Chris Wilder defends Sheffield United's discipline after two red cards against Charlton Athletic
Chris Wilder insisted Sheffield United are “not an ill-disciplined club” after seeing his side go down to nine men against Charlton Athletic.
The Blades lost both Djibril Soumare and Japhet Tanganga to red cards as they were beaten 1-0 by Charlton at The Valley.
Soumare was punished for a high challenge on Harvey Knibbs’ right ankle, while Tanganga was penalised for catching Sonny Carey with his forearm in an aerial challenge. Knibbs was carried off on a stretcher and returned pitchside in the second half wearing a protective boot.
Wilder felt the referee failed to show consistency, claiming Knibbs’ early foul on Sam McCallum, which did not even receive a booking, was as bad as Soumare’s tackle.
Chris Wilder’s verdict
He said: “This is not an ill-disciplined club. There is a mistimed tackle and a mistimed header. Sam is having stitches on his ankle. The linesman is right in front of him and shrugged his shoulders.
“We should have had a penalty. It is brilliant centre-forward play by Patrick Bamford. He is in the box and about to pull the trigger.
“I’ve had some really big highs and really proud moments and I’ve got to say the way my team played today is right up there, in terms of the first-half performance and the adversity we were up against.
“Is it easier to play against nine men? Of course it is. But they fought every minute of the game for their football club. It is a completely different animal to when I took over.
“The disappointment, and this isn’t through rose-tinted glasses, is that we should be out of sight at half-time, three or four. We never let the home team breathe – we got everything right. My only criticism of the afternoon is we need to be more clinical.
“The boy (Soumare) hasn’t gone to top him. Everyone will slow it down. One hundred per cent we will appeal the second one. He couldn’t wait to get his red card out.”
Nathan Jones on ‘bizarre win’
Charlton boss Nathan Jones, meanwhile, described his side’s victory as “bizzare”.
He said: “It was a bizarre win. It doesn’t feel like the euphoria you should have when you’ve beaten Sheffield United at home.
“A win is a win. It was a strange atmosphere. They started fantastically well and we needed our goalkeeper to keep us level.
“When they went down to 10 men, we had a little more control and then more control again at nine men. We made the right substitutions, we scored the goal and had other opportunities.
“You have to control the game. You can’t just go gung-ho because they have good players – every time you turn the ball over they go at you.”