Blades aren't ready for it
Sheffield United's Premier League campaign kicked off with a whimper after a 1-0 defeat to Crystal Palace on Saturday, with Paul Heckingbottom forced into starting a team noticeably worse than the one that ended last season in the Championship. Chris Holt is joined by The Star's Danny Hall to talk over the Blades' return to the top flight.
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00:00 We all knew Sheffield United were going to have a tough start to primarily the problems in the
00:03 transfer market so far. Those problems were at large when Paul Heckenbottom's first team sheet
00:08 of the Premier League season was handed in and showed an 11 that was worse than the side that
00:13 won the promotion from the Championship. Plenty of work to do on and off the pitch but hey,
00:18 at least football's back and so too is the Starblades podcast Monday Review.
00:24 I'm Chris Holt and with me is Danny Hall to go back over Saturday's return to action for Sheffield
00:31 United and of course the Premier League. Not a winning return, not the best of starts for
00:39 different reasons, although it wasn't the greatest performance, wasn't the greatest result. However,
00:48 the biggest story from the day was essentially the team that started, Danny,
00:54 which if we're entirely honest is not a Premier League team, is it?
00:59 No, no, I don't think that's being unfair to say.
01:04 I'm glad you say that because I thought it was going to be an overly hard year.
01:08 No, I don't think that's unfair to say. I think Paul Heckenbottom kind of admitted to that
01:14 afterwards, didn't he? He said that we are lacking the quality. One thing you can never
01:19 sort of level at this team and this squad and these players is a lack of effort, a lack of
01:23 commitment, a lack of buying into the whole club ethos and everything like that. But in terms of
01:29 the quality to unpick Crystal Palace's defence on Saturday, I think one shot on target and that was
01:37 a pretty comfortable save for Sam Johnson at the end of the first half. I think that kind of tells
01:43 its own story, doesn't it? There were moments where they sort of huffed and puffed. I think
01:47 Willa Sula had a few moments that he will have dreamed about when he put his head on the pillow
01:53 the night before the game, when he flashed that shot just wide that looked like it was going in
01:58 for what for him will have seemed like an eternity. It seemed long enough for us, we were just watching
02:03 on. The way he sort of dropped to his knees afterwards, I think, suggested that he thought
02:08 that was going in and he hit the side net, of course, in the second half. But apart from that,
02:12 Norwood shot at the end of the first half. Johnstone had a pretty comfortable afternoon,
02:19 didn't he? United never really looked like they were threatening a great deal. But to be fair,
02:25 at the other end, for much of the game, the first half especially, I think they competed very well
02:29 at the other end, didn't they? It's only when Palace's quality, I think, kind of started to
02:35 tell in the second half when they got ahead. I think everyone on the ground then realised that
02:39 that was going to be a huge mountain to climb from there. I think United really needed to get that.
02:45 That's going to sound like the most obvious cliché ever, isn't it? But they needed to get that first
02:50 goal, I think, to give them something to hold on to. Because once you go behind in this league,
02:53 you know, we all know how difficult it is to get back in. So, yeah, as you say, the story of the
03:06 game was really written from 2pm when the team sheet came out, really, wasn't it? It wasn't even
03:10 just the start of XI. The bench, of course, was so light in terms of Premier League quality. I
03:17 think there were two Premier League games for United on there amongst the nine subs. And that
03:22 was obviously Femi Sarri and Antoine Haquefort, who both played short cameo appearances off the
03:27 bench before. So, it's not even like, you know, you're giving the lads a go and then you can turn
03:33 behind you and sort of see where you can really change it. Personally, I wondered if Anis Slemani
03:40 would start after he sort of impressed me in pre-season. I thought he was the...
03:44 Yeah, I think out of everybody, probably given that he was there a little bit earlier than most,
03:49 I think everybody thought, well, he's potentially going to be ready. And if any of the new players
03:55 are going to come in, then he would be the one. Yeah, that's what I certainly thought. I thought
04:00 he was the most impressive in pre-season before Stuttgart. I think we can kind of put that to one
04:05 side because nobody really impressed there. But I understand as well against Palace's threats on
04:10 the counter and stuff, a more sort of, not defensive midfield, but a more solid, is that the right
04:16 word? You know, Norwood, obviously, Basham and Osborne, you get a lot of protection going that
04:22 way as well, don't you? Rather than just getting the benefits going one way. So, I'm not saying I
04:28 don't understand the selection, but that was one that I thought maybe he would play. I understand
04:34 Souza having had virtually no pre-season and probably about a day to get used to his teammates
04:39 and everyone. I understand him maybe starting on the bench. Yeah, it was just the lack of options
04:46 as well. Paul alluded to that afterwards. He's made no secret of the fact that he thinks they're
04:50 miles off where they need to be now, really. Not even looking towards the end of the transfer
04:56 window. They needed to be stronger for now. He saw this as a real missed opportunity to have a
05:03 go at Palace and really try and put a marker down. First game of the season at home in front of a big
05:09 crowd and that expectation, that momentum from last season. Try and sort of protect that. Instead,
05:14 that momentum's disappeared, hasn't it really, almost, in terms of the players leaving the
05:19 building. The squad now is completely different to how it was at the end of last season. And even
05:24 last week, he admitted to us that he might even have to change the way he plays because he hasn't
05:28 got the players to mould to United's style. He might have to compromise that identity a little
05:35 bit, which is obviously a concern because this squad has played this way for such a long time.
05:40 Last season, they got promoted comfortably playing this style of football. So, ideally,
05:46 as a manager, you'd want to carry on that, wouldn't you, into the new season. So, the fact
05:49 that he's even considering having to rip that up a little bit and adapt it, I think that's another
05:56 concern that will need to be addressed by... There's only one way to do it. Spend some money and
06:01 sign some players.