Tyrese Campbell’s mystery Sheffield United absence explained as Blades take interesting step to get striker firing again
Tyrese Campbell’s mystery Sheffield United absence explained as Blades take interesting step to get striker firing again
Sheffield United took the interesting step of leaving Tyrese Campbell out of their squad for this afternoon’s friendly win at Rotherham United, preferring to work on his physical condition instead. The striker was a notable absentee from the teamsheet for the penultimate game of pre-season.
The Blades continued their unbeaten summer run with a 2-0 win just over the border at the New York Stadium, thanks to goals from Tahith Chong and Callum O’Hare. Harrison Burrows was once again absent while Campbell, top-scorer in his first season at Bramall Lane but below that level last term, worked away elsewhere.
“H had a tight quad in the week, so we’re taking no gambles on him,” Wilder said. “It was good for Sammy [McCallum], he’s not played a lot of football obviously. He was out for a long time last year and to get 80 minutes into him was good.
“He got a great reception from the punters afterwards for his contribution and he was a big player for us last year. And Ty's worked away remotely. I need to get him into a physical condition where we can get repeated runs, because that's what we want from the top of the pitch.
“We want somebody to stretch the game. Tom [Cannon] does it, Ryan [One] does it. Ty, we need more out of. It's not a punishment; we just felt it was better to work him. After the Huddersfield game he had a double session Thursday, double session Friday and a session today.
“Instead of him coming on and maybe getting 20 minutes, half an hour. So, we have to work with him. His attitude's been good. So, hopefully these couple of days and maybe a couple more days on Monday or Tuesday will give us a better version of Ty that I’m looking for.
“As I said, it’s not a criticism or a punishment. We just need to get him closer to where I want him to be, not another manager wants him to be.”