Despite pre-season hopes of a top-half finish, a great start followed by loss of form has left some Blades fans discontent and calling for January signings.
We’re 23 games into the Championship season, the exact halfway point of the 46-game marathon, a neat bisecting of the campaign just in time for Christmas.
Tomorrow the second half kicks off but it’s worth looking over how Sheffield United have done so far and whether they’ve met fan expectations from the start of the campaign.
In the Guardian’s fan-led 2018-19 season preview, the Blades fan described manager Chris Wilder as the club’s “prize asset”, a coach who has “overachieved” throughout his career and a boyhood United fan who has turned the club’s fortunes around.
Expectations will often shift and change throughout the course of the season and, over the past few weeks, some Blades fans have shown signs of disconcent, with a run of just two wins from seven blunting their playoff charge and leaving them sixth in the table.
Although 36 goals from 23 games is not a bad tally and Billy Sharp has struck 13 times in the league so far, United have been far from perfect in front of goal, spurning many chances and lacking a clinical edge that would otherwise have most likely seen them still challenging for automatic promotion.
Indeed, the club’s last game before Christmas, a tame 1-1 draw at struggling Ipswich Town, very much summed up their campaign so far – good passing play, most of the possession, plenty of shots, but just one point to show for it.
Some of the fan reaction from the game appears to reflect the discontent around how the team has let standards slip in recent weeks:
Going back to the Guardian pre-season preview, the Blades contributor said fans would be happy with a top-half finish, more entertaining football, a win or two over rivals Sheffield Wednesday and, ideally, a playoff push with a finish over the Owls.
Judging by those criteria, things are actually going as expected – save for the first Steel City derby of the season, which yielded a 0-0 draw.
However, when you consider that United were top of the table at the end of October, things certainly appear to have taken a turn for the worse judging by Wilder’s initial overachievements.
Going forward, the Blades should look to invest in some firepower come the January transfer window, and if at least a playoff spot is ultimately achieved come May, then there can be few complaints.
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