Chris Wilder frustrated with Sheffield United four points above drop zone after defeat to Southampton

Chris Wilder was left frustrated with Sheffield United now four points above the drop zone after a 1-0 defeat to Southampton.

The Saints went ahead after just seven minutes thanks to Leo Scienza’s deflected strike, bringing his side’s run of seven league games without a win to an end.

Tonda Eckert’s Southampton climb up one place to 15th in the Championship table while the Blades remain in 17th and nervously looking over their shoulder.

Chris Wilder on the performance: “We’ve got to take something from that game, 100%. Especially second half. First half we were a little bit leggy and took us time to get going. They started brighter than us and obviously a deflected goal to get them in front. We were a lot better second half but we’ve got to get something from the game, even the last 5-10 minutes we should. We should’ve possibly won that 3-1 with the chances we’ve had but we’ve got to convert those situations. Second half we came out, we won more duels, we passed it better, we didn’t turn it over as much and allowed them to dominate like they did first half, we dominated them. Game of two halves but they found their goal from a deflected goal and we didn’t find our goal through us not being clinical enough.”

On the players: “There’s a lot of players who are running on empty and a lot of players who wouldn’t be starting, lets be right about it. Sydie and Blaster wouldn’t start so I’m not going to be critical of them, they’re putting their hands up to play. Tom Davies can only do a certain amount of minutes. We’ve lost two centre-halves which is big for us, we’re rushing Ben back. You can see physically it took it’s toll out there but what I will say yet again as they did Saturday they went right to the end so as much as the defeat pains me we’ve got a team that’s having a right go but I want us to have a right go and get something from the game and I certainly think we deserved to.”

🗣️ “We’ve got to take something from that game”

🪫 “There’s a lot of players running on empty”

📹 Sheffield United manager Chris Wilder after the 1-0 defeat at Southampton.

Full interview 👉 https://t.co/3V1Iy1eQkd#SUFC | @BBCSheffield pic.twitter.com/rKxYprtNBq

— Football Heaven (@footballheaven) January 21, 2026

On if there was a foul on Hoever in the buildup to their goal: “[Scienza] is a danger player for them, he’s a good player. I’m not getting involved in anything after I saw the report from the referee’s committee off the back of Saturday. I’ve seen a completely different game but I’m getting criticised for flagging it up so nothing surprises me really.”

On not being clinical enough: “We still had some really good opportunities [first half], Chongy on the right, Ty’s gone through. I always felt we were in the game. We had to up our levels second half, which we did, but it’s no good upping your levels and doing what we did without sticking the ball in the back of the net. We’ve had enough opportunities, we’ve had more shots than them, more touches in the opposition box.”

“[Second half] we drove the game forward, we were cleaner on transitions, won more first balls, dropped on more second balls, and we forced them back and put them on the back foot. Apart from one where they overloaded on the wide and the boy missed a header it was us who looked like getting in to the game. We tried to but we have to [be better in the final 3rd], even the little details like Femi’s pass at the end to Blaster which puts him in the clear and Brooksy going on his left and just has to turn his foot on it to Femi…. We had 3 really top chances late on but we haven’t took them.”

On if Tyler Bindon was close to playing: “No. He’s out for the weekend as well. It’s a big blow losing him [and Tanganga].”

Southampton boss Tonda Eckert told BBC Radio Solent: “After a long spell (of not winning) the first win is always the hardest.

“We had to dig very deep and in the end it was just pure desire to win that game of football.

“It comes from so deep inside to grind out games and credit to the boys because they put so much into every minute of the game.

“Today we were much more direct and we got the ball forward a bit quicker, Ross Stewart was very good up front for the 60 minutes he gave us today.”

Eckert, per Sky Sports:

“It feels good but in the end it’s not about me, it’s about the football club. I think the football club needed that victory more than anything else. For the club, today was massive.

“What you can take away from this game is not every game is just beautiful in the sense of 65, 70 per cent possession and 25 shots on goal but there are some games that just go in a different way.

“I’m very sure that this game on Sunday will be a very tough one, one that we need to grind out.

“So knowing that we can do this, that we can come away with a clean sheet, knowing that we – with a desire to leave everything on the pitch – are able to win games of football is going to help us massively for Sunday.”

With Chris Wilder frustrated and Sheffield United now just four points above drop zone after defeat to Southampton, fans have given their reaction…

@sufclogan: What was CW thinking? Love him but he fucked up tonight by not starting Femi, Brooksy and Bamford. Starting to think he has an agenda against them.

@KerrieRoebuck: Cooper saved us from embarrassment tonight. What the heck was Wilder thinking not starting with our best players available? Gus will be asking for a move if he’s not playing. We could play until midnight and not score. Dreadin Ipswich on Saturday they’ll run that midfield ragged

@StevenLewis1987: On wilder that 100% – insisting on playing his wank signings in hope of saving face.. Relegation battle init’

@willsaints13: Bloody hell guys, I thought we were honking. You’re on another level

@Frank_Drebin1: How completely pathetic. A terrible team that hasn’t won in 7 games and we barely laid a glove on them. Well done lads, you’ve played yourselves right back into a relegation battle. Spineless.

@m24pht: Wilder got it wrong. Setup wrong, team selection wrong, waited far too long to change it. Midfield couldn’t create anything. Offered nothing. Incredibly poor all game

@jonathonchapma2: Ipswich and millwall next, could be back in bottom 3 by Oxford game, relegation 6 pointer, and this lot are cowards

@FowlerReece: And yet I’m still getting fans telling me that the owners arnt a problem!!!! They fucked up the start of the season when appointing that Spanish fraud!! And now they are fucking up the 2nd part of the season by not backing the manager and signing any players!!! League 1 bound!!

@Mlbolger: Wilder totally at fault for this defeat. Has to start with the strongest team possible and go for the win. Can make changes to protect players once and if we get into a winning position. Be very interesting to see who he blames in the post match interview!!

@Piddie74: Fucking dreadful against a fucking dreadful team. Deserved nothing and got nothing. Another poor team taking the points is a marker for where we are. Im an away fan so does that mean my opinion counts more when we are wank too Chris?

@sufcdan12: Utter shit game no quality at any point

@DomWalton10: Shite that. Against a side that aren’t a great deal better 😂. New RB is suspect, two centre halves can’t run, Burrows miles off it, 2x CM’s looked totally lost and Chong is the worst footballer I’ve ever seen. Campbell totally uninterested. Decent bar all of that.