Chris Wilder’s Sheffield United dilemma as “painful” 45 minutes sparks Millwall reaction hope

On Sunday morning, as Sheffield United’s players shuffled into a meeting room at the Shirecliffe training ground, the mood was still flat from the day before. A shock 1-0 defeat at Oxford United was another twist in a promotion race that sees the top three sides separated by just two points with six games to go, and Chris Wilder had a dilemma.

“I talked to the coaches, asking: ‘Shall we just park it and move quickly on?’ the United manager admitted. “Because it's something that's not really happened a lot this season, where we've not played well and not won. So, my discussion with them was whether we should move on or do we stick it in front of them and go through a painful 45 minutes?

“Because there's no getting away from it when it's on that big screen and highlighting what we didn't do well. I asked the coaches if we would show it if it had happened in August or September and they said that we would, so I said: ‘What's the difference?’

“Players have to be mentally strong enough to own it, and it was a painful 45-minute watch. I didn't go around seeking a reaction but the feedback was that we needed that, it wasn't good enough or up to the standards we've set. So I’m delighted in terms of that.”

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Wilder’s point feeds into a general one that comes with experience of promotion campaigns aplenty; the need for consistency, to keep doing the same things that got you into this position even when there is a slight bump in the road. Not throwing the baby out with the bathwater, as they say.

That said, there is little doubt that United need to move on quickly from their ponderous display at the Kassam Stadium, which allowed Burnley to seize pole position in the title race and drop United to second, a point ahead of third-placed Leeds United.

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“Everyone's okay, fitness-wise, so I've got some difficult decisions to make,” Wilder added. “As always, the ones with the crystal ball will say I should have changed the team on Saturday, after we played Friday night and produced one of our best performances. We'll have a look at it.

“Do we give those players an opportunity to put right what wasn't very good on Saturday? If it had been two or three or four games, then maybe we might have made big changes. So I've got those decisions to make, and in terms of a three-game week too.

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“I've got decisions in terms of changing it around, but I'm not going to take a wrecking ball to how we play because it's helped us and it's served us well so far this season.

“But definitely, in my mind and in my thoughts, are some changes to be made. We went through that yesterday and we'll go through that a bit this morning and see where we are with it. But I'd like to think that whatever team we put out on the pitch will serve us well and give it a real go, as it has done right the way through the season.”