Not many Sheffield United players emerged with any credit from a disappointing 3-1 home defeat to Blackburn Rovers as Blades miss top-10 chance

Only a handful of Sheffield United players emerged with any credit from last night’s defeat to Blackburn Rovers as a terrible first-half showing saw them booed off by sections of their home support. United were 3-0 down at the break and by the time Harrison Burrows pulled one back, the damage had long been done.

Boss Chris Wilder pulled no punches in his post-match debrief, admitting his side were “miles off it” in the first 45 minutes and describing their defending as “terrible” and “appalling.” But he did reserve praise for a couple of players.

Ki-Jana Hoever was up there with the best United performers before he ran out of gas and had to be replaced while Gus Hamer was the closest United had to an attacking threat and could have had an assist inside the first 30 seconds when he did brilliantly to feed Tom Cannon, who fired wide.

Adam Davies also made two good saves in the build-up to Ryoya Morishita’s goal but couldn’t keep out the third attempt after being left woefeully exposed by his defenders while Tyler Bindon - one of four half-time substitutes - helped drive United forward from the back after being introduced.

He also ended the game limping heavily after picking up what looked to be an ankle injury, although with United already making their five allotted substitutes he could not be replaced. He still soldiered on until the end, showing his commitment to the United cause despite only being on loan from Nottingham Forest.

Asked about his mindset at half-time, Wilder admitted: “I didn't say anything to the players. I just made the changes and talked about how we were going to change it tactically. If we had gone over everything in terms of decision-making, I possibly would have took up 15 minutes on it. And I possibly could have took up half an hour of it.

“Forwards not holding it up, midfield players forcing it through, wide players doubling on the outside. In possession, not playing the ball forward quick enough. The reaction to breaking it down, recovery runs, defending one versus one, two versus two out wide, defending inside the goal, stopping crosses. The reaction to crosses, reaction to dealing with balls in the box.

“The person I felt sorry for was Davo because he's made two great saves. He's made a great save and we've not stopped a cross. The cross has come back in, that both centre-halves should be dealing with, and he's made another great save.

“The left-back doesn't react quick enough and then he scores. I think that just sums up our first half performance. We're 3-0 down in next to no time and as I said it's a long way to go. I didn't say anything because what was the point in saying anything from a tactical point of view, or going after them?

“We just had to have a reaction, with the changes that we made. They were 3-0 up so they didn’t have to chase the game. I thought we were loads better second half. Ki-Jana just ran out of gas, Gus’s performance was good.

“I thought the two centre-halves came on to drive the game forward. They did okay. I've got to say, I think Tyler deserves an enormous amount of credit because he got absolutely wiped out and turned his ankle. I think quite a lot of players could have put their hand up and come off the pitch but he didn't want to.

“So that was a small positive, and a small positive second half. But we had an opportunity of climbing into the top 10, to get to 60 points and to try to get to 66. Which I still believe would be a decent achievement. But we’ve gone the other way and we're still on 57, off the back of a really poor first half performance.”

Asked about the extent of Bindon’s injury, which could make him a doubt for United’s final two games of the campaign, Wilder admitted: “We're going to assess him and most probably that will blow up overnight. So the only time we can assess him is tomorrow morning.”