Ex-Leeds United and Liverpool man hails 'excellent' Sheffield United individual but highlights major weakness

Former Leeds United and Liverpool midfielder Gary McAllister believes Sheffield United's inability to deal with adversity is a key reason for their struggles this season. The Blades, who take on Liverpool in the Premier League at Anfield this evening, remain rooted to the foot of the table and with less than two months to go before the end of the season, a drastic turnaround is needed if they are to avoid the drop.

Despite five games going by without a win, Chris Wilder's side have managed to showcase potential in recent weeks against Bournemouth and Fulham. United took the lead in both games and were actually 3-1 up on Saturday against the Cottagers heading into the final five minutes, but on both occasions they succumbed to agonising stoppage time equalisers.

Holding onto leads has been a struggle over the course of the campaign for the Blades and McAllister believes more needs to be done to help players remain calm when things don't quite their way.

"I think there might be a wee bit of, you know when the game plan has gone well, they've worked hard in the week to prepare for a game and they get themselves in front, then when something maybe goes wrong and there's a bump in the road, something goes the other way, you can see the fragility," the pundit said while working for TNT Sports.

"All of a sudden the game plan goes out of the window and players start going off on their own and they just look as if they're really open and look as if they can concede goals, which they've done. You can see that fragility when things just don't go their way."

The Blades have carried much more of a threat in front of goal since the turn of the year, though, and much of that is down to the impressive performances of Ben Brereton Diaz, who has bagged four goals in five league appearances for the club since joining on loan from Villarreal.

"He's been excellent," McCallister added. "I think his work rate in general is something that always impresses me. Watching him at Blackburn as well, he's always on the front foot but he's not necessarily always coming to feet, he's a player that likes to get beyond and get himself in the box."