Sheffield United: New area of focus as Blades attempt to win promotion
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With only six points separating fourth from ninth in the Championship table and five matches left on his own team’s schedule, manager Paul Heckingbottom wants to ensure United enjoy every advantage possible between now and the end of the campaign.
That has prompted him to focus on the minutiae of their tactical strategy, with particular emphasis being placed upon free-kicks, corners and even throw-ins - at both ends of the pitch.
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Hide Ad“They’re so important,” said Heckingbottom, ahead of Friday’s meeting with Reading. “They are anyway, right the way through. But as things become so tight, the games themselves as they always do at this stage, even more so maybe. Because they can settle one. They can decide a result, especially when there’s not much in it.”
After drawing with AFC Bournemouth last weekend, United are preparing for Easter fixtures against Paul Ince’s side and Bristol City in sixth; behind fifth-placed Luton Town on goals scored. Although they failed to score against Scott Parker’s men, Heckingbottom has detected a marked upturn in the quality of United’s set plays of late. Oliver Norwood’s strike, when Queens Park Rangers were beaten at Bramall Lane four days earlier, came following a corner move rehearsed on the training ground while Bournemouth’s Lloyd Kelly nearly turned another John Fleck delivery into his own net during the first-half of their stalemate with United.
“We don’t want to cut corners,” Heckingbottom said. “Or leave anything to chance.”