Sheffield United need to learn lessons from Portsmouth 'wake-up call' as Chris Wilder plots response v Middlesbrough
Sheffield United need to learn lessons from Portsmouth 'wake-up call' as Chris Wilder plots response v Middlesbrough
Chris Wilder is facing some big decisions ahead of Sheffield United’s midweek clash with Middlesbrough as the Blades look to put Saturday’s Portsmouth struggle behind them - and quickly. The Blades were distinctly second-best against the Championship strugglers but their star quality - and a healthy dose of fortune - got them through in the end for a big three points.
But Wilder didn’t try and spin anything afterwards and reminded his side that they can ill-afford any more displays of that passive nature if they are to keep up the pace in their promotion battle with Leeds United, Burnley and Sunderland. The Pompey win sent United back second in the table, three points clear of Burnley in third and two off leaders Leeds.
If the Blades match their rivals’ results in the final 15 games of the season they will be playing Premier League football next season but they will have to lift their levels considerably to be able to do so, especially with clashes against Leeds and Burnley on the horizon. Wilder must decide whether to persevere with his partnership of Tyrese Campbell and Tom Cannon up front, with both having quiet afternoons against Pompey, while Sydie Peck did his hopes of a recall in midfield no harm with a performance of industry and invention after coming off the bench.
United can quickly draw a line under the Pompey performance by getting back to their usual standards against Boro, with Wilder and his coaching staff reviewing the performance over the weekend before thoughts turn to Michael Carrick’s side. “Last week, at Derby, I gave the players a bit of leeway,” Wilder said. “Any team that has played Derby has struggled there.
“The pitch isn’t great, they go man-to-man all over the pitch, it always turns into a bit of a scrappy game and we had a lot of new players coming in. But no excuses this week. We were second best all over the pitch and if we want to realise our dreams we've got to be so much better.
“There’s not much time [to work on the training ground before Wednesday] and it doesn't need a lot. It just needs a review quickly and get ourselves right. I've got decisions to make, picking a team for Wednesday. I’ll try and review it but I’ll most probably get through about three-quarters or two-thirds of it and put it away. Because if you tried to pick the bones out of that performance from our point of view, you’d be here until Wednesday afternoon.
"If that was a stock standard performance, we'd be that team that a lot of people said at the start of the season we’d be ... sliding right the way through [to relegation] off the back of last season. It's a little bit of... not a one-off, but in that category-ish."
Wilder did not need to endure a replay of the performance to identify the main issues. United’s midfield was too stretched, with Hamza Choudhury dropping deep and a huge gap in the middle of the park opening up as a result. United did not move the ball forward quickly enough and didn’t do the basics defensively, with Portsmouth scarcely believing their luck as chance after chance came from Josh Murphy wreaking havoc down the Pompey left.
It seems strange to talk about a “wake-up call” after a victory but the Pompey performance was a warning that United need to heed if they are to achieve what they want to this season.