Sheffield United fans: Discuss the Crystal Palace game with Richard Sutcliffe
Winless in their last five matches, will Crystal Palace become the first club this season to lose to Sheffield United?
Palace did offer their fans some Christmas cheer after back-to-back 7-0 and 3-0 losses to Aston Villa and Liverpool by scoring first against Leicester on Monday but a late equaliser forced them to settle for a point. Now Palace get a chance to return to winning ways against a side making an historically-bad start to a Premier League season with just two points from 16 games so far.
The last English top-division club to fail to win any of their first 17 league matches were Bolton in 1902-03 and there are grounds for United to travel south with hope as they beat Palace home and away last season. That 1-0 at Selhurst Park doubled their total of Premier League wins in London to two. This will be their 26th visit.
Pose your questions now and The Athletic's United reporter Richard Sutcliffe will join in a couple of hours before kick-off.
Chew over the teamsheet, then discuss the performance overall and by individuals, where the match was won and lost and pick through what the result means for the club.
Richard Sutcliffe
Jan 1, 2021 38 Comments
Jan 2, 11:10am
Happy New Year to you all. Must admit I was glad to see the back of 2020, both from a footballing perspective and day-to-day life. Hopefully, better times lay ahead for us all and that includes the Blades.
As for today's game, the squad is again down to the bare bones. Antwoine Hackford is understood to have travelled south yesterday. We wrote about the 16-year-old in September after he was part of the first team set-up in Scotland for the pre-season training camp. He was tagged as United's "breakthrough star" but I must admit that, even allowing for his undoubted talent, it would more than likely be a couple of years before we saw him in action at first team level. It still might be, of course, but just being in and around the squad will be a huge thrill and also a big step in his development.
As for the game, Palace have been struggling of late. Not a par with United's own struggles, of course, but struggling all the same. The pressure seems to be mounting at Selhurst Park and maybe this is something United can tap into. Wilfried Zaha is the big danger but I thought George Baldock dealt with him brilliantly last season, albeit at Selhurst Park after resorting to the odd foul when doing so. Keeping Zaha quiet will be paramount today. As will the midfield and forwards working together better than was the case at Burnley in United's last outing. All that possession and yet United never really looked like scoring in the second half. That has to change today. Be interesting to see if Chris Wilder again opts for three forwards. Was a bold move in the last two games but maybe the attacking threat posed by Palace and Zaha will force a rethink. That said, with numbers down in midfield due to injury and suspension maybe it will have to be the same team. What do you think? Would you change things? Maybe opt for a number 10? Or has the manager little room for manoeuvre?
My team, for what its worth, would be (3-4-1-2): Ramsdale; Basham, Egan, Robinson; Baldock, Norwood, Osborn, Stevens; McGoldrick; Brewster, Burke.
Be great to hear everyone's thoughts on what the starting XI should be.
@Richard Sutcliffe
Geoff H.
Jan 2, 2:02pm
Mcgoldrick is wasted in midfield or as a 10. He is a second striker / withdrawn 9. He has scored or assisted 5 of our 6 goals other than penalties. To push him further back is madness
@Geoff H.
Team news is in and the big news is Jayden Bogle starts for the first time in the Premier League. Comes in for George Baldock, who missed a day of training in wake of the defeat at Burnley on Tuesday night. (Everyone was on day off Weds). Baldock one of just six names on the bench along with 16-year-old forward Antwoine Hackford, due to nine players being unavailable through a combination of injury, suspension and illness/Covid-19 positive tests. Means Blades really up against it today. Thoughts on today's team news? Can this be the day when United get that elusive win?