Sheffield United: 'Ditch this habit and we can beat Norwich City'
Sheffield United manager Paul Heckingbottom has admitted to being concerned about the individual errors he blames for his team’s disappointing results since the international break.
Despite being three points clear at the top of the Championship table at the beginning of the month, United enter today’s game against sixth-placed Norwich City ranked fourth after failing to win any of their last five outings.
United’s most recent victory came over Preston North End, on September 17th, where goals from Iliman Ndiaye and Oli McBurnie propelled them to a 2-0 win.
Having marked their return to action with a draw against Birmingham City, Heckingbottom’s side were beaten by Queens Park Rangers and Stoke City before drawing with Blackpool ahead of Wednesday’s defeat to Coventry City.
“The mistakes (concern me),” said Heckingbottom, insisting United’s downturn in form should be attributed to mistakes and injuries rather than a lack of overall quality. “Stoke was terrible and we had to change shape and we'd never pick that team. But we had to and that's what we were left with and that's not me being disrespectful to players.
“We had so many attacking players and the subs coming on were making debuts. Statistically, Blackpool looked an unreal performance, but we made four, five or six errors and three resulted in goals. We made four, five or six in the first half at Preston, which didn't lead to goals. Everyone thinks how well we did and last-ditch blocks, but we did that (at Coventry). We had to do less. That performance was not dissimilar to Swansea, Hull and Preston, when we won. The second half at Preston, we were very strong. Similar to Coventry, but we scored at Preston.”
United hit the post twice at the CBS Arena, before succumbing to a late penalty conceded by Chris Basham. Heckingbottom also blamed one of the defender’s team mates for not “tracking their runner” when Coventry took a throw moments before.
“Listen, if you compare the performance with Preston in the first half, it's one of the worst we've played this season,” he added. “We went in 1-0 and everyone was singing. The result and goal will determine the way we feel, that's it.”
