Sheffield United took on Steve Cotterill’s Birmingham City side on the weekend in a game which the Blades dominated and deserved to claim all 3 points from.
Blades boss Chris Wilder was not shy about praising his in-form team as he spoke after the match as reported by The Star saying:
“How far we’ve come, I don’t want it to stop and I don’t think the players want it to stop. If you walked into that dressing room, there’s a lot of really disappointed players in there.
“They can be disappointed a bit but nobody else can because of the way they’ve tried to drive it forward.
“I don’t think it will stop with the way they are playing. Consistently, they are producing some really good performances in a tough division. Results will follow if they keep the standards as high as they are.”
United’s Leon Clarke with his 9th goal in only 4 games for the Blades made sure United’s forward thinking and exciting brand of football was rewarded with a point.
United drew 1-1 with Birmingham who have a much bigger budget for transfers and a bigger wage bill but you saw no gulf in class between the two sides despite the fact that the Midlands outfit splashed the cash in the summer when Harry Redknapp was in charge and oversaw the spending of over £20 million in the summer transfer window.
Birmingham are still only in 21st position in the Championship only 2 points clear of the relegation places so Steve Cotterill who replaced Redknapp has a big job on his hands.
Chris Wilder went on to say “Whether it’s me not being able to manage at this level because I’ve not done it before, whether it’s the video analysis guy not being able to do his job properly because this is the Championship or the players not being able to score goals or keep clean sheets, these are all things to dispel. You do that by working hard.
“We’re actually not bothered about proving people wrong or anything like that. We just want to go about our business and be as successful as we can.
“I can think of a lot more places where we could have been at this time of year than at Bramall Lane, playing against Birmingham City in front of the television cameras and 27,000 supporters. There’s not a lot wrong at this football club.”
Former Blade Che Adams was not a factor in the game as he only came on as a substitute in the 87th minute for Jeremie Boga so that would have been satisfying for the Blades boss and his players to not have Adams help the Blues to win.
Steve Cotterill was very complementary about the Blades too as he said: “Sheffield United are on a great run of form, they have a good team spirit and way of playing and you’ll always be a success if you have that.
“Bramall Lane is a tough place to come with a big crowd, and in the end it’s a really good point for us I’d say.”
So Sheffield United have solidified their hold on 3rd place in the Championship and they are only 7 points behind leaders Wolves on 44 points and just 3 points behind 2nd place Cardiff City on 40 points with Aston Villa in 4th just 2 points behind the Blades.
The Blades face an away trip to play Millwall in their next game and they can expect a total football examination from the 19th placed club who are notoriously tough to play against at their home ground The Den.