The Blades hope they won’t be on the receiving end of a new manager bounce this Saturday as they face off against West Brom in Carlos Corberan’s first game in charge.
Preparing for a newly managed team can be quite difficult, and Paul Heckingbottom spoke to Yorkshire Live about what he expects to see from the Baggies on Saturday:
“There will be similarities with the way West Brom have played recently and how Huddersfield played under Carlos but we’re just guessing. We will do as much as we can.”
Corberan got the better of the Blades last season where he accumulated 4pts with his Huddersfield Town side. He’ll want to start his West Bromwich Albion reign positively and try to climb up the table from where they currently are – 23rd place in the Championship table.
There is huge pressure on this game from Sheffield United’s perspective. They are winless in six games and they have failed to keep a clean sheet in their last six games. Subsequently, they have fallen off the pace with the rest of the promotion-chasing pack and they are now 6pts off the top of the table.
Heckingbottom admitted to Yorkshire Live that whilst they know West Brom’s most threatening players, the emphasis is on Sheffield United to create and score:
“There will be certain things we are pretty sure we can expect, especially in terms of personnel and their threats but the emphasis has to be on us and being clinical at the top end of the pitch and as it stands at the minute we have virtually got to be giving nothing away at the other end.”
United have a lot more reinforcements now than they previously had. Jack Robinson and John Fleck will be among the squad that travels to the Hawthorns. Enda Stevens and Ciaran Clark have just recently returned to full training.
Heckingbottom will be running the risk of losing two more of his players but this time it’s due to suspensions; Oliver Norwood and Anel Ahmedhodzic are on four bookings. If they pick up another on Saturday afternoon then they will miss the midweek trip to Bristol City.