Chris Wilder reacts to Sheffield United 3, Middlesbrough 1

The Star, Sheffield

Speaking to BBC Radio Sheffield

Transcript

00:00Chris, how good were your team tonight?

00:02Yeah, good, really good. Good feel about it from the off, reviewed and reflected after

00:07the weekend and they've come roaring back so I'm delighted. The response, not that it

00:14was doom and gloom, incredibly doom and gloom, I think that was five games out of six that

00:18we've won, but they're an honest bunch and we're an honest coaching staff and a manager

00:24when it has to be said, it has to be said, but they've taken on board how we wanted to

00:29play. That was more us tonight, a real good feel about it. I thought round the ground

00:33was excellent as well. There was no real nervousness about our performance and no real nervousness

00:40around the stadium. We controlled possession, our out of possession work was excellent.

00:45We got the press absolutely spot on. We made it difficult for a team that dominates the

00:50majority of teams in this division and creates big chances. I can only think of one chance

00:57second half that they had and for us we had to regroup and reset after the ridiculous

01:06decision of the penalty being given. There'll be five or ten penalties a game if that was

01:15the case and that was a decision that rocked us a little bit for five minutes, but we reset

01:21in the change room at half time and we had to keep our cool and discipline and still

01:25play and we did that so I'm delighted. I bet you couldn't believe at half time that

01:29you were level, particularly with how that first half an hour had been and some of the

01:32football you played. Yeah, I bet Portsmouth couldn't believe that they were level at half

01:37time on Saturday, but that's the game, that's what we talk about. We had to put a big performance

01:41in tonight. We knew that we had to be close to, if not our best, to get a result because

01:45they're really good. They've got some good players. They're dangerous, well coached,

01:49controlled possession. It felt a dominating performance from us. It was controlled. Physically

02:03we were good. The energy of the team was excellent and we played some big performances out there.

02:08We needed it. We talked about it. Players that we wanted to keep at the start of the

02:12season, players that we brought in at the start of the season, players that we brought

02:15in in January. We're in this position now and when the big nights call, we have to turn

02:22up and we certainly turned up.

02:23Had to be patient in the second half, but as a moment in the game, that pass from Sidi

02:28Peck for Ben Brereton Diaz's goal was something special.

02:31Yeah, pocket and slide. Sidi got into a great position. It was a great run. Ben's got that

02:37ability to stretch and run, which he did and it was a fabulous finish. You can play off

02:42the left, you can play off the right, you can play down the middle. He's a fantastic

02:45signing. We freshened it up a bit. As I said, it was difficult on Saturday because I've

02:50got the conundrum of trying to get valuable minutes into players as well to get them up

02:54to speed because we're going to have to use all the squad and we're going to have to use

02:59all the squad after the efforts of tonight.

03:03In a way, it was a difficult afternoon for us, but what we did do was, like I said, get

03:09players on the same page this last couple of days as well to set us up. So, good effort

03:18by everybody involved. Great energy levels, as I said, and some big performances in there

03:22and Sidi produced a big performance because Aiden Aitney, as I know, is an outstanding

03:27young talent and I think he went toe-to-toe with him tonight.

03:30Tom Cullen, is he alright?

03:32He's rolled his ankle, yeah. He's rolled his ankle, so we'll assess him tomorrow and see

03:38what he was. I thought he was good again. His press from the front was good, he linked

03:42it up, he stretched the game. We have that ability now to bring on Tyrese, to bring on

03:49Ben. Rhian didn't get on to the pitch, but he's been outstanding recently as well, so

03:57we have all those options that the other clubs have got now, which puts us in a decent spot.

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