Billy Sharp highlights potential reasons for Sheffield United's fortunes after Millwall defeat

Tuesday evening’s defeat at home to Millwall saw the Blades fall 16 points behind early pacesetters Bournemouth, and Slavisa Jokanović’s men are now two behind Nottingham Forest – who were tipped for relegation earlier in the season after taking one point from their opening seven Championship games.

At the time of writing the Blades are 15th, six points off the play-offs and seven clear of the relegation zone and make the short trip to Oakwell this Sunday to face their neighbours Barnsley, who themselves are struggling under new manager Markus Schopp.

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“We've not got the consistency,” Sharp, who scored United’s equaliser from the penalty spot against Millwall before Jake Cooper’s injury-time winner, admitted.

“We didn't start the season well, we're chasing it a little bit at the minute, but there's plenty of time left; loads of games.

“We know we can put a run together. We ground out a win at the weekend against Stoke, which I thought was going to give us a lot of belief, and we just looked like we lacked a bit of belief [against Millwall].

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“Going a goal down does seem to trouble us a little bit. When we go 1-0 up here [at Bramall Lane] we look unstoppable, and we need to make sure we go 1-0 up. We didn't do that tonight.”

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