Much like Sheffield United themselves, we need someone with the requisite knowledge to take us through what’s gone wrong, so please welcome guest author and Sheffield United fan, David Coleman.

David founded independent music and film website, noripcord.com, in 1999 and currently blogs about music over on Substack at The Perfect Prescription.

Over to you, David, for a first-ever Joeninho guest post.

The Rubén Sellés era came to a sudden and rather dramatic end the weekend before last following a hard-to-watch (unless you’re an Ipswich Town fan) capitulation at Portman Road. As the well-worn cliché goes, football is a results-driven business, and the damning truth is that Sellés failed to achieve a single point at the helm of a side that notched up 92 points last season.

Talk of vertical football, transitions, and an intense press sounded more delusional by the week. In fact, by the end of his reign, he had the dubious honour of having managed a team that scored more goals against Sheffield United in one game (three, with Hull City last season) than the Blades managed throughout his entire tenure.

It feels an awful long time ago, but there was a short period on the opening day of the season, against Bristol City, where United looked electric. The front five were pinging the football around in search of an opening, pressing intensely, and looking genuinely menacing. When Tyrese Campbell scored, I assumed the game was as good as over. United would take over, storm the Championship, and Sellés would become a folk hero in South Yorkshire: Pep Guardiola with a dash of Hendo’s. Instead, Bristol City breached a shambolic Blades defence three more times, leaving Sellés to channel his inner Phil Brown for a post-match dressing down on the Bramall Lane turf.

The remarkable thing is, United created numerous chances and looked dangerous in the final third during that first match. On another day, against less clinical opposition, it could have been a thrilling three points—the xG stats demonstrate as much. But the cruel nature of that Bristol City defeat seemed to force Sellés into a much more conservative mindset. In hindsight, he made a gross overcorrection after this game, which culminated in United signing approximately 25 centre-backs—and whatever Ben Godfrey—is before Transfer Deadline Day. Free-flowing cavalier football gave way to a constipated stodge as the Blades seemingly forgot how to piece together an effective attack overnight. They would not score another league goal under Sellés.

The Spaniard’s predecessor, Chris Wilder—more on him shortly—communicated in a simpler language. Out run, out fight, out play. Well, they certainly didn’t outrun Bristol City (1-4), Middlesbrough (0-1) or Ipswich Town (0-5). And they have been consistently outfought, most evidently by bigger, stronger, more streetwise teams, like Millwall. Under Sellés, United were ranked 18/24 in successful tackles—a huge concern for a side at the foot of the table. Sellés attempted to apply a positive spin at times, but the Blades only outplayed the opposition for brief periods: 25 minutes against Bristol City and 20 against Ipswich. That’s all. They rank bottom of the league for goals scored, goals conceded, and shots on target.

Having sold the imperious (at Championship level, at least) Vinicius Souza to Wolfsburg in the summer, Sellés was undoubtedly left short of available bodies in the midfield. I say available, because the classy Tom Davies and prodigiously talented Oliver Arblaster were both out injured for his entire tenure. Prior to the Ipswich game, Sellés opted to employ 21-year-old Sydie Peck as a single pivot behind a more advanced pairing of Gus Hamer and Callum O’Hare. Aside from an ill-fated attempt to convert Tom Cannon into a winger, the width has been provided by Louie Barry and Andre Brooks—both forward-thinking players who lack a physical presence. Peck has predictably been left isolated. Consequently, he’s been a popular target for abuse, which is unjust and unfair.

Peck’s individual statistics support my hypothesis that he’s been placed in an impossible role, tasked with protecting a relatively weak front five. Now don’t get me wrong, I enjoy watching Callum O’Hare, but it feels like he’s been knocked to the ground more times than Tyrese Campbell has touched the ball this season.

While the sample size is small, it’s clear that Peck has stepped up to meet the challenge. His tackles won % has risen to be close to Souza’s from last season, and he is winning more duels. He’s also making more recoveries and interceptions than Souza did last year, which is particularly impressive. And he’s achieved this without his pass accuracy and chance creation dropping. Now, of course, you can argue that the opportunity to win tackles and duels is greater in a struggling side, and you’d be right. But what I’ve seen watching Peck is a talented young player trying his hardest to hold a fractured midfield together. It was no surprise, by the way, that he looked much more assured with the energetic and ever-so-slightly nasty Alex Matos alongside him in that short-lived hopeful spell at Ipswich. He’ll be a better player for this difficult experience.

If Chris Wilder’s surprise sacking seemed bizarre at the time, it looks like a blunder of catastrophic proportions in retrospect. In many ways, it makes sense for United’s inexperienced owners COH Sports to reverse the decision—Wilder knows the club, has a relationship with the players, and his formula was successful, even if his football wasn’t always thrilling last season. There is a concern that Sheffield United just can’t shake its obsession with its best manager this century (with respect to Neil Warnock), but it seems, by and large, the safest bet.

But I am uncertain as to whether Wilder can turn the ship around quickly enough to have a shot at promotion. On paper, United appear to have a top-six squad, but as the chastening defeat to Charlton Athletic in Wilder’s first game back demonstrated, confidence is fragile. And don’t forget, the Championship is a notoriously competitive and unpredictable division.

If Wilder is to be successful, he will need to maximise the impact of his key player, Gus Hamer. Last year, Hamer—the Championship Player of the Year, no less—was frequently utilised on the left flank, from where he would drift inside to create chances for himself and teammates. He was thrilling to watch and linked up fantastically with Harrison Burrows, who was also excellent. Both have been muted this season. Under Sellés, Hamer managed just one shot on target in 5 league games and had a total xG of just 0.21. It was odd to see Sellés benching his star player in the must-win game against Ipswich, but the stats offer some insight into why he—an analyst by background, don’t forget—took that bold decision.

In Wilder’s first game back, Hamer was brighter. While his xG was only 0.09, he looked more involved on the left side of the three behind Campbell. Wilder will want to see Hamer having more than the 64 touches he managed, but he was far from the subdued, peripheral figure we saw in the Swansea City away game, where he totalled a meagre 32 touches. If Hamer can match last season’s levels, and if Arblaster and Davies can return to fitness and stay fit, Sheffield United still have the slimmest of chances of sneaking into the playoff conversation. But their fortunes must change soon, starting with Oxford City away—the place where their automatic promotion hopes suffered such a damaging blow last season.