BARGAIN BOYS HEADING FOR EUROPE
Sheffield United’s misfits deserve continental crack
IT Was said several times around coverage of this game that none of sheffield United’s players would get into the Chelsea side. Look at the respective XIs and you understand why. On paper, the Blades don’t amount to much; a band of Football League misfits. On grass, however, they are Premier League stars. Rewind a couple of years and to most of them the idea of European football was a pre-season tour. Not now. They have three games to ensure the club’s first qualification and it would feel like an injustice if they missed out. ‘They possibly wouldn’t get in Chelsea’s team,’ said Blades boss Chris Wilder. ‘But it’s not always about that. That doesn’t interest me. I know what they give me.’ Only three of Wilder’s starters had played in the top flight before this season and that trio of Chris Basham, Enda stevens and scorer Oli McBurnie had managed only 42 appearances between them. David McGoldrick, belated scorer of his first Premier League goals, was a free transfer from Ipswich, while others arrived from MK Dons, Blackpool and Portsmouth. ‘We fish in a different pond to everyone else,’ added Wilder. ‘We’re not shopping in Waitrose! But there are some talented boys out there who want to grab that opportunity. We’ve picked up a couple of bargains and we’re not embarrassed. We get the maximum out of what we have.’ McGoldrick is a fine example. It was a telephone conversation in the summer of 2018 between Wilder and Mick McCarthy that led to him arriving at Bramall Lane. McCarthy, then recently relieved of his duties as Ipswich manager, told Wilder to sign the then 30-year-old forward, who had scored just six Championship goals and missed a chunk of that season with injury. But the pair knew that, with canny management, McGoldrick would prove a steal. What we have seen this season is a No10 who is so instrumental to his side’s way of playing, albeit without scoring. That changed against Chelsea with two close-range finishes. McGoldrick said he was never worried about his 25 Premier League matches without a goal. Wilder added: ‘I don’t think he will ever be prolific but he should score goals because of the ability he has.’ Chelsea boss Frank Lampard, meanwhile, has to consider how much longer he persists with players who aren’t good enough to challenge for titles. They were defensively negligent here and blunt in attack. It was put to Lampard that new faces have unsettled some of his established players. He did not take kindly to it. ‘If you want to be a Chelsea player and fight for the Premier League, to fight in Europe and to fight for trophies, you have to focus on yourself,’ he said. ‘If players come in, that should be the nature of the beast playing for Chelsea. It shouldn’t be a problem for anyone.’
SHEFFIELD UNITED (3-5-2): Henderson 6.5; Basham 7 (Jagielka 68min, 7), Egan 7, O’Connell 7.5; Baldock 7.5, Berge 6.5 (Lundstram 63, 6), Norwood 7, Osborn 7, Stevens 7.5; McBurnie 7.5 (Mousset 63, 7), McGOLDRICK 8. Subs not used: Sharp, K Freeman, Robinson, Moore, Rodwell, Zivkovic. Scorers: McGoldrick 18, 77, McBurnie 33. Booked: Baldock. Manager: Chris Wilder 8. CHELSEA (4-3-3): Kepa 6; James 6 (Hudson-Odoi 75, 5), Christensen 5 (Rudiger 46, 4.5), Zouma 5, Azpilicueta 5; Barkley 5.5 (Loftus-Cheek 78), Jorginho 5.5, Mount 4.5 (Alonso 46, 5); Willian 5, Abraham 5, Pulisic 5 (Giroud 66, 6). Subs not used: Caballero, Bate, Kovacic, Batshuayi. Manager: Frank Lampard 5. Referee: Andre Marriner 7.