Sander Berge's form offers Sheffield United with a ray of hope ahead of this weekend's visit to Liverpool

After preparing for the fixture on the back of four straight defeats, Chris Wilder’s side entered the game knowing that a fifth, particularly at the hands of opponents who had made an equally slow start to the new season, would have dealt a potentially debilitating blow to confidence and damaged their survival prospects. Even at this stage of the campaign.

The share of the spoils they secured, when Billy Sharp’s penalty cancelled-out Ademola Lookman’s opener, was the bare minimum they could have hoped for against a team which, despite Wilder’s reminder afterwards that there are “no free hits at this level”, also looks destined to endure a difficult campaign.

Still, as United and their supporters search for reasons to be cheerful ahead of the visit to Anfield, some sources of encouragement have emerged from the most difficult run of Wilder’s otherwise remarkable four year reign. One is the progress of Sander Berge who, after initially struggling with the physical demands of English football, is now beginning to look like the player United believed they had signed following his £22m move from Genk nine months ago.

Berge’s display during the meeting with Scott Parker’s side was arguably his best in a United shirt; continuing a trend which began towards the end of last term, when Tottenham Hotspur were beaten at Bramall Lane, and has continued since then, despite the awkward situation Wilder’s men now find themselves in.

Berge’s influenced waned as the afternoon wore on - a consequence of his exertions on international duty with Norway - but Rhian Brewster, who is surely set to start against his former club, must have wished he was on the pitch when the 22-year-old was flashing a series of tantalising centres across Fulham’s box.

“I thought Sander was excellent,” Wilder noted, perhaps wondering if Ben Osborn should have been introduced during the closing stages to provide United’s midfield with some legs, “We lost control of that area a little bit as things went on but, to be fair, I don’t think Sander missed a minute for his country during the break.”

Although statistics have become an increasing source of fascination, particularly as football becomes more obsessed with tactics and science, they do not tell the whole story about Berge’s journey in a United jersey. Indeed, by many measures, his figures are significantly lower than those he returned last season when, by his own admission, he found the pace and athleticism of the game in this country challenging.

“It’s not like in Belgium,” Berge acknowledged earlier this year, soon after the suspension on professional sport was lifted following the height of the Covid-19 pandemic. “There, with all due respect, there were times when you could take a little rest. That’s not the case here at all. It’s very demanding and something I’ve been working on - trying to improve what I can do.”

According to one major website used by analysts, managers and scours alike, Berge has completed fewer ‘successful actions’ and passes this term than during the previous campaign, with his passing accuracy over long distance also down. The only area where he has markedly improved is the number of recoveries he makes in his own half - which one would expect given that Wilder is now deploying him in a deeper lying role than the one he frequently operated in at the beginning of his United career when, with Oliver Norwood and John Fleck locking down the two central positions, Berge found himself competing with John Lundstram at the top of United’s midfield.

But football is about more than numbers. Some of the most important qualities an athlete can possess - presence, influence, imagination and self-belief - are not quantifiable, and the evidence of our own eyes confirms Berge now appears much more comfortable in his own skin. Stronger, Berge’s endurance levels have risen and he now makes more interceptions - suggesting his reading of the game and positional sense has got better, combined with his ability to cover ground. Berge’s confidence also seems to have risen too, as his willingness to power forward and then utilise his technical ability to pepper Fulham’s penalty box with dangerous crosses highlighted. Brewster, introduced from the bench when the Londoners were in the ascendancy, will hope to profit from those when he too becomes fully conversant with United’s play-patterns following his transfer from Liverpool. The centre-forward, who is expected to make his full debut against his former club, scored around half his goals during a recent spell on loan with Swansea City with first time finishes, which, if Berge continues in the same vein, suggests the two could form an unusual but rewarding partnership.

Berge will have to deliver a virtuoso display if United are to stand a chance of beating Jurgen Klopp’s men - who won the title at a canter last season. Intriguingly, however, his rise to prominence also seems to have coincided with Norwood’s return to form. Freed from the quarterback role, Norwood looked someway back to his best against the Londoners and is likely to be handed another start in the North-West after it emerged Fleck has joined Jack O’Connell and Lys Mousset on the casualty list.

“Ollie hadn’t hit the heights at the beginning of the season,” Wilder acknowledged. “He has to take some of the responsibility for that, the same as me for not picking him. But over the past couple of weeks (in training), he’s really upped things and that’s been great to see. That kind of response tells you a lot about him.”

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Chris Holt, Football Editor