Manchester United v Sheffield United: Blades on lookout for more players with Harry Maguire's steel

Mainly it will be about Manchester United, because that is the way it works when one of the world's most famous football clubs is playing.

Questions have been asked about the brittleness of players good enough to earn some of the biggest contracts in the global game, not good enough to be in the Premier League title race or to qualify for next season's Champions League.

Whether throwing away a 3-0 FA Cup semi-final lead against Championship Coventry City on Sunday or redeeming themselves in a penalty shoot-out said more about their mentality is open to debate but both probably showed where the Red Devils are right now.

But the questions about mentality will be just as pointed and instructive for the summer clear-out to come for Sheffield United.

Because the mental failings which dragged the Blades down so emphatically at Bramall Lane in February and March in particular, and which manager Chris Wilder looked to have resolved after the 6-0 defeat at Arsenal resurfaced with a vengeance on Saturday.

The Blades were the better team for the opening half-hour and the start of the second half but lost 4-1 at home to Burnley.

"The positive people will look to these (positive) facts but I'm a bit bored with them," Wilder declares. "We didn't win a game of football."

Not being good enough to survive relegation is forgivable for a club only promoted in second last season and given the Premier League equivalent of a handful of magic beans to rustle up a competitive squad. But like the other United, they have not played to their potential.

In Saturday's post-mortem, Wilder name-checked two players – Jayden Bogle and Oliver Arblaster – who could hold their heads up. Two.

Sign up to our new Sports Editor’s TeamTalk newsletter

Looking forward to Wednesday's game he referenced how Blades fans relentless sing the name of Jack Robinson – the centre-back apparently keen to play in a game he is nowhere near physically ready for after ankle ligament damage.

"You don't get anywhere individually or as a team if you've not got the attitude required," argues Wilder.

"We try to make players take responsibility for their own performances and help their team-mates.

"There will be leaders in there that will grow. I look at Bogle who's taking responsibility for his own performance and driving others on.

"And it is always when the going gets tough because there are going to be tough moments.

"You can mention one (other) player... I'm not going to because I've mentioned him far too often over the last few weeks but there's no issue with that boy.

"We have done and will do going forward, look at that from a recruitment point of view – what are players like when the going gets tough? Do they crumble? Do they find an easy way out or do they come through that period?"

If Bogle, Arblaster and Robinson are characters Sheffield United can hang their hats on in that regard, Sheffield-born Blades academy product Harry Maguire is a saving grace for Manchester United.

The defender has been one of the punchbags of Erik ten Hag's tenure, a figure of fun for rival fans – and his own playing for England. Ten Hag took the captaincy off him and dropped him, not believing he had the pace to play in the high defensive line he wanted. He tried to sell him to West Ham United in the summer.

Maguire refused to go.

On Sunday, he was the only specialist centre-back to declare himself fit despite struggling with injury in the last game, at Bournemouth. He headed his side’s second goal and stayed on to the end, by which time he was a makeshift forward. As soon as the Red Devils saved face in the shoot-out, he consoled Coventry’s players before fronting up to the media.

Maguire epitomises Bramall Lane's "Forged in steel" motto and the players his old academy strives to produce.

"Harry Maguire has been absolutely dug out so many times it's unbelievable but he keeps coming through it and he's mentally strong," says Wilder. "The way he handles himself is first-class – a humble guy who's worked extremely hard to get to where he is and let's not forget an absolute shoo-in for England.

"You have to be physically strong but most importantly you have to have that mentality, especially at Bramall Lane, where you can't go under. If one goes under, you're playing with 10, if two go under, you're playing with nine. The game's hard enough 11 v 11.

"(In the academy) we have experienced ex-players (as coaches) that know what it's like to play at the highest level. They understand they need to produce players that are tough mentally, tough physically.

"I don't think our young players are soft, I don't think they go under when the going gets tough."

The going is tough in the week the Blades' Premier League relegation could be confirmed. We will watch with interest to see who rises to it.