Sheffield United v Coventry City: What Slavisa Jokanovic made of his side's goalless draw with Sky Blues

Sheffield United manager Slavisa Jokanovic during the Sky Bet Championship match against Coventry City: Zac Goodwin/PA Wire.Sheffield United manager Slavisa Jokanovic during the Sky Bet Championship match against Coventry City: Zac Goodwin/PA Wire.
Sheffield United manager Slavisa Jokanovic during the Sky Bet Championship match against Coventry City: Zac Goodwin/PA Wire.
Slavisa Jokanović admits his Sheffield United side were “nervous” and “flat” in their display against Coventry City this afternoon, playing without enough quality in the first 45 minutes of their goalless draw with the high-flying Sky Blues at Bramall Lane.

United barely got going in the first half and took until the 82nd minute to force Simon Moore, their former goalkeeper now City’s No.1, into his first save of the game.

But Moore did make a very good save to prevent Morgan Gibbs-White’s deflected shot from putting the Blades ahead with just a few minutes left of normal time, and Jokanović said afterwards: “We weren’t comfortable [at the start], we were nervous.

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“We weren’t able to combinate and started to play a lot of long balls. We didn’t combine and it was flat. People aren’t satisfied with our performance or result, there is a nervousness around us.

“Our people are not satisfied with the result or performance and expect more from our side, we must take responsibility and offer them more. They want to see Sheffield United play good football and win the game.

“We haven’t given them that opportunity. I can understand the crowd and it is more or less normal around the world. I must trust and encourage my players, motivate them to trust in themselves.”

David McGoldrick had two good chances to win the game for the Blades after coming off the bench while Wes Foderingham, playing in goal with Robin Olsen injured on international duty, made a number of solid yet comfortable saves throughout the afternoon.

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City remain 11 points ahead of United in the Championship table, but Jokanović did not see such a big gap in quality between the two sides.

“They are a top Championship team and we weren’t worse than them,” Jokanović added.

“I am talking about plenty of games behind us. We aren’t where they are, and we must try to fix it and try to reduce the difference between us and them and other people in front of us.”

United return to Championship action on Tuesday night, when they make the trip south to face Reading.

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