Sheffield United v Middlesbrough: How The Blades should line-up and trick Boro could pull again
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You can bet, no matter how many false trails they attempt to lay during interviews, both Paul Heckingbottom and Chris Wilder will be able to name at least 10 of the 11 players who will start for their respective teams at Bramall Lane tonight.
Football is a village. And in every single village, there is a Gossip.
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Hide AdBut when Sheffield United visited Teesside earlier this season, before Heckingbottom took charge and Neil Warnock was still leading the hosts, Middlesbrough did do something that caught Slavisa Jokanovic’s men by surprise. It worked a treat too, with Paddy McNair spending the game pressing United midfielder Oliver Norwood rather than defending his own goal. Middlesbrough won 2-0.
To his credit, when he told The Star afterwards how this idea had come about, Warnock didn’t try and pretend it was something he had conjured up.
“Paddy came to me in training and said: ‘I know Ollie from Northern Ireland. I know how he likes to play. If I go tight on him all the way through, I don’t think he’ll like it or probably be expecting it. Let’s just give it a go and see what happens.’ So we did. And it worked.”
It remains to be seen if Wilder, who replaced Warnock in November, tries something similar when he returns to United tonight. Being a lifelong supporter of the side he twice led to promotion before his relationship with the hierarchy collapsed will only make Wilder more determined to win and win big, as those who know him testify.
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McNair is available for selection, after starting Middlesbrough’s win over Luton last weekend. Heckingbottom, who counts Wilder as a friend and understands exactly how his mind works, should have something up his sleeve to try and combat that trick if the visitors reprise it here.
James’ United Starting Eleven: Foderingham, Osborn, Norrington-Davies, B Davies, Egan, Robinson, Norwood, Hourihane, Berge, Gibbs-White, Sharp.
James’ United Substitutes: A Davies, B Davies, Seriki, Fleck, Ndiaye, McBurnie, Jebbison.
James’ Thinking: Wes Foderingham starts in goal. Billy Sharp starts in attack. Those two picks, given their form of late, are ‘givens’ in my opinion.
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If George Baldock is fit, then he starts at wing-back too. If not, then I’d slot Ben Osborn in there. It’s not an ideal solution to the problem but the midfielder, as he showed during a second-half cameo against his former club Nottingham Forest on Friday, is a hugely intelligent player and has more experience than Femi Seriki.
Shaking up the defence means Ben Davies should feature ahead of Kyron Gordon at centre-half. Again, because of his greater experience. That gives them a better chance of coping with the disruption. Jack Robinson was one of United’s better players at the back during the draw with Forest.
I’ve got concerns that Oliver Norwood and Sander Berge don’t dovetail well yet when selected together in midfield. But I’d be tempted to persevere here, particularly if Middlesbrough are tempted to try the ‘McNair’ trick again. That would provide Berge with the opportunity to drive at their defence. Hourihane, who enjoys ‘sitting’, must marshall Norwood if they do.
