Having spent the past month locked in a phoney war of friendlies and other warm-up exercises, Sheffield United now have their sights firmly fixed on this weekend's Championship curtainraiser against Birmingham City.
But despite declaring himself satisfied with their preparations so far, manager Kevin Blackwell admitted adjustments must still be made before his squad truly justify their status as promotion contenders.
"Everything," Blackwell said following Saturday's bout of shadow boxing with Huddersfield Town. "We'll be working on absolutely everything.
"I'm pleased with how we've done but now we've got to step things up a level.
"We'll be looking to sharpen everything that we do.
"I've got everything I wanted to out of the matches we've played this summer.
"I picked the opposition specifically because I knew they'd be busting a gut to beat us. Because of that I've learned a lot more about what we're doing and where we are in terms of our progress.
"If we'd have done things differently then I'm not sure what worth it would have been."
Despite tasting defeat for the first- time this summer, United's performance at The Galpharm Stadium smacked of a team content to go through the motions and keep its tactical masterplan under-wraps.
"We can get to work properly on things like our set-piece routines and a few other ideas we've got up our sleeves," Blackwell continued.
"We didn't want to do them (against Huddersfield) because you don't know who's watching.
"We don't want to give everything away."
With the "majority" of his starting 11 for the meeting with Birmingham now decided, Blackwell will use tonight's friendly at Matlock (kick-off 7.45pm) as an opportunity to improve the fitness of those players returning from injury.
"There are a couple of lads who are coming back and will benefit from more time on the pitch," he said.
What do you think? Post your comments below. READ MOREHall of Fame call for city legend Vaughan: Click here to read storyGreat captain has brought credit to city: READ MARTIN SMITH ON MICHAEL VAUGHAN Olympic victory should be ultimate honour: READ JAMES SHIELD'S COLUMN Football headlinesMore BladesMore OwlsMore SpireitesMore RoversMore RedsMore MillersMore Ice HockeyMore rugby leagueMore rugby unionMore boxingSports columnistsAll sport categoriesThe full article contains 402 words and appears in Sheffield Star newspaper.
