Chris Basham becomes latest Sheffield United star to mention this change under Paul Heckingbottom

Heckingbottom succeeded Slavisa Jokanović after the former Fulham and Watford chief was axed just a few months into his Bramall Lane reign, and has won all three of his games in charge so far.

The most recent was an eye-catching win at table-topping Fulham, thanks to Iliman Ndiaye’s stunning individual goal, although United’s hopes to build on that momentum were dashed when four of their December games were postponed because of Covid-19 cases amongst their opponents.

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And Basham, a member of the squad Heckingbottom assumed temporary control of after Chris Wilder’s departure last season before returning to his job as United’s U23s boss, said: “He knew us from last year, he’s been looking at us for a number of years so he knows what we’re about and he’s brought a lot more intensity.

“There are a lot more lads trying to push a little bit more maybe. You just want to get a result for him and we’ve got on a roll.

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“The Fulham game was a massive one, we ground it out with determination and a bit of quality from Iliman which we’ve seen all season.

“With the analysis side of it, Paul has really tried to get his messages across to us how he wants us to play. Can we be the attacking and aggressive side? If not, we can analyse it in a different way and give ourselves the best chance of getting the result.”

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