Olly writes his latest piece ahead of Saturday afternoon’s clash with Norwich at Bramall Lane.
I’m putting this article in a bit early as I’m off on a course and won’t be back until Friday evening. Then it’ll be a busy time for me on Saturday getting down to BDTBL and then a mad dash to the airport afterwards to go on holiday.
I’m hoping we can pick up where we left off at QPR and get all three points in the bag from this game. Having been at the Cup match mid-week there were signs there late on that we could boss games like we did so well last season.
It took the introduction of key players to the squad though, with Basham, Sharp and Fleck coming on late on in that game. I think that we need to start with a strong midfield and have two strikers on the pitch for this one. Fleck, Duffy and Norwood would be my choice in midfield whereas it will have to be Sharp and Clarke up front as I’m not sure if David McGoldrick will be fit after suffering a dead leg at QPR and then being taken ill. Maybe Sharp can influence Leon into getting off the mark with the goals as Sharp has managed two in two. The only other option with the lack of forwards would be to try Woodburn up front or just behind Sharp and see how that pans out.
Norwood was fantastic on Tuesday and it will be interesting to see how he’d link up with our other influential midfielders with Fleck, Duffy, and more-so Coutts when he returns. That midfield would be solid as anything.
It will be interesting to see how Egan performs this weekend as well. I wasn’t a fan for the first few games but after he hit the bar in the Cup match against Hull City he seems to be settling in a bit better. The defence was a bit uneasy to start with against Hull, but as soon as the midfield changes were made it seemed to settle and become more of an aggressive force. JOC, Freeman and Stevens were making runs at the opposition late on after the substitutions were made.
Anyway, I’m hoping for a decent win this Saturday, hopefully the game will be much better than last season’s home fixture against Norwich, where they were constantly time-wasting and carrying on with all their theatricals when anyone came within two feet of their players. I’m hoping for a good attacking game of football without all the poor drama.
A bonus is that I’ll have my backside on my usual seat on the Kop, and that should be full to the brim. This will give a more challenging place to visit with our fans in full song, and it’ll be Norwood’s first glimpse of the noise that we make to get behind the team!
UTB!!
Olly
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Olly Longden (RFA)
Sheffield United MOD/Armed Forces Supporters Branch
Tweet: @oliverlongden4