Rival boss gives encouraging Sheffield United verdict despite woes worsening with Charlton Athletic defeat
Rival boss gives encouraging Sheffield United verdict despite woes worsening with Charlton Athletic defeat
Nathan Jones, the Charlton Athletic manager, has no doubt that Chris Wilder will be able to turn around the fortunes of Sheffield United despite spoiling his homecoming at Bramall Lane earlier today.
Wilder replaced Ruben Selles in charge earlier this week after a disastrous start that saw the Blades lose all six of their first six games this season but this result suggested that the issues run deeper than the man in the dugout, as Isaac Olaofe's 90th-minute winner extended United's horror start to seven.
It was a familiar story for Unitedites with the sound of boos greeting the full-time whistle as the Blades remained bottom of the Championship, seeing crisis-stricken Wednesday pick up a first win of the season earlier than themselves after the Owls won 2-0 at Portsmouth.
"It was an excellent win," Jones said afterwards. "If you look at the context and you look at the difficulty of the game. This is Sheffield United, a fantastic football club. A full house, returning manager who's been synonymous with success here. So to put in that level of performance, I thought it was outstanding, it really was.
Rival boss gives encouraging Sheffield United verdict despite woes worsening with Charlton Athletic defeat
"First off, I thought we were the better team here, had the better chances. If we ever wanted to on the counter, we had a really good opportunity to get opportunities from that. It was the perfect away performance, maybe even better if we took one of the first-half chances.
"Sheffield United are not in a good moment at the minute but that will improve. One, because of the quality they have and two, because of the manager who is used to getting results, especially at this level. To be fair, he's got results at different levels with different clubs as well.
"So that will change for them. What we didn't want to do today was give them the spark or the catalyst or the lift up that they needed. We have to be the best versions of ourselves.
"If we are the best versions of ourselves and someone beats us, then I'll be the first to come here and congratulate them. But I thought we were good today."