An angered Chris Wilder spoke on his ‘naive’ Sheffield United side, and officials denying THREE penalties in the 2-1 defeat to Coventry.
Criticism was aimed at the referee, John Busby, with Wilder feeling that Ephron Mason-Clark should have been sent off, having already been on a yellow card for squaring up to Japhet Tanganga, when he tangled with Femi Seriki in the penalty area and went down.
Wilder said the referee he avoided giving a penalty/red card because it would have to sent Mason-Clark off, but the official appeared to view Seriki had dived.
Busby also showed a yellow to Sheffield United substitute Tyrese Campbell for diving after contact from Bobby Thomas.
Wilder said of the decisions, per The Star: “It’s just ridiculous. Femi’s in the box. For me, [Busby] didn’t make the decision because he has to send the boy off, in my opinion. Because he’d already had a yellow.
“And the second one, I said to Ty: ‘Where are we at with it?’ Because I’ve looked at it and gone: ‘Is it contact?’ And he said yeah, there was contact, there was a big noise. ‘Why would I go down? I’m just about to shoot.’
“All three of them, all four including the fourth official. All he wanted to do was make sure that my head of sports science, who’s sat there for all the games, was moved back into the stand before the game. And I thought: ‘Here we go.’
“I thought all three of them, stroke four, were not great tonight. You can’t afford those decisions to go against you. Whether the opposition ride their luck a little bit and those decisions even themselves out, whatever.
“But still that doesn’t take away the fact that, for me, there’s something in both of them.”
He continued: “There was a lot to be happy about against the top side in the division. They showed their qualities that you have to show if you are trying to get out of the division or trying to win it, which they did in the first half.
“We’ve got ourselves in front and then we start chasing the game and just lose all shape. Recovery runs, leaving the middle of the pitch wide open on a press. We want to go on press, we want to go and get after teams.
“But you can’t go on press when you’re not in shape and we’ve just gone after it and opened everything up and the naivety of the team was exposed for both goals. So I’m really disappointed because there was so much to like about our performance and so much to be admired, even when we went 2-1 down.”
Wilder told BBC Radio Sheffield:
“It was a really good performance for large parts but the naivety for the two goals was incredible. We should be up at half-time, the tone and feel of the stadium was really good and we had them on the back foot.
“We went toe-to-toe and got ahead but the manner of the goals we conceded was so naive. We were wide open for the first and then we turn our back on the second one.
“The game turned on its head. We had to be smart and manage the game and we didn’t do that.
“I feel for the players, but it’s just happened too many times this season. We have nearly been good enough against good teams.”
Coventry manager Frank Lampard said of the penalty calls, per Coventry Live:
“I don’t want to sound too cocky about it, but there’s a lot of penalties we haven’t got this season. Some have been addressed in the aftermath of games by the league, and others maybe not.
“But I think over the course of the season… Whether we got them tonight, I don’t know, I haven’t seen them clearly but I’m not going to just discount them. If there was one that we got tonight that didn’t go our way then it is probably minus one from about six or seven we’ve had.”
Coventry manager Frank Lampard told BBC Coventry & Warwickshire:
“It was always going to be tough, they are a good team on the rise. We had to defend our box in the first half, we weren’t at our best and we made blocks. The character to come from behind and score two good goals is all credit to the boys.
“There was a lot of pressure, the crowd get involved, we needed personality and that was first class.
“It was textbook Rudoni to arrive and score, he is a top player who is so hungry to do well and produce.
“We have let teams have moments against us away from home this season but we were compact and it’s unseen things that get you results on the road.
“The boys have worked hard to get these three wins – but there is so much still to play for.”
Lampard, per Sky Sports:
“We’re happy because there’s lots of ways to win a game. We’ve won some games in a beautiful fashion this season and when you win games like tonight, they feel just as good.
“But we all go back tonight and we will sleep well, then we get up and go again tomorrow, because this league is such a challenge.
“The minute you think you might have cracked it, you haven’t. Stoke (at home on Saturday) will come around quickly.
“It was important that we kept calm and we kept working. And the boys, to be fair, have done that and now we’ve got pretty much fully-fit squad.
“This league will kick you if you get relaxed, but these last three games have obviously been very good for us.”
Here’s how fans reacted after Chris Wilder speaks on his ‘naive’ Sheffield United side, and officials denying THREE penalties in the defeat to Coventry…
@__Jordz: Soumare very good until tired. Jairo looked class when he come on. Blades better team in every aspect but there defenders made blocks and there goalkeeper made saves. It’s the same every week now. 2 stone wall penalties and an early red card should have been given.
@mattkitson2: Deserved nothing Coventry in that match. another fucking wank ref #twitterblades
@SufcLee: we played well. but the referee its bad enough that he denied seriki a penalty. but to give campbell a booking for the 2nd is criminal #twitterblades
@MaxGoddard1889: That decision on Tyrese Campbell is astonishing. The ref is next to it and can’t see that Bobby Thomas completely takes Campbell’s ankle. Fucking sick of refs not having the bollocks to give a pen! #sufc
@SephtonMark: You didn’t deserve to lose. Draw would have been fair. We turned it on for 12 minutes and you guys were on top for the rest. We are in a purple patch. You guys will come strong again next season.
@ryyh94: Have to admit we got away with this one, should have taken the chances we were giving yous, won’t lie first pen shout seems like it should have been given but the second one weren’t, ya player was trying their luck who wouldn’t in that position 🤷🏻♂️
@Tom227007888772: Great effort lads really good display against a good side there. Statistically deserved more but they’re solid defensively and clinical when given half a chance. No complaints ♥️⚔️
@w1970r: Thought we were the better team but Cov more clinical – think the ref had a howler for the Campbell pen decision. ⚔️ played well Blades ⚔️
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