SOUTHAMPTON v SHEFF UNITED We don’t do sexy football, we just defend properly BLADES BOSS WILDER LOVES OLD SCHOOL MENTALITY
SHEFFIELD UNITED boss Chris Wilder says a ‘solid rather than sexy’ approach has been key to Sheffield United’s sensational first season in the Premier League.
For all the praise Wilder has received for a formation that encourages his centre-backs to overlap, he 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 (36).
Wilder’s men may not be able to better newly-promoted Wolves’ seventh-place finish last term, but dig a bit deeper and it’s not difficult to understand why victory against Southampton on the south coast today will rubber-stamp eighth.
The defence has not just been consistent, it has 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), on-loan keeper Dean Henderson (3,150), and Republic of Ireland international John Egan (3,099) have also thrived.
Another member of their unit, Jack O’Connell, is just 75 minutes shy of reaching the 3,000-minute mark.
“There has to be a structure for every team, in and out of possession,” Wilder (above) said.
“What I would say is that I am delighted we’ve got players that will adhere to a structure.
“You’ve got to have something behind it. You’ve got to have genuine players who want to keep the ball out of their own net.”
But Wilder said defending is not the job of defenders only. “From a defensive point of view, the goalkeeper has had an outstanding season,” he said.
“But we are a team that defends from the front, and 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 always want to talk about.”
On the flip side of their solid defensive structure, United have found the net just 38 times, something Wilder admitted will need to be addressed next term following a shortened pre-season.
“We will look at our goalscoring record,” he said. “We need to be a little bit more clinical. The stats say 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.
“Everybody has got to start somewhere. We’ve had players that started in League One or the Championship and want that opportunity to play in the Premier League,” the Blades boss said.
“We will work on the training ground and have an attitude of wanting to defend, of wanting to defend from the front.
“It’s the way we have it set up and how it’s structured.
“Other teams go about things differently but that’s what gives us a base to try and get results.
“The results we’ve had are down to the structure that we have out of possession as much as what we do in possession.”