Chris Wilder gives ‘credit’ for ‘brave’ Plymouth Argyle, ‘tough watch’ expected for Sheffield United

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Two sides at opposite ends of the Championship table meet at Home Park on Saturday lunchtime, as Plymouth Argyle host Sheffield United.

The Blades have since seen their top-two hopes take a major hit, having suffered back-to-back defeats for the first time since October. They haven’t lost three in a row outside of the Premier League since December 2017.

Position	Team	Played MP	Won W	Drawn D	Lost L	For GF	Against GA	Diff GD	Points Pts
1	LeedsLeeds	41	24	13	4	80	28	52	85
2	BurnleyBurnley	41	23	16	2	55	12	43	85
3	Sheff UtdSheffield Utd	41	26	7	8	56	31	25	83
4	SunderlandSunderland	41	21	13	7	57	37	20	76
5	Bristol CityBristol City	41	16	15	10	53	44	9	63
6	CoventryCoventry	41	18	8	15	58	53	5	62

Plymouth head back to Home Park on Saturday aiming to keep their slim hopes of Championship survival alive following a midweek defeat to Swansea City. It could be a pivotal match for them, too. Both sides have endured a difficult week in the Championship and need to bounce back quickly.

Sheffield United’s Chris Wilder will be eyeing a response after a disappointing start to the month. Both Wilder and Tyrese Campbell won awards for the month of March, though. They now need a final push to ‘get over the line’ ahead of Burnley and Leeds United.

• READ MORE: Championship title race set for surprising outcome as supercomputer decides between Burnley, Leeds, and Sheffield United

Chris Wilder’s Plymouth Argyle verdict provides Miron Muslic with hope

The omens are not good for the home side. Plymouth have lost seven of their last eight meetings with Sheffield United in all competitions. The Pilgrims have lost each of their last five matches against the Blades in a row as well.

Plymouth have won three of their last six home league games, though, which will offer some hope. The reverse fixture ended 2-0 but Wayne Rooney’s side impressed for much of the game, with Wilder caused some problems.

That has to be the blueprint again, although the away side will be more aware of the challenge to come. Speaking post-match in December via Plymouth Live, Wilder said: “It was a tough watch for myself, the coaches and the supporters.

“I think it sums Championship football up in a nutshell. We would be very rich if we could predict every result in this division and every performance. We have got to give credit to Wayne and his coaching staff because they were the better side first half, without a shadow of a doubt.

“I blame myself, maybe we should have made more changes but I wanted that team to go again. I think it shows you when we miss a couple of players it really does stretch us.”

He added: “I think we have had to work hard – myself, Alan [Knill] and the coaches right the way through the game, especially at half-time in terms of changing the shape because they bounced it out too easy. They were more mobile and had more energy in their team.

“We didn’t get the press right so we had to change it around a little bit tactically. We were never unbelievably comfortable because Michael [Cooper] has had to make a save.

“We just lacked energy. Tactically we changed it around, we had to earn our money at half-time, and I thought we had the better moments without feeling incredibly safe. We got off to a good start but they were dangerous.

“They were the better team than us, they created the better chances, they controlled possession, they moved us about too much. We couldn’t get the press right, we couldn’t jump onto their six, our sixes were too stretched, we didn’t get up the pitch enough.

“Then when we broke it up their press was better than ours and we just turned it over too many times. Our quality wasn’t very good, but we are here to try to help the players as coaches and managers to make it a little bit easier and straightforward.

So going man-for-man, and jumping on their six, I think it made it more difficult for them to get out and break our press. I thought we got that better second half. I’m not saying we created clear-cut chances, I’m not saying it should have been two, three and four, but we felt a lot more comfortable even though not safe until we got the penalty. So credit to them.

“Part of that we will look in terms of our energy, our performance, the way we gave the ball away cheaply, the poor decisions we made in possession, but I think you have got to give the opposition a lot of credit because of the way they set up, they were brave and the way they played. If they do that to us, they will do that to other teams and that away win won’t be a long time to come.”

• READ MORE: Gary Neville fires warning to Leeds and Sheffield United with ‘one thing’ they’ll be punished for in Premier League

Plymouth Argyle have to win against Sheffield United

Something that may play into Wilder’s hands is the fact Plymouth simply have to win this football match. Miron Muslic’s men cannot afford to drop points in such a home game to apply pressure to the teams above them.

That should open the game up for Sheffield United to hurt them in transition, with numerous threats on the counter-attack. Argyle cannot sit back and try to nick it, even if that would ordinarily be the game plan if this game was played earlier in the season.

The need for points is far too apparent, with Opta predicting a 98.32% chance the Pilgrims go down. That would shift with a viral win in one of their most difficult remaining games of the relegation run-in.

We had a stab at predicting the points needed to survive recently, with Plymouth’s current projection far below what is required. A huge win over the Blades could be just the tonic to turn their season around with four games to go, especially if they perform as well as they did in the reverse fixture.