Sheffield United players take drastic step in bid to rescue season ahead of crunch Wolves clash

Sheffield United’s players held a private meeting to discuss how to turn around their faltering season ahead of tomorrow’s crunch clash against Wolves at Bramall Lane. The Blades badly need a positive result to kickstart their fortunes, going into the game bottom of the table and with one point from 10 games.

Despite media talk that boss Paul Heckingbottom would lose his job if the Blades lost at title-chasing Arsenal last weekend, he survived the 5-0 defeat and will get at least tomorrow’s clash against Gary O’Neil’s side to turn things around. After that the Blades travel to Brighton and Hove Albion next weekend before, after a two-week international break, potentially season-defining clashes against Bournemouth and Burnley.

Midfielder Ollie Norwood delivered an emotional and honest post-match interview following the hammering at the Emirates, calling on United’s players to take responsibility for their poor form and attempting to absolve Heckingbottom and his coaching staff of any blame. That went a step further in a private players’ meeting this week, with Heckingbottom’s men making clear the issues they feel have contributed to their poor start.

United’s players have previously been tasked with contributing in team meetings, with some being assigned tasks to analyse rival players and report back on how they and their teammates can hurt their opponents. But players-only gatherings are less common and Heckingbottom said: “We’ll see how it helps.

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“In terms of here, it’s not a rarity, in terms of players leading meetings and taking meetings. But generally they will be on how we want to play and what we want to do. This one was a little bit different. I came into the dressing room at the weekend, after the game, and the lads were talking, so I let them go a little bit.

“But I thought it was important, then, that they followed it up and spoke. They’ve been clear in what standards they want to raise and how they want to perform. What they’ve not been happy with and how they’re going to address that, and that’s good. There’s got to be some element of ownership there, without a doubt. So I think it’s healthy.”