Sheffield United’s huge transfer regret on full display as Charlton Athletic wreck Chris Wilder homecoming

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Sheffield United’s glaring mistake in the transfer window was laid bare against Charlton Athletic on Saturday afternoon.

Bramall Lane was packed out for the return of Chris Wilder for his third spell in charge of the Blades following the sacking of Ruben Selles after the Spaniard oversaw six defeats on the spin.

However, the party atmosphere for the club legend’s homecoming soon slipped into being another frustrating afternoon for the former Premier League outfit, who were wasteful with their chances and failed to put the Addicks to the sword.

Charlton officially spoiled the party bang on the 90th minute, as Isaac Tanto Olaofe fired home a pinpoint cross from James Bree to seal a 1-0 win. Those watching from the stands, and most likely in the Sheffield United dugout too, will have been thinking the same thing about their squad long before pandemonium erupted amongst the travelling south Londoners.

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Sheffield United will regret not keeping Kieffer Moore and missing out on Oli McBurnie

So far this season, United have scored just two goals in seven games in all competitions. The first came via Tyrese Campbell in the 4-1 loss against Bristol City, and then came Gustavo Hamer’s long-range strike against Birmingham City in their 2-1 Carabao Cup defeat.

Their lack of firepower is best summed up by Sheffield United having just one shot on target from inside the box against Charlton. In fact, the Blades have had six shots on target in the last 540 minutes of football.

It’s glaringly obvious that United are lacking in options up front. Campbell had little presence during the game with the Addicks, and was taken off for Tom Cannon with just over 15 minutes to go. The Blades appeared to be relying on Gustavo Hamer to give them any attacking outlet, but Charlton shut him out.

United sold Kieffer Moore to Wrexham this summer for around £2million, and he’s already scored five goals in seven appearances for his new club. Meanwhile, the Blades put in an official offer for former striker Oli McBurnie, but Hull City beat them to his signature. He’s also got off to a good start, scoring four in seven and leading the Championship in goal involvements with three goals and three assists.

United ended up signing free agent Danny Ings, who came on to play 12 minutes against Middlesbrough. He is currently injured.

Chris Wilder believes he won’t need much time to figure out his best Sheffield United XI

Wilder is waiting on the return of Ings as well as Oli Arblaster, Tom Davies, Jamie Shackleton.

He only came back to the club this week, but the boyhood Blades fan believes it won’t take him long to work out his best XI.

Asked after the Charlton defeat if it’ll take time to work out his best team, he said: “Not really. Gus[tavo Hamer] needs to play in that position because that’s the position he plays his best football in in my opinion. Young central midfield partnership – Sydie [Peck] had a fabulous season and needs to get back to his standards, [Alex] Matos is a young kid coming in to the football club so we’re a little bit light in experience there.

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“A new centre-back partnership, a new back four partnership. More work, more work, and even more work on the training ground. Chieo [Ogbene] showed good signs, I think [Tahith] Chong will be a good player for us. The game wasn’t lost from a tactical or shape point of view, it was lost from us and our decision making in the mid and final third and us conceding a really poor goal.”

Sheffield United next face Oxford United, who sit one place above them in the relegation zone on two points.