Sheffield United: The quality set to decide if this team reaches the Premier League or not

Speaking ahead of Saturday’s meeting with Birmingham City at Bramall Lane, Heckingbottom stressed the importance of not allowing the international break to rob his squad of the momentum it has gathered since returning to action in August.

Appointed on a permanent basis 10 months ago, seven after United were relegated back to the second tier, Heckingbottom led them into the play-off semi-finals last term before ensuring the form they displayed en route to the end of term knockouts carried over into the present campaign.

But as they prepare to face John Eustace’s 17th placed side, Heckingbottom admitted some aspects of United’s win over Preston North End nearly a fortnight ago left him feeling dissatisfied; despite acknowledging “everyone impressed me” over the course of the contest.

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“It wasn’t a lack of effort which disappointed me to begin with,” he said, providing an insight into the exacting standards being set by both himself and his coaching staff. “It was the lack of intensity. It was a lack of aggression.

“We were second to too many balls and that wasn’t like us. There was a lethargy in the performance, first-half, and that’s not something we want to see again.”

United’s victory at Deepdale, delivered courtesy of goals from Iliman Ndiaye and Oli McBurnie, was their fourth in a row having also dispatched Hull City, Swansea City and Reading en route to Lancashire. Despite seeing injury rob him of a number of influential defenders, even before Anel Ahmedhodzic damaged a thigh muscle during training with Bosnia and Herzegovina, Heckingbottom’s men have also kept a clean sheet in all of those outings.

“When the lads are at their best, when they’re right at it, they tend to get a result,” Heckingbottom said. “It’s when they slip a little bit below that there’s been a set-back in the past. So that tells us something. It’s a reminder for everyone about what we need to do.”

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