Last year’s play-off finalists have not had a good start to the season, losing 4-1 to Bristol City on the opening weekend, going out of the Carabao Cup to new boys Birmingham and then falling to 1-0 defeats against Swansea, Millwall and Middlesbrough.

It’s been a summer of change for the Blades with Chris Wilder departing once again and Ruben Selles coming in in his place. I like Selles. He did a good job stabilising the ship at Reading before going to another bit of a basket case in Hull City and again doing a pretty good job to keep them in the Championship.

He’s certainly earnt a chance at a team that was hoping to push for promotion yet again, but things seem to already be turning a bit sour with rumours that another defeat here could see him face the sack.

Goalkeepers

Former Plymouth keeper Michael Cooper, who often denied Town in the League One season making 12 saves over the course of the two games between Ipswich and Plymouth, will be the man between the sticks for this one having moved to Sheffield in 2024. He made 110 saves last season resulting in 21 clean sheets and a goals prevented metric of 5.68.

Despite the Blades’ struggles Cooper has been one of the positives so back-up keeper, 33-year-old Adam Davies, is unlikely to see much time on the pitch.

Defenders

No clean sheets so far but United have been chopping and changing their back four as new signings enter the building.

It was an all-new right-hand side against Middlesbrough with Ben Godfrey, who had a rather anonymous spell at Portman Road last season, starting at right-back and Japhet Tanganga coming straight in at centre-back following his move from Millwall.

The former Spurs man made seven clearances, three interceptions and blocked four shots in an all-action defensive performance and should prove to be a shrewd signing.

The left side has been more consistent with loanee Tyler Bindon having featured in every game so far alongside Harrison Burrows, who has long been mentioned as a Leif Davis replacement, and made the step up to the Championship last season, impressing with five goals and three assists. He’s averaged 1.8 key passes per game so far this season.

With Bindon the jury is still out. The 20-year-old knows Selles well and looked very comfortable in League One last season whilst playing under him at Reading. However, the Championship is a step up and he’s struggled a little bit so far.

Femi Seriki is the man who’s lost his place to Godfrey whilst Rhys Norrington-Davies, who had a horror show against Bristol City, has been sent on loan to QPR.

Skipper Jack Robinson, who has been with the Blades since 2020, has also left for Birmingham, meaning the defence needed strengthening as it left a bunch of youngsters as centre-back cover.

Eighteen-year-old Lithuanian Dovydas Sasnauska was given cup experience but struggled, his last loan spell having been at Buxton in National League North.

Nils Zätterström, who has joined from Malmo, is probably ahead of him in the pecking order and was on the bench for the game against Middlesbrough and provides left-footed cover for Bindon.

The aforementioned Siriki is the most experienced out and out right-back at the club with just 39 Championship appearances with 19-year-old Sam Curtis getting a run out in the cup and 18-year-old Mihail Polendakov, a Bulgarian U21 international, having joined for a minimal fee from FK Septemvri Sofia.

Former Canary Sam McCallum provides cover at left-back while ex-Leeds man Jamie Shackleton can play in both slots in addition to midfield and came on at half time in Leeds’ 4-3 victory at Portman Road in August 2023 for Cody Drameh, a substitution that tipped the game in the Whites’ favour. He looks set to be out of this one with an injury.

A busy deadline day up in Sheffield saw further strengthening at centre-back with the additions of experienced Ben Mee and former Town loanee Mark McGuinness.

Thirty-five-year-old Mee brings a wealth of experience, largely at Premier League level, but is unlikely to see much time on the pitch whilst McGuinness will provide extra competition for Bindon as a left footed centre-back having featured regularly for Luton.

Midfield

In the middle of the park, Vinicius Souza has left for Wolfsburg but someone who I felt was almost certain to move on, Gustavo Hamer, has stayed with the club.

The 28-year-old is without doubt the Blades’ star man. He had 16 goal contributions last season (nine goals and seven assists). Two of those came direct from free-kicks whilst four were from outside the box. Closing him down when he’s on the ball should be Town’s first priority.

Selles has opted for a fairly attacking midfield to combine with Hamer, with one six and two eights. With Hamer playing on the left side, it’s Callum O’Hare who’s been playing on the right.

O’Hare joined the Blades last season on a free transfer and scored in both legs of the play-off semi-final against Bristol City. However, in my mind he’s very much a 10 and seems to be struggling in the deeper role Selles is attempting to use him in, averaging just 48.3 touches per 90.

The holding midfielder in that trio has been Sydie Peck. The 20-year-old had a breakout campaign in 2024 making 42 starts in his first full season on professional football. With Sousa leaving he has big boots to fill and is another who is perhaps struggling to cope with the weight of expectation. He’s picked up yellow cards in both of his last two games and was very lucky to not get sent off against Middlesbrough.

Djibril Soumare has been loaned in from Portuguese side Braga to provide both competition and support for Peck in that role. He won 63% of his duels in Liga Portugal last season averaging 2.7 tackles and 6.1 ball recoveries per game.

He’s started two games so far, the cup game against Birmingham and the 1-0 defeat to Swansea, but isn’t fully up to speed with the pace of the Championship yet.

On deadline day the Blades strengthened that midfield position further with the addition of Alex Matos, who finally left Chelsea following Championship loan spells with Huddersfield and Oxford United.

Experienced players Tom Davies (formerly of Everton) and Oliver Arblaster provide further depth there but both are out injured.

Davies struggled throughout last season and picked up another issue during pre-season, while Arblaster has been out with an ACL injury since 2024 but could be set to return soon.

That just leaves Andre Brooks, who is more of an inverted right midfielder these days than someone who can play centrally.

Prior to the international break, they also added depth with the signing of Tahith Chong from Luton. The busy midfielder was a bright spot in Luton’s relegation campaign with four Premier League goals but struggled last season and will be looking forward to a fresh start. He played 12 minutes off the bench against Middlesbrough and his versatility will no doubt be an asset.

Forwards

Whilst there has been a bit more consistency in midfield and defence, the front three is an area where Selles has struggled to find a solution.

Both O’Hare and Brooks have played on the right wing, whilst Louie Barry has been consistent on the left with Tyrese Campbell operating as the main striker.

Barry is on his eighth loan spell since 2021 having spent time at Swindon, MK Dons, Salford, Stockport and Hull since making six appearances for Ipswich.

It was his spell at Stockport that finally kickstarted his career, but he only made four appearances at Hull and the Championship does look like it’s proving to be a level too high for him.

Campbell on the other hand is proven at Championship level with 42 goals in 179 appearances but, following three goals in pre-season and one in the opener against Bristol City, has gone off the boil as Sheffield United as a team, not just Campbell himself, have failed to find the back of the net in the last three games.

That could open the door for 22-year-old Tom Cannon to start leading the line but, similar to Campbell, it’s not working out for him at Sheffield United.

He scored 10 goals in the Championship last season but nine of those came from his loan spell at Stoke before he moved to Bramall Lane in January. He was forced out onto the right wing against Millwall which does not suit his game.

A bunch of young players provide the back-up across the frontline with claimed Town target Ryan One, Louie Marsh, Christian Nwachukwu and Ehije Ukaki all having bright futures, but unlikely to make much of an impact this season.

At the other end of the spectrum, Danny Ings has been picked up on a free transfer. The experienced campaigner is now 33 but boasts 72 goals and will provide crucial experience to what is otherwise a very young squad.

Like Chong, he also made his debut off the bench against Middlesbrough and given the Blades current struggles in front of goals could be thrown in from the start for this one.

Chiedozie Ogbene joined on loan right at the end of the window but won’t be able to feature against his parent club.

The Teams

Neither side has had the start they wanted. Both sides have made late moves in the transfer wndow so I'm expecting at least a couple of changes each.

For Sheffield United, I can see Matos replacing O’Hare to bring more balance to that midfield area whilst Ings could well be thrown in from the start to try and solve the Blades’ toothlessness in front of goal.

For Town there’s certain to be a change in the 10 role with Conor Chaplin loaned out and Sammie Szmodics injured on international duty.

The man for the job seems to be Chuba Akpom, who I had down to start there even before the Szmodics injury. Following his impressive performances for Norway U21s, where he scored once and got two assists, I'd love to see Sindre Walle Egeli come in from the start and I have a sneaky suspicion that he will.

Prediction

The divisions’ two worst xG underperformers go head-to-head. Something’s got to give there. I honestly don’t see Sheffield United as promotion rivals. They’ve lost some important cogs, have a new philosophy that they’re trying to embed and still have weakness in certain areas of the pitch.

Town however are also by no means the finished product as Kieran McKenna will now look to implement style 2.0 following wholesale changes over the transfer window. Despite that, I'm going for a 2-1 victory under the lights at Portman Road.

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