Sheffield United vs Burnley

UTB 05
Paul Heckingbot tom
MANAGER’S NOTES
After the rigours and everything
associated with two victories in
the last week, we now face three
huge fixtures before we can take a
breath for the World Cup break.
Next weekend’s trip to south Wales will
be tough and we’ve got a local derby in
midweek but first of all our attentions has
to be on Burnley – the start that they have
made to the season makes it one of the
stand out fixtures in the Championship
today, hence the Sky cameras being
with us.
Since returning from Bristol in midweek,
it has been a race against time to prepare
for one of the biggest games of the
season so far, it has not been easy as we
look to rest, recuperate and patch up a
squad that is literally limping to what will
be a welcome break.
The two recent victories have come
at a cost with more injuries to contend
with, but the drive and commitment of
the players cannot be questioned with
everyone playing their part. It’s no secret
that one or two are carrying problems
but everyone is up for the fight and that is
great to see.
Tuesday night’s victory felt good for a
number of reasons. I honestly think we
played better in the majority of the six
game winless run than we did at Ashton
Gate. I’ve never won like that at United,
one that we perhaps didn’t deserve on
the balance of play. Experience came to
the fore in how we defended the box in
the second half, and it was good to bring
experience off the bench, but it shows
how crazy football at this level is. Nigel
Pearson will feel like I did after we got
beat by QPR at home, having dominated.
Margins are that fine, as I keep saying.
As well as all the preparation and hard
work that goes into all of the games, you
need decisions to go your way in the
big moments, nobody in this league will
achieve anything without things going
for them because if you don’t you will
struggle to get results.
On Tuesday, they walked through us
at times in the first half and in the second
they pounded balls into our box. We
weren’t at our best, but we were tougher,
resilient and made better decisions and
that is what pleases me – it’s a different
way to win a game. We scored a good
goal, we had to adjust in the first half,
I wanted Iliman to play higher to be more
of a threat and fortunately he sniffed out
a chance.
It was different to West Brom when
two fantastic goals changed the nature
of the game and then we had to defend
very well.
In both games we’ve had to make
changes, play players out of position and
demand from them. It is clear that the
personality and the drive of the lads has
been excellent recently and we need
the same as we navigate these next
three games.
Hecky
SHEFFIELD UNITED vs BURNLEY