Fulham v Sheffield United - Blades must keep going despite hitting grim milestone

After their 1-0 defeat at Fulham, Sheffield United’s season feels a bit that way. Having taken an eternity to get up a gallop, they broke into a determined sprint with six wins in nine matches – admittedly half of them against lower-league opposition in the FA Cup, but it was all about building momentum. Now it seems to have fizzled out into three straight league defeats.

They say it is the hope that kills you, but it is when the hope leaves you that is the most crushing time. Manager Chris Wilder is still talking about fighting to the bitter end, as he must, but now he is open about the final destination.

“I am not going to sit here and mug everybody off by saying we have a great chance (of staying in the Premier League),” he admitted. “It’s going to be an incredible ask.”

It is 1979-80 since a team last lost 20 of its first 25 league games in England, and Southport were bottom of Division Four in an era when there was no relegation from it, only re-election, to freshen up deadwood. The Blades made history at Craven Cottage as the first side to hit that grim milestone in top-division football. It can surely only end one way, games remaining now fewer than the amount of points to be made up to the safety line.

Basham’s injury means all of the back three at the heart of last season’s success are injured. The goalkeeper behind them, Dean Henderson, returned to Manchester United at the end of his loan in the summer.

The Blades still care, you only had to hear how gloriously grumpy their manager was at full-time raging against the injustices of it all to know that, but his team’s performance lacked conviction.

Even Wilder’s selection was unsure of itself, putting Basham on the right of midfield and Ethan Amapdu at centre-back, and trying to make John Lundstram the central playmaker. In Wilder’s words: “We always knew that if we couldn’t get Lunny on the ball we had that opportunity to change that.”

Inside 20 minutes, Basham was back in defence, Ethan Ampadu in a central midfield holding role until Basham’s injury saw him move again.

Wilder raged against the naivety of those who thought his team should have been less passive at the start but they allowed Fulham 73 per cent of the ball in the first half (dropping to 65 by full-time) perhaps in the knowledge they had their shooting boots on the wrong feet. Neither side seemed to want to go for the jugular – disappointing in such desperate times for both. In the end, Fulham’s win gives them hope, moving them to within three points of Newcastle United at the end of the night.

The Blades showed even less conviction for the only goal, Ademola Lookman basically able to put the ball through a weak Amapdu, then goalkeeper Aaron Ramsdale, shortly after the hour.

The chance for an equaliser quickly presented itself, Billy Sharp playing in Enda Stevens to produce a shot too easy for Alphonse Areola to save with his legs.

Wilder’s post-match fury centred on the inexplicable decision by referee Martin Atkinson to award Areola a 90th-minute free-kick when, after a faint touch on the ball as he ran out, he cleaned out Jayden Bogle, swiping through his shins. That he was backed up by a video assistant referee, Peter Bankes, who sent Lundstram off – correctly – for a not dissimilar challenge at Brighton and Hove Albion in December only added to the frustration.

Wilder half-explained Bogle was on the bench because of “a couple of issues which held him back in the week”, and expressed his relief that the wing-back was able to walk away from the challenge after treatment. At least something went his side’s way.

Incidentally, it was only at full-time those of us in the stadium were told, by Wilder, Bankes had reviewed the decision. The communication of such matters within stadia must be improved by the time the paying spectators return.

Such was the lack of belief in the green-shirted players, though, it was perhaps a small mercy a penalty was not awarded.

The way the night had gone, you could imagine Areola saving from Sharp, or even if the normally-reliable penalty-taker found the net, Fulham going down the other end and scoring a second in the seven minutes of stoppage time.

“We have to look at ourselves, the decisions we’ve made and the opportunities we’ve had in the final third to show that quality has yet again let us down,” conceded Wilder. If you looked through the smokescreens, you would see a nail being hit on the head.

“We have an obligation and a commitment to our supporters, nobody else but our supporters, myself and fellow players to keep going,” added a manager whose team have equalled but still not surpassed Derby County’s miserable record for the Premier League’s lowest points tally.

It must be hard to keep fighting when the battle is lost.

“This is what it is,” shrugged Wilder. “I took the good times in my stride – and there have been some really good moments as you know over the last three or four years – and you accept that other part of it.”

These are the hard yards. The Blades must keep running because once you stop, it is hard to get going again.