No transfer window excuses, insists Sheffield United manager Ruben Selles
WHEN asked if a fairer time to judge his Sheffield United side would be after the closure of the summer transfer window, Ruben Selles' answer was to the point.
The Blades chief had a point, in fairness. When you take over a side who went so close to promotion in May, it's not about jam tomorrow, but today.
Selles said: "That is an illusion, you get judged for everything you do every single day. I get judged for things that happen on the pitch and the results that I get. The performance of my team.
"To think we get judged in three or four weeks when the transfer window is closed...I don't think it is realistic.
"We are where we are right now and hopefully on Monday, we can continue working hard and next week, we can show something a little bit different - with a transfer window or no transfer window - to win football matches.
"Any other situation would be an excuse in my mind."
The pain was etched all over the face of the 42-year-old in his post-match press conference after a fourth successive loss at the start of his United tenure. No magic wand is to hand, he admits.
But the determination of Selles, whose side visit a team who have started the league season with a different sort of 100 per cent record in Middlesbrough next Saturday, remains clear.
He added: "The pressure is coming from myself. I know what I want to do and how I want to do it…
"No-one will be more disappointed than I already am. If someone can change this situation, it's me, I can do it and I have done it in the past. I have been in situations like this one before. "The formula is to be cool with yourself and continue working and finding those mistakes and correcting it and finding the togetherness even more and going again. Because you never know what the action will be to change your destiny."