The Blades are under no illusions about the uphill task they are up against this weekend, but the team should take plenty of positives from their previous meeting against Manchester City.
Sheffield United endured a memorable FA Cup run along with their promotion to the Premier League. After defeating Premier League giants Tottenham Hotspur, with an XI mostly filled with reserve and youth players, they beat Blackburn Rovers in dramatic fashion before meeting Man City in the semi-finals.
Pep Guardiola’s side went on to dismantle Heckingbottom’s men 3-0 thanks to a Riyad Mahrez hattrick. United did marshall the City attack excellently in the first half however, but a penalty kick was given on the stroke of halftime which inevitably opened the scoring.
The main focus will be on stopping Erling Haaland this weekend, just like it was in the cup tie where the Norwegian only managed 12 touches and a shot off target before being subbed off.
John Egan, who helped mark Haaland out of the game back in April, spoke about the threat of the big striker:
“I played against him last year in the cup and we know we are going to have to come up with a game plan to help us perform the best we can.” [Yorkshire Live]
United’s captain has reflected on the first two games of the season:
“Disappointing results [to start the season] at the time but we just have to go game by game. Continue to bring quality players into the squad, it’s taking shape now and it’s about moving on to the next game.”
He issues: “there have been moments where we’ve been good, and moments where we haven’t been up to our standards.” [SUTV]
