latest wilder interview

[Revolution]

The issue with Lundstram that I don't understand is that one of Wilder's great strengths as a manager is to move on quickly if something isn't working for him.

He changed the way we play at the start of 2016-17, he has moved on everyone he signed in January, he was not afraid to drop the likes of George Long or Chris Hussey...

And yet despite the fact that Lundstram's inclusion generally has a detrimental effect on the teams results, and there are other options (e.g. Basham in midfield and Stearman at the back) Wilder keeps bringing Lundstram in to start when we have a midfield gap, and the results are poor. I find this odd.

 

[Laney Blade]

Sticking up for his players, nothing wrong with that. I'd expect nothing less

I totally agree Chris manages ALL the players in his squad brilliantly....not an easy task. So remember this when he tells sport's journalists fans anyone to do one !

 

[Laney Blade]

One man's not singling out Lundstram is another man's singling out John Fleck

Thought it was a fair question tbh, all he had to do was agree that a lot of players divide opinion and move on.

They may do but the negatives about his lads get right up his nose. Which is good....we don't want a loaf of amateurs/ fans affecting him. Chris is strong...if you don't like his decisions hard luck!

 

[Laney Blade]

Sticking up for his players, nothing wrong with that. I'd expect nothing less

Precisely.....& if anyone who disagrees with me wishes to start a character assassination on me feel free.. I know I'm a decent person as well as a loyal Blades supporter for 53 years. I have formed many opinions over more than half a century of supporting the Blades. The fact some spiteful people on here are aggressive towards me....a true Blade.....shows they are Blades second to their prejudices. The Blades & Chris Wilder's decisions must come first ! If folk don't like them it's just hard luck !

 

[Laney Blade]

You'd think so.....but what lay behind the journalist's question was what irritated Wilder (I think). You don't need to ask the most obvious questions to realise that Lundstram is probably never going to convince that segment of the supporters who are only happy when they have something to complain about. Personally I think we need an upgrade on Lunners. Give the fella credit, he tries, won't shirk a tackle, and just occasionally does something exceptionally well, but for all the effort he brings it's never going to be enough. The higher we go the more expectations rise, and he doesn't convince me that he has it within his locker to offer any more than we've already seen. A Premiership United will probably see just a few of the existing squad compete on a regular basis, but that's a question best left until we manage to get over the Premiership line.

The single most pressing question is our need for one or two attacking players to give us that edge we currently lack. We have the midfield, our defence looks quite solid (I'm not suggesting that it wouldn't improve with the addition of another quality player), and our 'keeper is quality (I realise he's currently on loan).

If Chris says I'm off the fans are vile & don't agree with me we could end up with a Brian Robson person ! So shut the fuck up!

 

[Laney Blade]

Wilder clearly feels that teams like ours are a victim of our peers not respecting FFP rules. He probably thinks that if enough clubs like ours shout loud enough for long enough then there’s a chance the governing bodies may eventually enforce their own laws, which would subsequently benefit Sheffield United.... I have no problem with Wilder doing anything to further the club’s interests.

If Wednesday (a club who have also got away with breaking FFP rules) fans don’t like it, I really don’t care and I’m surprised you do.

As for the Lundstram issue, I also thought he should have done better with the Lundstram question. He didn’t take the opportunity to praise him, or to justify his selection, he simply got annoyed and clammed up. Fair play to the new local journalist for asking that question. We have a thread on here related to our dreadful win / loss ratio with Lundstram starting, the negative trend is becoming difficult to ignore.

Unless you are a pro footie manager who sees all players every day. Chris isn't a sheep....fans can whinge & moan all they like but our strong manager will pick who he wants to play. End of

 

[itsinyerblood]

If Chris says I'm off the fans are vile & don't agree with me we could end up with a Brian Robson person ! So shut the fuck up!

What are you on about? There was nothing anti-Wilder in the post I wrote, yet you appear to have concluded that I'm attacking Wilder.

If we're to achieve promotion I believe it will be with Wilder as our manager. So it might be worth your while to calm down before you make claims that have no foundation.

 

[Tezza1889]

Got to be honest, I find Wilder very touchy and overly defensive in his interviews a lot of the time. Doesn't come across all that well.

I spoke to wilder about a player we missed out on before the start of last season, he was ok, then I asked if we didn’t have the money for him, he pulled a face stared at me and walked off.. he won’t tolerate probing where he has to commit himself on major issues like money or weather a player is up to it in your opinion, even if you work on radio..

You’re not his boss, or a football manager... and he knows how far a slipped word or two goes these days, hence the tranfers in the door now before anybody has a clue... smart guy.. we are lucky..

Just best if you get a selfie and say UTB....

 

[Jim Chimmerney]

They may do but the negatives about his lads get right up his nose. Which is good....we don't want a loaf of amateurs/ fans affecting him. Chris is strong...if you don't like his decisions hard luck!

It's nothing to do with not backing him or his players, this was a fair question which he saw his arse about. OK, he doesn't slag players off (generally) in public and quite rightly wouldn't want to be drawn into discussing a players' shortfalls but there's ways and means of dealing with it and answering the question with 'I'm not talking about it' isn't one IMO.

 

[Houston_Blade]

Just because he's a football manager should not mean that he allows fans to approach him on the street and ask stupid questions. Media types are fair enough and it's part of the job to deal with these people, but fans shouldn't do it as it puts him in an awkward position and probably makes him think "nothing to do with you, you nosey bastard".

That said he didn't react in a fantastic manner to the question posed but it's obviously something he feels passionate about and is trying to take the sting out of situation where he can see a fairly honest footballer turned into a scapegoat.

If someone saw you in a pub and asked why you'd done something at work that they aren't really qualified to talk about then they'd get the short shrift, football managers should be no different. If you feel some urge to talk to them to make you think you've had a brush with the rich and famous then just say something sensible.

 

[Jan Age]

His media presence needs some work. His bullishness is great when things are going well on the pitch but will quickly unravel in times of struggle when there are more difficult questions to answer (which he doesn’t like)

He seemed to lose his way a bit towards the end of last season when things were not going great and he would criticise the team straight after the game and then immediately take it back at the next available interview.

 

[Nicolaus_Copernicus]

Just because he's a football manager should not mean that he allows fans to approach him on the street and ask stupid questions. Media types are fair enough and it's part of the job to deal with these people, but fans shouldn't do it as it puts him in an awkward position and probably makes him think "nothing to do with you, you nosey bastard".

That said he didn't react in a fantastic manner to the question posed but it's obviously something he feels passionate about and is trying to take the sting out of situation where he can see a fairly honest footballer turned into a scapegoat.

If someone saw you in a pub and asked why you'd done something at work that they aren't really qualified to talk about then they'd get the short shrift, football managers should be no different. If you feel some urge to talk to them to make you think you've had a brush with the rich and famous then just say something sensible.

Fans have every right to approach him. We are the customer/consumer, he works for the service provider. It’s valauble feedback. Especially if his USP is being one of us. How he deals with them is the issue. To put it bluntly, we control his job prospects. I’d hate to think that he’s suddenly been elevated to a mixture of Louis XIV & Hirohito, and us mere mortals can’t speak/look/question him.

If someone questioned me about something, I’d be quite capable of explaining myself & defending my position, without getting arsey. If I felt that I couldn’t or that I’d been painted into a corner, possibly so.

Do you honestly think that CW and other managers have been sprinkled with magic dust that allows them to see & understand all aspects of the game of football totally diffently to the fans? We used to laugh at Adkins when he talked about certain players unseen work. It’s quite simple, at the present time JL is not good enough for us. Whether he is ever good enough is worth debating. As he is currently taking home somewhere between £250k and £500k a year off of the club I support & his presence in the team seems to coincide with us losing, it’s a debate worth having and an honest question of the manager.

I always smile when someone mentions age in an answer to a question. They think that there’re denying the point of question, but they’re inadvertently agreeing and trying to excuse the reason.

 

[Houston_Blade]

Fans have every right to approach him. We are the customer/consumer, he works for the service provider. It’s valauble feedback. Especially if his USP is being one of us. How he deals with them is the issue. To put it bluntly, we control his job prospects. I’d hate to think that he’s suddenly been elevated to a mixture of Louis XIV & Hirohito, and us mere mortals can’t speak/look/question him.

If someone questioned me about something, I’d be quite capable of explaining myself & defending my position, without getting arsey. If I felt that I couldn’t or that I’d been painted into a corner, possibly so.

Do you honestly think that CW and other managers have been sprinkled with magic dust that allows them to see & understand all aspects of the game of football totally diffently to the fans? We used to laugh at Adkins when he talked about certain players unseen work. It’s quite simple, at the present time JL is not good enough for us. Whether he is ever good enough is worth debating. As he is currently taking home somewhere between £250k and £500k a year off of the club I support & his presence in the team seems to coincide with us losing, it’s a debate worth having and an honest question of the manager.

I always smile when someone mentions age in an answer to a question. They think that there’re denying the point of question, but they’re inadvertently agreeing and trying to excuse the reason.

No, but at the same time I don't think he should be having a beer on a Saturday night with his mates and having needy bastards approaching him and asking stupid questions because they want to tell their pals they've just spoken to him. Grown ups shouldn't behave like this.

I get that he's the face of the club and blah blah blah but I've never understood this opinion of some fans that they think he should take half an hour out of his life to make them feel better about themselves. A quick nod and "keep up the good work" is fine. If the manager is shit then ignore them but don't tell them in a setting outside of a press conference that you know how to do their job better than them.

 

[super_pig]

The issue with Lundstram that I don't understand is that one of Wilder's great strengths as a manager is to move on quickly if something isn't working for him.

He changed the way we play at the start of 2016-17, he has moved on everyone he signed in January, he was not afraid to drop the likes of George Long or Chris Hussey...

And yet despite the fact that Lundstram's inclusion generally has a detrimental effect on the teams results, and there are other options (e.g. Basham in midfield and Stearman at the back) Wilder keeps bringing Lundstram in to start when we have a midfield gap, and the results are poor. I find this odd.

agreed.. Chris is brilliant at jettisoning bad buys.. he has no mercy. i can only speculate that perhaps he plays really well in training and Chris is hoping that at some point this will make it's way onto the pitch for the games

 

[super_pig]

If Chris says I'm off the fans are vile & don't agree with me we could end up with a Brian Robson person ! So shut the fuck up!

biggest blade of the year.. current frontrunner..

 

[nopigfansintown]

agreed.. Chris is brilliant at jettisoning bad buys.. he has no mercy. i can only speculate that perhaps he plays really well in training and Chris is hoping that at some point this will make it's way onto the pitch for the games

Maybe it already has made it onto the pitch for some games, including last Saturday.

 

[Bergen Blade]

The issue with Lundstram that I don't understand is that one of Wilder's great strengths as a manager is to move on quickly if something isn't working for him.

He changed the way we play at the start of 2016-17, he has moved on everyone he signed in January, he was not afraid to drop the likes of George Long or Chris Hussey...

And yet despite the fact that Lundstram's inclusion generally has a detrimental effect on the teams results, and there are other options (e.g. Basham in midfield and Stearman at the back) Wilder keeps bringing Lundstram in to start when we have a midfield gap, and the results are poor. I find this odd.

I think Wilder's reluctance on that solution are based on the following

• Basham adds a bit more pace to the back three, compared to Egan-Stearsman-O'Connell
• Basham starting in the back three allows us to switch to a back four without turning to substitutions
• Basham at the back gives us more going forward
• The other alternative to Basham at rcb, Cranie, is not yet match fit
• Playing Lundstram for Fleck meant only one change from the team that did so well vs Villa

I think we were fine first half with Lundstram included, but BC changing their shape at half time, strengthening their midfield and even more so with their substitutions, turned the game in their favour. We tried to counteract it with our substitutions and some tweaks, but it didn't really work.

 

[Revolution]

I think Wilder's reluctance on that solution are based on the following

• Basham adds a bit more pace to the back three, compared to Egan-Stearsman-O'Connell
• Basham starting in the back three allows us to switch to a back four without turning to substitutions
• Basham at the back gives us more going forward
• The other alternative to Basham at rcb, Cranie, is not yet match fit
• Playing Lundstram for Fleck meant only one change from the team that did so well vs Villa

I think we were fine first half with Lundstram included, but BC changing their shape at half time, strengthening their midfield and even more so with their substitutions, turned the game in their favour. We tried to counteract it with our substitutions and some tweaks, but it didn't really work.

If that was his thinking he underestimated how ponderous our build up play becomes with Lundstram in the side. That was the biggest problem. Even when Lundstram hits all of his passes, we are going backwards far too often.

 

[Bergen Blade]

If that was his thinking he underestimated how ponderous our build up play becomes with Lundstram in the side. That was the biggest problem. Even when Lundstram hits all of his passes, we are going backwards far too often.

Agree that it's something he needs to improve, but I think Wilder may have thought that he'd be able to be steady, and then it would be up to the quality of the other players, the ones minus one player who helped us score seven in the previous two games, to be our main creators. Second half I think most of our players sort of disappeared and the management also failed to come up with something that made us regain control of the match. Maybe a Fleck would have been able to make a difference, and maybe that's why people are looking at Lundstram, but accepting that he wasn't there, there were far more players that should share the "blame" for a disappointing second half.

 

[Baaaaaaa Blades]

Agree that it's something he needs to improve, but I think Wilder may have thought that he'd be able to be steady, and then it would be up to the quality of the other players, the ones minus one player who helped us score seven in the previous two games, to be our main creators. Second half I think most of our players sort of disappeared and the management also failed to come up with something that made us regain control of the match. Maybe a Fleck would have been able to make a difference, and maybe that's why people are looking at Lundstram, but accepting that he wasn't there, there were far more players that should share the "blame" for a disappointing second half.

Against Villa we showed that when the 3 Midfileders are on song , we as a team are fantastic . The speed of thought and quick fire plays /movement that Norwood/ Fleck and Duffy create just seems to make the whole team tick .

Since CW has come in and the 3-5-2 , we have had the fantastic triangle of duff/coutts / fleck and that holy trinity set us off - and then we struggled without Coutts's leg break and then Norwood came on the scene

we do not have not much pace but its the speed of thought and movement which is far more important and what these 3 (and Norwood now ) do

in our formation the 3 midfielders are key to most, if not all moves going forward , when the one replacing one of them is not as good and speed of thought isn't there , it does affect us massively

its not Lundstrams fault as such because the ones ahead of him are far better but he has got his uses but for me at this stage he should just be a sub to come on to help close a game down a la Villa

 

[GrayBlade]

no he didn't. But I kind of like the fact the new kid is prepared to ask a dodgy question or two!

Well he lost some ground with me when he asked Chris how he sells ‘Sheffield’ to prospective new players.

 

[RealMcCoy]

Listened to the audio link earlier today. Thought Chris’ response was legitimate. “Know what, I’m not gonna talk about that” or similar. That’s our Chris. That sort of response is part of what defines him. Doesn’t mean we’re all comfortable with it, least of all him, but trying to polish his media responses wouldn’t sit with his character.

Interestingly (or not) watched the video via iPlayer later and that bit seems to be missing.

 

[I should coco]

Wilder keeps bringing Lundstram in to start when we have a midfield gap, and the results are poor. I find this odd.

He sees him for several hours every day of the week. He has seen every game the lad has played for the first team and perhaps most of those for the U23s too. I'm not saying he's infallible, but he does tend to get most stuff right.

Maybe there's a reason why he's a successful football manager and you are a random internet poster (bit unfair that, as I enjoy many of your posts but I hope you get my drift).

 

[itsinyerblood]

He sees him for several hours every day of the week. He has seen every game the lad has played for the first team and perhaps most of those for the U23s too. I'm not saying he's infallible, but he does tend to get most stuff right.

Maybe there's a reason why he's a successful football manager and you are a random internet poster (bit unfair that, as I enjoy many of your posts but I hope you get my drift).

Overall good points coco...I'd imagine that Wilder doesn't worry too much about being faultless. Mistakes happen, it's how you deal with them that counts.

I think Lunny has had enough time to show what he's capable of bringing to the team. Wholehearted isn't enough, so unless there's a spectacular revelation skill-wise I can't see how JL can hope to become a key player for the side that Wilder is building. A pity because there's clearly skill in there, but it's not applied quickly and successfully enough.

 

[Balham]

Well he lost some ground with me when he asked Chris how he sells ‘Sheffield’ to prospective new players.

Either this is tongue in cheek or you didn't realise that the interviewer was referring to the city

 

[Revolution]

He sees him for several hours every day of the week. He has seen every game the lad has played for the first team and perhaps most of those for the U23s too. I'm not saying he's infallible, but he does tend to get most stuff right.

Maybe there's a reason why he's a successful football manager and you are a random internet poster (bit unfair that, as I enjoy many of your posts but I hope you get my drift).

No offence taken. I couldn't do Wilder's job, I'm sure.

But as you say he is not infallible, and when he played Evans and Lundstram in the centre with Fleck marginalised dozens of people with less experience than him who post here said that was the wrong decision, and they were right, because we lost twice like that. Wilder sold Evans and dropped Lundstram, proving the point. I still think playing Lundstram with other options available is the wrong decision and sadly our results tend to support this.

 

[finlaytheblade]

Fans have every right to approach him. We are the customer/consumer, he works for the service provider. It’s valauble feedback. Especially if his USP is being one of us. How he deals with them is the issue. To put it bluntly, we control his job prospects. I’d hate to think that he’s suddenly been elevated to a mixture of Louis XIV & Hirohito, and us mere mortals can’t speak/look/question him.

If someone questioned me about something, I’d be quite capable of explaining myself & defending my position, without getting arsey. If I felt that I couldn’t or that I’d been painted into a corner, possibly so.

Do you honestly think that CW and other managers have been sprinkled with magic dust that allows them to see & understand all aspects of the game of football totally diffently to the fans? We used to laugh at Adkins when he talked about certain players unseen work. It’s quite simple, at the present time JL is not good enough for us. Whether he is ever good enough is worth debating. As he is currently taking home somewhere between £250k and £500k a year off of the club I support & his presence in the team seems to coincide with us losing, it’s a debate worth having and an honest question of the manager.

I always smile when someone mentions age in an answer to a question. They think that there’re denying the point of question, but they’re inadvertently agreeing and trying to excuse the reason.

What doesn't he do that upsets you so much,at the moment he is a replacement for whoever is not available ,I've seen a lot worse pull on a blades shirt over the years you can't fault him for effort and if the manager plays him on the back of that !! It's the manager you should take to task or are you scared all the Wilder .lovers will shout you down ?.

 

[JohnDenver]

The issue with Lundstram that I don't understand is that one of Wilder's great strengths as a manager is to move on quickly if something isn't working for him.

He changed the way we play at the start of 2016-17, he has moved on everyone he signed in January, he was not afraid to drop the likes of George Long or Chris Hussey...

And yet despite the fact that Lundstram's inclusion generally has a detrimental effect on the teams results, and there are other options (e.g. Basham in midfield and Stearman at the back) Wilder keeps bringing Lundstram in to start when we have a midfield gap, and the results are poor. I find this odd.

I’m not sure it’s that odd. If players like Norwood were readily available we’d have probably ditched Lundstram already. But we have to have backup, and it’s rare a club’s reserves are all of the standard of the first XI.

It’s up to Lundstram to improve before we can find and/or afford better. He could yet do that.

 

[Pollingtonblade]

His media presence needs some work. His bullishness is great when things are going well on the pitch but will quickly unravel in times of struggle when there are more difficult questions to answer (which he doesn’t like)

He seemed to lose his way a bit towards the end of last season when things were not going great and he would criticise the team straight after the game and then immediately take it back at the next available interview.

He also said some stuff after the Middlesbrough game around transfers then changed his stance 2 days later prior to QPR.

 

[GrayBlade]

Either this is tongue in cheek or you didn't realise that the interviewer was referring to the city

Yes, you’ve saved yourself from a WHOOOSH moment. I was just preempting.