It’s hard to put into words the current emotions I have for this football club at the minute, because it’s so frustrating and yet comical at this point because no matter what happens, we can’t seem to get the rub of the green.
Considering Sheffield United have been abysmal on our travels this campaign, we couldn’t have asked for a better start in the match against Crystal Palace, taking the lead within just 20 seconds courtesy of a goal from Ben Brereton-Diaz.
But despite initially going ahead again with James McAtee’s goal, Chris Wilder’s team couldn’t maintain their advantage as Michael Olise and Eberechi Eze showcased moments of brilliance, ultimately securing all three points for Crystal Palace.
In an absolutely poor game of Premier League football, the two players with potential to be world-class stepped up for the home side. But the most frustrating thing about it is, from a goalkeeper’s perspective the goals were pretty much unstoppable. However, the defence and midfield should be getting out quicker to the edge of the box when you know a team has the player’s to beat you from 20+ yards.
This all comes down to the mentality though for me. After every goal we score, why on earth do we constantly retreat deeper and deeper, until eventually we concede. Sitting deep hasn’t worked all season as we’ve been punished, so why continue to do this very thing that has landed us in this deep hole at the foot of the table.
The Blades have gone away from home, to a side that are terrible at home, scored inside 20 seconds, eventually scoring a second goal to go back ahead and managed to concede three goals from an expected goals of 1.1.
There is no game-management whenever we get into winning positions, we just revert to type. And that’s retreat to your own goal line. Can you even call it a weak mentality? It is a negative mindset. Because we have huffed and puffed until the final whistle and sometimes been rewarded, like against West Ham and Wolves.
Are Sheffield United as good as down?
Nine points behind Luton Town, having played a game more. I did think Luton would stop up, but I never thought we’d be that far apart from them.
We have to go unbeaten in February starting with a win at the weekend against Aston Villa. Then we have to beat Luton the following week. And then win against Brighton, and a draw will do away at Wolves. Not asking for much….
But in all seriousness as far away as we look now, and as poorly as we performed on Tuesday night, teams at the bottom are facing some really difficult fixtures over the next few weeks. All it takes is one little spike of positivity and the belief should be revitalised once more. And with points deductions looming over Nottingham Forest and Everton you never know how that could impact the Blades, if and when they get deducted.
In football the most unexpected things happen often. Perhaps the footballing gods have one final twist for Sheffield United. Or maybe they are in fact lining up that final nail in the coffin.
