Familiar failings haunt Sheffield United once again as big Everton difference laid bare

As he dragged himself away from the excellent Sheffield United supporters in the Goodison Park away end and made his way to the media suite to discuss his side’s defeat at Everton, Chris Wilder found himself discussing a familiar story. The same old failings came back to hurt his toothless Blades on Merseyside.

United trailed to Abdoulaye Doucouré but it wasn’t all one-way traffic as the visitors enjoyed some bright moments of their own, Andre Brooks testing Jordan Pickford’s handling and Cameron Archer seeing, and squandering, a couple more sights of goal as his forgettable United career reaches its final throes. If Ollie Watkins, soon to be his Villa teammate again, was watching this one, he won’t have many sleepless nights about his place next season when Archer returns to the midlands.

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There were similarities to the recent games against Newcastle and Nottingham Forest and Burnley, in terms of the lack of quality in front of goal. At least the defence looked more solid than recent weeks, when they have collapsed quicker than Dominic Calvert-Lewin did here from Jack Robinson’s shove. A different frustration, but frustration all the same.

“I’m not speaking through rose-tinted glasses, but I didn’t think it was one-way traffic,” boss Wilder said. “We certainly had enough opportunities to get something from the game as an away side if we executed them. But yet again, we haven’t taken something from the game. Listen, there were plenty of resolve and fight and grit, which doesn’t have to be applauded. It’s standard and should be, not just as a Sheffield United player, but as a professional footballer.

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“They’ve had opportunities and we have and yet again, as I keep saying, they executed their chance and got themselves in front and had opportunities to extend that. We stuck and hung in there, but ultimately, we haven’t enough quality to get ourselves back in the game and get something from the game.”

There will be thousands of words written about United’s sorry 2023/24 season but that last sentence from Wilder did a pretty good job of summing it up in a nutshell. “I think from game one right the way through to game 37, it has been,” he agreed. “It was last week, against Forest. I’ve looked at the previous eight games as well and there’s some scorelines there and I am thinking ‘how have we not got more than four points from those eight away games. Crystal Palace, Wolves, Man United, Liverpool…

“Listen, there’s all different types of games in there in terms of standard of the league. But I wouldn’t have been shocked if we’d got more results in those fixtures. The Newcastle one… We keep saying the same thing, whether it’s belief, personality or maybe it’s just individual quality that makes the difference. You can possibly put it in all three categories.”