‘Make this as painless as possible’ for Blades, says Wilder
THERE are few bigger indignities than being booed by your own supporters.
Ivo Grbic got the treatment on Saturday. The Sheffield United goalkeeper let in a scuffed deflected goal from Jacob Bruun Larsen to turn a bright start into a 1-0 deficit. Two minutes later he hung out a leg after right-back Lorenz Assignon waltzed through the Blades' alleged defence.
Bramall Lane’s patience snapped. They booed Grbic off at half-time and there were loud groans when he reappeared for the second half.
Burnley's Josh Brownill shooting just wide after the Croatian passed to him meant he had to retrieve it from right in front of supporters booing him for the umpteenth time.
When he had made a save, from Assignon, they cheered ironically, as they did when Vinicius Souza was substituted.
After five games of progression – admittedly from a very low base – this was a big regression to the worst of Sheffield United in 2023-24: calamitous defending, goals in clusters and toothless in attack.
When the going got tough, they looked rudderless.
“I won't name names but there were a few players who wanted to get out of there pretty quickly after the fourth (goal),” admitted Blades manager Chris Wilder.
The manner of the goals pointed to poor players, their timing to a lack of on-field leadership.
Assignon's came two minutes after Larsen's, Lyle Foster's only five after Gustavo Hamer made it 2-1; Johann Berg Gumundsson's was seconds after he came on as a substitute. Quickly after he hit a post.
Burnley are the second-worst team in the Premier League but now they can see the light at the end of the tunnel. If they escape the relegation even Wilder has stopped trying to pretend is not a foregone conclusion for his rabble, they should send a crate or two of champagne to South Yorkshire. The benevolent Blades have kindly donated 24 per cent of their goals this season and 26 per cent of their points.
Before Vincent Kompany talked about what his Clarets will strive for in the last five games, Wilder set out the Blades' aim: “We have to do our best to make this as painless as possible,” he said, grimly.
Form an orderly queue for tickets to watch that, ladies and gentlemen. No wonder the stands were past half-empty at full-time.
But this was about more than just two scapegoats. The full-time boos were for the whole sorry lot of them.
Wilder may not have named names but he dropped enough clues.
He talked about how his side should have led 3-0 before Grbic's gift. Oli McBurnie shot straight at Arjanet Muric and over from a tight angle; Ben Brereton Diaz put a header at the goalkeeper under pressure and allowed him to save again after seeing the whites of his eyes.
“Moments and nearly are not enough,” raged Wilder. “The division is too powerful for us individually and collectively.”
When he talked about poor defending, he must have been thinking about how easily Assignon skipped past Brereton Diaz before scoring and how little resistance Auston Trusty offered as the next man up, or how the defender raced past makeshift left-back Ben Osborn before finding Foster in the space Anel Ahmedhodzic left him in, or Brereton Diaz trailing in Berg Gumundsson's wake for the fourth.
Asked about the jeers, Wilder replied: “I didn't see anybody have a go at Jayden Bogle, I didn't see anybody have a go at Oli Arblaster.”
Fourteen players used, only two Wilder stood up for. Mason Holgate, Yasser Larouci – an actual left-back – and Anis Slimane were not thought good enough to improve that team.
Wilder is not blameless – he bought Grbic and loaned Holgate. Failures this epic are team efforts.
The rebuild ahead is dauntingly huge. Parachute payment or not, you worry if this team – which needs to end the season with five clean sheets just to avoid equalling Derby County's record for the most goals conceded in a 38-game Premier League season – can be turned around in one season.
"We'll have people that want to be here and want to be involved when the going gets tough," promised Wilder. "That's what a proper footballer looks like and a proper team.
“In the meantime we have to do our best to make this as painless as possible.
“You yearn for a (John) Egan (out since September with an Achilles injury), a (Jack) Robinson (ankle ligament problem) in those situations and a couple of those other players but they're not available.
“Bogle will come through it and be a better player, Blaster will come through the experience.”
This is a team, a squad, that needs gutting to start again.
The problems go way deeper than two players. The solutions will have to as well.
Sheffield United: Grbic; Bogle, Ahmedhodzic, Trusty, Osborn; McAtee, Souza (Archer 68), Arblaster, Brereton; Hamer (Brooks 78); McBurnie (Norwood 78). Unused substitutes: Foderingham, Slimane, Larouci, Curtis, Holgate, Osula.
Burnley: Muric; Assignon, O'Shea, Esteve, Taylor; Cullen, Berge; Vitinho (Gudmundsson 70), Odobert (Amdouni 84), Bruun Larsen (Brownhill 59); Foster (Fofana 84). Unused substitutes: Trafford, Rodríguez, Manuel, Ekdal, Tresor.
Referee: A Madley (Huddersfield).