Weir seeking positives after McDonald’s exit

The 24-year-old Scottish midfielder left for Wolverhampton Wanderers on Wednesday in a reported £750,000 move.

It has given Weir a headache, but the Blades manager is determined to stay optimistic and has thrown down the challenge for one of McDonald’s former club-mates to step forward and grab their chance.

“We have got to use it as a positive, as an opportunity for someone to come in and fill the gap,” said Weir, whose side host Colchester United at Bramall Lane today.

“With Kevin not being there on Saturday, they can grab that opportunity.

“You have to be positive, why be negative? Why make it worse than what it is. You find the positive, and the positive for me it’s an opportunity for someone else.”

McDonald was playing off the lone striker, but Weir has to now decide whether to persevere with that tactic, or opt for two forwards.

“Every player is different, and has different attributes,” he said. “We could play two up front, there are lots of permutations. That’s part of our job as coaches to be able to adapt, be able to adjust.”

After impressing with an opening win over Notts County, the Blades slumped to a 3-1 loss at Brentford last weekend and Weir warned lessons must be learned.

“I was disappointed at Brentford because we lost the game,” he said. “There were obvious errors which we need to work on, mistakes for the goals which were quite obvious.

“They can’t continue to happen and we have addressed that. There were positives too, we shouldn’t forget that.

“Colchester are a good team and have started the season really well. We have watched them, they have got talent and we know there are areas where they can cause us problems. On the other side of that, we would like to think we have players that will cause them problems so it will be a tough game.”