Blades have plenty to prove, concedes Adams

Adams is waiting for his first victory as Blades manager but his side’s battling performances have drawn praise from Leicester manager Sven Goran Eriksson and Norwich’s Paul Lambert.

Speaking ahead of today’s trip to Ipswich Town, Adams said: “I am getting fed up of people saying nice things about us, I would rather they start saying ‘they were lucky to take the points’.”

The Blades have won only one of the last 11 games in all competitions and have dropped into the relegation zone after the midweek defeat against Leicester.

With 18 games to play, there is still plenty of time to escape the drop and Adams is confident that, in terms of performances, things are moving in the right direction.

“We are getting there and I can see the improvement,” he said. “Dropping into the bottom three has got to hurt the players but are we the third worst team in this league, am I the third worst manager? These are things I cannot accept and now we all have to prove something.

“It’s been a tough baptism so far because we have played some good sides in those last six games including Leicester, Burnley and Norwich, but we are heading into a period where we are playing teams in and around us.”

Ipswich, who appointed former Sheffield Wednesday manager Paul Jewell after the recent sacking of Roy Keane, have improved in recent weeks and climbed seven points clear of the relegation zone.

On-loan Blades striker Marcus Bent spent three years at Ipswich and Adams says the 32-year-old is getting back to his best form after starting only one game in 11 months before moving to Bramall Lane.

“The first thing Marcus said to me when I signed him was ‘I will need a few games to get back my sharpness’,” Adams revealed.

“We won’t get him sharp on the training ground, we need to get him sharp in matches and that might take five games so, right now, he is still a work in progress.

“But he will get there and his experience is already rubbing off on Ched Evans who is starting to look the part.”

Blades defender Joe Mattock has been ruled out for over a month of the campaign with knee and ankle injuries.

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