'Write Sheffield United off at your peril' manager Chris Wilder warns

Speaking ahead of tomorrow’s visit Southampton - where United will attempt to secure their first win of the Premier League campaign - Wilder acknowledged he is attempting to foster a siege mentality among his squad following its run of disappointing results.

But, as they head to St Mary’s hoping to avoid an 11th defeat in 12 top-flight outings, the 53-year-old has predicted that hearing the critics describe them as being certainties for relegation should stir something among a group of players with a reputation for beating the odds.

“You use whatever you can, don’t you,” Wilder said. “But whatever you use, you’ve got to deliver. “You can stick stuff all over the training ground, about what people have said. But you’ve got to find a way and bring it together.”

“We have always been an underdog football club. We have never been the most popular, richest or the best supported, But we are who we are and we are proud of what we are, which is a group that sticks together through the good times and the bad times. My team hasn’t gone individual., They are together as a group.”

United climbed from the third to the first tier of English football in only three seasons after appointing Wilder in the summer of 2016; defying expectations last term by finishing ninth.

But they travel to Hampshire at the bottom of the division after struggling since returning to action in September.

With games against Manchester United and fellow strugglers next on the agenda, Wilder said: “They are all big weeks. They have been big weeks ever since we stepped into the Premier League. They are opportunities. We have to be at our best and find a way of getting our form back. If we can come through another big week, then of course it will be great. We know what we have to do and we now we have to start doing it quickly.”

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