Sheffield United boss Chris Wilder sends warning to his players ahead of Charlton Athletic clash
The Blades boss reflected on his side's painful memories of facing Charlton last season.
Sheffield United manager Chris Wilder has said he’s looking for consistency from his players who are ‘getting up to speed’ ahead of their match against Charlton Athletic on Saturday.
United travel down to The Valley this weekend in what is the final match before the Championship season halts for the international break.
Charlton have struggled to find form so far this season, and have failed to win since August 29 against Preston North End.
The Blades go into the match as favourites, after only losing one match since the restart from the previous interval. However, it must be taken into account that they’d managed to claw two goals back to almost draw away against Portsmouth despite Hamza Choudhury getting sent off for a second yellow card before half-time.
Speaking ahead of the match, Wilder said: “[They have] an incredibly committed and passionate manager that cares about his work, his team, his career, and he's done ever so well.
“When I've played against Nathan's [Jones] teams, they're super competitive, and he'll understand that’s coming back his way.”
The Blades gaffer revisited the nightmares his side had against Charlton last season.
“That was on me chasing a game, really, at the end, and we got done in the 94th minute. So scenes of Nathan knee-sliding on the end with all their players is still pretty fresh in my memory, and I can't say too much about the away performance. It was absolutely killed by refereeing decisions.
“We can control our attitude and approach, and it's something that we are doing now, and we have to be consistent with that. Consistent with the attitude, the intent, the approach, the application, and most importantly, the performances.”
“What I'm seeing is that players are really getting up to speed, putting in good performances, and we're in decent nick.”
“I want us to continue and carry on, and look forward and move upwards in the table, and if we play to our best, we're a tough challenge for any opposition in this division, and hopefully we can produce that consistency that we've been searching for and getting,” he added.