Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Tough talk paying off for boss TC
BLADES STRIKER ON GOING TO ELL AND BACK
THOMAS CHRISTIANSEN says his Leeds players have toughened up.
The Elland Road boss accused his side of being “too soft” after they caved in at Sheffield Wednesday three weeks ago.
But he insists lessons have been learned from the wounding 3-0 defeat inflicted on them by the Owls and there is no chance of a repeat collapse against Sheffield United tonight.
Christiansen said: “Football is like a mountain, you go up and down, and at the end we want to be at the top.
“There will be downs and that day at Sheffield Wednesday was one of them. It was probably our worst performance of the season, but I believe we are over that and it won’t happen again.
“Since then we have been doing things correctly in the way I want the players to perform.
“We have toughened up and been stronger in everything we do.
“We have been more determined in our challenges, more clinical in taking our goal-scoring opportunities and cut out individual mistakes.
“We are ready for another big Yorkshire derby and my players know what is expected of them. I believe in them and I believe they will deliver.”
There will be a 34,000 full house at Elland Road to see fourth-placed Leeds take on the buoyant Blades, one place above their hosts.
Christiansen said: ”Both teams doing well makes this an extra special game.
“They have made an unbelievable start, but it hasn’t surprised me because they are a group who have played together for a few years.
“They also have an excellent manager in Chris Wilder, so when you have good players and a good coach it invariably makes for a successful season.” BILLY SHARP knew he was on borrowed time at Leeds from the day he joined them.
After sealing his £600,000 switch from Southampton in August 2014, Sharp had a brief chat with notorious then-united owner Massimo Cellino.
And that was enough to convince the striker that he would last about as long at Elland Road as the
SEVEN managers
Cellino (right) worked with during his turbulent threeyear reign there.
Sharp said: “When I signed for Leeds, the first person I met was Cellino and he said to me, ‘Is that you, Billy?’. I replied, ‘Yeah’ and he went, ‘I thought you were bigger’.
“I thought, ‘Oh, oh, here we go’ and I wasn’t wrong because it turned out to be a pretty torrid time before I moved to Sheffield United, 11 months later.
“We had three different managers in God knows what time while I was there – Dave Hockaday, who played me regularly, Darko Milanic, who totally froze me out, and then, when Neil Redfearn came in, I was in and out of the squad. The club wasn’t as stable as it is now and it was a weird period for me.
“Of course, I would have liked to have played more, but when I was in the team, I enjoyed it and I had some good times there.
“I scored the winner against Middlesbrough on my debut – and that’s something that will always stick in my mind. “Leeds is a good city with a great football club and it will be nice to go back there.”
Sharp, 31, bagged only five goals in 35 outings for Leeds and is the first to admit they didn’t see the best of him. But he insists: “I’m not going back there feeling I’ve got a point to prove. I know, in the short time I was there, that it didn’t go as planned, but that wasn’t down to me.
“It was down to the opinions of other people and, at the time, I have to say it was tough to take.
“But it was better than what I would have been doing, which was sitting in the reserves at Southampton.
“Looking back now, good things came out of it because I managed to get back up north to a club closer to home. And, of course, it paved the way for my return to Bramall Lane.
“I wanted it to work at Leeds, but when it became obvious that wasn’t going to happen, moving back to Sheffield United was a no-brainer – even if it meant dropping down a division.”
Sheffield-born and a lifelong Blades fan, Sharp has been a roaring success in his third spell at Bramall Lane.
He has notched 52 goals in 99 games since rejoining his boyhood team, 27 months ago, and is fiercely proud to wear the skipper’s armband.
He revealed: “I always said to my dad that, somewhere down the line, I’d like to play for Leeds, and I’m happy I managed to do it.
“But I am fortunate to be back with the Blades, playing for a very good manager in Chris Wilder, who believes in all his players.”
Sharp was gutted to miss out on his side’s 4-2 triumph over bitter Steel City rivals Wednesday last month, through injury.
But he said: “A similar win at Elland Road would be just the job. It will be nice to be involved in this one and, hopefully, we can get the same kind of result.
“The lads know what it means.”