Sheffield United's Gus Hamer approach confirmed with influential midfielder facing unwelcome Blades absence

Sheffield United's Gus Hamer approach confirmed with influential midfielder facing unwelcome Blades absence

Sheffield United will not attempt to curb the natural aggression in Gus Hamer’s game, boss Chris Wilder has admitted, despite the Blades talisman walking a disciplinary tightrope. The forward has been booked nine times so far this term and will serve a two-match ban if that reaches double figures in the next seven Championship games.

Hamer avoided such a sanction by finishing New Year’s Day’s clash at Sunderland without a caution but United can hardly afford to lose many more players in the coming weeks, with their squad stretched. Bookings are now competition-specific, so there is no prospect of Hamer sitting out one game of any potential ban in the FA Cup against Cardiff City next week.

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If Hamer does pick up a two-game suspension before the 32-game threshold then Wilder will at least hope to have reinforcements in by that point to help United cope. This afternoon’s clash with Watford represents the final game in a tough mini-run over the festive period for the Blades, whose squad will look vastly different for their next league game against Norwich City when up to half a dozen players will be back available again.

“I've got to say, there's some stuff in there that he has to stick his hand up,” said Wilder on Hamer’s nine bookings. “But there was a tackle in front of the bench against Burnley where he takes the ball, the kid goes rolling over about 25 times and it gets Gus booked. He has to be careful, I think he got himself booked against West Brom by the actions of other players.

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“I think referees should be a little bit smarter, I had something back in terms of the tackle on Callum [O’Hare] against Burnley and they said they got the ball. It's head-scratching at times, some of the decisions that are happening. But Gus has to take responsibility as well. We don't want to lose him but I've got to say that I don't want to take that aggressive nature out of his game. He plays on the edge, and sometimes we have to deal with him maybe missing a game or two.

“I think he's been absolutely outstanding recently, he drove the game forward for us at Sunderland. So we don't want to take that out of him but maybe it's about him taking control a little bit, and maybe getting better decisions from the officials.”

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