Chris Wilder found a rotten climate when he came home three years ago. "The players hated the fans, the fans hated the players," he described the condition of Sheffield United when he took over as coach in May 2016.
The traditional club from the old steelworkers stronghold was as bad since since the early eighties, the third league season had just finished in eleventh place. Wilder, born in Sheffield, a fan of his childhood and an active player in the club, had a difficult task ahead of him. He should lead his home club out of depression.
What an amazing job the 52-year-old did was on Saturday afternoon, and to be heard. "Millions of people from all over the world are watching this game!" Shouted the stadium spokesman for Bramall Lane ahead of the match against
Liverpool . The spectators were so loud at scoring chances that even steel would tremble. And when the team
said goodbye to
Jürgen Klopp's Champions League winner
after the unfortunate 0: 1 draw, the crowd roared: "United! United! United!" Where once hatred was, there are defiance and confidence now.
Return after twelve years
The expected defeat to the flawless leader of the league does not change the remarkable South Yorkshire homeland story with Wilder in the lead role. Within three years he has led the club from the third division to the
Premier League . After twelve years of absence, the Blades are back in the league, watched by millions around the world. Where they belong in their own opinion.
The start of the season was encouraging for the club from the Steel City. There were victories against
Crystal Palace and
Everton and a
Chelsea victory with a 2-2 defeat 0-2 down. Also against Liverpool, the team showed that it is "forged from steel", as the club motto says, and has chances of relegation. Sheffield kept the match open until the end, with only one mistake from
Manchester United- borrowed goalkeeper Dean Henderson making the difference. He let a shot by Georginio Wijnaldum slip through his legs.
Wilder trusts the British block
Coach Wilder came back home through various lower league clubs and is a special guy. With his gray hair, round face and black track suit, he fits the cliché of the British oldschool coach. This fits his brutal honesty and his worker attitude. He is not one who praises his players for giving everything. That's the least for him, he also makes that clear in interviews. The composition of his team completes the cliché. Wilder trusts almost exclusively British. The starting eleven against Liverpool consisted of five Englishmen, three Irishmen, two Scots and one Northern Irishman.
But the coach is more than what is called in England a "proper football man", so a warhorse of conservative character. He is an innovator who can even compete with
Pep Guardiola . As the data service Opta has calculated, of all clubs in the first four English leagues only Manchester City has won more than Sheffield United since the beginning of the season 2016/2017. Wilder won the election for coach of the year in the spring before Guardiola.
Defeats taken with humor
The biggest innovation of the homecomers are the center-backs, who keep getting involved in the attack, as do full-backs. They overtake the midfield on the left and on the right side, in some cases reaching the opposing base line, thus creating overpower situations on the wings. With this maneuver the "Blades" mix up the Premier League. The "Overlapping Center Backs" could also be a hipster band that made it to the main stage of a big festival, the portal "The Athletic" recently wrote.
The crowd at Bramall Lane enjoys the Premier League (while city rivals Sheffield Wednesday are stuck in second division) and also takes defeats with humor. When Liverpool's fans sang their team towards the end as "Champions of Europe," they responded, "Champions of League One, you'll never sing that."
The local spectators left with confidence in the gray afternoon to be able to keep up with the best team on the continent. Also Wilder certainly took with him positive findings from the game. Or?
He sat on the stage in the press room with a serious face and said, "If we had a bit more quality we could have beaten the European Cup winner and we missed a golden opportunity." That his players give everything, that's the least for him.
m.spiegel.de
