WILDER’S WONDERS
Blades’ impressive road show has them dreaming of Europe
AS THE Premier League season ticks towards halfway, the whispers of a European challenge out of south Yorkshire are becoming louder.
This win, as comfortable a 1-0 as a team can wish for on the road in the Premier League, sent Sheffield United fifth, one point behind the Champions League places.
Many an upstart team have found themselves here before, heading into Christmas with dreams of Europe before wilting when safe of relegation, but performances like this reinforce the view that Chris Wilder is building serious contenders.
An 18th straight away league game without defeat — in the process matching Burnley’s 72-year record for a promoted side of nine unbeaten on the road to start a top-flight season — puts them on 28 points from 18 games, three more than Wolves at this stage last season when they short-shifted from the Championship to seventh in the Premier League.
‘It is ludicrous,’ said Wilder when asked about his team’s European prospects. ‘Because the season ain’t over at 18 games.
‘But it’s about the accumulation of points, moving on to the next game and can we keep it going. It’s very good for a team that was written off to be down by Christmas.’
Although there was only one goal in it, the Blades had a further two chalked off by the video assistant, a n d Da v i d McGol d r i c k wi l l b e haunted by the chance he missed to end his Premier League goal drought.
United were never daunted, never hassled, never truly threatened by Brighton — themselves an impressive outfit under Graham Potter but schooled by the team two years behind them in top-flight experience.
By the end of the first half, the hosts were so stifled by the relentless pressing of Wilder’s 3-5-2 that they were forced to abandon their short passing style in favour of clearing it long in hope.
Already one down by this stage, it did not raise the home support’s mood to see 5ft 8in Neal Maupay as the target of those long balls — lost causes against the visitors’ towering centre-back trio.
The only goal, from Oli McBurnie on 23 minutes, showed t he gap between the two sides’ confidence. Dean Henderson sent a long pass forward from the Sheffield penalty area, Brighton centre back Adam Webster hesitated i n hi s cl earance and McBurnie seized on the opportunity.
The Scot, a £20million record signing in the summer and a former student of Potter’s at Swansea, charged down Webster’s tame header and raced through on goal before firing in off the right-hand post. Before McBurnie’s goal each side had had an effort ruled out by VAR, in what quickly became a stern first examination for referee Robert Jones, making his debut at Premier League level.
The Blades thought they were in front after just eight minutes when Luke Freeman’s corner looped high above Brighton goalkeeper Mat Ryan, who swung a punch and came up empty. John Egan bundled in, but a brief check showed he had done so with his hand.
‘It’s not football any more,’ came the response from the visiting support to the technology and while there was a s mattering of agreement f r om the hosts, Egan’s handball was clear, obvious and — it must be said — not football either.
Brighton had their own gripes soon afterwards when Maupay thought he had found the net. But Martin Montoya, who had reacted first to Henderson’s parry from an Aaron Mooy drive, was ruled offside when crossing for the forward to turn in.
The game should have been long past Brighton’s reach just after half-time, when Webster was a g a i n caught out by a long ball which McGoldrick beat him to. The forward rounded Ryan and had an empty net to offer him a first top-flight goal in his 14th game, but took the ball too wide and his effort went the wrong side of the post.
The video referee then made its third intervention, with the visitors having their second goal struck off. Ryan spilled Egan’s flicked header from a free-kick and the onrushing Jack O’Connell tucked in, but the centre back had moved too soon and the review confirmed the offside.
‘Credit to Sheffield United, they did what they did well and did it better than us,’ said Potter.
‘We huffed and puffed and tried but we weren’t good enough, i t’s as simple as that.’