Blades must rediscover their steel – Nosworthy

The Blades have already lost three home games this season – equalling the total for the whole of last season.

No-nonsense Nosworthy is warning that things need to improve, starting with today’s revenge mission against Burnley, the first meeting between the clubs since the 2009 Championship play-off final.

With new manager Gary Speed still finding his feet after replacing Kevin Blackwell, the Blades are in a period of transition and a return of only four points from the last five games has halted progress up the Championship.

Defender Nosworthy, who returned to the club this summer for a second spell on loan from Sunderland, believes home form is going to be crucial if a promotion push is to be mounted.

“It’s been tough, especially when things have not been going for us,” he said. “There is nothing more frustrating than not performing to the best of your capabilities – there have been shades in some games, but there have also been some lacklustre performances.

“Our start to the season could have been better but there is a long way to go.

“We are looking for that ‘steel’ – what Sheffield has always been about. We should be very difficult to break down and, in the nicest way, horrible to play against.”

Since Speed’s appointment as manager nine games ago, the Blades have been looking to move away from ‘route one’ football and provide home supporters with more entertainment.

Goals, however, are still in short supply and the Blades have hit the target only five times – the lowest tally in the Championship.

Nosworthy, 30, believes the rest of the side can help bring the strikers out of a slump by keeping goals out at the opposite end of the field.

“When strikers are not scoring, they are miserable so they need a lift,” he said. “We need to do our jobs. If we keep a clean sheet, it gives them a chance to nick something and the confidence in the team goes up as a whole.

“We are creating chances but sometimes they are not taken – these things happen in football. If chances are not being taken, we have to keep it at 0-0. If that’s boring, it’s boring, but a draw is always better than a loss.”

Manager Speed hopes a thirst for revenge will help the Blades return to winning ways today.

The Blades have not played the Clarets since Wade Elliott’s goal at Wembley denied them promotion to the Premier League.

Only three members of the Blades team that day will be involved today – midfielders Nick Montgomery and Stephen Quinn and captain Chris Morgan, who returns after recovering from a hamstring problem.

Burnley have retained the majority of the squad that was both promoted and relegated within the space of 12 months and, in addition, have former Sheffield Wednesday manager Brian Laws in charge.

Having inflicted three Steel City derby defeats on the Blades during his time at Hillsborough, Laws is braced for a hostile reception. “I’m sure I’m going to cop a lot of flak from the United fans especially, I’d imagine, during the first five or 10 minutes,” he said. “But, even so, I’m looking forward to coming back to Sheffield. I’ve got a lot of great memories there.”

Laws was unable to keep Burnley in the top flight but his side have made a solid start and sit sixth in the table.

Blades manager Speed is predicting a ‘fiery’ game, and said: “Burnley have some good footballers who are playing well so they will be confident. We will need to get close to them because they pass it about nice.

“We will need to start better than we did against Watford (last time out) because that first half performance was probably the poorest since I got here and it cost us the game.”

Blades defender Stephen Jordan will be looking to prove a point to Laws after being released by Burnley this summer. Jordan spent three years at Turf Moor and made 25 appearances for the club in the Premier League.