Sheffield United (h); The Preview

Jon: I tipped your lot to struggle and I wasn’t alone, as you probably picked up in the media. I just thought it would be a bridge too far, given you didn’t add huge amounts of players to a squad which was workmanlike and well-drilled. I’m kind of happy to say I was wrong, as United’s form turns conventional wisdom on its head, in that you have to spend bags of cash to compete.

I’m interested though, what’s been the real secret to the current success, and can you see it being sustained across the season once everyone has had a good look at what Wilder’s boys have to offer?

Don’t worry, many pundits and people in ‘the know’ also tipped us to struggle and go straight back down. We were odds on favourites to go down with ALL bookies. Right now we are 12/1 with some bookies to be relegated.

The real secret to our success is another Premier League team, Bournemouth.

Chris Wilder has always been a huge fan of the way Bournemouth worked their way up from the bottom of the footballing ladder to the Premier League and the way they kept faith with the players who made the journey through the leagues. The recruitment over the last few seasons at the Blades has not just been one of “here and now” to get promoted from League 1 and the Championship but with the future in mind. Get players in who are young, have something to prove and can improve.

Wilder keeps referring to himself and the coaching staff as teachers. It is his and their job to make players better. We cannot buy the finished article but we can buy potential. And that is what he has done in his time as Blades boss.

And the key element is faith. He believed the squad he built was good enough to compete in the Premier League. A few signings here and there to add quality but avoid ripping the heart out of the team that came up from the Championship. A good few early results, add a dash of confidence and away we go.

We have to wait and see if it can be sustained and there will be a run of games when we lose a few back to back, we still have to play Liverpool, Man City, Leicester, Man Utd away but there is no reason we cannot keep it up. We are often told that once the big teams work us out we will struggle, well the big Championships sides didn’t in the two seasons we were in that league before being promoted.

Sounds very much like Norwich under Paul Lambert a few years ago, and we did well to ride the crest of that wave for as long as possible.

Has the Premier League been everything you thought it was after quite a few years away? My impressions have shifted a fair amount, in my opinion there isn’t much difference between the real top clubs in the Championship and bottom end of the top flight, the money just seems to continue to flow upwards into the top 6.

The attention is off the scale in the Premier League, especially given we play a unique way and it’s rather successful right now. We’re the first promoted side to go unbeaten in our first seven away games in nearly 30 years.

We’ve hardly changed our way of playing in four years but being in the Premier League means the whole footballing world now knows how we play with overlapping centre halves and the attention that has brought is nothing like I’ve seen before. Suddenly we’re the 2nd favourite club of many football fans after their own team. It’s mad.

I think you’re right about the quality. Apart from Liverpool and Man City who will beat you nine times out of 10 (well done on beating Man City by the way) on a so called bad day for them you can take points off and beat anybody as we have so far proved.

Tactfully we will call it a very competitive league.

Very tactful, well played sir. I mean I’d call it a bit of a shitshow, but you win the points for diplomacy.

I have to ask by the way, you’re not still singing ‘Take your time, take your time’ are you? Probably best we kissed and made up if you still are.

Erm……

I would say the chances of you hearing “take your time, take your time” more than once, before kick-off, during the first half, and the second half will be high. Extremely high if we score first. If it makes you feel special, we do reserve singing the song mainly for you.

It’s funny how a rivalry can spring up with teams over the course of a few seasons. We had a rivalry that developed with Bolton in League 1 from nowhere and then it was you in the Championship.

And now it’s moved into the Premier League.

Yeah, the rivalry is a bit strange in my eyes, but it is what it is. I suppose as we hopefully won’t be playing Ipswich for some time we can make you the enemy.

So, who are we looking out for come Sunday? Lys Mousset seems to have been lively of late?

Lys Mousset is has been a true star this season. When we signed him people judged the non-confident Mousset who barely played and scored for Bournemouth. He is full of confidence now and it shows. He has stated in an interview in France that he feels loved and wanted at Bramall Lane and that has made the biggest difference. He has pace, he has flair and he has an end product. And a bright orange Lamborghini too, which is a definite first for a Sheffield United player.

However, the true heartbeat of this team is the one who is making the headlines for not scoring, David McGoldrick. He links everything, comes deep to get the ball, brings players into play and his partnership with Mousset is getting better and better. He is an intelligent footballer. McGoldrick and Mousset didn’t start against Newcastle and it showed. I think they will definitely start, injury aside against you. And we are a better team for it.

Given his former allegiances with our friends south of the border I don’t want to like McGoldrick. He generally flattered to deceive when playing for Town but you always knew he had a bit about him and was often on a different wavelength to the cloggers who played around him. Looks like he’s finally realising his potential after injury problems at Ipswich too.

It’ll be interesting come Sunday. We’re probably better equipped to play yourselves than anyone else in the top flight. We know what you’re all about, we know how you’ll go about your business and we know we’re overdue a win against you after a few tight encounters.

I shouldn’t, but I really fancy Norwich to edge this one because of the familiarity. I’ll go 2-1, Pukki continues on the goal trail by grabbing the opener in the first half. Mousset scores an exocet just after half time to level things, before substitute Emi Buendia grabs his first Premier League goal with a classy dribble and finish on 77 minutes. After that, some top class shithousery from Tim Krul in running down the clock causes foamy mouths in the away end.

How do you see things panning out?

Well after losing to Newcastle I’m actually more confident. We very rarely lose back to back games in the league, the last time we did were the first two games of the Championship last season. So I’m going for both teams to score, United to score first via Mousset with his French flair, Blades fans then to chant “take your time” over and over and over and over again. We have started leaking goals so you will equalise in the 2nd half for McGoldrick to break your hearts with a back post tap in after great work down the left from Enda Stevens. McGoldrick then carried off the pitch aloft at FT as we celebrate a 2-1 win and Didsy’s first Premier League goal.

Wilder storms across to the Blades fans kissing the badge on his chest then tapping his watch when walking back off to celebrate with his team.

I think it will happen just like that…

Ha, and to think I was warming to you. Best of luck, after Saturday of course.