Chris Wilder
Sheffield United manager Chris Wilder is under no illusions about what is needed now following Saturday’s defeat to West Brom. His side are seriously up against it at the foot of the Premier League and the Blades boss has laid his cards on the table ahead of a month that could well decide their top flight status. United are heading into a run of six matches and must make sure that when they leave Bramall Lane and head down the M1 to face Crystal Palace on January 2, that the team fourth bottom is not out of sight.
Chris Wilder said “Since the reset from us the last couple of games the play from us has been generally good, I don’t think anyone is surprised if we win that game against West Ham last week and we have done enough to win against West Brom. We are shooting ourselves in the foot and I feel like it’s groundhog day. It’s going to be a tough week, but we have to keep the spirits high and have a good week in training. It’s not an enjoyable period at the football club and I understand that. The messages are the positive ones that have carried me throughout my career, which my team showed. It was not a negative performance, it was not a nervous one, it was a front-foot performance. It was a pressure game, looking at the game, the stats, the performance we have done more than enough to win the game and we have to take that into next week. We have got to give ourselves a fighting chance, the longer the run goes on, the more difficult it becomes and we might get detached if we don’t pick up results. Our aim is to keep in contact with those teams around us. It becomes a dog fight, we understand that and 17th position is all we have eyes for. You understand my realism in that after the start we have had. Being realistic as a football club, about it being our second season, after the start we have made. I get people will come out with stats, no wins in 10 you are usually talking about teams going down. We have to try and stay in contact with those teams, maybe one team has a run like ours? It’s happened before and to get in that position where there are three teams below us for another season in the Premier League.”
