Sheffield United drew 2-2 with Preston North End on Tuesday night and Chris Morgan believes the Blades have simply got to sharpen up at the back.
Emil Riis’ late leveller meant the Blades have now conceded seven goals at home in their four outings so far, including six in the last three. On the flipside, United have kept two clean-sheets from three away from home.
So far, and in fairness to Slavisa Jokanovic, he has been unable to consistently field a settled backline. Ben Davies once again missed out against North End, while Enda Stevens has yet to feature either this term.
However, regardless of this, Morgan – who skippered United from centre-half for many a year – believes the whole defence has got to start turning things around defensively.
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Chris Morgan wants Sheffield United to defend better
Morgan was a featured guest on the new SUTV live platform alongside Paul Walker this week. The former Blades star offered some calm insight into United’s performance, but was disappointed to see the defending at the end.
“That’s one thing – particularly the lads like Jack Robinson and John Egan – as centre-backs, you’ll be thinking I want to keep clean-sheets at home as well,” Morgan said.
“I know teams are a bit more open and go for it at home. And maybe that’s why they have conceded a bit at Bramall Lane. But there’s also got to be a control. Teams that get promoted from this league keep clean-sheets both at home and away. It’s something they’ll be looking at, definitely.”
With the Blades now facing an away trip to Hull City this weekend, all eyes will be on how Jokanovic looks to address the defensive inconsistencies.
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Chris Morgan points this out earlier in the clip on SUTV but the whole equalising goal is a mess from United’s perspective.
From the moment Conor Hourihane lost the ball in the corner. To when Billy Sharp gave the silly free kick away. To when Jack Robinson mis-timed his header. The entire thing was avoidable.
Surely, now, the plan has to be to play a settled back four. And if Enda Stevens and Ben Davies are ok for Saturday, they have to be in it.
From there, United can build. The attacking play is starting to click a bit, and the talent depth is there for all to see. But keeping clean-sheets is crucial, as Morgan says, and simply won’t go up unless we sort it out.
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