Wolves welcome the Blades to Molineux for today's lunchtime kick off, looking to avenge the loss suffered earlier in the season in the reverse fixture the week after beating Manchester City!!
Most fans will know this fixture has the potential to be a banana skin match for Wolves, as they frequently struggle to beat the teams struggling at the lower end of the league, especially after a win such as last week's at Tottenham. Manager Gary O'Neil has already made it clear that he expects United to concentrate on their defending and hope to break away and score - much as his former team Bournemouth did to secure a win last season! So he will be planning for perhaps a different approach to that used last week so succesfully at Spurs in order to get past a probable back five defence.
United manager Chris Wilder has stayed tight-lipped this week regarding the availability of his players, refusing to say whether the likes of strikers Ben Brereton-Diaz or Ollie McBurney will be fit to play so we will have to wait and see. Brereton Diaz has certainly made a positive impact since joining the team and will be a danger that the Wolves defence will have to address if he plays.
Wolves have declared no further injuries other than the ongoing situation with Matheus Cunha who is reportedly making good progress following his hamstring issue. As a side issue, the sad news that Sasa Kalajdzic has suffered yet another ACL injury has led to confirmation that he has undergone repair surgery in London. All Wolves fans will surely wish him a speedy and successful recovery.
As Chelsea are playing in the Carabao Cup Final this afternoon, a win for Wolves would - at least temporarily - lift them back into the Top Ten of the League, and put some daylight between them and Fulham, who deservedly picked up three points at Old Trafford yesterday.
Today's game is scheduled to kick off at 1:30pm and will be screened live by Sky TV. Our referee will be the very experienced Darren Bond with Jarred Gillet on VAR duty.
This board will offer regular updates on the progress of the match and members and visitors are encouraged to post their own observations and opinions and join in the conversation.
An unchanged starting eleven for today's game after the success of last week. Tommy Doyle will be disappointed to be on the bench but will hope to get on at some point against the team he won promotion with last season. Brereton Diaz does not feature in the United squad and they have Rhian Brewster leading their attack. Line-up:
We go 8th if we win don’t we? Where have we heard this before and prior to playing the league whipping boys ……. And at home!!
Reality is that Blades are a poor side but this is all about today. They will be focused on defending, I dare say we will be probing and passing looking for the potential breakthrough which may well not be very easy. As a counter attacking side, we are second to none but maybe not so great at trying to break resilient sides.
Having said all that I expect us to prevail, we simply have the better players, hopefully by at least a couple of goals to get us into the positive GD category. No doubt in my mind, an early goal to us will make all the difference and settle the (my) nerves.
UTW
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2024:02:25:12:40:30 by Ivybridge Wolf.
Free kick to left ofUtd box met by a Matio header but cleared for a corner. Utd attack and Bogle dives looking for a pen against RAN but gets nothing. Nelson puts a great ball in but Mario can only get a corner which Joao puts over.
McAtee breaks after a poor passfrom Mario, but Dawson tracks him and dulls his shot which is easily collected by Jose.
Wolves break and RAN passes over for his first assist of the season for Pablo to head into the corner
Wolves 1 United 0
Good approach play by Neto before unleashing a powerful right footed shot but too high. Squabble going on between Utd players almost becomes a punch up!
Fabulous tackle and pass lit from defence by Marioto Neto but a poor decision from him breaks it down. Toti gets a shot away but blocked. Pablo blasts over the bar. Twwo added minutes at the end of the first half
Half time whistle goes and Wolves lead by the odd goal. They have attacked relentlessly but things have usually broken down in the box, whilst Rhian Brewster has had more shots than any other player. A super dross by RAN for a good header by Pablo leads to the difference between the two teams but Wolves have been by far the more dominant team.
Half time: Wolves 1 Blades 0
Wolves are playing like strangers at the moment making poor passes ans showing little attacking intent, which is encouraging Utd. McAtee shoots wide. Wokves appeal for handball againstvSouza, nothing given by ref or VAR.
Toti cross is needlessly put out for a corner which sails right across the area in to touch. Serabia & Gomez link up nicely down right side, Pablo cuts inside and shoots just wide.
Corner to Utd cleared, Neto breaks, then Joao outs a good ball across the area for a corner. Brewster stopped by Semedo as he breaks and Nelson gets a yellow card.
Brewster replaced by McBurnie who is likely to pose a differentbthreat. Wolves manage to clear a corner thenva long throw. Max concedes another corner. Crazy pass back by Max - almost nervous behaviour!!
Bellegarde replaces Hwang who has done nothing this half. JRB cored at Bramnall Lane! More nervy defending by Wolves. Neto hasn’t had the same freedom down the left wing this half
Wolves manage to keep the ball high in the Utd end. Yellow card for Toti, possibly for time wasting. Ball is with Jose Sa and the whistle goes.
A dreadfully insecure and slack showing from Wolves in the second half, especially when in live TV. However it takes us into 8th place above Chelsea, West Ham & Newcastle!!
We will need to do a lot better than that on Wednesday if we want to beat Brighton that is for sure!
Full time: Wolves 1 Sheffield United 0
Truly lacklustre, disorganised and poor second half from Wolves, except we managed to get 3 points and we’re 8th in the league!! Unbelievable after that performance, yet they’m the facts!!
Sarabia got the MOTM from the telly, personally I’d have given it to Dawson …… a rock in defense.
Not the best second half showing by any means but how things too often go for us against these sort of sides, I'm happy to get that out of the way and we know we can play better than that against better teams. I would probably just about agree with Sarabia as mom. With Liverpool winning the League Cup I think European places now go down to 7th ( I may be wrong ) so I will take the three points from this and hope performances improve.
Really poor today especially 2nd half, not sure why we looked so nervy against a dreadful Utd team.
But a wins a win and we will take it.
Up to the dizzy heights of 8th, but we have to be a lot better than today if we are going to have chance against our Bogey team Brighton in the cup.
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