Sheffield United: The footballing phrase manager Paul Heckingbottom hates
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But speaking ahead of tonight’s visit to Luton Town, where his team will attempt to cement its place at the top of the Championship table, Sheffield United manager Paul Heckingbottom insisted how they use possession will decide the outcome of the contest. Not what happens “without the ball”.
“I hear it a lot now but, honestly, no one in the game has ever judged stuff on that,” he said. “It’s all about the end result. No one has ever stayed in a job because they had 70 percent possession stats during all of their games but kept on getting beat. You look at the outcome and, because of that, everyone wants to create quality chances.”
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Speaking ahead of the meeting with Nathan Jones’ side, Heckingbottom’s comments provided a clue about how United plan to approach both this contest and those beyond. Although they remain wedded to a 3-5-2 system, albeit not one which operates in quite the same way as it did under his predecessor Chris Wilder, Heckingbottom’s squad are content to change strategy depending upon the opponent. At Kenilworth Road, where they expect Luton to “be on the front foot” straight from kick-off, that means suffocating the hosts’ ambition with some aggression of their own. When Reading travel to Bramall Lane next week, they could do something different.
Aware of the different challenges the competition throws-up - “They change almost on a match by match basis” - Heckingbottom is guided by pragmatism. Not philosophy or aesthetics.
Like United, Luton qualified for the play-offs last season but failed to negotiate their way past the semi-final stage. But unlike United, they have made a slow start to the present campaign, although Heckingbottom insisted Saturday’s 2-0 win over Swansea City suggested Jones’ men have now rediscovered their best form.
“Luton strengthened over the summer, in terms of the 11 and the squad,” he said. “They will be on the front foot and we need to ready ourselves for that but impose ourselves as well.”