“Not getting it..” - Chris Wilder repeats Sheffield United “parity” plea compared to rivals
“Not getting it..” - Chris Wilder repeats Sheffield United “parity” plea compared to promotion rivals
Chris Wilder has repeated his call for Sheffield United to receive “parity” with their promotion rivals after facing another tough turnaround in the Championship schedule this week. The Blades have been on the wrong end of a few fixture changes this season thanks to their success, with a long trek back from their midweek win at Swansea City followed by a Friday night clash against Hull City.
Research analysing United’s fixture schedule alongside those of Leeds United, Burnley, Sunderland, West Bromwich Albion and Middlesbrough showed that United have on average the least hours between fixtures, in a congested period, and have played the most games, of those clubs, in the last six weeks with less than 68 hours of recovery time. Rather than enjoy a day off after a keenly-contested win over Swansea, United’s players were instead back at Shirecliffe on Wednesday afternoon to prepare for the visit of Rubén Sellés’ Tigers.
United officials do not believe that United’s injury record this season is a co-incidence because of the cramped schedule, with two players - Oliver Arblaster and loan star Harry Souttar - lost to season-ending injuries and a number of other key men, including Vini Souza and Jesurun Rak-Sakyi, missing large chunks of the campaign through fitness issues.
"I don't think anybody really understands it,” Wilder said on the schedule. “Our midweek game disadvantages have been Oxford, Swansea, Bristol City and Millwall. If there's a logic behind it, I'm not getting it. The difficult one is the recovery time. We've got Saturday to Tuesday to Friday night. We'll get back late on Tuesday night, they'll get into their beds late and come in Wednesday.
“From a tactical point of view, it's a massive turnaround. We'll start on stuff on Wednesday afternoon 24 hours after they've played Championship football. We had this conversation in the Premier League, there were certain managers moaning and groaning about 12.30 kick-offs. The flip side of it is that's what tests you - all these challenges, injuries, loss of form, defeats, scheduling.
“If you want to be the best team, you've got to come through all these things. There are no excuses, I'm just highlighting what I've seen, that we lack a bit of parity with everyone else. There’s a lot that goes into it. There’s always a will to win but the preparation's the biggest thing for me. Tactically, there are things to go through. Look at this week. You're changing from Norwich, to a pretty unique way of playing in Swansea.
“There are the details of that to get into the players, the unit details and the overall plan, a team meeting, and then putting it out onto the grass. Then we go into a different game on Friday. Physically it's pretty punishing. Mentally they've got to get themselves going again, which the group are good at, and tactically we'll be looking at the work we can put into them. In a free week you can work on things tactically. Iin a week like this, you don't really have time to work on anything.”
Sheffield United’s hectic fixture schedule
United have raised the point about their congested fixture schedule with the EFL, with the feedback that their games are changed so often for television broadcast because they are doing well this season and, as a result, more people want to watch them live. Wilder is keen to avoid the issue becoming a crutch to lean on if United go through a barren spell but also feels it is a genuine issue worth raising in a bid to hopefully see it addressed going forward.
We can't use it as an excuse. That's the message we have to get into the players as a narrative. It's just another test we have to get over.
“We can't use it as an excuse,” he added. “That's the message we have to get into the players as a narrative. It's just another test we have to get over but of course you have to highlight it. Whether anything gets done, I'm not so sure. But just highlighting it might just prod and poke a few people to take notice. But it is a fact, we and a couple of other clubs, but the reasoning we were told is the position we're in. So we have to get on with it.
“And as I said, if you're going to be successful you have to deal with that. No excuses. We've had injuries, we're not at our strongest, that's there for everyone to be seen. But we're trying to affect that in the next couple of weeks and hopefully all our hard work there will be rewarded. We have to get on with it and deal with it and get through it, which they have done so far and they will have to keep doing if they want to be successful.”