The Blades have had a shaky start to the 2013/14 season. It started brightly with a 2-1 home win over Nott’s County and swiftly followed by two defeats, firstly at home to Burton Albion (1-2) in the League Cup and a 3-1 defeat at Brentford last weekend. New boss Weir will be looking to end the bad spell soon.
The Scottish boss will be without midfielder Kevin McDonald who completed a £750,000 move to League One rivals Wolverhampton Wanderers in midweek, on loan Conor Coady (from Liverpool) is likely to take his place.
Defender Tony McMahon could be made available for selection this Saturday, the former Middlesbrough full-back has recovered from an ankle injury and deemed fit to play.
"Tony, through no fault of his own, has been 'stop start' pretty much all of the summer," Weir told the Sheffield Telegraph. So, with that in mind, we wanted to make sure that he had a good fortnight's worth of training under his belt before coming back.
"Otherwise, there's a danger he might have to repeat the process and go through the same thing all over again. That wouldn't serve a purpose for anyone whatsoever."
Colchester United have made a bright start to their League One campaign having generated two 1-0 victories in their opening two fixtures which has seen them placed fourth in the table prior to this weekend’s bout of fixtures.
They narrowly beat opponents Gillingham on the opening day of the season, Andy Bond’s 89thminute winner the difference between the pair and last weekend Gavin Massey netted the game’s only goal as they beat Port Vale at home by a single goal. These wins were sandwiched between a 5-1 defeat in the League Cup at home to fellow L1 side Peterborough United.
However on Tuesday night a mixed U’s outfit beat Arsenal XI by five goals to one in a friendly.
The U’s are expected to name a fully fit squad to travel to S2 this weekend, with Sanchez Watt, Freadie Sears, Marcus Bean (virus) and Gavin Massey all passed fit and featured in their win over the Valliant’s last weekend they are likely to be seen amongst the squad at Bramall Lane.
Blades-Mad Prediction: Sheffield United 1-0 Colchester United