Chris Wilder holds ‘sterner’ chats with Sheffield United players in hope of claiming their first win of the season on Saturday.
The Blades boss wants to see the need for competition, better decision-making, and a balanced approach, speaking of positive training signs and the potential return of experienced players Tom Davies and Danny Ings, though cautiously.
Despite being without a point in the Championship going into this game, Sheffield United are only five points behind their opponents, with Wilder’s former club Oxford picking up their first win of the season at high-flying Bristol City last Sunday as much needed as it was surprising and made it three unbeaten for Gary Rowett’s side.
🗣️ “We need a big performance pretty quickly.”
Sheffield United boss Chris Wilder on ‘sterner’ chats with the players, as they seek a first win of the season.
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Wilder said in his press conference: The reflection was maybe, you know, we sort of cajoled them a little bit last week, gave them messages and wanted to lift them because they were very down after, not just losing games in the manner, but obviously off the back of getting absolutely thumped at Ipswich on Friday night.
“So from a mentality point of view, they weren’t in a great place to try and lift them. I saw some positive signs.
“More sterner meetings this week, more sterner messages to the players that we have to come out this sooner than later. One thing that I did ask them is to compete, and the stats say, against a pretty physical competitive side in Charlton Athletic that we came out on top in that.
“I know ultimately we want to come out on top in the result and the performance, but you know in terms of going from bottom to about third or fourth in one performance showed me that they want to run around and they want to compete.
“I thought there was as I talked about afterwards and there was a lot of chaos in our game. We quite frantic in our approach and you know some people might get this and some people might not but maybe an over willingness to chase a game and to want to do that well, sometimes you get into that frame of mind.
“So it’s about getting the balance right. It’s about being physically competitive in the game to not get run over the top, to win first and second balls that allows you the opportunity of picking the ball up. But then you have to make good decisions and be nice and calm in your play.
“I do think they’ve been a little bit confused in terms of a lot of the messages that got put into them. So trying to simplify that has been the key thing that we’ve talked about from Saturday night onwards.
“We’ve seen that, they’ve been really positive in training, but as we all know, they’re paid to play football on a Saturday when the three points are up for grabs, we don’t want any training ground players. We want players that turn it on and can produce performances physically, mentally and technically on a Saturday afternoon.
“When I look around the changing room, I still feel there’s enough in there to pick results up in this division with the quality that we’ve got, but we have to put it all together and we have to get that first result and the first result will be a big one and all our focus has been on the week.
“Sterner messages, player meetings, taking responsibility, talking about standing up to the challenge, dealing with disappointment as we talked about right the way through and coming out the other side.
“As I said, person I’ve been in this situation before here and other clubs uh and it doesn’t break yeah, it doesn’t, it hasn’t broke me and it won’t break them but we need a big performance pretty quickly.
Chris Wilder added: “Tom Davies played 45 minutes for the U21s earlier this week and Danny Ings has come through a week’s training. We want to get them involved, we need their experience in these situations, it isn’t the time to experiment, and we need their knowledge and wisdom because they’ll have been through this.
“It would be reckless though to throw them straight in, Danny came in late, there was a desperation to get him in the team and by pilling up his training minutes, it led to a hamstring injury. Tom has been really unlucky, he came back in good nick, but tweaked his calf in pre-season, so just having them around the place is a massive boost.”
On the defeat to Charlton, and turning his attentions to the Oxford game: “We had to cajole them before Charlton, they weren’t in a great place after the thumping at Ipswich, but there have been sterner messages and meetings this week. We asked them to compete against, the stats say they did, but there was a lot of chaos in our game, we have to find the balance and make good decisions in our play, we’ve tried to simplify things because they’ve look confused previously.
“We want players to turn it on when it matters, physically, mentally and technically on a Saturday afternoon, we need that first result and it will be a big one, so we need to ficus on producing a performance for ourselves, the players and most importantly the supporters making the trip.
“We are playing a competitive side, they’ve done well against Leicester and Bristol City recently and I know Gary (Rowett) well. We will light a fire, we have the capabilities, we’ve got to say yes and move on, he’ll be hoping it isn’t on Saturday afternoon.”
Oxford United manager Gary Rowett meanwhile spoke of his optimism ahead of the Sheffield United match, stressing the need to maintain the team’s recent positive momentum after their first win.
He highlighted the consistent atmosphere and hard work within the squad, and noted improvements in performances against tough opponents like Coventry, Leicester, and Bristol City in recent games.
Rowett also spoke of the importance of sustaining hunger and focus, especially against a motivated Sheffield United side under Chris Wilder.
He expects a competitive game with Sheffield United playing with purpose and intensity, while is pleased with his team’s recent attacking play and chance creation, though he acknowledges the need for better defensive balance.
He also touched on their being strong competition for places within the squad, which has led to tough selection decisions but keeps players ready for opportunities.
