Chris Wilder is expected to revert to a familiar formation when his third spell as Sheffield United manager gets underway tomorrow afternoon. The Blades chief returned to Bramall Lane earlier this week after the sacking of Ruben Selles.
His homecoming clash is an attractive one at home to Charlton Athletic as the Blades look to get their torrid season so far up and running with a rare positive victory to give their supporters something to cheer about.
Gus Hamer and Tyrese Campbell could both return to the starting XI after starting last Friday’s 5-0 hammering at Ipswich Town on the bench while Wilder is not expected to spring any huge surprises in terms of his team’s shape against Nathan Jones’ side.
“No, I’m possibly going to pick the same formation that 29-30,000 Sheffield United fans would have picked,” Wilder admitted in his pre-match press conference. “So in there, there might be some positional changes slightly, and personnel changes as well.
“It's small steps. It's my first selection coming back and we're confident that we've got it right. But this is a strong squad as well and we’re going to have a really strong bench as well. So the 20 that gets selected is going to be a powerful group and there are some going to be some some good players not even in the 20 as well.
“I do feel at this particular stage that we're a little bit bloated, we're a little bit overstocked on players and we've got some good players coming back or on the way back. This is a really powerful squad and I'm lucky enough to be given the opportunity to get the most out of it. And that's what I intend to do.”
With that in mind we tasked our man to step into Wilder’s shoes and select the side he would send out to face Charlton - has he got it just about right or would you do anything differently?
1. Michael Cooper
Brought to the club by Wilder, who knows exactly what he's capable of and he'll be keen to return to the levels of last season after an uncharacteristically rough evening of it last time out at Ipswich | Ed Sykes/Getty Images Photo: Ed Sykes/Getty Images
2. Femi Seriki
Ben Godfrey has got the nod of late at right-back but he had a torrid time of it at Portman Road and his deployment there limits United from an attacking perspective, so I've gone for the more forward-thinking Seriki with the Blades keen to get on the front foot | Ed Sykes/Getty Images Photo: Ed Sykes/Getty Images
3. Ben Godfrey
That sees the loan man shift inside in my side, replacing Mark McGuinness in the centre of defence - and hopefully having a more comfortable time of it | Sheffield United
4. Japhet Tanganga
United's lack of left-footed options after Jack Robinson's departure means that someone has to play out of position but Tanganga has enough class to cope with that | Sportimage