Chris Wilder left fuming at "ridiculous" moments as Sheffield United's naivety punished in Coventry City defeat
Chris Wilder left fuming at "ridiculous" moments as Sheffield United's naivety punished in Coventry City defeat
Chris Wilder was left frustrated at the “ridiculous” decisions not to award Sheffield United at least one penalty tonight as they were beaten 2-1 by the league leaders Coventry City at Bramall Lane. The Blades were full value for their lead just after the break, through Harrison Burrows.
But the visitors hit back with two quickfire goals to go 2-1 ahead, cementing their place at the top of the table and taking another big step towards playing Premier League football next season.
There was plenty to like about the Blades’ display and also plenty to improve, with boss Wilder bemoaning a “naivety” about his side as they allowed City a route back into the game.
But there was also frustration at two big decisions from referee John Busby, who waved play on when Femi Seriki went down under a challenge from Ephron Mason-Clark in the first half.
Busby also didn’t point to the spot when Tyrese Campbell appeared to be fouled by Bobby Thomas with about five minutes remaining and, to add insult to injury from a United perspective, booked the Blades sub for apparent simulation.
Chris Wilder left fuming at "ridiculous" moments as Sheffield United's naivety punished in Coventry City defeat
Defeat leaves United nine points off the play-offs again ahead of this weekend’s trip to QPR and Wilder said of the decisions: “It’s just ridiculous. Femi's in the box. For me, [Busby] didn't make the decision because he has to send the boy off, in my opinion. Because he’d already had a yellow.
“And the second one, I said to Ty: ‘Where are we at with it?’ Because I've looked at it and gone: ‘Is it contact?’ And he said yeah, there was contact, there was a big noise. ‘Why would I go down? I’m just about to shoot.’
“All three of them, all four including the fourth official. All he wanted to do was make sure that my head of sports science, who’s sat there for all the games, was moved back into the stand before the game. And I thought: ‘Here we go.’
“I thought all three of them, stroke four, were not great tonight. You can't afford those decisions to go against you. Whether the opposition ride their luck a little bit and those decisions even themselves out, whatever.
“But still that doesn’t take away the fact that, for me, there's something in both of them.”
Wilder did not shy away from his own side’s deficiancies, though, branding the goals United conceded as “ridiculous.”
“There was a lot to be happy about against the top side in the division,” he added. “They showed their qualities that you have to show if you are trying to get out of the division or trying to win it, which they did in the first half.
“We've got ourselves in front and then we start chasing the game and just lose all shape. Recovery runs, leaving the middle of the pitch wide open on a press. We want to go on press, we want to go and get after teams.
But you can't go on press when you're not in shape and we've just gone after it and opened everything up and the naivety of the team was exposed for both goals. So I’m really disappointed because there was so much to like about our performance and so much to be admired, even when we went 2-1 down.”