SHEFFIELD United manager Chris Wilder has candidly acknowledged that he needs to ‘chill out’ a little bit after expressing his disappointment in the immediate aftermath of his side’s laboured performance in the 2-1 weekend win over Portsmouth.

The promotion-chasing Blades, who return to action at Bramall Lane against Wilder’s former club Middlesbrough on Wednesday night, produced an under-par display after being caught out by the intense pressing tactics of lowly Pompey.

But crucially - as all top sides must do - Wilder’s side found a way to win for the fifth time in six league matches.

He said: “Sometimes, when you do review a game from a manager and a coaching point of view, you look back and think it was okay and we played okay.

Sheffield United manager Chris Wilder, pictured during the Championship game against Portsmouth. Picture: Simon Bellis / Sportimage

placeholder image — Sheffield United manager Chris Wilder, pictured during the Championship game against Portsmouth. Picture: Simon Bellis / Sportimage

"And sometimes, maybe emotionally after a roller-coaster of a game - which it was and I should imagine from a neutral, it was a decent game to watch - (you are different).

"One of the biggest things I have looked at over the weekend is when you look at the team and what the players have done - to win the most games of football in the division and points total that we are at - we are still building.

"This is a team who were basically chucked together in pre-season and maybe I need to chill out a little bit and look at it from that point of view. There are a lot of clubs who are a lot deeper into their build and deeper into transfer windows as well..

"We are trying to integrate players and still win games of football and we’ve done that really successfully so far this season.

Gustavo Hamer of Sheffield United (L) celebrates after scoring during the Sky Bet Championship match against Portsmouth at Bramall Lane, Sheffield. Picture: Simon Bellis / Sportimage

"I wouldn’t have wanted to bring this amount of players in at this stage of a season and it was never the plan at the start of the season, but it was a needs-must thing after losing Blaster (Ollie Arblaster) and (Harry) Souttar. So maybe we should expect one or two games like this (Portsmouth). The magic thing about it is we are winning games of football.”

United pick from strength with Tom Davies back in the fold, while Wilder has explained the omission of loanee Alfie Gilchrist from his squad last weekend.

On whether there are any fresh injuries, he commented: "Everybody is fine.

"Alfie’s attitude has been absolutely superb. He needed to come out of the team. It was a tough gig for him for maybe two or three games.

"He’s a young player coming into Championship football and he’s played the majority of games and we knew we are slightly disadvantaged in terms of the loan ruling and six available slots, so we had to make a decision.

"He took that as I would have expected him to take it in terms of the personality and character of him. He was disappointed, but there’s going to be disappointed players right the way through. It’s not about individuals. He has adapted to that situation and it could be any one.

"We are getting back to a fully fit squad. Kieffer (Moore) is not far away. Tom will be involved on Wednesday night and Kieffer will be on Saturday and Femi (Seriki) is only a week or two away. Shacks is back in full training, so we have only got Ollie Arblaster missing long-term.

"We have got 21/22 players to fit into 20. There’s going to be disappointed players not even getting on the bench. I’d rather have it that way and I’ve been consistent all the way through.”

United face a Boro side who have been extremely inconsistent over the winter, with Michael Carrick’s under-pressure side having won just twice in their last nine league games, while you have to go back to late November for the last time they won back-to-back Championship matches.

Wilder added: "It was a tough game up there and I’ve said they are one of the outstanding (football) teams in the division, who are well coached and managed and a good group of players. I know a few of them obviously.

"They are really difficult opponents with controlled possession who create big chances - a really good side and I think it will be a really interesting game between two of the teams fancied to have really successful seasons.

"It was a tight game up there and we had opportunities to get ourselves in front and started quite well, but they managed to wrestle back that control and they were the better side in the second half and it was a tight game won by a fabulous pass and great finish.”