WILDER’S SEXY BAN
Blades boss playing it straight
THE numbers tell the story. But not all of it.
Chris Wilder insists the stats paint just some of the picture of how his Sheffield United side have taken on the Premier League without fear this season.
For all the praise he has received for continuing with a formation that encourages his centre-backs to overlap, Wilder is adamant that “sexy” football is not the reason for their success. Only champions Liverpool (32) and runners-up Manchester City (35) have conceded fewer goals than the Blades. Manchester United are level on 36 against going into the final day of the campaign so a clean sheet away to Southampton will be the ideal way to sign off.
They may not be able to better promoted Wolves’ seventh-place finish last term but dig a bit deeper and it’s not difficult to understand why victory on the south coast will rubber-stamp eighth.
The defence – including on-loan goalkeeper Dean Henderson from Old Trafford – has not just been solid, making up the top five slots in the whole squad, they have been consistently excellent. George Baldock has played all 37 games and 3,330 minutes at right-back. On the left side, Dubliner Enda Stevens is next in the rankings with 3,256 minutes.
Centre-back Chris Basham (3,175), Henderson (3,150) and Republic of Ireland international John Egan (3,099) have all thrived.
Another member of their unit, Jack O’Connell, is just 75 minutes shy of reaching the 3,000 landmark.
“There has to be a structure for every team, in and out of possession. What I would say is that I am delighted we’ve got players that will adhere to a structure,” said Wilder.
“You’ve got to have something behind it. You’ve got to have genuine players who want to keep the ball out of the back of the net.”
He added: “From a defensive point of view, obviously the goalkeeper has had an outstanding season.
“We’re a team that defends from the front, there is an awful lot of work that goes from the top of the pitch right the way through. Structure, distances and organisation of everybody.
“It isn’t just left to the back three or back five to keep the ball out of the net.
“They have an old-school mentality of wanting to defend properly, which I think is as important as the sexy part of the game which people just want to talk about and focus on.”
On the flip side of their solid structure, United have found the net just 38 times, something that Wilder wants to address next term following a shortened pre-season.
He said: “We will look at our scoring record and we need to be a little bit more clinical. From a stats point of view we have created some big chances.”
Additions will be made in the coming weeks yet Wilder was keen to stress that he will not be shy about adding from the Football League. He said: “Everybody has to start somewhere.
“We have had players that started in League One, the Championship and want that opportunity.”