Chris Wilder knows what must change to end Sheffield United’s ‘nearly’ tag ahead of huge summer rebuilding job
Chris Wilder knows what must change to end Sheffield United’s ‘nearly’ tag ahead of huge summer rebuilding job
A week can be a long time in football; a year, or so, an absolute age. Last March, when Coventry City came to Bramall Lane, it was Sheffield United who ran out comfortable victors to go clear at the top of the Championship table.
Almost 12 months on the Sky Blues’ 2-1 win in South Yorkshire sent them another step closer to the Premier League and left United wondering, once again, what might have been. The Blades looked on course for a huge three points when Harrison Burrows’ second-half strike deservedly put them ahead.
But then a damaging spell saw United let their visitors back into the game and then win it, through some defending boss Chris Wilder described as “naive.” After going within six points of the play-offs by beating Wednesday at the weekend, United are now back in 16th and nine adrift of sixth-placed Wrexham.
The Welsh side still have to come to Bramall Lane as one of the 12 games left to play this season but United will have to string together a remarkable run of results to wade through the traffic above them, if they are to make a late dart for the play-offs.
And it was noticeable that Wilder began to reference “next year” in his post-match media obligations, even if there was not - and would never be - a tacit admission that promotion is out of reach until it mathematically is.
Chris Wilder knows what must change to end Sheffield United’s ‘nearly’ tag ahead of huge summer rebuilding job
But the United chief will also have one eye on the future, with established Championship players expected to form the backbone of his wishlist as he looks to put his stamp back on this group in a summer which also signals the end of their Premier League parachute payments.
“We just opened everything up at 1-0 up and the naivety of the team was exposed for both goals,” Wilder said of the Coventry defeat. “And when you look at it, it’s Harrison Burrows' second season in the Champ.
“[Tyler] Bindon’s first year in the Champ. Femi [Seriki’s] first year really of being a regular. Brooksy, [Djibril] Soumare. Sydie, who I thought was outstanding, so I take him out of it. But there are five or six players there.
“Last year, we don’t lose that game. We win it, and we possibly win it 3-1, like we did last season. Because we have that little bit of nous and are streetwise enough to say: ‘Right, we've got ourselves in front, now we take a little bit of control, take the sting out of it.’
“And it's not been negative, because we weren't. Brooksy picked it up and had an opportunity, and Femi went. But he doesn't always have to go on an overload, we don’t always have to go at every opportunity trying to score a goal.
“The game just opened up and they just picked their way through us, through our naivety. It’s really disappointing because there was so much to like about our performance, so much to be admired even when we went 2-1 down.
“Maybe that team last year is not as free-flowing as this one is. But it also wasn’t naive and unfortunately, the only way players learn is by going through that experience.”
The meeting with Frank Lampard’s side was in some ways a reflection of United on a wider scale. They were excellent for the most part, had a touch of bad luck but missed huge opportunities to put the game to bed before being pegged back.
That was the case a few weeks back against Middlesbrough at home, another occasion when Wilder admitted his side were “nearly.” The returns of Jairo Riedewald and Joe Rothwell for this weekend’s trip to QPR should help, though, through their vast experience.
“We have to take our medicine tonight,” Wider added. “It's a pretty frustrating night for us and I just imagine everybody. There was so much good stuff today. But maybe that's why it's happened on a few occasions where we're nearly, and we're not that team that we need to be.
“It will be next year. But saying that, if we play at that level between now and the end of the season, and we do to teams what we've done to the best team in the division, then we'll win some games of football. And we need to get that balance right.”