First signs of choppy waters for profligate Sheffield United

A SPOT of sailing was on the itinerary for Southampton’s players in the recent international break and their Sheffield United counterparts could reflect on a pretty sedate and stress-free introduction to Premier League life as well.
Jack O'Connell rises high for a header against Southampton (Picture: SportImage)Jack O'Connell rises high for a header against Southampton (Picture: SportImage)
Jack O'Connell rises high for a header against Southampton (Picture: SportImage)
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READ MORE - Leon Wobschall’s analysis from Bramall Lane

But at this level, the waters can suddenly get choppy. Tides can turn in an instant.

George Baldock of Sheffield United at full-time (Picture: Simon Bellis/Sportimage)George Baldock of Sheffield United at full-time (Picture: Simon Bellis/Sportimage)
George Baldock of Sheffield United at full-time (Picture: Simon Bellis/Sportimage)

A healthy opening to the Blades’ top-flight odyssey is now clouded by the sight of back-to-back home league reverses – and this latest one will fester with Unitedites for a good part of this week due to its self-inflicted nature.

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Talk may well have continued long into the night on Saturday about VAR, tough calls and rubs of the green, but passing up opportunities in the big league is the true reprehensible offence.

As he clapped all four sides of Bramall Lane at the final whistle on Saturday tea-time, Chris Wilder inwardly knew this.

Straight after the shrill of referee Lee Mason’s whistle to end proceedings, home substitute Lys Mousset slumped to the deck in abject despair. His fellow strikers will have been feeling even worse, to be fair.

David McGoldrick spurned the sort of opportunities that he tucked away for fun a level down, while Oli McBurnie was handed a further challenging episode following a couple of weeks that he will have been keen to banish to the back of his mind.

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For Billy Sharp, feted for his contribution against another south coast club in Bournemouth on the opening day, sleep may well have been difficult on Saturday night as he played out the events of earlier in his mind.

Just the second red card of his 15-year professional career – the previous one was incurred for Doncaster Rovers in a fixture at Brighton in February 2014 – was one that he could not grumble about with his late challenge on fellow replacement Stuart Armstrong being worthy of censure.

It put the tin lid on an afternoon where fates conspired against those in red and white.

As exercises in sheer, unadulterated frustration go, the Blades’ 3,000 competitive game at Bramall Lane was right up there. A game that the hosts should not have lost, but did.

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VAR conjecture – somewhat inevitably – did the rounds at the end. Wilder had no truck with the call to rule out Oli McBurnie’s ‘goal’ in the 52nd minute – with John Egan having affected play in an offside position – or Sharp’s red mist either, but he did take issue with a handball offence against James Ward-Prowse which went unpunished.

But technology was not the reason for the Blades’ demise on an occasion when they had 17 attempts on goal, but only four on target.

Defender George Baldock observed: “On another day, we score and the result is different. We did not take our chances and they punished us for one mistake.

“The strikers we have got are very good such as David and Billy, Ollie McBurnie, Callum Robinson and Mousset and the other lads.

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“When they are all fit and firing, they are a handful for anyone and they have proved that. They have all contributed already this season. We definitely have full trust in them and I am sure they will continue to do well.”

On the untimely VAR intervention after McBurnie peeled away in celebration early in the second half, he added: “I knew it was a tight decision. I did not particularly celebrate because I knew it was a tight decision and knew it was going to VAR.

“I was keeping my fingers crossed that the goal was going to be allowed, but it was not to be. But the handball from where I was looking looked like handball. But with the rules nowadays, you don’t know if it was deliberate or prevented a goal. It was not meant to be.

“At the end of the day, if the decision is right, everyone has got to get on board with it because it is going to make it better if the right decisions are made.

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“It can be the difference between getting a result or not. On another day, the roles could be reversed and they could score a goal and it is disallowed by VAR for offside.

“We would be over the moon with it. We have to get on board with it.”

Indeed, they must, after a day when the Blades did not make it easy for themselves, despite once again bringing plenty to the 
table. McGoldrick’s early miss after being tidily played in by McBurnie hinted at things to come on an occasion when ex-Blades striker Che Adams did his level best to come to the party.

After a thundering drive shuddered the post, he was left to curse the brilliance of Dean Henderson, whose save to keep out his well-guided header was right out of the top drawer.

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Yet the tantalising promise largely came at the other end, but United lacked ruthlessness. That was punished when Saints seized on sloppiness in possession, with Moussa Djenepo picking the pocket of Oli Norwood and waltzing past the challenges of Jack O’Connell and Egan before clinically firing home low past Henderson for the 66th-minute game-breaker. Chances continued, but were passed up. A sharp lesson.

Sheffield United: Henderson; Basham (Robinson 84), Egan, O’Connell; Baldock, Lundstram (Mousset 72), Fleck, Norwood, Stevens; McGoldrick, McBurnie (Sharp 65). Unused substitutes: Moore, L Freeman, Osborn, Besic.

Southampton: Gunn; Cedric, Bednarek, Yoshida, Vestergaard; Ward-Prowse, Romeu, Hojbjerg; Boufal (Armstrong 85), Djenepo (Ings 74), Adams (Long 90). Unused substitutes unused: McCarthy, Stephens, Bertrand, Valery.

Referee: L Mason (Lancashire).