Sheffield United: Press conference updates from Slavisa Jokanovic ahead of Blackpool clash

The most important thing for me is getting back to playing as well as I can for Sheffield United and get back to where we want to be as a club. Everyone knows where that is and hopefully we can do it.

A bit of a mixed bag, to be honest. The main thing for me is always working hard and trying my hardest, and hopefully in the coming weeks I can play a bit better on the ball and get back to being that player again. It’s been a change for everyone. I love the way we’re working, it’s a great squad and manager and we’ll just keep trying to get better at it.

After we scored the three goals at Barnsley we weren’t at our best again. Consistency is the main thing, especially at this level. We’re not far away from where we want to be. If you can get two or three good results you’ll be in and around the play-offs and that’s our aim. It makes it a big occasion for us this weekend.

It’s a new structure to what we all worked for under Chris, when you’re drilled into something for so long it can be hard to go into a different system straightaway and we’re learning on the job.

We’re conceding too many goals of late, as a team. If you ask the manager the first thing he wants to do is keep a clean sheet. If you’re winning 4-2 every game then fair enough but as a group we want to try and keep more clean sheets.

It’s a little bit different for everyone in the team, not just me. We’re still adapting just now and trying to improve, as you see in some games – eben at the weekend when we were 3-0 up and couldn’t see it out as well as we should have. Hopefully we’re on the right lines.

It was good, it was good to get out and get some games at that stage of my career, when I was trying to find myself as a player if you like. I had Barry Ferguson down there already and he made it a little bit easier for me, after knowing him from Rangers. It was great. At that stage it was fantastic to know someone, moving away from home, and that was a massive help.

ahead of this weekend’s clash with his old club Blackpool - here’s a run-down of the key themes

Sheffield United fans have reacted incredulously on Twitter after Ethan Ampadu, their former loan defender, was shown a ridiculous red card for his loan club Venezia earlier this week.

Ampadu, who spent last season at Bramall Lane before returning to his parent club Chelsea after the Blades’ relegation, joined the Italian club in the summer and was shown red in their 2-1 defeat to Salernitana.

Footage of the red card later emerged on social media, with Ampadu reacting to pressure from Franck Ribéry with a perfectly-executed tackle with the outside of his left foot just outside his area.

Ribéry reacted thearatically and play continued for a few moments before the referee brought play back and showed the red card to a stunned Ampadu. Even more remarkably, the decision was upheld after a VAR review.

Slavisa Jokanovic, the Sheffield United manager, has told his players to continue focusing on creating quality chances rather than simply taking pot-shots at goal.

The directive comes despite calls for them to adopt a more confrontational approach following a chequered start to the season which sees Jokanovic’s men prepare for Saturday’s game against Blackpool 14th in the Championship table.

Although he stressed he does not want United to over-elaborate when an opportunity to score presents itself, the Serb plans to ignore suggestions they should look to get the ball forward and gamble - insisting that showing attention to detail will eventually pay dividends.

“Sometimes, there are steps forwards and backwards as part of our profession,” Jokanovic said. “I am frustrated after some games. Sometimes, you don’t need to shoot 100 times to score a goal.

“Between 90 and 98 minutes, some negative things happen for us. Some good things, and some very good things, they also happen too.”

and welcome to our live blog of today’s press conference, bringing you the key themes and lines as Slavisa Jokanovic and John Fleck face the media ahead of Saturday’s clash with Blackpool - in the meantime, here’s a few stories from our website this morning...