. A scoreboard reading Blades 1 Inter 0 is a lovely sight, whatever the circumstances.  Fleck then went close with a dipping half volley from 30 yards that just went wide of the post and the feeling was the Blades could kick on from here.

It was then that Inter woke up. Whereas up to then United had squeezed them back as they steadily played out from the back, their passing and movement became much sharper and they scored a goal equal in quality to the Blades' opener. A superbly weighted pass from Lautaro opened up United down their left side and the cross from Candreva left Icardi with a simple tap in. Icardi gave Egan a tough game, one the debutant stood up to well for much of it, but you can see how the Argentine striker bagged 29 Serie A goals last season. He went close again, after Lautaro back-heeled into his path, with Henderson making a fine save.

Whilst Inter were technically good, they also had the cynical side of the game down to a tee; little shirt tugs, trips and a sneaky raking of studs down the Achilles all stopping United breaks and disrupting play. A scrappy start to the second half was further disrupted as the substitutions started, four for the Blades and five for Inter. I was beginning to wonder if the last excitement of the evening was the scrap that started by the refreshment bar under the South Stand at half time. It was hard for those coming on to make an impression, but the final clear cut chance of the game fell to one of them. Sharp's shot from just outside the box was parried away.

With the scoreboard clock  yet to click over to 90 minutes the referee's whistle blew. What with a slightly delayed kick off and only 2 minutes added to the 1st half, despite the lengthy stoppage, I can only assume the Italians had a curfew, or a somewhere else to be. 

So a United team with 6 international caps between the starting XI performed very well against an Inter side that, even without the two Croatian World Cup finalists and Nainggolan, started with 9 internationals and 269 caps between them. Yes, it is only pre-season, yes there were other gears the Inter side could probably have shifted to, but a pleasing performance all the same, but with work still to be done.

Three final thoughts:

Gianni Flecki the midfield maestro. The best player on the pitch and the source of most of what was good about the Blades performance, surging runs, excellent passing and creativity. Wouldn’t have looked out of place in a blue and black striped shirt in their midfield. By heck, I do wonder how long John Fleck can be ignored by Big Eck.

Ricky Holmes impressed off the bench. Having had limited opportunity since joining last January, it was good to see him come on and give the team added impetus when the performance and the game as a whole was starting to flag. Just a few moments suggest that we may have a player to justify the haircut. It will be interesting to see whether he can deliver a top knot(ch) performance from a starting role.

Having arrived in my seat in the South Stand just before 7:15 I was disappointed to find the inauguration of The Tony Currie Stand had already happened in front of a quarter full stadium. Why they didn't wait until nearer kick off to do this, when the ground was fuller I am not sure. Instead we were "entertained" by some lass who didn't win The Voice belting out Nessun Dorma, whilst Gary Sinclair was so deferential to our visitors it felt like it was a pre-requisite of the match fee. I hope they do something for TC and the fans at the Swansea game with a bigger crowd and TV cameras present. 

Bye Bye Blackman?

 

 

So Nick Blackman is potentially on his way to Palace. Am I really that bothered? To be honest I am relatively sanguine about it. You get used to these events that after so long you feel anaesthetised and numb to the nagging annoyance and anger you know you perhaps should feel.

 

United have sold much better players than him in the past and will no doubt do so again in the future. There are very few clubs in any division that will retain their best players, not least a League One club that made a loss of £13m last year. A club stymied in its transfer activities by a move to being a break-even business and achieving a wage cap percentage they would have been nowhere near in the last two years of failure.

 

Tabloid reports we paid £350,000 for him; the key is what we make on top of that and realistically it isn't going to be the significant amounts that many Blades fans openly crave. For a League One striker with 11 league goals, 6 from the penalty spot we aren't going to get much more than double that. The truth is, we will never know, hidden behind the increasingly used mask of undisclosed fee…..with potential add-ons. Profit would give Danny Wilson room to manoeuvre in the transfer market, with both monies coming into the club and an increase in turnover which will consequently increase the wage budget and total value of the available salary funds within the cap.

 

The importance of strengthening other key areas, assuming funds are released, is surely clear to see. We have a lack of options in central midfield and a dearth of creativity in wide areas. That lack of wide supply is due to a combination of poor delivery and Danny Wilson's insistence on persisting with inverted wingers, forever cutting inside to little effect. Blackman is as guilt of that as anyone. Look how frequently the Blades have struggled to break down opposition defences and how often an attack out wide ends with a narrow chipped cross on to a towering League One centre half’s temple.

 

Blackman is a bit of a show pony footballer. Erratic and lacking little confidence he must cause team-mates as much frustration as he does the fans at times, but as supporters we sometimes see past his failings because he scores goals. He is capable of much more than we get to see, if only he had a bit more application and thought we might see the substance as well as the style.

 

Yes he chases lost causes and often recovers the ball, but when there are easier positions to chase down, he is strolling around the pitch seemingly oblivious to the opportunity. At times he struts about the pitch with seemingly half-hearted indifference. That may not be the case, but his body language suggests a man who is interested in the work that gets noticed and not the off the ball graft required, particularly when played out wide.

 

In possession, you sense something exciting might happen, but equally as likely is a wild shot from distance blazed over the bar. His clear strengths are his pace, particularly when running at defenders, and his ability to hold up the ball, but how often does he do the hard work and then fail to part with the ball when a teammate takes up a good position? It is interesting that his stats show a player who has scored a goal once every two games and half of his shots per game are on target.

 

The biggest issue for me with his potential departure is that without Blackman we become an even more one dimensional team, lacking pace in every part of the pitch. Whilst teams hit us swiftly on the break, leaving us looking listless, we have no one likely to do that to the opposition. A huge amount of importance is placed on who and how we replace and strengthen the squad.

 

Yes, losing one of our supposedly better players at this stage of the season hurts. Some may say it shows a lack of ambition. You can only really say that when you see how the money is spent. Nick Blackman is our top scorer, but he has only scored 4 in the last 10 games; 2 of which were penalties. He is not the player around which the team's style of play revolves, nor is he the player we are ultimately reliant on for results. 

 

 

Every backbone and heart you break

Will still come back for more

 

As ever, at moments like this, fans take to the message boards, to social media and to their mobiles, hammering their keys like a demented woodpecker. They are blaming the board, Kevin McCabe, Danny Wilson; but few are actually wondering if the player himself is driving the move.  A pay rise and a move to a club pushing for promotion to the Premier League, what's not to like about that from Blackman's perspective? They are also ranting about a move that is still to be confirmed, but why should that stop those who set up the Kevin McCabe OUT Facebook group?

 

There are those who will claim that it is the final straw; that is them finished with the club, that they are not renewing season tickets next season; one even showed his cut up season ticket on twitter last night. Some will go to extremes; saying that Meadowhall with the missus is preferable. I think they annoy me less than those who say they will go to some away games, but not the home ones. As if part-time support and putting money in rival club's coffers helps the situation of the club they profess to love.

 

These are the "Drama Queens", as I prefer to think of them. Some may follow through with their claims, many will not. I am damned sure that selling Nick Blackman isn't an excuse to end years of support. I can see a cumulative impact of player sales causing frustration, but to walk away…really?

 

It is quite interesting that when you look up the many definitions of support in a dictionary they could each be applied to being a football supporter;

 

-          to bear or hold up, serve as a foundation for.

-          to sustain or withstand (weight, pressure, strain, etc.) without giving way; serve as a prop for.

-          to undergo or endure, especially with patience or submission; tolerate.

-          to sustain (a person, the mind, spirits, courage, etc.) under trial or affliction.

 

As Blades supporters we are all too familiar with the third and fourth definitions. Maybe some should remember that and put a little perspective in their rants. I am by no means happy with where our club finds itself, or with some of the decisions have been made, but really what would be left and what state would be in Kevin McCabe walked away? Think about that and maybe wait and see the state of the squad versus Coventry City on Friday before hammering your keyboards or opening your mouth.