Sheffield United v West Brom - John Fleck, Oliver Norwood and John Lundstram providing platform for Blades’ revival

Sheffield United may not have been able to make the transfers manager Chris Wilder wanted in the mid-season window, but he jokes he was able to swap Jimmy Fleck for his twin brother John.
John Fleck of Sheffield United fires a shot wide during the Premier League match at the Etihad Stadium, Manchester. (Picture: Darren Staples/Sportimage)John Fleck of Sheffield United fires a shot wide during the Premier League match at the Etihad Stadium, Manchester. (Picture: Darren Staples/Sportimage)
John Fleck of Sheffield United fires a shot wide during the Premier League match at the Etihad Stadium, Manchester. (Picture: Darren Staples/Sportimage)

In the first half of the season, Fleck was not the Blades only midfield imposter. Oliver Norwood looked a shadow of the player who so elegantly and efficiently anchored the centre of the park before for the first lockdown. Like Fleck, John Lundstram’s goals have dried up.

Before Sander Berge’s arrival in January 2020, the trio manned the engine room behind the Blades’ outstanding return to the Premier League. In 2021, the band have got back together, starting the last six matches having until then not kicked off a game as a group since the season-opener. It would be a major surprise if they were not once more in harness for tonight’s game at home to West Bromwich Albion which neither Wilder nor Fleck shy away from calling “must-win”.

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Fleck, certainly, has a valid excuse, even if he is loathe to use it, revealing his four-game absence in October/November was down to a broken back.

Talisman: John Fleck is looking like his old self again in 2021 after being slowed down in the autumn by an injury picked up on international duty. (Picture: Nick Potts/PA)Talisman: John Fleck is looking like his old self again in 2021 after being slowed down in the autumn by an injury picked up on international duty. (Picture: Nick Potts/PA)
Talisman: John Fleck is looking like his old self again in 2021 after being slowed down in the autumn by an injury picked up on international duty. (Picture: Nick Potts/PA)

“I fractured a few bones in my back with Scotland (against Slovakia, in mid-October) and it took me some time to recover,” he slips into the conversation like one of his passes through the defensive line.

“After about 25 minutes when I went up for a header I landed on a certain point in my back. I played on for maybe the next 45, 50 minutes and then I just couldn’t move any more. I went for scans and that was the result.

“It wasn’t nice. I took me about 10 minutes to get up off the couch.

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“It was one of those freakish injuries. It’s just like when someone knees you in the leg and it goes a bit dead.

Oliver Norwood of Sheffield United (Picture: Andrew Yates/Sportimage)Oliver Norwood of Sheffield United (Picture: Andrew Yates/Sportimage)
Oliver Norwood of Sheffield United (Picture: Andrew Yates/Sportimage)

“The first thing I asked was how long I’d be out for. I think it was six weeks, and I think I was back around about the six-week mark to the day.”

It is a good job Fleck is not interested in sympathy, because he would not get much from Wilder. He might say it with a smile, but the manager’s joke about Fleck’s December form is typically brutal.

“His twin brother Jimmy played for a couple of months, (but) he has gone back home to Glasgow to play in the Highland League,” he says.

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Fleck might not be the only Blade with a valid excuse for scratchy early-season form. Some unidentified players picked up Covid-19 over the summer and nobody yet quite understands the lasting effects it has on some sportsmen.

John Lundstram (Picture: Darren Staples/Sportimage)John Lundstram (Picture: Darren Staples/Sportimage)
John Lundstram (Picture: Darren Staples/Sportimage)

“I would never use having an injury as an excuse,” says Fleck. “Yes, sometimes it may take you a while to get back up to speed but for the majority of the season I’ve probably not played as well as I did last season. It feels like I’m just getting back to form now and it’s hard to give answers as to why that is. I’m working hard every day in training.”

It is no great shock this six-game run for the trio has seen four wins, plus Saturday’s 1-0 defeat at Manchester City which would have been 1-1 had Fleck’s late shot been just a fraction tighter.

Not only are they quality players, this team thrived on continuity in 2019-20.

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“If the midfield plays well, the team plays well usually,” argues Fleck. “You want the team to stay as settled for as long as possible but it happens at every other club as well. There are always injuries and this season we’ve had some long-term injuries but there are always other boys to step in.”

Wilder’s frustration seeps out when asked about it.

“That (consistency of selection) only works if players are playing well,” he points out. “I can’t wait for them all the time.

“I would love to keep a settled side but you have to make sure I am allowed to do that by not being a yo-yo player, which too many players have been.

“Players have not got time to have five, six, seven games to get back in form. Speak to (Norwood and Lundstram) and they would say their form has been in and out. The consistency has not been there from a lot of senior players.”

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With just one win in a 12-match sequence during which they changed manager from Slaven Bilic to Sam Allardyce with no appreciable benefit as yet, West Brom look in the most trouble, despite a four-point cushion. That said, the Blades let them off the hook at the Hawthorns in November, losing 1-0 when they failed to put away some very good chances.

Fleck knows that cannot happen again.

“Both teams realistically have to win,” he acknowledges.

With John having replaced Jimmy, the chances are much improved.

Last six games: Sheffield United LWWLWW; West Bromwich Albion DLLWDL.

Referee: P Tierney (Wigan)

Last time: Sheffield United 1 West Bromwich Albion 2, December 14, 2018, Championship.

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