Sheffield United v Portsmouth: Chris Wilder sees Blades building a connection that chimes with Pompey's

The start of 2025-26 was bruising for the Blades, with poor and badly-timed recruitment raising questions of their owners, bad tactics and even worse results causing supporter discontent with manager Ruben Selles and quite quickly his dismissal.

But now, as they prepare to host Portsmouth with Wilder back in the manager's office and fans lifted by a comfortable 3-0 win at Sheffield Wednesday on Sunday, there is a belief the Blades are getting back to the sort of unity he sees in Pompey at the moment.

"We want to build on what happened on Sunday, move it on to Wednesday and hopefully go into Saturday (at Leicester City) and round off a really good week," said Wilder ahead of the visit of John Mousinho's team, four points above his in the Championship.

"There's a lot to be done on Wednesday night against a talented manager, a committed team, a together team – I think possibly the most committed, together team in the division.

"I've looked at their results, looked at their performances and there might be some negative results in there but they've been in every game and we have to make sure that we bring those qualities that we possess to the game on Wednesday.

"We're together. I don't see an unconnected football club, I really don't.

"I know you get a result like Sunday’s and everybody's going to cheer that, but I don't feel that (disconnection) and I don't see that. I think they (the supporters) are giving us every opportunity and we've got to take advantage of their support.

"We've got nine games before the new year, a big period of football for us, and we've got to battle our way through it and pick up some points till we get to that stage of the season (when the transfer window is open).

"There are 23 games after that and who knows, but it’s certainly a huge period for us now to change the direction of our season from what it was after game six (Selles’ last before being sacked) to hopefully what it can be going into game 23, 24.

Although the Owls have been left in disarray by the breakdown of previous owner Dejphon Chansiri's regime, and although some were unimpressed at the Blades' post-match celebrations, there are practically no circumstances which can stop a 3-0 win over any team's city rivals from lifting morale, especially at a club who are themselves still in the Championship relegation zone.

"Hopefully the confidence and the belief that we've taken from the game on Sunday will roll into Wednesday night so when we get into those positions like we got into Sunday, we'll execute our good play," commented Wilder.

He will weigh up whether to start Gustavo Hamer, a stoppage-time substitute against the Owls on his return from injury, and assess the fitness of Tahith Chong, who has not featured since the first game of his third spell as manager. Oliver Arblaster, though, will build up his fitness with the under-21s before coming into firs-team consideration after a year out with anterior cruciate ligament damage.

The decision on Chong will be a "late one," said Wilder, who added: "He's trained fully.

"It'll be difficult now to get in the squad and that's where I want it to be. Competition for places, players keeping their shirt on form.

"It's always a difficult one is to get the balance right in a three-game week, especially with an early kick-off on Saturday as well. So, we might look to freshen it up in a couple of positions but the good thing about it is we have those options now.

"(Hamer) is okay if we wanted to start him in the next two games, we can do, but he'll play a part, he'll come on the pitch. He didn't really need to come on the pitch on Sunday because tactically we really snuffed out their threats.

"Their threats were really (Harry) Amass and the overload out wide, so really didn't really need to change the shape of the team.

"Andre (Brooks) out of possession was really good, Harrison (Burrows) came on and gave us that balance off the left late on, and Callum (O'Hare) moved over to the right. His energy is there for everybody to see, the distance he covers.

"Gus come on and just slotted in there. So, delighted to get Gus back and he's a huge part of what we're trying to achieve."

Television pundit Josh Windass expressed reservations about the way Wilder and his players celebrated in front of the away fans after Sunday's win. Others shared the ex-Wednesday striker's discomfort.

Wilder gave them short shrift.

"What can you do?" he replied. "How can you win? What do you want us to do? Just walk straight back down the tunnel? Just absolute nonsense in my opinion. We don't have to justify anything. We won a local derby."