Chris Wilder has chastised several of his Sheffield United players, claiming that a handful “wanted to get out” of their 4-1 loss to relegation rivals Burnley at Bramall Lane. Wilder questioned his team’s mentality after Johann Berg Gudmundsson scored the Clarets’ fourth goal just one minute after coming off the bench. As a result, the Blades are 10 points away from safety.
Sheffield United boss Chris Wilder has targeted several of his players who he believes “wanted to get out [of]” their heavy 4-1 defeat to relegation rivals Burnley on Saturday.
The result dropped the Blades to the bottom of the Premier League table, with just 16 points and five games remaining.
Wilder’s team are seven points behind Vincent Kompany’s 19th-placed Clarets and ten points from safety, with a return to the Championship all but certain.
Jacob Bruun Larsen and Lorenz Assignon put the visitors ahead 2-0 in Yorkshire, but Gustavo Hamer halved the deficit inside seven minutes of the second half.
Lyle Foster restored Burnley’s two-goal lead just six minutes later, before Johann Berg Gudmundsson’s fourth, which Wilder thinks was the turning point for several of his players, clinched an important victory for the Lancashire club, who are now fighting to stay up.
Wilder later admitted that the Blades’ season “has gone” and accepted their fate.
I’m not going to mention names, but there were a few players who wanted to get out there when the fourth came in. “I can’t accept that,” Wilder stated.
When they smelled blood and were big enough to go for it, we went down. Throughout the season, there have been a number of extremely awful goals. At the moment, pain is being felt throughout the football club, particularly among the supporters. But we can’t turn it in.
The division is too strong for us, individually and collectively. I’m not being defeatist; I’m being realistic, but the season has gone.
