No pressure on Sheffield Wednesday as players get a clean slate for derby clash with United

From a Sheffield Wednesday perspective it surely has to be approached with an attitude of trying to put right what went so horribly wrong earlier in the season back at Hillsborough.

Whatever has gone on since has to be eliminated from the players’ thoughts and a true full-focus has to be on this game and this game alone.

It is an opportunity to put the record straight, to produce a performance to be proud of and a result to match.

In my opinion as it stands they have nothing to lose. The upheaval of the last few weeks with the change of manager, the lengthy injury list and all the other excuses are there if they want them, but what a better time to go out and put on a performance that puts all that to bed. Puts some pride back into the camp that was criticised so badly after the last heavy defeat.

With the new manager Jos Luhukay coming in just a few days before the game it will be a baptism of fire for him no doubt, how many derby clashes he has been involved in previously I am not sure of but I will be pretty confident in saying that there wont have been many like the one he will experience this week.

For me it is also a chance for the slate to be wiped clean for every single player that is involved.

The old hierarchy has moved on, here is a chance to impress the new guy, now is the time to grasp that opportunity and what better match to do it in than this one. What is an absolute must is that every single man has to be up for the fight.

Sheffield United will not let you settle, they will play a high tempo game, they will be in your face from the first whistle and will not giving you a minute’s peace. You have to first of all expect that and secondly you have to be up for the challenge.

It will be frenetic, it will be hostile but if you can’t get up for a match like this one then you will be found out and found out pretty quickly.

There will be no hiding place but as with every game of this calibre, the perfect way to silence all that is with a gritty, high quality performance.

What is amazing is that when we faced them back in September I think we were probably slight favourites going into the game, bearing in mind we were at home and even though United had started the season really well.

This is turned on its head this time around and that is why I really do believe that the Wednesday players that turn out on Friday really do not have anything to lose.

The pressure isn’t on them really, if they can manage to get something out of the game it will be seen as an excellent result and I am pretty sure Chris Wilder and his players will be wanting, and expecting nothing less than another victory.

The mentality of each set of players going in to the game will probably be the exact opposite as to last time and throw into the pot the atmosphere and anything can happen in a derby and it really is one I am looking forward to. I just hope I’m feeling the same way come 10pm on Friday night!