Chris Wilder returned as the manager on Wednesday night suffering a 2-0 loss to Liverpool in his comeback match, but the performance was much better than they’ve recently served up, which has given Sheffield United hope for Saturday’s game.
Brentford currently hold 11th position in the table, but they’ve faced three defeats in their last four league games. Despite a challenging run, two of these losses were against strong opponents Arsenal and Liverpool, along with a midweek defeat to Brighton.
The Blades have a number of absentees for this fixture, and so do Brentford, losing Bryan Mbeumo for the next few weeks and are potentially without Mathias Jensen. However, Christian Norgaard returns after serving his suspension.
Opposition fans
“It’s not going to be an easy game….we need to create but also be very much up for the fight.”
“They put in a great shift tonight against Liverpool according to their fans, they will see us as prime candidates to take three points off, have we got enough leaders to stand up to them.”
“Sheffield will be more up for this match than the Liverpool one, asthat game was a free hit for them. They’ll be expecting to beat us. And our record up there isn’t too good, from what I recall.”
“Brilliant game for Sheff Utd at the moment given our injury and suspension problems.”
“Currently, I don’t think we can match them physically, so we need to out-football them. High temp, quick running and passing.”
“Feel we need to control the game in the middle. Sheff United aren’t the physical team they once were. We don’t want to be chasing the game with a severe lack of options going forward. At least midfield look a little bit healthier now. Have a bad feeling about the game though.”
“Tough game bad time to play them imo so a point would be good.”
“It’s a great time to play them. It won’t get a lot better than playing a team with 5pts from 15 games.”
“Well it’s not particularly true, a great time to play them was last week under Heckingbottom. Wilder will at least get them fighting.”
Key stats
Sheffield United boast a recent positive record against Brentford, being unbeaten in their last five league encounters, all taking place in the Championship. The most recent clash resulted in a 3-2 victory for the Blades in March 2019.
Interestingly, this is only the third top-flight meeting between Sheffield United and Brentford. The previous two occurred during the 1946/47 season, with Sheffield United winning 6-1 on Christmas Day and Brentford securing a 2-1 victory on Boxing Day.
My opinion
The defensive structure looked much better, the pressing and screening of passes into midfield was far better, and United’s counter-attacking threat was more apparent on Wednesday night.
If Wilder and his coaching staff can improve our usage of the ball, and our decisiveness in the final third, on Saturday, I firmly believe Sheffield United can find a way to claim three points against a banged up Brentford team who will be without their most influential player.
