The Big Preview: Blades v Blackburn
United take on Blackburn in their penultimate home game knowing that three points could make all the difference in the bid for survival
With three games remaining in the Women’s Championship season, United sit rock bottom of the table in the league’s sole relegation spot. Winless in their last ten, time is running out to haul themselves out of a situation that looked extremely unlikely as recently as three games ago, and finish ahead of Portsmouth.
This weekend’s opponents, Blackburn Rovers, are 9th out of 11 teams – but realistically all-but safe. A loss to United might raise the blood pressure levels a touch at Ewood Park, but Rovers would still need a confluence of odd results to finish bottom.
The Blades are at home for the penultimate time this season and a win would not only lift them above Portsmouth temporarily (they kick off against Bristol City an hour after United) – it could be enough to see them to safety for the rest of the season, such is United’s goal difference advantage over their fellow relegation battlers.
Reasons to be optimistic
All season long I’ve bemoaned the inability for United’s men’s and women’s teams to both have good weeks simultaneously; now that the men’s team have lost three games in a row perhaps the women’s side are about to strike gold?
Karmic forces aside, Blackburn are firmly in the small bracket of teams that United can realistically hope to beat in this year’s Championship. I say that while fully acknowledging that I said the exact same thing before our 2-0 loss to Portsmouth. In fact I will say it even more confidently this time round, because United have already beaten Blackburn this season – their sole win of the campaign so far.
Rovers’ underlying numbers speak to a team that has played with fire this season and are arguably fortunate to have the protective shield that is United and Portsmouth acting as a buffer between themselves and the drop. Blackburn drew plenty of ire in the summer for scaling back investment in its women’s team, and it’s showed: they have the second-lowest expected goals in the Championship (via footystats) and the fourth-worst defence by the same metric, adding up to the second-worst xG Difference in the league.
They arrive at the Lane having copped a 6-0 hammering at Newcastle last week (a side United almost beat not long ago), which I’m hoping is an indicator of a team already winding down for the year. That really was a shellacking from Newcastle, who hit the target 11 times and churned out almost 4xG. That might be an extreme example but this is a defence that can be got at.
For the Blades, as far as I’m aware our international players returned to Sheffield unscathed – and most likely will have received a welcome mental boost for the experience with a smattering of goals and good results. One player who got neither was striker Jacqui Hand, as both of New Zealand’s planned friendlies were called off – talk about a long way for nothing – but that did at least mean United’s sole senior forward was back in Sheffield in good time for this weekend’s game.
Reasons to be pessimistic
Well… [gestures broadly]
There’s probably no need for this section to be particularly lengthy; just look at the league table. United looked to be piecing together some form before that catastrophic loss to Portsmouth; they’ve subsequently shipped seven in defeats to Bristol City and London City. And for every stat category that Blackburn score badly in, United are the team propping up the whole pile.
There was another blow this week as Everton recalled Issy Hobson from her loan spell with immediate effect, leaving a struggling defence even lighter. Hobson’s loan hasn’t really worked out for her or the team: after a promising start she was avoidably sent off against Portsmouth which was by-and-large the reason United lost that game.
I thought she looked tidy on the ball initially but has shown some real rawness in the appearances around that red card with a lot of loose touches and passes. But she’s 17 and has the kind of athletic ability that should allow her time to develop her skills, and hopefully for her this has been a useful experience. For now, I’m okay with getting to see more of our own Liv Page play there instead, assuming that’s the change United make.
Players to watch
The Blades are desperate for someone to find the net, with a dependence on Maria Farrugia showing up as her goals have dried up. But the Maltese international netted twice for her country last week which won’t have harmed her confidence, and she remains United’s major goal threat and the player most likely to single-handedly drag her team out of the malaise.
Leanne Cowan has struggled at right wingback in recent weeks – an own goal against Bristol City and a horrendous error against Portsmouth – so I won’t be shocked to see Esther Morgan shifted over into her position instead. Morgan, incidentally, won her first Wales cap for over 600 days during this break.
That would in turn open up a gap at left wingback, with Abbie Lafayette seemingly locked in at left centre-back for now. Fallon Connolly-Jackson is one of the few players who’ve really shown some upside this season and I’d be really keen to see the youngster given an attacking role down the left against one of the worst defences in the Championship.
Finally, United are yet to keep a clean sheet this season and now would be the perfect time to start – that will fall as much on the shoulders of skipper Satara Murray as keeper Sian Rogers, especially following Hobson’s recall.
Final reminder that ALL TICKETS for this game are free, so get down to the Lane and support the team if you can. Come on you Blades, all is not lost for this side and one win could be enough to tip the scales.
I'm scared