Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
WE’LL GO FOR THE BURN
Blades striker Mcburnie says of their amazing unbeaten away record: We show no fear.. we’ll be just as positive at Man City next.. 100 per cent
OLI MCBURNIE believes Sheffield United can keep their incredible away record going – even though the next two trips are to Manchester City and Liverpool.
Mcburnie’s first-half goal means the Blades have gone 18 games without losing on the road, nine of them in the Premier League.
No other team promoted to the top flight has done that since 1947.
That is why the striker reckons visits to the Etihad on December 29 and Anfield on January 2 will not faze Chris Wilder’s men.
He said: “The confidence now is so high. You can see we have no fear, no matter who we play against. We’ll be just as confident going to Manchester City – 100 per cent.
“We’ve already shown we’re good enough against the big teams. We’ve played Chelsea, we’ve played Tottenham, Manchester
United and Liverpool. And either we’ve got results or, like Liverpool at home, we lost 1-0 and were really unlucky.
“We’re not here to be spectators. The gaffer isn’t happy with shirt-swapping or saying hello to people before games.
“We’re professional athletes and want to test ourselves against the best in the world. That’s what we’re doing at the moment – and we’re causing some upsets.”
Given his goal for Swansea at the Liberty Stadium in January was the last one to beat
Forest also finished third, no promoted team has done better in the Premier League era. Stan Collymore supplied the goals for Frank Clark’s side.
Sheffield United on the road, the £20million striker is well placed to analyse the secret of their success.
“The game plan we take into every away game is good,” said Mcburnie (above, celebrating the winner).
“We’re not going to dominate the ball all the time, we know that. We know sometimes we have to stay professional with 11 men behind the ball and then when we get it we need to make the counters count. That’s what we did again.
“The away form is now a crazy stat. It shows how resilient the boys have been and how professional they are.”