Sheffield United

Image source, Getty Images

Here are some Sheffield United fan reactions to the game against Bournemouth on Saturday:

Reece: What I am going to say is in the context of accepting that the players aren’t that great and we need to spend more money. But, regardless of that, I cannot stress enough how poorly managed this team is and has been every half of this season.

Tom: I’ve been a season-ticket holder for 20 years. It was spineless, gutless and it is right from the very top. He’s got to go - Paul has got to walk.

I don’t think we ever really got going. Last year, I believe any half-competent manager could have come in and taken that side up. We were in the championship with a £150m squad; you’ve got Iliman Ndiaye and Sander Berge. Everyone's got their opinions on Berge, I didn’t like him, but you are in a league with a £150m squad, you should get out of it.

My first signing would have been a new manager because I don’t think we exactly ripped it up last year. I don’t think we’ve really had an identity or a style of play under Heckingbottom. We kind of tried to do what Chris Wilder did and we’ve not matched the levels he reached. I don’t think he’s had a plan of action or an identity from minute one.

Barry: I’ve been a Blade for over 55 years and it's difficult when you look back on bad performances because you forget some really terrible ones. That really was a bad performance. You have got 30,000 Blades there on the run up to Christmas paying hard-earned money to go watch their football team and we’re not getting the same performances from the players. All we ask, I would say as a Sheffield United fan, is to give 100% and to chase, run and encourage. They need to be cohesive. Be passionate. Be determined. There was none of that and I must admit that it is very, very worrying.

Listen to the Blades Heaven podcast on BBC Sounds

We asked for your thoughts on Saturday's match between Sheffield United and Bournemouth.

Here are some of your comments:

Sheffield United fans

Yip: Players are poor quality, the coaching staff are out of their depth and the management team clueless. Wholesale changes required for the sake of the long-suffering fans.

David: This United team is worse than the one which got promoted and there’s only one person to blame - the owner! He’s owned the club for three Premier League seasons and two Championship seasons with parachute payments yet still he couldn’t pay the bills last season and gave the manager just £20m to 'improve' the side.

Bob: The Blades do not have either the skills or know-how needed to compete at this level. Once again they were so bad it was embarrassing! We need a new manager, new players and new owners for our club.

Paul: How does Heckingbottom survive that? An international break to prepare the team for a crucial six-pointer and the team was totally flat. No heart, no fight and the crowd responded accordingly. I predicted the two half-time substitutions to a tee, which wasn't difficult. Wilder anyone?

Bournemouth fans

Kelvin: The Iraola era is finally here. You have seen the team grow over the last few weeks and Bournemouth fans can now look forward to the rest of the season with optimism. Come on you Cherries.

Steve: Bournemouth have been at the bottom but are nowhere near a relegation team. A very tough opening fixture list and many new players adapting to new manager Iraola’s style of play has taken time. But Cherries were a totally different class to Sheffield United, who are doomed. AFCB mid-table by season's end. Playing cracking football.

Stew: Really well done. Hopefully things really seem to be coming together. Six points from the last two games is very good, when a month ago we would have been happy with one or two. And, to top it off, we are not running at full strength. Dare I say the future looks bright?

Charl: Another good performance based on hard work and an understanding of the game plan. Semenyo is proving to be a bargain, why was he taken off? We won virtually every loose ball and the passing was excellent. One area where we must improve - free-kicks and corners. We’re wasting opportunities.

Sheffield United Striker Oli McBurnie discussed their defeat against Bournemouth on the Blades Heaven podcast: "It is very fresh so all I know is that it is nowhere near good enough. It’s strange it sort of looks like they took us by surprise, when we knew what they were going to be about.

"There is no point coming out here making excuses, we were just miles off it today and we deserve it, we got beat.

"We just spoke about it in the dressing room, straight from the start it wasn’t a performance we had been speaking about and the boys had done in the last few games, it is a strange one, we can’t put our finger on it, we can’t make any excuses for it. It is not good enough. We need to be better next week in the big game.

"We need to look at ourselves, nobody is going to help us, nobody is going to make it easier for us. We are the boys out there. The performance levels from the boys are nowhere near what we needed to be at today.

"Only we can sort it. We’ll do the analysis and look back at it. I’m sure the gaffer will say a few hard truths that need to be heard, it’s probably what we need. We’ve got a big game next week and we’ll put everything in the past.

"I think me and Anel Ahmedhodzic were a bit disappointed not to play today but the gaffer's probably made the right decision because we were miles off it when we came on. I think having a few boys back for the game next week will be better, but at the end of the day it is down to us. The performance levels were nowhere near good enough to a get a result in this division."

McBurnie on why him and Ahmedhodzic were left out of the squad: "The team was the same for the last game and the boys have done well for the last two games. Me and Anel have been out short of fitness. We’ve only trained a couple of times and kind of rushed back in for this game but like I said he’s made the right decision because when we did go back on we were miles off it."

McBurnie on their next match against Burnley: "It is a team that is in and around us like the gaffer says in our own mini league and these are the games we need to be picking up points from. We know what Burnley are about, we played them two times last year, but we know what we can do against them to hurt them.

"So we will look at ourselves today, where we went wrong and put that to bed and all we can do is show it next week."

Listen to the full podcast here on BBC Sounds

Gary Lineker introduces highlights and analysis from Saturday's seven Premier League fixtures.

If you missed Match of the Day, you can catch up on the action on BBC iPlayer here.

And Match of the Day 2 brings you a round-up of Sunday's games here.

Listen back to Saturday's commentaries in full on BBC Sounds:

Newcastle 4 -1 Chelsea

Brentford 0 -1 Arsenal

Listen to Sunday's commentaries here:

Tottenham 1 - 2 Aston Villa

Everton 0 - 3 Manchester United

Sheffield United manager Paul Heckingbottom, speaking to BBC Match of the Day: "We started poorly and then when we were going to give ourselves an opportunity to get back into the game, we conceded two really poor goals.

"When you're conceding goals like that, particularly, in this league, you're not going to give yourselves a chance.

"But we can't hide behind that, before that we have to be better. We dropped well below our standards that we've set this season, particularly in the last two games.

"We knew Bournemouth would try to start that way. We never really recovered. To concede the way we did before half-time then makes it difficult.

"Mistakes are mistakes, we have to make sure we perform better and get that our of our system for next week which is another big game.

"We know as a group that that wasn't good enough. We need to be better and generally we have been. We did keep going until the end, the effort was that but we dropped below our usual standards.

"You've got no option but to pick yourself up. There is always another game. A tricky game away but a team that is down there with us.

"Regardless of who we're playing, we're fighting for points to stay in this league. We can't put all our eggs in any one basket, we need points wherever they come."

By Sam Drury, BBC Sport

After a pair of morale-boosting results prior to the international break, this felt like a damaging defeat for Sheffield United.

Bournemouth started the day four points ahead of the Blades but if this was supposed to be a match between two relegation rivals, it did not look like one.

The visitors were a class above and, in the first half, Paul Heckingbottom's side lacked the intensity to help close the gap.

While the defence was cut open time and again, there was nothing coming from the attack to help relieve the pressure.

It took until the 88th minute for the home side to register a shot on target and by that stage the game was long since lost.

With a huge game at Burnley next weekend, the pressure is on the Blades to rediscover their form prior to the break and prevent the gap to the sides above them quickly becoming unmanageable.

Image source, Getty Images

Chris Latchem, BBC Match of the Day commentator at Brammall Lane:

"A tale of two ends of the ground at the end of the game at Bramall Lane - the home end, thinning rapidly as the final minutes played out were completely deflated seeing their team outplayed on home soil. Many had already left the ground before Oli McBurnie's late consolation header.

"Unsurprisingly, Bournemouth's travelling hoard stayed well beyond the final whistle to serenade their team. And why not?

"Like in the Newcastle game, Bournemouth were worthy winners who could have had more than their final tally. Wes Foderingham dropped a bit of a clanger for their second but did well to deny them a fourth, fifth and perhaps sixth goal.

"Bournemouth are playing their best football since Eddie Howe left in 2020. It's taken time but Andoni Iraola seems to have them purring."

• Having failed to win any of their first nine Premier League games of 2023-24 (D3 L6), Bournemouth have since won three of their last four in the top-flight (L1).

• Bournemouth forward Justin Kluivert became just the second player to score in each of the big 5 European leagues (Premier League, LaLiga, Serie A, Ligue 1 and German Bundesliga) in the 21st century, after Stevan

• Sheffield United have conceded 34 goals in the Premier League this season, the most by a side after 13 games in a top-flight campaign since Barnsley (36) and Sheffield Wednesday (35) both in 1997-98.

• Bournemouth secured their first away Premier League win since a 1-0 win at Southampton in April, winning an away top-flight game by 2 or more goals for the first time since July 2020 (3-1 at Everton).

• The Blades have failed to win any other their last 17 Premier League games when starting the day off the bottom of the table (D2 L15). However, each of their last eight top-flight wins have come when they’ve been bottom.

Justin Kluivert became only the third player to score in Europe's top five leagues as Bournemouth moved seven points clear of the relegation places with a dominant 3-1 win at Sheffield United.

Earlier, Marcus Tavernier had given Andoni Iraola's side an early lead after good work from Antoine Semenyo cutting in from the right, before Kluivert dispossessed Foderingham on the edge of the box to double the lead in first-half stoppage time.

The Blades offered little in an insipid display, and the result was put almost beyond doubt when Tavernier converted Adam Smith's cross at the back post for his second of the afternoon, six minutes into the second half.

Oli McBurnie headed in a consolation in the seventh minute of added time, but the goal was greeted only by ironic cheers from the home supporters.

Were you at the match or did you follow it from home?

Sheffield United fans - let us know your thoughts on the game here

How did you rate the side's performance, Bournemouth fans?

Follow all the reaction here

There are seven games being played in the Premier League on Saturday and we will bring you every moment.

Follow all of the action and reaction here

Live commentaries:

Newcastle v Chelsea - BBC Radio 5 Live

Brentford v Arsenal - BBC Radio 5 Live

All times GMT

Chris Sutton is making predictions for all 380 Premier League matches again this season, against a variety of guests.

This week, he takes on Barry Can't Swim, aka DJ and producer Joshua Mannie - who is an Everton fan.

Sutton's prediction: 0-1

Both of these teams have improved in recent weeks, so I'm going for another 1-1 draw.

Only joking - I actually think there will be a goal in this, one way or another.

The Blades are in their best form of the season but Bournemouth got a great result against Newcastle United last time out and their fans get pretty angry when I go against them.

It's a tough call but I'm looking for the most likely match-winner and it has to be Cherries striker Dominic Solanke - he can make the difference here.

Barry Can't Swim's prediction: 0-1

I honestly think Sheffield United have played better than their results have suggested, but Bournemouth have hit a bit of form.

Read their full predictions here

Former Sheffield United striker Carl Asaba says Saturday's match against Bournemouth is a chance for Sheffield United to "lay down another marker" in their fight for Premier League survival.

Listen to the full Blades Heaven episode here

Harry De Cosemo, BBC Sport

Sheffield United boss Paul Heckingbottom has been speaking to the media before his side face Bournemouth on Saturday.

• On matches with Bournemouth and Burnley: "We want to keep momentum going. The message hasn’t changed. I’ve taken a lot from the last two games where we’ve kept ourselves in them. That is the message. We could have easily taken points from Tottenham and Manchester City."

• He is hopeful the break will allow the return of key players: "We knew the international break was coming up. Oli McBurnie and Anel [Ahmedhodzic] were not quite ready [for Brighton] so why would we risk that? It was beneficial to give one or two that couple of weeks to get them rested. They are in contention."

• On team morale: "We know it is about results. We are focussing on what we are doing well in games and what we need to improve. The wins are great but we can’t just rely on being the better team to win."

• He is "not interested" in the failed vote to ban affiliated loan moves: "I don’t know which way we voted. If it had directly affected me then I would want to know what’s happening, but I’m not interested in it. It is a minor advantage compared to other things."

• On Bournemouth: "They’ve had moments go their way. They were dominant against Newcastle and the better team against Burnley. We know what we are going to face, they will be an athletic, physical team."

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Rob Staton, BBC Radio Sheffield

Coming off the international break, there's a renewed sense of optimism at Sheffield United. A win against Wolves and a point against Brighton, coupled with Everton’s points deduction, has created a bit more hope among Blades fans that they might just find a way to stay up this year.

They now face two of the biggest games of the season: Bournemouth at home, then Burnley away. Four or six points will obviously have people really believing. Lose both games and we all know what the reaction will be.

With most people believing Everton will find a way to get the points to survive, the four-team mini-league is critical. United, who also face Luton Town on Boxing Day, know the next month is the most important four weeks of the season. So much could be decided here.

Because of this, the international break is dragging. There’s very much a sense of a 'let’s get on with this' feel. People are eager to see what’s going to happen.

England games against Malta and North Macedonia are no distraction. This is it for United. A huge month. Let’s see what they’re capable of.

After all the drama of the past few weeks, and some admittedly poor performances, now we get to learn how likely it is the Blades can stay in the top flight.

Listen to the latest episode of the Blades Heaven podcast on BBC Sounds

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Former Sheffield United striker Carl Asaba says players and fans have become "disillusioned" amid changes in the Premier League.

Speaking on BBC Radio Sheffield's Blades Heaven podcast, Asaba added that he hopes sanctions will be put in place for clubs that break financial rules.

Listen to this week's full episode on BBC Sounds

• Sheffield United have lost just one of their nine home league games against Bournemouth (W5 D3), going down 1-0 in August 1987. They won 2-1 in their only previous Premier League home game against them.

• The Cherries are without a win in an away Premier League game this season (D1 L4) and have shipped 17 goals, the most of any side on the road. There have only been eight instances of a side conceding that many in their first five away Premier League games in a season, and the Cherries make up two of them (also 18 goals in five games in 2022-23).

• The Blades have picked up four points from their past two Premier League games, as many as in their previous 12 at this level (W1 D1 L10). They haven’t gone three games without losing since July 2020 (a run of four).

• Sheffield United have benefited from the most own goals in the Premier League this season (three), and they have accounted for 30% of their goals. It’s already the joint-most own goals they’ve had in their favour in a campaign, along with 2019-20.

• Bournemouth's Dominic Solanke has scored six goals in 12 league appearances this season, as many as he managed in 33 games in 2022-23. His shot conversion rate is at 18% - up from last term's 8%.

Ben Meakin, BladesPod, external

It feels like there's lots up in the air at Sheffield United heading into December, with so much likely to hinge on the next two games against Bournemouth (two places above us) and Burnley (two places below us).

It’s reductive to say that survival or relegation will be determined by those two matches, but the shape of the club could look very different in six months based on how they go.

Poor results in two of the kinder fixtures on the calendar will not only reignite debate about Paul Heckingbottom’s tenure, but there’s also every chance that the United hierarchy will see little point in investing further in the squad in January.

Should United pick up positive results, however – say, extending our unbeaten run to four games, and possibly even sneaking out of the relegation zone – then things could get interesting as we edge towards the next transfer window.

United made slightly baffling use of their loan allocation in the summer. Only one foreign loan was used, while one of the two domestic loan slots was spent on Championship wing-back Luke Thomas.

The opportunity is there - with fairly minimal spend - to bolster the squad with some overseas players who fancy showcasing themselves in the Premier League but won’t leave us on the hook financially should relegation occur anyway.

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Former Blades midfielder Michael Brown recalls deliberately picking up a yellow card to avoid missing an FA Cup semi-final against Arsenal at Old Trafford.

Listen to the full episode of BBC Radio Manchester's We're Not Really Here on BBC Sounds

We asked you to come up with one thing you would change about Sheffield United's season so far.

Here are some of your comments:

Andy: While Hecky was not backed in the summer, unfortunately he is the boss and the squad has not responded. He is a great guy, but it’s not going to end well and I would rather give a new manager more time. Therefore, the one thing I would change is not having changed managers soon enough.

Leni: We should not have got rid of Billy Sharp but kept him at the Lane to score more goals in the Premier League. He's quite adapted to play a full game, just as he did for LA Galaxy. Bring him home to play next to Cameron Archer - that would be the perfect match up front.

Gary: I wish we had not sold Iliman Ndiaye. We should have kept him this season even if he went for nothing at the end of the season.

Phil: Pre-season! Losing our best player just before the season started meant we were ill-prepared. The signings we made were quality but we have not had time to work out how to use their strengths yet.

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