Football League World
·12 dicembre 2024
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·12 dicembre 2024
The Blades did something on Wednesday that their promotion rivals failed to do.
Sheffield United manager Chris Wilder has taken a slight swipe at promotion rivals Leeds United and Burnley after their away victory over Millwall.
After a strong midweek showing by Leeds in particular, which bumped the Blades off of the top spot in the Championship, the pressure was on Wilder and his players to get the job done at The Den.
They had a lot of factors working against them. Their star striker, Tyrese Campbell, was unavailable due to injury. The Den is a tough place to go, and it was Millwall boss Neil Harris' final game in charge of the club at their home ground before his departure on Saturday.
United were put under the cosh at times, but their moment of quality, when Jack Robinson played a lovely diagonal pass to put Gus Hamer in behind, whose touch allowed him to square it to Rhian Brewster to finish into an empty net, was what made the difference in their 1-0 victory.
Prior to Wednesday evening, the Lions had won half of their ten home games; two of which were against the Blades' promotion rivals, Burnley and Leeds. They also eked out a last-minute draw against Sunderland just after the November international break.
Wilder understands that The Den is a tough place to go and get a result at, and made sure to drop that little point in when talking about his side's victory in the Lions' domain.
"We got the job done, we were by no means perfect, but performance sometimes suffers when you really have to dig in and get a result," said the United boss, via the club's website.
"This is, as always, a tough place to come and get a result. There's been plenty of teams who haven't got a result here - even this year, in the past and us as well. The win is important, to get that result was a big one, and we can go back up the road and enjoy our coach journey home."
Not only are the Blades the best team in the league, according to the Championship standings, they are also one of the best defensive teams in the second tier. They have only conceded 11 goals in 20 games this season, with Burnley (seven goals conceded) being the only team with a better record at the back than them.
They did give up chances against Millwall. Japhet Tanganga, George Saville and others had opportunities to test Michael Cooper, but they failed to crack open the United defence.
That resilience they have will always give them a great base to build on. Even if they aren't at their best, it allows their quality players in the final third to have one good moment that can win a game for them, as was the case against Millwall.