Chris Wilder reveals why he is proud of Sheffield United’s honest approach in Premier League

The Blades missed out on the chance to finish eighth on the final day of the 2019-20 Premier League, having to settle instead for ninth – still their highest finish since the competition was formed in 1992.

But it could have been better still, with them bossing the first half at St Mary’s. John Lundstram put them 1-0 up at half-time but Alex McCarthy saved from the midfielder and Billy Sharp either side of the goal.

Had all three gone in, it would have been hard to see the Saints taking anything from the game, but as it was they won 3-1, with former Sheffield United striker Che Adams scoring twice before Danny Ings converted a penalty for his 25th goal of the season in all competitions.

It meant a campaign which has defied all expectations finished with three consecutive defeats.

“It’s a game we should have won,” commented Wilder afterwards. “In the first half we should have been out of sight but we looked a tired side in the end. It’s been a long old season but I think they (Southampton) showed their quality especially in the second half when they got back into the game.

“I was disappointed from our point of view that the equaliser should have been a comfortable pass out and it was a mistake and they’re back in it.

“It looked like a long season for us (after that) and we looked as if we’d run our race. But certainly in the first half when we were 1-0 up we had to score (again) and they’ve punished us and we’ve not punished us.

“People talk about the bit inbetween but ultimately as we always talk about, the game was decided in the two penalty areas. They’ve been clinical and we haven’t.”

The Blades have played the same number of league games as anyone else and fewer than most when the cup competitions are taken into consideration but in their first season back in the top-flight they relied on a small nucleus of players.

Oliver Norwood lost his record of starting all 38 league games when he was named as a substitute, but Chris Basham, George Baldock and Enda Stevens achieved what is a not inconsiderable feat in an era of squad rotation.

The Blades were seventh at the restart, enough to qualify for the Europa League if Chelsea win the FA Cup, but the revamped post-coronavirus fixture list meant that having played most of the campaign from weekend to weekend, they squeezed 11 matches into the final 39 days, allowing Tottenham Hotspur and Arsenal’s bigger squads to overtake them in the run-in.

It would be wrong, however, not to acknowledge how well a team who were most people’s favourites for relegation did in 2019-20.

“We’ve had to do an enormous amount of things right to stay in the division, to get into the top ten,” said Wilder proudly. “The togetherness of the group, the way they’ve expressed themselves and attacked the division, they’ve attacked it with respect but we’ve played in the majority of games in our own manner and the way we’ve wanted to play. We’ve been honest in our approach.

“We’re ultimately disappointed in the way we have finished but hopefully people will look at us on the whole and judge us on the season and our league position.

“It’s difficult for a manager to talk about positives and stuff like that, the way we’ve played, that’s for other people to talk about, we’ve just gone about our business in the way I expected.

“We’ve been competitive every game. Even on Sunday we were competitive. But (Southampton) get themselves back in the game, they’re clinical and really they’ve run away with it they were the better side for the last 20, 25 minutes.

“We gave everything and got the maximum out of every player. That’s one of the things I’m delighted by – the players have given everything for the majority if not all of the season.”

Now Wilder’s focus is on improving.

“We need to strengthen the squad like everybody does,” he said. “The players need to go away and we need to improve on all our skills. Certainly we need more competition. We are stretched as a squad and we need better players in to make it more competitive with the players we’ve already got. The players have to improve their skills. We’ll assess every aspect of the club.”

The transfer window opens today, ahead of the start of the new season on September 12.

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