Sheffield United were well off it as a group now they need a reaction - Alan Biggs

Not sure any Sheffield United fan would have picked anything other than the side that blitzed Burnley to face Rotherham on Tuesday.

It was only in the aftermath of the most surprising of defeats that the performance certainly did beg the question: Should Paul Heckingbottom have freshened it?

In hindsight maybe. But while some supporters have questioned the Blades boss, maybe there was a simpler explanation as to why, incredibly, they barely created a single clear chance against their struggling neighbours.

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As a group and to a man, United were massively below par. Indeed, I thought below the levels of most of the six games they failed to win before a trio of victories gave them a shot at the Championship summit.

That’s not to overlook the successful stifling-and-springing game plan that made Rotherham deserved winners.

But it’s the most reassuring explanation I can find. Far better than to suggest United gave it their best shot against awkward opposition. They didn’t.

Had that been the case, there would have been more questions and cause for concern.

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Anyone who has seen this team this season knows that was not representative. Whether jaded physically or mentally - I thought the latter - Hecky’s boys didn’t turn up.

They were ponderous, pedestrian and lacking what the manager called “that zip and snap.”

Should he have made changes? Well, the one claimant on the bench who might have made a difference was Reda Khadra, judging from his menace when he came on.

Otherwise, it was comfortably the least Sheffield United-like display I have seen, again taking nothing away from Rotherham.

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Hecky insists that Saturday’s game at Cardiff, the last before the World Cup break, is no more important than any other with three points at stake.

For once, I disagree in that it has symbolic importance ahead of a month of inaction.

Most of all, United have to play well, if only to prove how badly they played on Tuesday.

And for me, their capabilities, as well as their expectations, remain unchanged.