Sheffield United could be set to repeat Leicester City achievement as play-off dream fades
Had anyone connected with Sheffield United suggested a mid-table finish was the club’s likely destination this season following last term’s play-off final defeat to Sunderland they would have been laughed at.
United accrued 92 points last term , a tally that would have almost certainly been enough to see them earn automatic promotion in any other season. Unfortunately for the Blades, they were just unable to keep up with the ferocious pace set by Leeds United and Burnley.
Nevertheless, most United supporters walked away from Wembley confident the club would go one better this time around and seal a return to the Premier League at the second time of asking.
However, COH Sports’ decision to sack Chris Wilder, appoint Rubén Sellés and make some very questionable recruitment choices look set to cost United dearly.
Although a top six finish is not yet mathematically impossible, it is highly unlikely United will be presented with another opportunity to end their Wembley hoodoo in May. They are currently ten points shy of the final play-off berth with just eight games remaining.
Stranger things have happened in football, and you can guarantee Wilder will not allow his players to lose sight of the play-off places until they become impossible for them to be reached, but United would have to put together an extraordinary run and hope those chasing the same goal in the coming weeks falter.
Additionally, United would have to do something they have struggled to do this season and beat teams currently sitting in the top half of the Championship table. Of the 57 points that have been on offer for the Blades against current top half teams this season, they have taken just 12 of them.
Although that record will understandably irk some United fans, it is important to remember just how much damage was done by last summer’s unnecessary change in the dugout. United, who must face five top half teams in their last eight games, lost each of their first six games in league and cup under Sellés, forcing the hierarchy to dismiss him and go grovelling back to Wilder, pleading with him to return to S2 less than three months after being very, very harshly dismissed.
Although Wilder is as good as any manager in the Championship, he did not return to Bramall Lane with a magic wand. He lost six of his first nine games back in the dugout, meaning the Blades were only being kept off the foot of the table by their cross-city rivals.
The fact the play-offs are still a mathematical possibility at this stage of the season, considering just how woeful United’s start was, is testament to the work Wilder and his coaching staff have done in turning United’s fortunes around. When they walked back into the building, the confidence of the squad was absolutely shot.
Wilder has gradually turned United’s fortunes around, steering them away from the threat of relegation and towards the top six. However, a top six push is looking as though it will be a bridge too far - and that is a fair reflection of United’s season.
As already documented, the Blades have amassed just 12 points from a possible 57 against current top half teams this term whereas they have amassed 38 from a possible 57 against bottom half teams. Of those 38 points, 18 have been amassed against the current bottom three.
Having won 26 points more against bottom half teams in comparison to top half teams, United, in fairness, are where they should be in the table, currently sitting in 15th with an outside chance of a top six finish with eight games to go.
Just three points currently separate tenth-placed Birmingham City, who are one of only two top half teams to have failed to beat the Blades this term, and 16th-placed QPR, meaning United, generally speaking, are likely to finish somewhere in that region.
Considering the start to the season they had, a top half finish, although it would not have been the case at the beginning of the campaign, would be considered respectable. United found themselves bottom of the pile nine games in, three points behind Sheffield Wednesday, and only one team to have found themselves in that position at that stage of a Championship season has clinched a top half finish; Leicester City finished tenth in 2010/11 after earning just five points from their opening nine matches.
With that in mind, making up enough ground to secure a top six finish having found themselves bottom nine games in would be an unprecedented achievement. Leicester finished eight points shy of the final play-off berth, and it is possible United may fall short by a similar margin.
It has not been the season any United fan hoped for or expected, but a sequence of off-field events and their results on the pitch have left them in a position that is a fair reflection of what has happened.