Blades are enjoying pressure of tilt at promotion
AMID A potentially pivotal week in the race for automatic promotion that has already brought the dismissal of the manager whose club are sitting fourth in the Championship, manager Chris Wilder insists Sheffield United are not feeling the pressure.
The Blades host Brentford tonight knowing victory, together with Reading taking at least a point off Leeds United at the Madejski Stadium, would mean a return to the top two.
It would represent the perfect tonic ahead of Saturday’s huge derby at Elland Road as the two Yorkshire rivals continue to do battle with Norwich City in what increasingly looks to be a threeway scrap to go straight up.
“Everyone has said there is no Wolves, like last year,” said Wilder to The Yorkshire Post. “But Norwich are making a very good fist of it.
“Our rivals up the road (Leeds) have had an outstanding season so far. Then there are loads of other clubs with something to play for. We are hanging on in there and want to take it as far as we can.
“We are enjoying it and doing a good job. It is ultra competitive, as Brentford illustrate. They will look at the last play-off spot and think, ‘if we win seven or eight out of ten we might get in there’.
“There are a few thinking like that, probably right down to 16th. We all have something to play for.”
Darren Moore’s sacking by West Bromwich Albion despite the former Bradford City defender having steered the club to fourth place with ten games remaining, underlined how high the stakes are, especially for those clubs who have invested heavily in an attempt to reach the promised land of the Premier League.
Wilder, in common with many in the game, found the decision a difficult one to fathom. But he also views Moore’s axing as being symptomatic of the pressure that comes with the tremendous financial gambles being taken by clubs in an attempt to escape the second tier.
“There are reasons for it, obviously,” said the United chief, a former team-mate of Moore at Valley Parade. “But from my point of view it was disappointing.
“West Brom are a big club in this division and it just shows how tough the Championship really is. You see the likes of Stoke and West Brom – huge, powerful clubs – that are outside the top three. It shows how tough it is.”
Asked if this meant the big spenders in the division were operating under a pressure that simply does not exist for the Blades, Wilder replied: “Absolutely, 100 per cent.
“It is not a do-or-die situation for us. If you look at our accounts and our financial dealings, in terms of what we pay our players, there will not be a situation here if we do not go up that will see everyone having to be sold and not being able to sign anyone.”
Refreshingly in an age when the Championship has been increasingly warped by the spending power afforded relegated clubs via parachute payments, the top three are all, to varying degrees, sides that have been together for a number of years and building towards this tilt at reaching the top flight.
“You need a plan and an identity,” added Wilder. “There has to be a short-, medium- and long-term plan. Very rarely do the short-term ones work, the big gambles.
“There are so many clubs under embargo who can’t do this and can’t do that. For me, it is part of my job not to put us in that position. That is the way I work.
“Other clubs possibly don’t. They go for the big gamble, sack a manager and then start again. I have got to say, being honest, I have got no sympathy for clubs who do it that way.
“If I had the amounts some have I still wouldn’t do it that way. I am proud of the way we have done it because we have continually improved.”
United are looking to extend a seven-game winning run on home soil tonight. The last six of those have seen Wilder’s men keep a clean sheet.
Brentford, 13th in the table, return to Yorkshire just four days after denting Middlesbrough’s promotion hopes with a 2-1 triumph at the Riverside.
A number of Blades players will be coming up against their former club, including Jack O’Connell and record signing John Egan.
“The biggest compliment I can pay to Dean (Smith, Brentford’s former head coach) and Thomas (Frank) is that we fancy a lot of their players,” added Wilder. ARGUABLY the biggest derby clash between the Uniteds of Leeds and Sheffield since the day in 1992 the League title came to Elland Road for a third time looms large on the horizon.
But Whites’ head coach Marcelo Bielsa is adamant his side will not be distracted when tackling Reading tonight
Leeds can return to the summit of the Championship with victory at the Madejski Stadium, leaders Norwich City not being in action until tomorrow at home to Hull City.
This would set up United nicely for Saturday’s home clash with the Blades, a fixture that has taken on huge importance in what is now a three-way fight for automatic promotion.
Bielsa, however, is not allowing himself or his players to be distracted by the upcoming lunchtime derby.
“I don’t think so because the points of this game (at Reading) are very important for us,” said the Argentinian. “You never start playing a game before finishing the previous one.
“You all know, as observers, that when you look ahead to the next game you never have positive consequences.
“I am focused on winning the (Reading) game and I don’t take into account the possible consequences of a win. Our first goal is to win the game. Then we will occupy the position the results allow us to have.”
Chris Wilder, the Blades manager, concurred yesterday. He said: “No one mentioned Brentford before Rotherham (who United beat 2-0 last Saturday) and no one has mentioned Leeds before this one.
“They know, if they did, they would get their legs chopped off. That is the attitude of the players and the staff. If we don’t put the necessary work in, if we don’t show the right attention to detail, then we will not get the desired result.”
Leeds will head into the final ten games buoyed by recent history.
Only twice in the past decade has a team from outside the top two at this stage gone on to win MARCELO BIELSA: automatic promotion – Watford in 2015 and Norwich four years earlier.
Both were third on goal difference with ten games remaining indicating just what a strong position Bielsa’s side find themselves in. Victory over sixth-bottom Reading would strengthen that grip on automatic promotion, but the Leeds chief admits his side will have to be on their game.
“The potential of their team is higher than the position they have in the table,” said Bielsa, whose side have taken 12 points from their last five outings.
“The offensive players are fast, the midfielders are good and they have a strong, physical defence. They use the ball well.
“Our results have arrived at the right moment for us, but the most important thing is not what happened in the past, but what is going to happen in the future.”
Bielsa will name the same starting XI for the fifth game running after Patrick Bamford recovered from colliding with a post in the weekend victory at Bristol City. Kalvin Phillips has also shaken off an ankle injury sustained at Ashton Gate and could face Lewis Baker, who spent the first half of the season on loan at Leeds from Chelsea.
“I wanted him to stay with our team,” added Bielsa about the midfielder’s decision to end his loan early, “but I understand that in some situations you have players who can’t wait. I understood his decision and his needs.”
Very rarely do the short-term ones work, the big gambles.
Chris Wilder, on developing a plan for a club to point it towards achieving promotion.
Sheffield United DWWWDW, Brentford WLWLWW.
T Harrington (Cleveland). Sheffield United 1 Brentford 0; August 5, 2017; Championship.
Reading DWLDWW, Leeds United DWWLWW.
G Ward (Surrey).
Reading 2 Leeds United 2; March 10, 2018; Championship.