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Pre-Match Thread


blunther

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7 hours ago, BleedClaretAndBlue said:

Wonder how different both sides seasons might have gone if Martinez hadnt saved that penalty at VP.

Same. Would be interesting to see the alternate timeline where Sheffield United won early in the season. Reminds me of the time we lost 3-2 at Leicester after going 2-0 up. If we held on to that lead I reckon we stay up and they don't get close to winning the league. That game seemed to prove to our players that we just can't win, and proved to Leicester players that they can come back from anything and win. 

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We did look so much better in midfield at Leeds without Barkley. It actually felt like we were snapping at their heels whenever they had the ball and that is the polar opposite with Barkley in the team. We re-found our grit for me last time out and we will need that in bucketloads for the next two games.

Sheff Utd created quite a lot against Liverpool, they will not be easy.

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Regards to that centre midfield trio its ABB for me. Anyone but Barkley. I see merit with all other selections, although I have a preference to see Sanson from the outset. We will need energy and tenacity again on Wednesday. The remaining 8 pick themselves.

Barkley needs to come from the bench to rebuild trust. I have simply come to the conclusion that he does not have the stomach for the fight at Aston Villa. How I hope to be wrong but...

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11 minutes ago, BleedClaretAndBlue said:

I think this is the game for Sanson to announce himself 👌

Wouldn’t surprise me at all if he starts. It’s nice to be able to slowly introduce a player into the side without the pressure to perform instantly.

Perfect opportunity to give him a start.

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32 minutes ago, GENTLEMAN said:

Regards to that centre midfield trio its ABB for me. Anyone but Barkley. I see merit with all other selections, although I have a preference to see Sanson from the outset. We will need energy and tenacity again on Wednesday. The remaining 8 pick themselves.

Barkley needs to come from the bench to rebuild trust. I have simply come to the conclusion that he does not have the stomach for the fight at Aston Villa. How I hope to be wrong but...

Barkley has the engine, work rate and closing down mentality of a striker. Ollie has the engine, work rate and closing down mentality of a midfielder. 

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2 hours ago, blunther said:

Reminds me of the time we lost 3-2 at Leicester after going 2-0 up. If we held on to that lead I reckon we stay up and they don't get close to winning the league. That game seemed to prove to our players that we just can't win, and proved to Leicester players that they can come back from anything and win. 

I have the same thoughts about that game. It was absolutely pivotal and still sticks in the mind. I remember watching it at the time and knowing the loss would be disastrous for us. Obviously it's only in hindsight you could see it had the exact opposite effect on them and they managed to continue it on so fair play.

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2 hours ago, useless said:

My hope is that we're winning by five plus goals with half an hour left to play

Has anybody got close to scoring 5 goals past Sheff Utd??  And without Jack as well!  I would love it if your hopes are fulfilled but I highly doubt they will be.  A scrappy 1-0 to the Villa (to the theme of the old Arsenal tune!!) would suit me.

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4 minutes ago, BOF said:

I have the same thoughts about that game. It was absolutely pivotal and still sticks in the mind. I remember watching it at the time and knowing the loss would be disastrous for us. Obviously it's only in hindsight you could see it had the exact opposite effect on them and they managed to continue it on so fair play.

We were a poor team - at least the back 7 were (Richards and Lescott as CB's, Bacuna at RB and Sanchez and Westwood as a CM axis) - but I remember Jack, Carlos and Gabby terrorising Leicester for the first hour.  Just a shame Tactics Tim had no idea how to close a game out (not like today's first XI!!). 

Still, we maybe wouldn't be where we are now if we hadn't suffered that period and we certainly wouldn't have appreciated it as much!

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5 minutes ago, useless said:

Just because it hasn't yet happened doesn't mean that I can't hope for it to be so. It's my wish, my dream, my ideal scenario.

I did say that I sincerely hope that your dreams come true ... I would just be very surprised if they did (but it would not be the first time this season!!😉). 

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9 minutes ago, barry'sboots said:

Has anybody got close to scoring 5 goals past Sheff Utd??  And without Jack as well!  I would love it if your hopes are fulfilled but I highly doubt they will be.  A scrappy 1-0 to the Villa (to the theme of the old Arsenal tune!!) would suit me.

It won't be for the want of trying. El Ghazi will get his customary 17 shots away. Just need them on target and with a bit of zip.

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I've been thinking for a while that it's about time that we gave someone a footballing lesson straight from the realms of our early season form, Sheffield United aren't prone to heavy defeats, but I feel we're due a big win at some point, although perhaps more likely to come when Grealish is back in the team.

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19 minutes ago, BOF said:

It won't be for the want of trying. El Ghazi will get his customary 17 shots away. Just need them on target and with a bit of zip.

I have no doubt that AEG will get plenty of shots off but am not convinced that he, or the team in total for that matter, will get 5 goals ... especially if Ramsdale is in the kind of form he was in against Liverpool!

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15 minutes ago, barry'sboots said:

I have no doubt that AEG will get plenty of shots off but am not convinced that he, or the team in total for that matter, will get 5 goals ... especially if Ramsdale is in the kind of form he was in against Liverpool!

Oh I doubt we'll get 5 too.  I was joking.  My worry is their block will be so low that it needs a Jack Grealish type to run through them, and we don't have one of those at the moment.

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1 minute ago, BOF said:

Oh I doubt we'll get 5 too.  I was joking.  My worry is their block will be so low that it needs a Jack Grealish type to run through them, and we don't have one of those at the moment.

They seemed quite open against Liverpool.  I suppose it depends what mindset they come with.  I think they know that they are down so, maybe, they will play with a bit of freedom and come at us, looking for a string of performances to get some momentum for the Championship.  Equally, they may take the view that they don't want to be embarrassed as that could destroy confidence going in to next season.

I think, if we put out the same/similar team as we did v Leeds, we should have enough work rate/skill to create enough opportunities to score one and then you would hope that our defence can do what it has done away from home for most of the season, particularly against a team with as little goalscoring ability as Sheff Utd.  Famous last words ... 🤞 

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Looking at their results they seem to lose a lot of games by one goal. Even against the top teams. I think if they had a better keeper a lot of these narrow defeats would be draws or better, similar to Burnley.

We should beat them but it may be another 1-0.

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