Chris Wilder 'irritated' by Sheffield United after loss to Norwich City as withdrawal of attackers explained
Chris Wilder has reflected on Sheffield United’s 3-1 Championship defeat to Norwich City
Chris Wilder accused his Sheffield United players of feeling sorry for themselves after their 3-1 defeat to Norwich City.
Patrick Bamford fired the Blades level after Anthony Musaba’s opener before goals from Mohamed Toure and Mathias Kvistgaarden took the game away from the hosts.
Sheffield United were particularly lacklustre in the latter stages and Wilder could not argue with the final scoreline.
Chris Wilder on Sheffield United’s shortcomings
He said: “I'm disappointed in the last 20 minutes, it really irritated me. It's not like us, I felt we felt sorry for ourselves.
“That was that. I thought we made it pretty comfortable for Norwich, they managed the game well. They managed the game better than us. The goals that we’ve conceded are really poor.
“The third one’s offside, which you’ll see. But even taking that out, Phillippe [Clement] would have been disappointed if he’d not won the game today. I don’t think we deserved, especially in the last 20-25 minutes, to get anything out [of the game].
“We never looked like getting back into the game and putting pressure on them and asking them the question.”
Sheffield United substitutions explained
Sheffield United are not blessed with depth in the final third and the decision to replace Ben Brereton Diaz and Romelle Donovan with Jamie Shackleton and Oliver Arblaster appeared pragmatic on the surface.
Clarifying the decision, Wilder explained he was looking to protect the attacking outlets he does have at his disposal.
He said: “Just for clarity on that, they gassed themselves out, they (Brereton Diaz and Donovan) tapped themselves out, they were done.
“Because of the situation with Ryan [One], and because of the situation with [Tahith] Chongy, I can’t really afford to push them through to 95 minutes because it really opens it up for them to break down with the amount of games that they’ve got.”