Sheffield Utd vs Ipswich Preview & Matchday Thread
Posted: Mon Oct 09, 2017 9:16 pm
Sheffield United v Ipswich Town
Saturday 14th October 2017– 15:00
Bramwell Lane
Pre Match Thoughts - Mike
God I hate International breaks, invariably they come at the wrong time, although in this instance that may not be the case although being left to dwell on a home defeat for Two weeks is hardly a good place to be, after the dross served up by England once again I can't help but ask myself is that the best we can muster despite bringing the domestic scene to a halt ? Absolute garbage in truth and I honestly do not believe that the players benefit from the short lay off at all, in fact they look worse for it and this is not the first time, it happens with regularity. Anyway that's enough of the International rubbish, back to proper football and that last game against Bristol City, clearly the best team won on the day, of that we can't argue with but pretty much everything that could go against us did, losing Tom Adeyemi in the warm up put paid to the game plan from the off and things went down and down the longer the afternoon went on. A second minute deflected goal put us on the back foot against a very tough and well organised Bristol City side who are by no means mugs and seeing them in the top Six could well be something we have to get used to as the season progresses. We only had ourselves to blame for the second however, after missing Three or Four good chances oif our own to draw level we gift them a virtual free header, this is something that is happening all too often, silly defensive errors costing us big time. Going forward and in Midfield we look to have far better attacking options this season but it will count for nothing if we can't tighten up at the back, despite getting ourselves back into it prior to Half Time we failed to really threaten after the break and were punished further with another very unfortunate goal but to be fair it was no more than Bristol deserved.
I know for a fact many Town fans are pleased with the attacking line ups we have gone with the last Two games and to a certain extent I am too, however the wide players have to defend too and in Celina & Waghorn it really doesn't happen and because of this the Fullbacks in particular are left so exposed and vulnerable, while I am no big fan of Freddie Sears & Grant Ward they do this part of the job better, problem is we lose so much going forward with them on the pitch, Waghorn is a goal poacher and has to play, it's that simple, but fitting him into the system we are playing is not easy so again we have a bit of a square peg in a round hole, I think against the weaker teams (Sunderland etc) the attacking line up works well but we will suffer defeats against shrewder teams and that is the choice we have to make. As far as the entertainment value goes the attacking team is the way to go for sure, ok it took a dip against Bristol City but by and large there has been a big improvement over the opening ten games of the season.
So we have won Six of the first Ten games which sees us sitting quite well placed bearing in mind we have played a game less than everyone else, a continuation of that win ratio would see us in the play offs for sure but can we maintain that win percentage ? Looking at the next ten and I think it is fair to say they look far harder than what has already gone !! Sheff Utd (A) Norwich (H) Burton (A) Cardiff (A) Preston (H) Hull (A) Sheff Wed (H) Aston Villa (A) Derby (A) Forest (H), not easy is it ? On first inspection I see Three wins and maybe a couple of draws but as we all know we do play better against stronger teams and a repeat of the performance at Leeds is going to be needed in a few of these games for sure, if we achieve that we will be ok, we have players returning and as we know we score goals for fun these days, it's all about the defensive side of the team, that will determine our fate.
At the start of the season I think if I am being honest I would have had us down for Three points at Sheffield Utd but they are flying right now, having watched them turn over Wednesday at Hillsborough in the big derby I think we have a very tough game on our hands this weekend and if offered a point I would grab it for sure. Already the Blades have beaten Derby, Sheff Wed & Wolves so they can play and are a real threat at home. Watching the Wednesday game gave me the chance to get a first sight of a certain young kid called David Brooks, man what a player this boy is going to be, he ran the show and is destined to be a real star of the future, we think we have some good kids coming through but Brooks is hot property already in my eyes, at 20 years old I am surprised I don't know more about him but this attacking Midfielder or wide player is a joy to watch, lets hope he has a stinker on Saturday. This is another new ground for me and I am looking forward to it although I would urge any Town fans making the journey to be careful, Two or Three times already this season there has been trouble at their games, Norwich fans were attacked as they left the stadium following their win, the Sheffield Utd fans just stormed into the away end as the were leaving resulting in some being hospitalised and then there was the fighting at Boro where kids got injured so we all need to be on our guard, especially if things do go our way. COYB'S!
The Opposition – Sheffield United
Sheffield United formed on 22 March 1889 at the Adelphi Hotel, Sheffield (now the site of the Crucible Theatre) by the President of the Cricket Club Sir Charles Clegg.
The Wednesday had moved from Bramall Lane to their own ground at Olive Grove, and the tenants of Bramall Lane needed to create a new team to generate income. Sir Charles Clegg was incidentally also the president of The Wednesday.
Undoubtedly United's heyday was the 30-year period from 1895–1925, when they were champions of England in 1897–98 and runners up in 1896–97 and 1899–00, and FA Cup winners in 1899, 1902, 1915 and 1925, finishing runners up in 1901, and also eleven years after their cup final win in 1936. United have not won a trophy since 1925, bar those associated with promotion from lower-leagues, their best performances in the cup competitions being several semi-final appearances in the FA Cup and Football League Cup.
Their darkest days came between 1975 and 1981. After finishing sixth in the First Division at the end of the 1974–75 season, they were relegated to the Second Division the following season and three years after that setback they fell into the Third Division. They reached an absolute low in 1981 when they were relegated to the Fourth Division, but were champions in their first season in the league's basement division and two years afterwards they won promotion to the Second Division.
They did fall back into the Third Division in 1988, but new manager Dave Bassett masterminded a quick revival which launched the Blades towards one of the most successful eras in their history. Successive promotions in the aftermath of the 1988 relegation saw them return to the First Division in 1990 after a 14-year exile. They survived at this level for four seasons (being founder members of the new FA Premier League in 1992 after peaking with a ninth-place finish in the last season of the old First Division) and reached an FA Cup semi-final in the 1992–93 season before being relegated in 1994.
They would remain outside the top flight for the next 12 years, although they did qualify for the play-offs under Bassett's successor Howard Kendall in 1997 and caretaker manager Steve Thompson in 1998.
They were struggling at the wrong end of Division One when Neil Warnock was appointed manager in December 1999, and a financial crisis was preventing the club from being able to boost their squad, but in 2002–03 they enjoyed their most successful season for a decade, reaching the semi-finals of both domestic cups and also reaching the Division One play-off final, where they were beaten by Wolverhampton Wanderers.
Three years later, however, Warnock delivered a Premier League return as the Blades finished runners-up in the rebranded Championship. They lasted just one season back amongst the elite, before being relegated from the Premier League amidst the controversy surrounding Carlos Tevez, the player who was controversially signed by West Ham United and whose performances played a big part in their remarkable escape from relegation. Neil Warnock resigned as manager after the Blades went down.
The club struggled to come to terms with life back in the Championship, with a spiralling wage bill not being matched by the quality of the players brought in, and a succession of managers within a short period of time. The Blades did reach the Championship playoff final in 2009 under Kevin Blackwell, but a period of decline then set in. The 2010–11 season proved disastrous, with the club employing three different managers in the space of a season, which ultimately ended in relegation to League One under Micky Adams, meaning they would play in the third tier of English football for the first time since 1989, and only five years after gaining promotion to the Premiership.
In the 2011–12 season, the club finished third in League One, narrowly missing out on automatic promotion to rivals Sheffield Wednesday, and entered the playoffs. With victory over Stevenage in the semi-final, United missed out on an immediate return to the Championship after suffering a penalty shootout defeat to Huddersfield Town. The Blades again made it to the League One playoffs in 2012–13 after a fifth-place finish, but were knocked out by eventual promotion winners Yeovil Town.
On 3 September 2013 it was confirmed that Saudi Prince Abdullah bin Musa'ed bin Abdulaziz Al Saud of the royal House of Saud had bought a 50% stake in United's parent company 'Blades Leisure Ltd' for the fee of £1 with the promise of providing "substantial new capital" with the aim of returning the Blades to the Premier League as "quickly as possible".
In 2014 the Blades began to be described by areas of the media as "giant-killers", having reached the FA Cup semi-finals at Wembley, losing 5–3 to Hull City.
In 2014–15 the team reached the quarter-finals of the FA Cup and semi-finals of the Football League Cup, and despite being eliminated they remained in contention for promotion to the Championship.
United secured promotion back to the second tier of English football in the 2016–17 season under the management of lifelong fan and former Blades player Chris Wilder.
The Manager – Chris Wilder
Past Match - Video Highlights - Trev
Media Watch - K L Blue
MM on Rangers selling Waghorn and Garner
http://www.hitc.com/en-gb/2017/10/09/ip ... garner-an/
http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/sport/foot ... n-11311288
Kevin Beattie's verdict on Octobers fixtures
http://www.greenun24.co.uk/ipswich-town ... -1-5227668
McGoldrick not injured, Just free to return
http://www.greenun24.co.uk/ipswich-town ... -1-5228342
Form Guide
Sheffield United Last 5 Matches – Currently in 3rd place with 21 points
Nottingham F. 2-1 Sheffield Utd
Sheffield Utd 2-0 Wolverhampton
Sheffield Wed 2-4 Sheffield Utd
Sheffield Utd 0-1 Norwich City
Bolton Wanderers 0-1 Sheffield Utd
Ipswich Last 5 Matches – Currently in 8th place with 18 points
Ipswich Town 1-3 Bristol City
Ipswich Town 5-2 Sunderland
Leeds United 3-2 Ipswich Town
Ipswich Town 2-0 Bolton Wanderers
QPR 2-1 Ipswich Town
Fixtures of Interest
WOLVES VS ASTON VILLA
BARNSLEY VS MIDDLESBROUGH
NORWICH VS HULL CITY
FULHAM VS PRESTON N.E.
Marko's Caption Contest – THE DON CUP
Bristol City scores:
Ohiotractorboy 5pts
Tangfastic 4pts
Derickipsw 3pts
Frosty 2pts
LEAGUE TABLE
TANGFASTIC 23
OHIOTRACTORBOY 21
NICSCREAMER 19
SHED ON TOUR 19
BLUEMIKE 19
BARMY BILLY 17
FROSTY 17
DERICKIPSW 16
HERFORDER 15
ANDO 12
BLUEBLOOD 10
NUMBER9 10
BLUEPETER 8
IPSWICHTOWNNO1 8
QUASAR 7
WATERSHIP DOWN 7
JAMMA123 4
LOUDnPROUD 3
AYLESBURY BLUE 2
PATTHEGIMP 1
Sheffield United Caption picture:
Match Referee – Tony Harrington
SHEFFIELD UNITED 1 IPSWICH TOWN 1
