Sheffield United: The one aspect of tomorrow's Championship opener Slavisa Jokanovic admits he is completely unprepared for

But after describing his Sheffield United squad as “ready” for action ahead of tomorrow's Championship opener, Slavisa Jokanovic admits to being completely underprepared for one aspect of the game.

“You can smell the football in this city, definitely,” he told The Star, reflecting upon his first six weeks at Bramall Lane. “I am really excited to see how this crowd of people is though, because people tell me it is so noisy.

“I have been in some noisy places, so we’ll see how it measures.”

United’s meeting with Lee Bowyer’s side might be taking place in the second tier. But it will still be memorable for the hosts, who were relegated from the Premier League last season, for a number of reasons. Their first competitive fixture under Jokanovic, it will also be the first time they have played in front of a proper crowd since the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Although he has spent the past week obsessing over tactics and also his team selection, the visit of City promises to be significant for the Serb on a personal level too. When he emerges from the tunnel, seconds before kick-off, Jokanovic will glance around the stadium and soak-up the atmosphere.

“I don’t have the experience in England of playing in front of empty stands,” admitted the former Chelsea midfielder, who spent two years in Qatar before returning to England earlier this summer. “Probably, because of that, I am a lucky man. I didn’t live through this experience in England.

“I think I know what the atmosphere here is like. I have sampled it before. But the people here tell me: ‘You still didn’t see enough.’ So I’m looking forward to seeing if what they tell me is true.

“They (supporters) are somebody who can change us in a positive or negative way.”

Although he told reporters earlier this week that attempting to plot City’s downfall is his sole focus at present, Jokanovic acknowledged that United are expected to win promotion straight back to the top-flight.

With the global health situation restricting them to only two warm-up fixtures - and one of those was against Gibraltarians Europa Point - opportunities to road test his strategy against live opposition have been limited.

Despite refusing to downplay the significance of getting off to a winning start, particularly after his squads’s experiences last term, Jokanovic, previously of Watford and Fulham, said: “We will make mistakes. With time, I am sure we will be better.

“We are in a process. We play one very good game against Doncaster Rovers in pre-season but we start on zero points and in terms of reference points, things can be completely different.”

“Expectation is huge, and I am really excited about what might happen in the end, this morning,” he added. “But right now, I am only thinking about the beginning. I hope we have a chance to win the game and get three points. Because in the end, they can be very important.”