Why Cameron Archer and Oli McBurnie need help to become successful Sheffield United partnership

There were flashes of what could come but ultimately Cameron Archer and Oli McBurnie weren’t quite on the same wavelength in their first appearance as a forward partnership in Wednesday night’s Carabao Cup defeat to Lincoln City.

That, of course, is to be expected. It is always going to take time for players in those positions to get used to each other; to know what to look out for in terms of movement and passing.

McBurnie played a little deeper as Archer looked to spin off the last man and on a couple of occasions it looked to be working, just not quite enough for United to pose a real threat on the Imps’ goal.

All in, McBurnie played the first half of the match as he continues his recovery from an injury sustained in the early part of pre-season, while Archer was replaced by Will Osula after 63 minutes.

However, the message from the coaching staff is that the pair can’t do it alone. United created very little throughout what was described in the camp as a ‘boring’ performance and if Archer and McBurnie are going to forge an understanding and help United get the goals they will need to keep them in the Premier League, then a hand is going to have to come from elsewhere.

“Like all strikers they need better service,” admitted Blades assistant boss Stuart McCall. “We didn’t give them much to feed off individually or as a partnership.

“It is a traditional big one and little one, so we’re hopeful. But Oli has been out for a good couple of months now, unfortunately, he started off really well in pre-season and then got his injury so we just want to get him up to speed as quickly as we can. Cam is a new lad coming into a new club, a different style to maybe what he’s been used to before, so we have got to look to forge partnerships all over the park.

“It’s one that we believe that can be dangerous for us going into the big games ahead but we just need to get them minutes together. But we’ll have other strikers that are also wanting to be involved. Basically it’s whoever can click and gel will get the shirt.”

Archer will not remember his Blades debut with too much fondness, given the result and the collective performance but he looked like a player who was just regaining sharpness with just an 85th minute substitute appearance for Aston Villa under his belt in terms of competitive football since coming back from international duty with England under 21s in early July.

“His goals talk for themselves really, when you watch him in action,” added McCall. “[Lincoln’s] back three defended well, they defended the space in behind well, there wasn’t many options really to get in behind. But we have got to be more creative, whether it’s getting it wide early, getting the wingbacks in behind or playing through the thirds.

“We have got to be better than we were. We didn’t really give him a lot of service, but he’s had an hour under his belt and he’ll be better for it.”