Slavisa Jokanovic tells Sheffield United to be calmer and more clinical

The former Chelsea midfielder lost his first competitive game in charge of the Blades 1-0 at home to Birmingham City in a game where they hit the post through Oliver Burke.

"We didn't perform badly," was Jokanovic's verdict on the game. "Definitely we weren't clinical and we didn't create enough good chances to score a goal.

"They scored a goal with their first shot.

"I'm of course disappointed with the result. We can't be happy because we didn't make our supporters happy but a lot of the things I tried we managed to do on the field without finalising the action.

"I tried with everything I have right now. In general it's not a question of being clinical or not, it's about being better.

"We showed a lot of the things I tried working on. I can't complain about pre-season. The Covid situation is not under my control. It's not time for me to start crying about referees, pre-season or anything like this.

"We didn't complete everything we had in mind (in pre-season) and none of my players played 90 minutes in pre-season.

"The players finished the game really tired but they showed their personality and character."

The Blades were only able to play two pre-season matches and none of the squad completed a game.

Jokanovic says he needs more time and signings, and the game showed as much.

"All people need time," he said. "We are disappointed with the result but not especially so with my performance today.

"When they scored the goal we are more or less in a good position but we made mistakes.

"It's after a long ball from the keeper and we expected they could damage us from throw-ins and set pieces.

"It's really important for us to believe and be a little bit more clinical.

"We are making plans to bring people in but tonight I am really thinking about my people. They did a lot of the things we asked them to. Tomorrow we can talk about new players because it was my plan before I came here (to make signings)."