"Love him to bits..." - Sheffield United boss hails "fabulous" Sunderland man as teammate outlines Lane ambition
Sheffield United favourite set for Sunderland return as Chris Wilder hails “fabulous” attitude
Sheffield United will welcome back a key member of their 2016/17 League One title-winning squad tomorrow night when they face promotion rivals Sunderland at Bramall Lane. The Blades and the Black Cats have both enjoyed good starts to the campaign with their young squads going into the game second and fourth respectively.
Both have been aided by a sprinkling of experience and Sunderland No.1 Anthony Patterson, 24, has one of the best mentors possible in the shape of former Blade Simon Moore. Moore, now 34, helped the Blades win two promotions in the space of three years to bounce from League One into the Premier League and remains a popular figure in South Yorkshire.
After a spell at Coventry City he signed for Sunderland in the summer and made some rare first-team appearances earlier this season when Patterson was injured. He is expected to feature on the bench when Régis Le Bris’ side arrive at Bramall Lane but Wilder is looking forward to the stopper’s return, having met up with him again recently in the tragic circumstances of former Blades man George Baldock’s funeral.
“I love him to bits,” Wilder said of Moore. “He was one of our early signings and he was outstanding in League One. He’s had competition at the football club, and just as a general person and character, he’s brilliant. I caught up with him recently, in not great circumstances, and he’s such a fabulous guy.
“I’m delighted for him, he’s been playing games at Sunderland. I’m not so sure he’s going to start on Friday but it’s always a pleasure and he was a big part of the start of the journey we went on.”
Boyhood Sunderland fan Patterson was bizarrely linked with a £10m move to the Blades in the summer - with the Blades eventually signing Plymouth’s Michael Cooper in the end for around a fifth of that price - and the 24-year-old believes Friday night’s trip to Bramall Lane is even bigger following the midweek results which saw the Blades beat Oxford United, and Sunderland held at home by fellow promotion hopefuls West Brom.
“Obviously, they won [on Tuesday], so they got two points clear of us,” Patterson said. “But obviously, that doesn't change things for us. We want to go to Sheffield and win the game, and that's what our aim will be.”