Chris Wilder drops Sheffield United selection hint ahead of Plymouth Argyle trip after fan criticism
Chris Wilder drops Sheffield United selection hint ahead of Plymouth Argyle trip after fan criticism
Chris Wilder has suggested that he will shuffle his Sheffield United pack for tomorrow's trip to struggling Plymouth Argyle, after criticism from sections of the Blades support for playing the same side for the last two defeats. The Blades go to Home Park looking to get their season back on track after back-to-back defeats to Oxford United and Millwall.
Wilder gave the same XI the chance to make amends on Tuesday night against the Lions and the performance was better but the result was the same, and saw the Blades drop to third in the table with just five games to go of the regular season. Their promotion hopes are far from over, though, with just two points separating themselves and the top two ahead of the latest round of fixtures.
"It's the hardest job," said Wilder of team selection. "It's a pertinent question and it's one managers have to deal with it all the time. I've dealt with it for 1,000 games. Tactics, changes, team selection. We're on 85 points.
"We always look and think. There's a lot of thought that goes into it, tactically and physically and freshening it up in a three-game week. Who's in form, who's not in form? I've wrestled with it for the last 25 years and won't wrestle with it for the next 25 years. Maybe for the next five.
"If we'd kept the same team and won [v Millwall], which we could quite easily have done with the chances we created, then no-one would be saying anything. So it's just what you have to deal with as a manager. I've always thought we'll have to shuffle the pack but I thought it was right to give them the chance to go again."
Wilder rightly argues that the same side put in one of the club's best performances of the season less than two weeks earlier, beating Coventry City 3-1 at Bramall Lane, but the likes of Callum O'Hare, Jesurun Rak-Sakyi and Vini Souza could come back into the side to face Miron Muslić's men down in Devon.
"You can allow yourself one day where you don't play very well, which we owned, and we played better on Tuesday," Wilder added. "But the result was the same so we have to accept that. It's the biggest thing, when we pick the team. Have we picked the right one?
"We felt we did. Is there a need to freshen it up? Most probably. I'm not going to give my team away but it was always going to be the case in a three-game week, whether that was Tuesday or Saturday dinnertime."