Chris Wilder reacts as Sheffield United put one foot in play-off final

The Star, Sheffield

Chris Wilder reacts as Sheffield United put one foot in play-off final with victory over Bristol City. Speaking to BBC Radio Sheffield

Transcript

00:00A really professional performance, everybody played the part.

00:03I saw a glint in the eyes as I talked about after the Burnley game,

00:06really focused, ready for this.

00:09The game was what the game was going to be, in my opinion,

00:13off the back of them doing really well to get into the playoffs

00:18and knowing that they'd come out of the traps and press

00:21and there'd be an energy about them, there'd be a sharpness about them,

00:24backed by a vociferous passionate home support.

00:27And we had to get through that first 10-15 minutes.

00:32I thought we'd got us noses in front with the goal

00:37in terms of the way that came about.

00:43I think it's a bit of a contentious decision yet again on that

00:47and a good bit of play to us to get ourselves in front of the game

00:52because that's good centre-forward play.

00:56Tyrese flicks it on.

00:59Kiefer sticks his body in the way, he's just about to pull the trigger

01:02and he just gets ragged all over the place.

01:03So I've got to say, I don't know where all they're moaning and groaning at.

01:07They're all surrounding the ref and getting after the ref.

01:10But as far as I'm concerned, it was the correct decision.

01:13He's an experienced referee, he let a lot of things go.

01:16It was a competitive championship game and they've made the mistake, not us.

01:22Then off the back of that, it was about patience, seeing what their shape was

01:25when they came out at half-time, how would they go about it.

01:28And then knowing that maybe we'd get an opportunity to be clinical when we had those opportunities

01:38and we certainly were.

01:39And yeah, of course, I'm delighted that we've got a three-goal lead.

01:43But it's still a hell of a lot of work to go into this.

01:47There must be a full house at Bramall Lane.

01:49There must be a full house at Bramall Lane for this team, in my opinion.

01:54Because it's not going to be that Tuesday night when we played them.

01:59When it's, no disrespect, when you're playing the teams that maybe don't bring an awful lot

02:04on a Tuesday night and it's a little bit cold and this, that and the other.

02:07This is Bramall Lane, hopefully, at our best, like it was against Coventry,

02:10like it was in the Derby, like it was against Leeds, like it was against Middlesbrough

02:14and giving the players the energy to push them on to, hopefully, a Wembley appearance.

02:20Because we've all seen stories in the past of games overturned, haven't we?

02:24Football's a strange game and it is half a job done, half a job done well, but half a job done.

02:29Absolutely.

02:30I think you've seen with my approach tonight, we were into the players straight away,

02:34up to our punters who were outstanding and then straight in.

02:38Been in the game long enough, said in the presser before,

02:41been in the game long enough, got too much respect for the game,

02:43got too much respect for what can happen in the game.

02:48So many times, if you, you know, try and shortcut anything, you're going to get hurt

02:52and we intend not to get hurt, we're back in tomorrow.

02:56We'll reflect, we'll do all the preparation we need and we need another big performance

02:59and from everybody, like I said, you know, it's not many times I really ask for,

03:05because I don't need to ask for, but Bram Lane rocking on a Monday night

03:09and showing everybody that this club is connected and it's together

03:14and supporting the boys and giving the energy to the players

03:17that their punters have given their boys tonight is an absolute must for me.

03:22So you had to show different sides of tonight, of your game, haven't you?

03:25Because the two halves are quite different tactically, the red card changed it a bit.

03:29First half was kind of end-to-end, second half you had to show your patience

03:32and then got a couple of late goals.

03:33We've had the two best chances though, so we knew what the game was going to be.

03:36You know, they risk, they play that shape, they play it well, but they leave gaps.

03:42Tyrese should score, I think there was another opportunity, Kiefer should possibly score as well.

03:48So what is it? Is it a game of shape or is it a game of sticking the ball in the back of net

03:51and creating big chances? So that's how people rock up and I've got no issue about that,

03:55but I thought the game plan was good. We knew that it was going to be a high press,

03:59so Kiefer and Ty were major problems for their back three and I thought Kiefer was outstanding.

04:07Ty stretched the game, I think he'll be a bit disappointed that he's not scored.

04:11We get ourselves in front by a good bit of play, so, you know, there's the balance.

04:16You know, I want us to play progressive football, but I want us to win games of football.

04:20And yeah, of course, the sending off has changed the direction of the game,

04:25but that ain't my fault that somebody comes in and takes somebody out as he's just about to shoot.

04:30In terms of the disallowed goal in the first half, what was the explanation given to you?

04:33He said that I think it was City was affecting the boy clearing it off the line.

04:36So, you know, it didn't seem that way. I didn't have enough time at halftime to sort of deal with that.

04:44I was more interested in, you know, getting into the players and talking about being clean and being super professional.

04:50And I thought they were, I thought second half were a real professional performance.

04:53We moved the ball around, we moved it from side to side, we stretched them.

04:57They didn't have any opportunity to get back into the game.

05:00And then sometimes, you know, when you're playing against a team that absolutely just sits in,

05:04which I would have done and tries to counter, you have to be patient.

05:09You have to try and break them down. And we managed to do that.

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