Assessing the Sheffield United squad after the transfer deadline passed
Assessing Sheffield United's squad after the transfer deadline passed
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00:00At the top, I like O'Hare in the 10. He has a sort of Mark Duffy-esque quality to me, I always like to watch Duff sort of roam around in that 10 role.
00:11Gus Harmer on the left, which is not really on the left, he sort of drifts in and causes chaos with Callum.
00:16I think Raksaki on the right, or Andre Brooks, who I thought has done well so far, looks dangerous.
00:21Like I said, going forward, I like it, with the two in the middle of the midfield as well.
00:26Yeah, question marks, not question marks, but just about the back line.
00:31Because Alfie Gilchrist will play it differently to George Baldock and Jadon Bogle, I think that's fair to say.
00:37He's more of a defensive defender than the other two, who are used to scampering up and down the wing and attacking.
00:45I think that will take a bit of getting used to for some players.
00:48Harry Suter, how does he fit in a two that plays a high line? I don't know, we'll see.
00:54You know, his strength is obviously in the air.
00:56Big lad, isn't he?
00:57Jesus, just a bit. When he walked through the door at the press conference, there's not many people that I look up to like that.
01:02You know, you're right, he's 6'7", and until you actually see him in the flesh, you can't see many people beating him in the air this season.
01:09So yeah, there definitely is the option there for the three.
01:12I'd worry about the right wing back, maybe Siriki might be an option there when he comes back from injury, rather than Gilchrist.
01:20But yeah, you're right, I think it takes a bit of time to gel again.
01:24All these players have played a back four, these have not grown up through junior football, academy football, their clubs before,
01:31only playing 3-5-2 and not wondering where the centre-half is next to them.
01:35They've played 4-4-2, they've played a back four, they know what they're doing in that role.
01:39I think it's just getting accustomed to that again, because they have been so wedded to it for the last couple of years.
01:46And the squad, the transfer business of the last couple of years is such that this squad's been built for 3-5-2 since 2017, 2016, whenever it was.
01:56So, Robinson was brought in as a left-side centre-half in a three, Anel was the right-side centre-half in a three.
02:03That'll take a bit of time, I imagine, to get out of the habit of it a little bit.
02:08But equally, as part of the system, it relies on your two full-backs pulling wide and getting up,
02:13and one of Souza, Robe, Arblaster, dropping in as well, of which we've seen.
02:19So, look, it's an adaptation on before, but it's not necessarily like you have four defenders that are just sat there at the back to defend while everybody does anything.
02:28It is, as is with everything in football, a little bit more technical than that.
02:32Yeah, it's very fluid, isn't it? We've seen, already, Anel a couple of times have had one of his trademark Maisy runs forward at Preston.
02:38And, yeah, I think it's built on the same foundation, isn't it? Whether it's 4-4-2 or 3-5-2 or whatever, a lot of the core elements of it are the same.
02:48Nothing's really changed in terms of your job. If you're defending a two or defending a three, you still head the ball when it comes, you still mark your man.
02:56And that's what went wrong on Saturday. Whether it's a back three or a back five or a back eight, whatever, you know what I mean?
03:03If you don't head the ball when it comes your way from a long pump forward and you leave your man behind, you're probably going to be in trouble.
03:09That's not a system issue, that's just a basic error.
03:13So, I think sometimes people focus a lot on the system when it is fluid. Like you say, the success is not always down to the players, isn't it?
03:26It's the people you get into it. And if you fit round pegs in round holes, you'll get a lot more success than if you try and force it.
03:33So, I like the look of it so far.