Sander Berge back in old role as Sheffield United prepare for Leeds United

Since becoming Sheffield United’s club record signing in January, the Norwegian has largely been used on the right of a central midfield three. That role, normally held by John Lundstram, carries more attacking responsibilities. In modern continental-style parlance, Berge has been playing as a No 8, not a No 6.

The latter job, as the most defensive of the midfielders, is the one Berge played at Genk.

A shift became evident in the League Cup second round tie at Burnley, when Berge and vice-captain Oliver Norwood switched and the normally more defensive Northern Ireland international was pushed further forward.

It was the prelude to Norwood losing his place at Aston Villa on Monday, and to get it back in the short term it looks like he might have to oust Lundstram, who was outstanding in the west Midlands despite missing a penalty.

In actual fact, Berge’s role changed again on Monday when John Egan’s early red card brought a change to a 4-4-1 formation.

“I wanted to give Sander a run in there, I wanted more mobility in the team,” said Wilder, explaining the decision. “I’d love to have seen him there 11 v 11 but we went from a five/three to a four.

“He broke the play up and at times he strode forward and showed his power.

“It’s a good experience for Sander playing in a four in that shape and I felt he kept his shape and his discipline.

“Everybody has an opinion on selection but we felt that was the best midfield three for the night and it’s disappointing we only had 10 minutes of it (before the sending-off brought a change).”

Manchester United youth product Norwood was a key figure in the Blades’ ninth-place Premier League finish, controlling the flow of the game from the base of midfield, and taking most of the set-pieces. Monday was the first Sheffield United league game he has not played in since his debut in August, 2018.

Norwood did not hit the same heights when the team returned from coronavirus lockdown, substituted in three of the final eight league fixtures and on the bench for the last, for the first time in his Bramall Lane career.

The Blades are evolving, with summer signing Oliver Burke making his first Premier League appearance from the start as a centre-forward, and Ethan Amapdu doing so from the bench.

The versatile 20-year-old Wales international, on loan from Chelsea, was introduced to make the visitors more secure after Egan’s red card. It may have edged him ahead of Phil Jagielka, who was not in the match-day squad for the 1-0 defeat, as Egan’s deputy in Sunday’s derby at home to Leeds United.

“We had to get a centre-half onto the pitch,” explained Wilder. “Bash (overlapping centre-back Chris Basham) has been great but in the Premier League he’s not a centre-half (in a back four) so when we changed shape we lost a little bit with Didzy (centre-forward David McGoldrick) wide left. He’s not played a lot of football (recently) so doing the hard yards there would have been a difficult ask.

“We balanced it up with Bash going into right midfield alongside Flecky (John Fleck), John Lundstram and Sander, and Ethan making his Premier League debut. I thought he was really good.”

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James Mitchinson