The Blades are certainly up creek without a paddle as far as the npower Championship table is concerned, they currently lay 20th in the league and 
only one point better off than the bottom three – a win (or draw) for Middlesbrough, Crystal Palace, Scunthorpe United or Preston North End would see them slip into the relegation zone.
In theory they could go to bottom of the league, but in a twist of irony all of the bottom four clubs (as mentioned above) are all scheduled to play away from home; Boro travel to Doncaster Rovers on Friday night.
United face third placed Swansea City this weekend at Bramall Lane and once again will struggle in attack with limited strikers available.
Also, the Cutlers face the possibility of seeing out the Christmas (and New Year) period without a manager after the seemingly uncertainty of Blades boss Gary Speed.
He was appointed in August 2010 following the dismissal of Kevin Blackwell, but despite being his first job in football management at any level has soon been targeted by the Welsh FA who is searching for a new manager to lead the Wales squad.
Speed has yet to decide his future either with United or away from Bramall Lane, and the media have been hot on their heels to swiftly report his replacement.
So far the front runner is Chris Hughton – shockingly relieved of his duties last week from his Newcastle United role; he had gained promotion with the Magpies at the first attempt and was in mid-table of the Premier League when he left St. James Park.
Hughton would make a welcome addition to the Lane should a replacement be required for Speed but other names such as Phil Brown, Keith Hill, Chris Wilder, Steve Coppell and Stuart McCall have all been mentioned.
It is set to be a tough holiday period with only Hull City amongst us in the relegation pack; Swansea lay third and Norwich are just tittering on the last play-off spot prior to this weekend’s fixtures.
Regardless of our opponents it’s quite clear that after the ‘woeful’ display at Barnsley something needs to be done soon!