Disappointing? Yes. Worthy of criticism? Not in the bigger picture as Sheffield United suffer defeat to Everton

But Chris Wilder’s ambitions stretched beyond silencing those who insisted his team would be down by Christmas. He had designs on leading United into Europe.

Inside a stadium which should have been rocking but instead lay empty because of social distancing restrictions, a 46th minute goal from Everton’s Richarlison appears to have dealt those hopes a fatal blow. United have surpassed all expectations since being promoted from the Championship last term and, when the dust settles on a campaign interrupted by the Covid-19 pandemic, will reflect on their achievements over the past 12 months with immense satisfaction and pride.

Regret speaks volumes

The fact they are also likely to experience a pang of regret speaks speaks volumes, although it might not seem so at this point in time, about how well they have acclimatized to life back at the highest level.

“We shouldn’t even be talking about a bridge too far, coming out of the 37th game,” Wilder said. “With what we were told would happen at the beginning and then what we thought we could achieve, even though what we desperately wanted won’t be possible, how can I be critical of what these lads have done? Yes, we’re disappointed to lose the game and with what comes from that. But, like I say, we shouldn’t even have been talking about it. I’ve very proud of these guys and they should be proud of themselves as well.”

Portrayed by some as an old school manager, Wilder is actually a keen amateur psychologist. It explains why, after spending the last four years studying the personalities of those under his command, he felt comfortable issuing such a withering critique of Thursday’s performance against Leicester City. And also, having labelled it “substandard” and “lacking every aspect required to win a football match”, he chose to name an unchanged starting eleven for the meeting with Carlo Ancelotti’s side.

Rather than carrying out his threat to wield the axe, Wilder elected to give those responsible a chance to make amends.

If the 52-year-old was expecting his words to provoke a response, he will have been a little disappointed. Not because there was a shortage of application on his players’ part. Far from it in fact. But he wanted panache as well as perspiration and, until the closing stages of the contest, when United finally began to engineer some of their trademark overloads, there wasn’t much of the former.

Not that the visitors, despite protecting Jordan Pickford well towards the end, were particularly pleasing on the eye either. The effort United have expended over the past year or so appears to now be taking its toll. Which, given how far they have come in a short space of time, is understandable.

Tiredness kicks in

“There were some tired bodies and tired minds out there,” Wilder conceded. “Perhaps that is why we lacked that little bit of quality when we really needed it.

“We got ourselves into some good positions and the lads were going for the game. But there was real tiredness out there and fatigue played its part. But they fought and so how can I be critical, once again, of what they did?”

“It was an important victory for us, because you can only win here if you are really motivated,” Ancelotti, a three times Champions League winner, responded. “We had more fight than before but little technical quality until the second half. Then, I thought they (United) had a little less energy to press us and stop screening the passes to Gylfi Sigurdsson. From them on, I thought we had a lot more possibilities.”

“We came here knowing that Sheffield United were dangerous. So we knew that we had to show the right characteristics and we did.”

An uninspiring spectacle

Until Dominic Calvert-Lewin decided to grab the bull by the horns just before the first drinks break, the opening skirmishes of this game followed the same pattern. Everton, who saw Theo Walcott drag a low shot wide of Dean Henderson’s far post after the former England under-21 international had barged past Enda Stevens, promised little and produced even less.

United chased, hustled and harried but found it difficult to prise apart a rearguard marshalled by Michael Keane and Jarred Branthwaite. When they did - Pickford flapping at an Oliver Norwood corner after turning a free-kick from the midfielder behind - Jack O’Connell was unable to get a decisive touch at the far post.

It made for, in truth, a pretty uninspiring spectacle. Ancelotti appeared to agree when, after a poor piece of control had cost Calvert-Lewin the chance to open the scoring against his former club, he turned his back on the action, gestured towards the heavens and shook his head in disgust.

Likewise when the youngster saw a header bounce back off the post after being picked out by Theo Walcott. It was one of those halves.

Carlo and Blades need the same things from frontmen

“Dominic works hard,” Ancelotti said, assessing Calvert-Lewin’s contribution against the club responsible for launching his career before going on, inadvertently, to provide a blueprint for United’s own strikers to follow next season. “It is true that he did a lot of jumping and a lot of fighting and a lot of chasing. But I also want him to be more focused on the goal and what he does in the box. If he can do this, and keep the other parts to his game, then he will become better for sure.”

The second was barely a minute old when Richarlison claimed what would prove to be the only goal of the evening. The trajectory of Sigurdsson’s free-kick turned United’s defence and the Brazilian, taking a step back to evade his marker, was able to divert a powerful header beyond the despairing Henderson after ghosting in front of Enda Stevens.

Calvert-Lewin went close again, forcing a smart save from United’s on loan goalkeeper, as United changed both their personnel and their shape in an effort to restore parity. But try as they might, an equaliser remained elusive, with David McGoldrick scooping over the crossbar with the last kick of the game.

“We were a little disappointed with their goal,” Wilder said. “It came from a ‘nothing’ free-kick and we could have cut that out. But it’s small things really and there was nothing in the game either. Overall, I thought we deserved something from it. We didn’t get it but I also want to look at the bigger picture.”

Sheffield United: Henderson, Basham (Zivkovic 84), Egan, O’Connell, Stevens, Baldock, Norwood (Lundstram 69), Osborn (Sharp 60), Berge, McGoldrick, McBurnie (Fleck 60). Not used: Moore, Jagielka, K Freeman, Robinson, Clarke.

Everton: Pickford, Keane, Richarlison, Calvert-Lewin, Sigurdsson (Coleman 88), Walcott (Gordon 84)t, Digne, Sidibe, Gomes, Davies, Branthwaite. Not used: Stekelenburg, Baines, Iwobi, Bernard, Virginia, Baningme,Simms.

Referee: Stuart Attwell (Warwickshire).