Alious**Chris Wilder Slams “Unrecognisable” Sheffield United Despite Win: “We Didn’t Deserve Anything”**
Chris Wilder didn’t sugarcoat his assessment of Sheffield United’s narrow victory over Portsmouth, openly admitting: **“We didn’t deserve anything from the game.”** Despite securing all three points, the Blades were outplayed for large stretches, leaving their manager frustrated with both the performance and the warning signs it exposed as the promotion race heats up.
**Blades Escape After Portsmouth Dominance**
While Sheffield United remain firmly in the promotion hunt, their display against relegation-battling Portsmouth raised more concerns than celebrations. The match began brightly with Gus Hamer opening the scoring, but that was as good as it got for United in the first half. Pompey responded quickly, equalizing and creating a slew of golden chances. They missed **two open goals**, rattled the crossbar through Josh Murphy’s thunderous effort, and forced United’s goalkeeper Michael Cooper into a critical point-blank save.
Things didn’t improve much after the break. Portsmouth had a goal disallowed for offside, and United continued to look second-best. It wasn’t until substitutes **Rhian Brewster** and **Jesurun Rak-Sakyi** combined late on that the Blades snatched an unlikely winner.
**Wilder’s Brutal Assessment: “We Have to Be So Much Better”**
Known for his no-nonsense style, Wilder didn’t hold back post-match. Drawing comparisons to Sir Alex Ferguson’s famous bluntness, Wilder said:
> **“We were second best all over the park. We should’ve been two or three down at halftime. If they’d been more clinical, they’d have buried us.”**
While he stopped short of Ferguson’s infamous “disgraceful” rant after Aberdeen’s 1983 Scottish Cup win, Wilder made it clear that United’s performance was far from acceptable:
> **“I’m not quite at that extent, and we haven’t won a cup, but we need to be better. This is a cut-throat industry. We’ll review the game, reflect, and move on quickly because performances like that won’t get us promoted.”**
**”Unrecognisable” Decisions and Defensive Frailty**
Wilder was particularly baffled by the defensive lapses and poor decision-making throughout the game.
> **“Some of the decisions we made were baffling. The number of free-kicks we gave away in the second half was absolutely frightening. It was unrecognisable.”**
He emphasized that individual errors, coupled with shaky team defending, nearly cost them dearly.
> **“We defended really poorly, both as individuals and as a unit. That’s something we’ll have to address immediately because against better opposition, we won’t be so lucky.”**
**Winning Ugly—But Is It Sustainable?**
While Sheffield United have made a habit of grinding out results even when not at their best, Wilder acknowledged that this approach isn’t sustainable with promotion rivals **Leeds United, Burnley, and Sunderland** breathing down their necks.
> **“In a season, you have 10 or 15 games where you play really well, a few more where you’re solid, and a handful where you think, ‘How did we get away with that?’ This was one of those games.”**
**Eyes on the Prize—But Big Improvements Needed**
As the Championship season heads into its critical phase, Wilder knows that performances like this won’t be enough to secure automatic promotion.
> **“If we want to achieve what we set out to, we’ve got to be so much better down the stretch. No spin, no excuses—we simply weren’t good enough today.”**
United fans will hope this brutal honesty sparks the response needed to stay ahead in the promotion race. Otherwise, the warning signs from Portsmouth could prove costly in the long run.
Alious
