So how do Sheffield United start taking advantage of their 'big moments'?

It was last weekend, as he walked towards the tunnel following the goalless first half of Sheffield United’s game against Everton, when Chris Wilder overhead a conversation between two opposition players which revealed why patience, perseverance and a forensic attention to detail are three of the most important qualities a Premier League footballer can possess.
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“They were telling each other about just staying in the game, keeping everything nice and tidy and then waiting for a big moment because they knew one always comes along,” he remembered earlier this week. “They were going on and on about it, and also making sure that when it did arrive, they were going to take it.”

‘Big Moments’, such as the one Gylfi Sigurdsson would seize around an hour so later to present Carlo Ancelotti’s side with their win, have become something of an obsession for Wilder in recent months as he searches for ways to help turnaround a campaign which appears to be heading inexorably towards relegation. United have enjoyed plenty themselves in recent matches, with David McGoldrick and Oliver Burke both guilty of missing chances before Sigurdsson’s finish and Ben Mee’s first half effort saw them beaten at Burnley three days ago.

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But how, given the importance Wilder and his counterparts place on these split-second but season-defining incidents, do you teach people how to approach them? Is it even possible to coach this on the training ground?

Sheffield United need to become better at taking big moments: Alex Livesey/Getty ImagesSheffield United need to become better at taking big moments: Alex Livesey/Getty Images
Sheffield United need to become better at taking big moments: Alex Livesey/Getty Images

“I do believe there’s things we can do to try and get better at it,” he said. “On the training ground, it’s about perfecting technique and trying to make sure it’s as polished as possible. You can always improve. It’s about repetition, about going through the motions time and time again, so you know what you’re doing inside out. It’s like a soldier in the army. When they’re a new recruit, they do all of this work preparing for certain situations that they obviously have never been in or experienced before. The idea is, when they do, their training takes over because they’ve done these things so many times before it’s just second nature.”

Tomorrow, when United face Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park, Wilder’s players will enjoy their latest opportunity to prove, despite facing an uphill struggle to avoid the drop, that claims they lack the skill set required to compete at the highest level are wide of the mark. United enjoyed nearly two thirds of the possession at Turf Moor on Tuesday night and mustered more attempts on goal than Sean Dyche’s men.

“Composure is obviously a big thing,” Wilder said, acknowledging confidence has taken a battering over the past three months. “That and self-belief.

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“Big moments come about when you keep showing the bravery and conviction to put yourself in the right position, even though it might not be happening or falling for you out there, because you’re waiting and knowing that eventually it will. Then, when it does, being able to take a deep breath and show what you are capable of. Everyone here can do it. That goes without saying because, if they weren’t, they wouldn’t have come up in the first place or achieved the things they have.”

Players turned pundits, professional analysts and armchair critics alike have spent hours trying to fathom why a squad capable of finishing ninth in the table last term, only a season after securing its second promotion under Wilder, has struggled so badly this term.

The quality of their ‘press’, a shortage of overloads and refusal to abandon their trademark take on the 3-5-2 system have all been put forward as reasons, although this has been tweaked to include three centre-forwards in recent weeks.

Much of the research, however, is nothing more than a collection of individual vanity projects - designed to try and showcase the authors’ grasp of fashionable terminology, in vogue buzzwords and understanding of how to produce complex looking computer heat maps.

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Strategy is important, but a sport played by human beings can never, no matter what scientists might claim, be properly explained by numbers or statistics. The key ingredients of a successful squad - talent, character and absolute focus - are unquantifiable. United possess one. But after failing to embellish the options at Wilder’s disposal with proven top-flight footballers, or even leading names from the Championship such as Matty Cash and Ollie Watkins, not enough of the others. Particularly following injuries to Jack O’Connell and Sander Berge, although the Norwegian was still struggling to really himself himself on fixtures before undergoing surgery to repair a damaged hamstring. Nevertheless, United can and should be doing better.

“We’ve created situations and put ourselves in good positions at times, probably enough times to have got more points,” Wilder insisted. “What we haven’t done is make the most of them and clearly that has got to change. These lads have shown they can do it and they are desperately trying to do it again, which if we carry on working hard and plugging away I’m sure they will do. But there are things we’ve got to work on, and one of those is what we do in those big moments of games.”

Restoring United’s faith in their own ability, which has inevitably dissipated after finding themselves at the bottom of the rankings and 11 points adrift of 17th place, is the most pressing item on Wilder’s ‘to do’ list ahead of the trip to south London, where they will encounter opponents without a win in five.

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