Sheffield United boss Chris Wilder opens up on injured Sander Berge after defeat to Man Utd

Despite being beaten 3-2 at home by Manchester United, Wilder described the hosts’ performance “chalk and cheese” compared to the one they delivered en route to a 3-0 defeat at Southampton four days earlier.

Although he expressed his disappointment at the manner of the goals United conceded after taking the lead through David McGoldrick - and the sight of Sander Berge limping off with a hamstring injury which is set to rule him out of the trip to the AMEX Stadium - Wilder said: “You can pick the finer details out of the performance but we needed to produce something and I think we did that.

"The players knew they needed to do it. They needed to do it not for me but for themselves. They needed to be aggressive, to make contact and show what this football club represents. They showed, even though I knew it already, that they cared out there.”

“We know we need to get a win sooner rather than later, for our own self belief if nothing else,” Wilder, whose side are nine points adrift of safety, added. “But I don’t think that was a performance that lacked belief or confidence. We are disappointed, of course we are. But that has given us something to build on.”

United took the lead when a mistake from Dean Henderson presented David McGoldrick with the first of his two goals before efforts from Marcus Rashford (2) and Anthony Martial put the visitors in the driving seat.

Earlier, United had been forced to substitute Berge when he pulled-up chasing for a loose ball. The midfielder, described by Wilder as “our best player of the season so far by a country mile”, is now expected to sit out this weekend’s trip to the south coast.

“It’s not normally good when you see someone go like that with a hamstring,” Wilder said. “It hit us hard. Sander is a big, powerful lad so, with him not being able to carry on, I’d say the turnaround isn’t too good.”