Sheffield United halfway towards Sir Alex Ferguson's old saying but balance has to be found soon
Sheffield United are proving to be solid at the back but lacking a little at the other end but Chris Wilder is confident they will find the right balance
Sir Alex Ferguson once commented that attack wins you games, defence wins you titles.
Someone has likely crunched the numbers in more recent times to prove wrong the legendary Manchester United manager’s adage but he’d seen enough football at the top end over the years to have us take his word for it.
Now, no one is for one minute suggesting that Sheffield United have winning the Championship down as their realistic ambition for this season so maybe tweak it a bit to ‘defence gets you a place in the play-offs’.
Regardless, they are at least sticking to half of Sir Alex’s mantra in these early stages.
Three games - including the opening day Carabao Cup win over Mansfield - and zero goals conceded.
So far, the team that looked so brittle on so many occasions last year has proven to be teak-tough, with a well-drilled midfield complementing a strong defensive line and a goalkeeper someway back towards the form that prompted his signing in the first place.
Is it pretty? No, for long spells it very much isn’t. But as Chris Wilder attempts to strengthen his squad - ironically with a focus on the back - before next week’s deadline, having a team that, if nothing else, is hard to beat at this stage is not the worst position to be in.
The problem comes at the other end. Those three games that reaped three clean sheets have also only brought about three goals... and they all came against Mansfield.
There have been moments. United didn’t quite seize the initiative despite a quickfire start against Birmingham in the first league match at Bramall Lane and once the visitors sorted themselves out it was the defensive side of the the Blades’ game that came to the fore.
Away to Swansea on Saturday the home side never really looked like scoring themselves as United kept their concentration and their discipline again, in the face of the Swans’, at times, mind-numbing possession-based football.
And at the other end, had a Callum O’Hare shot been a couple of inches lower, rather than striking the crossbar, then conversations this week would have been very different.
As things stand, the balance isn’t quite right and needs to be found soon but given the shambolic nature of last season, it’s understandable that there could be a fear that the bad old ways may return if the scales are tipped towards the attack.
Chris Wilder is well aware of that need for balance but speaking ahead of his side’s Carabao Cup match against Blackburn Rovers at Ewood Park, the Blades boss remains confident they are inching towards it.
“For me, incredibly positive because of the work that's gone in and the application to that work from the players,” he said. “Now they've accepted it, what we need to be. The game isn't all about... It's not [always] a beautiful game.
“You want to get the balance right. We want to control possession. We want to create chances and we want to be absolutely rock-solid at the back. So you're working on different things. We know that the top of the pitch will come together and we'll score goals.
“We created chances. The first game, as I said, it wasn't statistically for us our best performance at the top of the pitch but I thought we showed some really good signs when they stuck it on us. And by the way, they're [Birmingham] expected to be going into the top four, in my opinion, with the players that they've got.
“And you just look around the division as well. We're unbeaten. That's from the really top competitive games in Bochum against the top Bundesliga 2 team. At Mansfield, 3-0. Four clean sheets on the spin.
“So it gives us a base. And the really positive conclusion to that is that when the goalkeeper has to make a save, he's made saves, which is great for us. And great for Michael [Cooper] as well.
“So we're looking pretty strong. We're not giving up a lot. We just have to be better with the ball in the final third.
“But it wasn't for the want of trying. And we talked about it statistically. We outperformed the opposition.
“It's just that final bit where we need to be a little bit more clean and a little bit more clinical and get the result and get off and running. But early days and a lot of work still to be done.”
A lot of that work will be on the negotiating table as much as the training pitch.
United do need players but the market is tough and it became even tougher in the past few weeks amid issues played out in the courtroom. There’s the basis of a very good squad there but it’s lacking a little bit of flair to add a shine to the granite.
Players of that ilk who are available on loan - the market United find themselves shopping in - are few and far between. A rabbit is going to have to be pulled out of the hat but it has been done before.