Sheffield United manager Chris Wilder identifies why his team has struggled since the first national lockdown

As the first anniversary of English football’s lockdown approaches, Sheffield United manager Chris Wilder has lamented the effect losing the backing of its supporters has had upon his team.
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Tomorrow’s Premier League fixture against Southampton comes 364 days after fans were last allowed inside Bramall Lane, when more than 31,000 people watched Billy Sharp’s first-half goal condemn Norwich City to defeat.

Wilder’s side finished that match sixth in the table but, almost exactly one year on, they enter the meeting with Ralph Hasenhuttl’s side at the bottom of the rankings and 12 points adrift of safety.

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“I believe, with the journey we’ve been on, this wasn’t a negative football club,” said Wilder, who partly attributes United’s poor results this season to the fact they are playing behind closed doors. “I can rattle of half a dozen negative clubs in the top two divisions straight away, where the players didn’t enjoy playing in front of the fans and the fans didn’t enjoy watching their players. It wasn’t like that here. It’s never been like that here since we came in.”

Having previously cited repairing the relationship between the team and the terraces as his proudest achievement in the job so far - even more satisfying than gaining promotion from League One and the Championship - Wilder insists the lack of atmosphere inside grounds has been a huge handicap for his side as it attempts to establish itself at the highest level.

Although he accepted other factors have also contributed to United’s perilous predicament, including individual errors and an unprecedented spate of injuries which have exposed a lack of depth within his squad, Wilder believes being forced to compete behind closed doors is arguably the most significant.

Contrasting the noise inside the stadium when United beat City to the silence which greeted Wednesday night’s win over Aston Villa, a result achieved despite Phil Jagielka’s red card soon after the interval, Wilder said: “The matches haven’t been that different when we finished ninth last season, and I firmly believe the fans helped us turn defeats into draws and draws into wins back then. They would have done it this year too.”

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