Coventry City v Sheffield United: Chris Wilder tells players stop shooting yourself in foot and I'll be patient
CHRIS WILDER has told his Sheffield United players to "put the gun away" whilst admitting he cannot take a big stick to them when picking a team to face Coventry City on Tuesday.
The Blades have conceded six goals in two games. That is bad enough, but what is really frustrating their manager is that so many – five, he reckons – were self-inflicted.
They simply cannot afford more of the same away to comfortably the most free-scoring team in England's top five divisions this season.
Asked what he said to his players when they reflected on Saturday's 3-1 defeat to Derby County, Wilder replied: "Put that gun away and stop shooting themselves in the foot.
"We're basically losing games and giving goals away, making it double difficult to get a result in an incredibly competitive division.
"If you had a reel of all the six goals that we've conceded (against Derby and Preston North End), five out of the six have come from us making poor decisions.
"(Against Derby), there's nothing in the game but if we can't keep a clean sheet or if we concede one, two and three, then we're not going to win games of football.
"We can't expect to go and score four at Preston, even though we should have.
"I would bash them up if I thought that they had the white flag up and if I thought people weren't trying and running around."
Having seen his side go to Preston on the back of consecutive wins for the first time this season, Wilder has had to temper his own frustrations.
"I have to be patient and calm because I can't take a wrecking ball to it and just flip-flop from different scenarios and make a whole lot of changes," he said.
"I believe that we're on the right track in terms of how we want to play but ultimately the game is decided in both boxes and we're deciding it for other teams.
"We have to believe in what we're doing and we just have to rectify concentration, discipline, helping each other out – one mistake not becoming two."
Sydie Peck made the most high-profile mistakes against Derby, losing Carlton Morris for the first goal of his hat-trick and inadvertently playing him through to score the second, but the youngster has his manager's trust.
"We're in a profession that is magnified and you make a mistake on a big occasion then people are going to come after you but we have to be tough,” said Wilder.
"He will survive and I've got to say he didn't go under. He stuck his hand up at the end (to apologise).
"In the first six games (of the season, under Ruben Selles) I thought he got hung out to dry really because of the position that he played and no protection either side.
"He's a young player trying to find his form. Ideally we'd like Blaster (Oliver Arblaster) and (Tom) Davies back and we'd have had Jairo (Riedewald) for the start of the season.
"It's a testing time for me at 57 so it's going to be a testing time for a young man in his second full season as a regular."
Experienced midfielder Riedewald not playing any part as a substitute on Saturday might have been with Tuesday’s game in mind.