Sheffield United 5th in premier

[Spirit of 2000]

No superstars, hard working, great team spirit, quick incisive attacking side, hard to break down. 5th in January,  no way are they going down. Tony Khan should learn a thing or two from them. Wage bill a fraction of ours. Championship promotion winning sides will rarely rock up in the premier and outplay sides, they need to fight, be organised and earn the privilege to play. No way will signing short term mercenaries and playing ticky tacka negative possession football going to work.

[Whitestone]

Easy to say with hindsight. Agree, they are doing well. The manager is probably the key with Shef Utd. He’s worked wonders with some average players.

[The Rational Fan]

Tici-tacka possession football can work, as long as we score two goals per game and conceeded only one. If Fulham is going to play a style that only scores every 35 minutes of possession then we need to be holding on to the ball fir 70 minutes per game, which occurred against Milwalll and probably only Milwall.

If you going to pass a couple of metres like Mawson has been doing then an 87% pass completion rate that is much too low for tifo-taca to work and 87% definitely to low be passing the ball out from the goal area with Luton doing a high press (Hoddle and Guilt can do it Mawson cannot). We either need to be getting our backs pass completion rates above 95% or maintain the current completion rate with 5m of extra forward distance or kick the ball 50m to Mitro with 50% success like Hull would do.

[Arthur]

No superstars, hard working, great team spirit...

I think the same is true of Norwich, but they're propping up the table. In other words, such a strategy won't necessarily be enough; if it were, we wouldn't all be so surprised at how well Sheffield United are doing.

Even now, I wonder how much harder it will be for the Blades to steer themselves clear of relegation next season.

[RaySmith]

Where will they finish?
Next season will be the test, as said.

Good luck to them, though, a fine example for  smaller clubs, like Fulham, though I  groan when i see  their success used as stick to knock Fulham with. Remember that we managed 13 years i the Prem, finishing as high as ninth one year. Now we again are fortunate to have a  wealthy owner backing us, but now there is FFP to contend with.

[Spirit of 2000]

Times have changed. Also Norwich are an attacking footballing side compared to Sheffield United.  United show that to succeed you need a dedicated and hard working bunch with good team spirit. Signing Seri, Schurrle and co was a mistake and we are unlikely to go up and start playing teams off the pitch. More grit and work required than our current model.

[Slaphead in Qatar]

I think Sheff United is a lesson to Fulham on how to handle the premier league. We made a right mess of it last season.

[fcfulham55]

Where will they finish?
Next season will be the test, as said.

Good luck to them, though, a fine example for  smaller clubs, like Fulham, though I  groan when i see  their success used as stick to knock Fulham with. Remember that we managed 13 years i the Prem, finishing as high as ninth one year. Now we again are fortunate to have a  wealthy owner backing us, but now there is FFP to contend with.

We have also finished 7th to qualify for Europa league right after the great escape and 8th under Mark Hughes.

[colinwhite]

They could still go down. We beat them comfortably in both games last time around and they have more or less the same team. Of course fight and work earns you the right to play but you need quality too,to able to play.

[Slaphead in Qatar]

They could still go down. We beat them comfortably in both games last time around and they have more or less the same team. Of course fight and work earns you the right to play but you need quality too,to able to play.

They need 10 points from last 16 games

[Robbie]

Took a long time to build ...

[The Old Count]

Are there stats that indicate whether a player has passion, will to win and team spirit? 

Serious question. Personally I doubt it.

[Dr Quinzel]

We were terrible when we went up, but it isn't as easy as just saying 'do what Sheff have done'.

They are currently doing something that I can't remember any newly promoted team doing in my lifetime. Been a long time since Cloughie could do this.

[Ordar]

Imagine having a manager who was tactically astute, coached well, tailored a formation to suit his players, and inspired them to play far above their abilities as individuals....

[Woolly Mammoth]

Are there stats that indicate whether a player has passion, will to win and team spirit? 

Serious question. Personally I doubt it.

Exactly right about the damned stats etc, as somebody else said, the club made a right mess of our season in the Premier League last year, I hope they can learn from the way teams like Sheffield United operate and look at their philosophies regarding the recruitment of players, but then again unlike us they probably have a qualified D of F.

[Woolly Mammoth]

Are there stats that indicate whether a player has passion, will to win and team spirit? 

Serious question. Personally I doubt it.

I cannot find any, probably because proper D of F and recruitment staff go and watch targets at away matches to find out the character and mentality of players when in a hostile away environment when things do not go their way and are under the cosh, to see how they react. Do they shrink and hide under a blade of grass like like many Fulhams recruits have done in the recent past. Or do they stand up to the challenge and roll their sleeves up, take responsibility and show some bolox.

[bobbo]

I know it's been done to death on here but the VAR decision at that match last night must rank as VAR at its very worst. I'm no West Ham fan but they were robbed by that decision . Diabolicle.

[Tabby]

Imagine having a manager who was tactically astute, coached well, tailored a formation to suit his players, and inspired them to play far above their abilities as individuals....

Hodgson managed to guide a squad that was essentially the same as the one that was going down to a similar position as Sheffield U and an EL final. It is amazing how many people underestimate the contributions of a good manager here.

[Dr Quinzel]

Imagine having a manager who was tactically astute, coached well, tailored a formation to suit his players, and inspired them to play far above their abilities as individuals....

Hodgson managed to guide a squad that was essentially the same as the one that was going down to a similar position as Sheffield U and an EL final. It is amazing how many people underestimate the contributions of a good manager here.

It made me think of Hodgson too. Possibly Coleman in some ways - I think he did marvelously with us with what was a merry band of men, with the exception of three or four real talents. Although Coleman seemed less about the tactics and more about man management.

[Spirit of 2000]

Imagine having a manager who was tactically astute, coached well, tailored a formation to suit his players, and inspired them to play far above their abilities as individuals....

Hodgson managed to guide a squad that was essentially the same as the one that was going down to a similar position as Sheffield U and an EL final. It is amazing how many people underestimate the contributions of a good manager here.