Sheffield United: Warning issued about the Championship restart

After entering the World Cup break second in the table, United’s preparations for December 10th’s game against Huddersfield Town are set to begin in earnest this week with Heckingbottom’s side aiming to hunt down leaders Burnley and regain first place.

Only seven points separate United from Preston North End in ninth and that, coupled with the face the division has been paused for a month to facilitate the tournament in Qatar, Heckingbottom told The Star: “Nobody has had this before (the break). It’s not something anyone has experienced or dealt with and so how you come back is going to be important.

“This is something new for everyone to deal with. There’s nothing you can fall back on, because it’s not like pre-season. There might be some strange results, if you can call them that because things are always so tight and unpredictable (in this division). What I mean is, there might be a few more ups and downs. What everyone will be doing, ourselves included, is trying to make sure that doesn’t happen.”

Events during the Covid-19 pandemic, when football shutdown for nearly 15 weeks, suggest Heckingbottom’s suspicions are correct. United, then a Premier League club under Chris Wilder, were challenging for a place in Europe and unbeaten in six outings when fears about the spread of the virus forced all matches to be postponed. When the health crisis began to ease, they lost three in a row after being held to a draw by Aston Villa. Struggling to preserve their top-flight status in March, Villa used the break to recharge and reset; eventually going on to drag themselves out of the relegation zone.

Heckingbottom has repeatedly stressed United will not be treating the hiatus as a holiday, instead viewing it as an opportunity to treat those players who have missed long periods of the campaign because of injury. Oli McBurnie recently underwent surgery to repair the hernia which has been troubling him since the start of October but is hopeful, despite seeing his rehabilitation programme complicated by an ankle issue, of being declared available for selection when Mark Fotheringham’s side make the shirt journey to Bramall Lane.

After facing Town, United travel to Wigan Athletic before facing Coventry City and Blackpool. They contest their first game of 2022 at Queens Park Rangers on January 2nd.

“Putting runs together makes such a difference in this league,” said Heckingbottom. “Very often, the difference between teams at the top and the bottom is their ability to do just that. There’s some good teams, really good teams, who aren’t where they’d like to be and it’s not because they’re not capable of getting wins. They are, as they’ve shown. The difference is, what the people at those clubs will tell you, is that they’ve not shown it on a consistent basis.”

“The players here have been (consistent),” he added. “And we have to make sure that continues.”