A theory on the reason behind rejuvenated Sheffield United's poor start to this season

Sheffield United had been among the favourites to win promotion straight back into the Premier League after a forgettable top flight campaign that saw the Blades go down with a whimper.

There was a new manager in place in Slavisa Jokanovic, a man who had plenty of experience in gaining promotion from this devision having already done so with Fulham and Watford and there was plenty of talent in the squad, with plenty of players in there who also know what it takes to go up from the Championship.

However, it took until September 11 for United to gain their first league win of the season and while that 6-2 victory over Peterborough at Bramall Lane looked like heralding the true beginning of the Jokanovic era, patchy results and performances followed until eventually the Serb would fall on his sword late last month, just after a 1-0 win over Reading.

There have been many theories behind the reason for the Blades’ poor start but one United player takes it back to the summer with his.

After that disappointing previous campaign, United needed a strong pre-season to exorcise some demons, but that failed to materialise.

They took on Gibraltar-based side Europa Point while on their training camp in Spain and more than two weeks later convincingly beat South Yorkshire neighbours Doncaster Rovers.

Two behind-closed-doors matches were cancelled due to Covid and then perhaps the most important of the lot, a friendly against Norwich at Bramall Lane was also called off for the same reason, a week before the season was due to begin.

And so it was a team lacking in match practice that lost to Birmingham City on the opening day and from then on, the Blades have been playing catch-up with the division’s leading lights.

United midfielder Ollie Norwood isn’t pinning everything that’s since gone wrong on what turned out to be something of a summer shambles but he believes it played a big part.

“Without blaming things, we had a disrupted pre-season,” he said. “We had two weeks off in the middle of pre-season, the team we played in Spain from Gibraltar, I think we would have been better off playing my mate's team up the park. There wasn't much work done in that one.

"We came back, played Doncaster and that was it, off you go. So the first four or five games were more or less trying to find the way we wanted to play and it took us a while to get going and for one reason or another it didn't work out.

"Football moves on quickly, managers move on, players move on and the ones that hang around are the ones that the manager wants here. It's football, it's life and you move on quickly.”

After having their match called off on Monday due to a Covid outbreak in the QPR camp, United are back in action this coming Monday when they travel to face one of Norwood’s old clubs, high-flying Fulham at Craven Cottage.