Sheffield United won't miss "dark arts" in Premier League after shameful Spurs example and "bonkers" call

The Premier League is widely regarded as the best in the world by managers, players and officials but there are elements of it that Sheffield United certainly won’t miss when they return to the Championship next season. There will be, for the time being at least, no VAR. A more even playing field on the pitch. And none, or certainly far less, of the “dark arts” that top sides have become so adept at utilising.

That isn’t to say that United haven’t been cute at times, going down at the right time or wasting a bit of time when it suits them, but they are still some way off the sort of unsavoury scenes we’ve seen week after week in the top-flight this season. The latest came on the final day against Spurs in a moment that will have gone unnoticed to the wider media but certainly wasn’t missed by Unitedites on the Kop.

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It came in the second half when Spurs goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario, who had incensed Blades fans by needlessly shoving United defender Auston Trusty three or four times in the build-up to a Jack Robinson long-throw, was brushed with the slightest contact from Cameron Archer and fell theatrically, and hilariously, to the deck. Of course it drew a baffling foul but even ref Andy Madley seemed to take exception to the dramatics, judging by a quiet word with the Spurs goalkeeper and his nonplussed reaction afterwards.

It wouldn’t be right if United’s time in the Premier League went by without some more VAR drama and it duly arrived later on when sub Andre Brooks was adjudged to have barged into Son Heung-min a little too forcefully at a Spurs corner, and was shown a red card. It was difficult to see exactly what Madley had seen, since he appeared to be looking away at the time and the ‘incident’ occurred in a crowd of players. After a VAR check he was sent to his screen and the decision was overturned.

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"I think there's the dark arts and nobody seems to be that bothered about it,” said manager Chris Wilder afterwards, the Blades boss absolving his opposite number Ange Postecoglou for any responsibility for his side’s antics. “I've got to say, I don't think it comes from the manager.

“I think it just comes from the individual players and the environment they've been brought up in, that it goes unnoticed and it's the natural thing to do. You have to accept it when you're in the Premier League. The last time we were in the Premier League it was exactly the same. It's not for me.

"You have a decision to make from a coaching point of view. The manager's a great guy, I've followed his team and his career right the way through, at Celtic and in London. I think he's spot on, a straight guy, and I'm not sure he's advocating that but this is what you have to put up with.”

On the VAR overturn, Wilder added: "I just can't believe the referee made such a quick decision. Every other decision takes forever. Every other offside he's let go. On Sunday a couple of our offsides late on, the flag goes straight up. The decision on Brooks, it felt like he couldn't wait to get his red card out and then he's overturned his own decision. It's bonkers.”