Sheffield United: Why outside opinions are being sought when it comes to team selection

Speaking ahead of tomorrow’s trip to Huddersfield Town, where Paul Heckingbottom’s side hope to take another step towards promotion from the Championship, assistant manager Stuart McCall admitted form during matches and training won’t be the only things responsible for deciding how the visitors’ line-up.

With United scheduled to play four more games before the end of the month, having beaten West Bromwich Albion on Wednesday, McCall said: “We take a lot of advice from the medical staff, and that’s perhaps something supporters don’t always see, when we are picking a team.

“We’ve been busy and we’re going to be busy moving forward. So we have to be aware of how people are feeling and where they are in terms of their fitness - what we are asking them to do and when.

“You don’t want someone, say, who might just be coming back from a problem or is carrying a little knock telling us they’re fine and genuinely believing they are when the experts know it might be a problem if they go out there.”

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United have prepared for their meeting with Town in 10th, but only a point outside of the play-off positions with games in hand on everyone above them in the rankings.

“There’s a lot of team work that goes on here,” McCall added. “We’ve got some great analysts, doing brilliant work on games and recruitment, and then there’s the medical people as well who are all a part of what we’re trying to do. We all work together.”