Freedom! Sheffield United players told to take advantage of Chris Wilder's pioneering tactics

Bottom of the table and 12 points adrift of safety with only 15 matches remaining, United travel to West Ham on Monday knowing that a defeat could leave them in an almost impossible position ahead of next weekend’s meeting with fellow strugglers Fulham.

Although Wilder accepts the “odds are stacked against” his squad following a miserable start to the campaign, recent victories over Newcastle, Manchester United and West Bromwich Albion have kept its slim hopes of survival alive.

United also advanced into the quarter finals of the FA Cup when they beat Bristol City two days ago and Lowe, who took part in that game, acknowledges both he and the rest of his team mates must exploit the attacking opportunities Wilder’s 3-5-2 formation creates rather than relying on strikers such as Billy Sharp and David McGoldrick.

“That’s the freedom of the system,” Lowe said, explaining why many of the chances United engineer fall to defenders and midfielders. “We’ve seen Jayden (Bogle) score a handful of goals and I think we’ve all got to play our part and not just leave it to the lads up front.”

Reflecting upon United’s performance against City, which saw them carve a number of openings before advancing courtesy of Sharp’s second-half penalty, Lowe added: “I think all of us did really well to get into the right areas. It was just that final little bit - the pass or making sure the shot is on target that we could have improved on. As a defender myself, I was happy to keep a clean sheet and the main thing was to go through. But we could have stuck a few more away, yes, and that’s something we want to work on.”

David Moyes’ side triumphed 1-0 at Bramall Lane earlier this term, and have risen to sixth in the rankings ahead of the latest round of fixtures.

“When we played them earlier, it was a tight game, there was nothing in it really,” Lowe said. “The confidence is there with us now so we’re looking at it thinking ‘why can’t we win?’

“They’re doing really well this season and they’ve got some stand out players going forward. They’re creative and they’ll be backing themselves to score so, as a defender and as a team, we know we’ll have to be right on our game.”

“The days now are going to be vital in terms of getting that rest and recuperation,” Lowe continued. “The games have been coming thick and fast over the past few weeks. We’ve got a few injuries and some key players out but hopefully we can get some of those back to make the squad stronger.

“We’ve had a day off, rested our feet and now it’s back to it again - working hard to get ready and trying to make ourselves better.”

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