"Not horrific" - Chris Wilder addresses main Sheffield United fan gripe after Leeds, Burnley seize advantage
"Not horrific" - Chris Wilder addresses main Sheffield United fan gripe after Leeds, Burnley seize advantage
After signalling the possibility that he could give his Sheffield United players who underperformed so noticeably at Oxford United on Saturday a rapid chance to right the wrongs on Tuesday evening, there weren’t too many eyebrows raised when Chris Wilder named an unchanged side to take on Millwall. But after another below-par display and another 1-0 defeat, it became the main talking point amongst supporters.
Why, many fans asked, didn’t he change it up? The likes of Jesurun Rak-Sakyi, Callum O’Hare and Vini Souza started on a very strong bench, all three entering the fray as United threw everything at an equaliser as the mood inside Bramall Lane became increasingly frenetic. They couldn’t do so, Josh Coburn’s 21st minute goal proving the winner, and Wilder’s team selection came under intense scrutiny.
In mitigation, none of the subs - who would have started if Wilder had decided to shuffle his pack - did anything to suggest a mistake had been made after they entered the fray. Souza couldn’t have the impact on the game anyone hoped; Rak-Sakyi had the best chances from a United perspective but couldn’t convert, a repeat of the same story from the weekend.
O’Hare huffed and puffed but rather summed up United’s entire display, of poor decision-making and not enough quality, in injury time when he worked a yard of space before smashing a shot over the bar. Tom Cannon was the closest he has been so far to a first United goal with a snap-shot which Lukas Jensen gobbled up comfortably.
Such is the life of a manager, who live and die by such decisions. The same side, less than two weeks ago, put in probably United’s best performance of the season to beat Coventry City but after two defeats in two much more ‘winnable’ games on paper, the feel-good factor inside Bramall Lane that Friday night now seems like a distant memory.
“I’m damned if I do and damned if I don’t, aren’t I?” said Wilder. “Eleven or 12 days earlier [against Coventry] everything was rocking. So it just shows how quickly emotions change. I think collectively they were all poor on Saturday at Oxford, I don’t think anybody came out of it with any sort of credit. They were fours and fives, and that might be being kind.
Chris Wilder reveals selection reasoning as Sheffield United slip up again
“So I thought it was the right thing to do, to let them go again. I thought the energy in the team in the first half was good. We got after the opposition and I thought our start was good. But going a goal behind makes it even more difficult, especially when you’ve got experienced players like they’ve got and them making some really good decisions.
“They’ll deserve and enjoy their their result but I think that whatever I did, the selection didn’t really decide the performance-stroke-result. I thought the performance was okay; it wasn’t anywhere near what we produced on Saturday. But I think people will attach performances to results and maybe attach the performance tonight to the result.
“It wasn’t horrific. We had 66 per cent possession, 25 shots at goal. But ultimately we’re in the business of creating chances and scoring goals and winning games of football. And we’ve lost two on the spin now, in an incredibly important part of the season.”