Danny Hall: Yes, Sheffield United's start has been less than ideal... but the Blades have NOT become a bad team overnight

Three games. Three defeats. No goals.

Any optimism generated by last season's remarkable ninth-placed finish has well and truly evaporated amongst the club's fanbase. Social media has been flooded with fury, pretty much non-stop since the sixth minute of the opening game against Wolves (when United found themselves 2-0 down).

Targets for the ire have ranged, from John Lundstram to Oli McBurnie and the board. Even Chris Wilder, remarkably, has copped for it. One post on the S24SU message board was titled simply: "This season has got relegation written all over it."

Are things really that bad at Bramall Lane? Has the side that defied the odds to spectacularly last season suddenly become Premier League cannon fodder? Is the world about to end?

Forgive some optimistic thinking for a second, but I would say 'no' to all of the above (even if the latter sure does feel like it sometimes at the minute).

United's start has been well below what many expected, and what the manager demands. There's no point pretending all is rosy when you're bottom of the table, whether it's after three games or 33. But at the same time - and for whatever reason - United have never been particularly quick out of the blocks since Wilder took charge.

Are things now worse than in 2016, when United found themselves bottom of League One after picking up one point from four games? No.

In 2017/18, after promotion, an opening-day win over Brentford was followed by back-to-back losses at Middlesbrough and Cardiff. A year later, United were 3-0 down at Middlesbrough after 25 minutes and fans were asking if the board still had the receipt for then-record signing John Egan. Victory at QPR got the Blades up and running, and promotion was sealed a few months later.

Wilder, the man who dragged United from the bottom of the third division to the brink of Europe in front of our very eyes, is bullish in the media whenever anyone brings up how well the Blades have done under his watch. That doesn't matter, he says. It's about what comes ahead.

He's been in professional football most of his life, and knows how cut-throat it can be if you dare get carried away. It's inevitable that some of that blinkered focus will seep down to the fanbase, resulting in the toys-out-of-the-pram approach that has seen some sections of the fanbase already resign themselves to relegation.

This squad, and manager, has earned a bit of faith from its supporters. They will know more than anyone that things haven't gone their way so far this season. On the opening day Wolves, a team blessed with pace, power, creativity and just about everything you could want from your squad, scored two goals - one after breaking quickly and catching United off-guard after Lundstram dived in, and the other a free header after Enda Stevens was pushed off balance by Jack O'Connell.

The winner they conceded at Aston Villa was poor defending, after they had battled with 10 minutes for most of the game after John Egan's sending off. Against Leeds, they created the game's two best chances by some margin, found Illan Meslier in inspired form between the posts and then were hit by the sucker-punch of conceding late on when Jack Harrison found a moment of quality and Patrick Bamford saw the ball bounce off his nose and bobble into the Blades net.

That is the difference an in-form striker can make. Lundstram did everything right when he met David McGoldrick's flick and forced a stunning reaction save from Meslier. George Baldock struck the ball as sweetly as he could have wanted to after turning Harrison, only to see Meslier stick up a hand and deflect it behind. Bamford misjudges the header and scores with his nose.

Judging by the good-old expected goals metric, United should have netted four times this season - hardly prolific, granted, but enough to put them in the top half of the table at this very, very early stage.

The time to really panic would be if those chances were not coming. On another day Lundstram, Baldock or either of Oli McBurnie and Jack Robinson, who both had a stab at a corner which somehow went wide before Leeds' goal, open the scoring against Leeds and the game changes completely.

There are positives to be had. Aaron Ramsdale had his best game in a Blades shirt against Leeds, while Sander Berge has been the shining light so far this season as he shows, by the week, the type of form that persuaded Napoli to monitor his progress closely.

Ben Osborn nailed it, in my view, in his post-match interview after the Leeds game. "We need a goal to go in, and that'll change everything," he said. "We've got to improve on little things. But I think we'll be alright."

At the same time, no points after three games can ill afford to become six, seven or eight and United's upcoming run of fixtures - including games against Arsenal, Manchester City, Liverpool and Chelsea - is hardly the type that a squad possibly lacking a bit of confidence would choose.

Dean Henderson aside, the United side that trots out onto the Emirates turf this weekend could conceivably be the same XI that faced them last season, in the quarter-finals of the FA Cup. Mikel Arteta's Gunners needed a last-minute goal by a player on loan from Real Madrid that day to find a way past the Blades, and most of the footballing world - including, it seems, a lot of United's own fans - expect the same result this time around.

If nothing else, Wilder and this group have shown time and time again that they are made of sterner stuff than that.

Thank you for reading this article, one of dozens we publish every single day to provide you with the best, most up-to-date and most informative coverage of YOUR club. This depth of Blades coverage costs, so to help us maintain the high-quality reporting that you are used to from the football team at The Star, please consider taking out a subscription to our new discounted sports-only package. You'll find all the details HERE. Your support is much appreciated. Chris Holt, Football Editor